Carnival Cruise Line Exec Blasts Rumor As “100 Percent False”

Carnival cruise gratuities. It’s one of the most controversial cruise-related topics on the internet. From how much one should give to who gets them, cruise ship tipping is a subject that comes up almost every day, and it generates a slew of rumors.

So many that Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald felt compelled to address one of the most popular making the rounds.

Carnival Cruise Gratuities: Fact Or Fiction?

Heald quoted a comment he’d recently received on the topic, which suggested that Carnival “is not giving these tips to the crew in addition to their salary, but instead, they are using this money to pay their salary.” Essentially, the person who wrote the comment implied that the Daily Gratuity charge collected from each passenger was not supplementing the salary paid to the crew but comprising said salaries.

Heald took it upon himself to address the rumors and revealed at least one source of the misinformation. “This comes from a Facebook Group page,” he explained.

“It is moderated by a person who continues to spout such nonsense like this. I found it to be a fruitless exercise trying to reason with her anymore, so I blocked [them from this page].”

Heald went on to say that normally he “would never comment on this, but let me say categorically that this is nonsense, totally 100% false and 100% inaccurate. Despite what they write, please do not believe this.”

He said that Carnival does “not use the gratuities you so graciously give to ‘pay the crew.’ It is utter fabrication and untrue.”

Carnival cruise gratuities did increase earlier this year from $14.50 per person per day to $16.00.

Doubters Persist

The comments beneath Heald’s post were something of a mixed bag. While most thanked Heald for setting the record straight, others suggested that the cruise line — and, by extension, its Ambassador — wasn’t being completely truthful.

Many suggested that all one needed do to find out that the crew received a salary was to talk to them. Others pointed out that tip conversations would go away almost entirely if Carnival were to follow in the steps of lines such as Virgin Voyages and include tips in the cruise price. “This would also,” said one, “largely eliminate people having the tips removed as they would simply think of it as part of the cruise fare.”

Go Deeper: Cruise Line Gratuities — How much is too much?