Disney Cruise Line Raises Pre-Paid Gratuity Recommendations for 2025 Sailings

Jan 22, 2025 in "Disney Cruise Line"

Posted: Wednesday January 22, 2025 1:07pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney Cruise Line has updated its recommended pre-paid gratuity amounts, effective for all sailings.


New Gratuity Recommendations

Standard Staterooms: The new recommended gratuity is $16.00 per night per stateroom guest, up from the previous $14.50. This applies to all guests, including infants and children. It covers crew members such as:

  • Dining room server
  • Dining room assistant server
  • Dining room head server
  • Stateroom host

Concierge Staterooms and Suites: For those in Concierge accommodations, the gratuity has risen to $27.25 per night per stateroom guest, up from the previous $23.50. This includes gratuities for additional staff, such as:

  • Assistant stateroom host
  • Concierge Lounge team, in addition to the roles listed for standard staterooms.

Pre-Paid Gratuities Process

Guests can pre-pay these gratuities online by visiting My Reservations in your Disney account and following the steps for Pre-Paid Gratuities. If you booked through a travel agent, contact them to apply this payment.

If you didn’t pre-pay before boarding, Disney will automatically charge the recommended gratuity amount to your onboard account. Should you wish to adjust or remove the gratuity after boarding, visit Guest Services for assistance.

Gratuities Not Included

The following gratuities are not covered by the pre-paid gratuities:

  • Extras on rotational dining meals (e.g., alcoholic beverages)
  • Dining at adult-only locations (Remy, Palo, Palo Steakhouse, Enchanté by Chef Arnaud Lallement)
  • Food and beverages purchased in shops or outdoor eateries
  • Room service
  • Port Adventures
  • Senses Spa & Salon
  • Any additional services

An 18% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine, deck service tabs, and spa services. All gratuities are charged to the onboard account.

Discuss on the Forums

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    Lilofan3 days ago

    Our waiter went above and beyond when I commented to him I enjoyed the grilled salmon at dinner the night before. He asked me if I would like it for breakfast with my scrambled eggs. He then talked to the cooks and I had a delish breakfast of many items including grilled salmon.

    Lee Vining3 days ago

    Last 3 DLC cruises the staff was less vocal about giving them a good grade. Evidently concerns about that has got back to management. Only problem on our last cruise was our dinner wait staff was spread too thin, had too many tables. We tip the room attendant on Day one, in cash. I dunno why, we just do.

    HauntedPirateJan 31, 2025

    And they don’t really give you a place to express opinions. And the survey MUST be completed on your last day, which may include: a port stop; dinner; a show; packing to have your bags ready and outside your stateroom by 10:30pm. Give me a survey where I can A) Do it within a week of disembarking, and B) Allows me to voice opinions in free text boxes of 5000 characters per category (cruise/value/staff/amentites/ports/et al).

    Andrew CJan 30, 2025

    You know what annoys me the most...the dang surveys from ALL the cruise lines, and the fact that if you don't give a perfect score, it hurts the staff. It isn't a real survey then.

    HauntedPirateJan 30, 2025

    Which basically proves my point. In days of yore, Disney would have give a notice - "For sailings beginning on xx-xx-xx, gratuities will increase to $--/person/night". But since show has been long since thrown out the door as something they care about, it's just more of the usual bend-over-and-take-it approach graciously given to us under Bob.

    cjkeatingJan 30, 2025

    I am not aware of notice being given in the past.

    PhonedaveJan 30, 2025

    I have done this myself. I made extensive complaints about my room once on a DCL cruise. It was not the fault of anybody on the ship. I still tipped generously. They all did their best to do what they could.

    HauntedPirateJan 30, 2025

    So this change was effective immediately and there was no communication from DCL around it. Bad show, but that stopped mattering to them years ago.

    jmeJan 24, 2025

    I think I'd find myself at guest services filing a complaint if service was so poor I felt I needed to remove a tip. In fact, once I had a particularly bad experience at Palo, and I did file a complaint and we ended up having our meal comped. I still left a tip though

    TheGenXerJan 24, 2025

    Like with all things I’m sure there are exceptions. And I would absolutely remove the tip if service was poor.

    AylaJan 23, 2025

    Or you are a seriously horrible human. We went on a river cruise last summer and tipped an additional $400 above our pre-paid gratuities...and they deserved every single dime (and then some!).

    cjkeatingJan 23, 2025

    Something has to go seriously wrong if you don't think any of the positions that are covered by these tips doesn't deserve it. And I'm British.

    AylaJan 23, 2025

    Technically, it isn't mandatory. You can go to Guest Services and have the amount changed or removed altogether.

    Vegas Disney FanJan 23, 2025

    Thanks for the correction, we always pre-pay so I didn’t realize it was a mandatory charge.

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