FlyerfolioMiles and membership
English

Status: checked against official sources; automated independent review

GUIDE

How to understand cruise gratuities and service charges

Cruise gratuities and service charges are the amounts a cruise line may add to a guest's onboard account for service, and for drinks and specialty dining bought on board or before sailing, on top of the cruise fare. This page sets out how the two line FAQ portals checked here are organized, what they publish about those charges, and where a guest has to look instead; neither portal, as checked, states a daily gratuity rate, a service-charge percentage or an adjustment deadline. [1] [3]

Facts checked: 18 October 2026

Key takeaways

  • The two portals checked answer questions by topic rather than in a single gratuities page: Royal Caribbean's FAQ lists Food & Beverage, Beverage Packages, Onboard Dining & Dining Packages and Payment & Cancellation Policies as topics [1], while Norwegian's FAQ is built around a category filter and a search box [3].
  • Neither page, as checked, publishes an automatic daily gratuity amount, a service-charge percentage for drinks or specialty dining, or an adjustment or removal deadline [1] [3]. No rate is therefore quoted on this page.
  • Both lines keep binding wording in separate documents linked from the FAQ: Royal Caribbean's page links a cruise contract and terms of use [1], and Norwegian's links terms & conditions and a guest ticket contract [3].

Where the lines publish the rules

Royal Caribbean's FAQ page separates pre-cruise from post-cruise inquiries and offers a search field plus a list of popular topics [1]. That topic list includes Food & Beverage, Beverage Packages, Onboard Dining & Dining Packages, Payment & Cancellation Policies, Guest Services and Stateroom & In-Room Amenities [1]. The same page promotes buying beverage, dining and internet packages before sailing through its booking-management area [1]. Because one subject is spread across several headings, a question about charges can appear under more than one of them [1].

Norwegian's FAQ page presents a search box and a category filter instead of a fixed list of articles [3]. Its main navigation links a Dining page and a Terms & Conditions page, and its footer links a guest ticket contract, legal notices, a passenger bill of rights and an accessibility statement [3].

The practical route is to search each portal for the exact charge you have been quoted, then read the terms document the portal links to, because that document is the only contract wording the portal points at [1] [3].

The charges readers ask about

Automatic daily gratuities. This guide uses the phrase for a per-day amount that a line may add to a guest's onboard account for service during the sailing.

Beverage service charges. Beverage packages are among the items Royal Caribbean's portal promotes as a pre-sailing purchase [1]. What a package contains is covered separately on cruise drinks packages.

Specialty dining service charges.

What the fare leaves out. Neither portal page, as checked, itemizes what the cruise fare excludes beyond the charge categories above [1] [3]. Port charges and government taxes are a separate subject on this site: see cruise port fees and taxes.

Adjustments, removals and refunds

A guest who wants to query or change a charge should therefore treat the linked terms document as the governing text and the FAQ entry as a pointer to it [1] [3]. Where a question is about the booking itself rather than the onboard bill, the payment and cancellation material sits under its own heading [1]. Definitions of the general terms used across this site are in the frequent flyer glossary.

Exceptions and limits

  • Line, region and booking date.
  • Promotions.
  • Currency.
  • Share of the fare.
  • Coverage. Only Royal Caribbean's and Norwegian Cruise Line's portals are checked here; other lines and travel-agent or third-party packages sit outside this page [1] [3].

Sources

Sources accessed on 18 October 2026.

  1. Royal Caribbean frequently asked questions, checked 18 October 2026
  2. Norwegian Cruise Line frequently asked questions, checked 18 October 2026