Should Gratuities Be Non-Negotiable?

In this episode

The crew beats the gratuity horse with love — Gary going full righteous fury on tip-removers while the panel weighs whether Carnival should just bake the tips into the price like Australia does. Wrap it in a snooty-snoot anniversary drama and a Lincoln-hatted dudes-cruise pitch, and you've got the warmest argument about $16 a day you'll ever hear.

What they covered

Topics on deck

Don’t miss

Moments worth the wait

• Why Gary missed the vote — a swag-empire excuse only Gary could deliver.

  “I was working very, very, very hard, very diligently trying to get cruising swag.com up and running.”

• The Vista's mechanical curse — the propulsion saga that just won't quit.

  “Its first propulsion issue that it had was in August of 2021… It's had propulsion issues every year since 2021.”

• Same soup, reheated — Trevor's verdict on repeated Galveston itineraries.

  “It's just the same soup, just reheat it.”

• Gary's anti-tip-removal fury — the heartfelt case for taking care of the crew.

  “The people who take retuities off of their crews and don't do any gratuities, they're lower than low of Ponskum.”

• The poll numbers land — Tom reads the overwhelming verdict.

  “An overwhelming 87% of the vote said yes [to Australia-style included gratuities]… 16,931 people voted in this.”

• The compassionate counterpoint — a reminder that some removers are simply surprised.

  “I think a large portion of the people that are removing gratuities are genuinely surprised when they show up on their selling sign account because they chose not to add them.”

• The transparency argument — Trevor makes the case for all-in pricing.

  “I like how carnival and other cruise lines are now adding the taxes and port fees into the price… adding the gratuities to it similarly will give you the full cost of the cruise up front.”