Alaska Cruise Tipping Guide — What to Pay and When

Budgeting for an Alaska cruise goes well beyond your base fare and flights. Tipping is one of the most misunderstood expenses of the entire trip, largely because it involves a mix of automated onboard charges and cash transactions in rugged frontier towns.

To avoid sticker shock on the last morning of your vacation—and to ensure the hard-working crew and local Alaskan guides are fairly compensated—you need a tipping strategy.

This guide breaks down exactly what you need to pay, who gets cash, and the specific numbers you should plug into your cruise budget.

Understanding Daily Auto-Gratuities

The majority of your onboard tipping is handled automatically by the cruise line. Almost every major contemporary and premium cruise line operating in Alaska (including Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian) uses an auto-gratuity system.

How Much Are They?

Cruise lines automatically charge $16 to $20 per person, per day to your onboard account.

If you are staying in a suite, expect this rate to be higher—typically $20 to $22 per person, per day. For a standard 7-day Alaska cruise, you must budget an absolute minimum of $112 to $140 per passenger just for base gratuities. This applies to all guests, including children and infants.

Who Do Auto-Gratuities Cover?

This daily charge goes into a massive pool that is distributed among the ship’s crew. It covers:

• Your cabin steward: The attendant who cleans your room, replaces towels, and turns down your bed.
• Main dining room staff: Your head waiter, assistant waiter, and the dining room maitre d’.
• Behind-the-scenes crew: The workers you never see, including laundry operators, dishwashers, and culinary prep staff.

Pre-Paying vs. Paying Onboard

You have two choices for paying this fee: pay it at the time of booking, or let it accrue daily on your onboard folio. Always pre-pay your gratuities. Pre-paying locks in your rate (shielding you from mid-year price hikes) and ensures your final onboard bill isn’t inflated by hundreds of dollars on debarkation day.

Extra Onboard Tipping: Bar, Dining, and Room Service

Your daily auto-gratuity does not cover everything. Several specific services onboard trigger additional automatic tips, while others require cash.

Drinks and Bartenders

When you order a cocktail, beer, or soda at an onboard bar, you will notice an automatic 18% gratuity added to the bill. This applies whether you buy drinks a la carte or purchase a beverage package (the 18% gratuity is charged on the total cost of the package when you buy it).

If a bartender provides exceptional service, remembers your daily order, or makes complicated off-menu drinks, slipping them an extra $1 to $2 per drink in cash will guarantee VIP treatment for the rest of your sailing.

Specialty Dining

Eating at the onboard steakhouse or specialty Italian restaurant? Most cruise lines will automatically add an 18% to 20% gratuity to the cover charge or the final a la carte bill. You do not need to leave an extra cash tip on the table unless the service was extraordinary.

Room Service

Room service staff are generally excluded from the ship-wide auto-gratuity pool. If you order coffee and pastries to your balcony for glacier viewing, you should tip the delivery attendant in cash. A standard tip is $3 to $5 per delivery. Keep a stack of small bills near the door so you aren’t scrambling for cash in your pajamas.

Tipping for Alaska Shore Excursions

Tipping in Alaskan ports operates entirely differently than onboard the ship. Shore excursion companies are independent local operators, and their guides rely heavily on cash tips during the short, intense 5-month tourist season.

Standard Tour Guides and Bus Drivers

For typical excursions—like a bus tour to Mendenhall Glacier or a city history walk—you should tip based on the length of the tour:

• Half-day tours (3 to 4 hours): Tip $5 to $10 per person.
• Full-day tours (6+ hours): Tip $10 to $20 per person.

Whale Watching Naturalists and Boat Captains

Whale watching is a staple of Juneau and Icy Strait Point itineraries. The crew works incredibly hard to spot wildlife, navigate choppy waters, and provide expert marine biology commentary. You should tip $10 to $20 per person into the communal tip jar as you disembark the vessel. This money is split evenly between the captain, deckhands, and the onboard naturalist.

When NOT to Tip on Excursions

There are two notable exceptions in Alaska where tipping is completely unnecessary and not expected:

1. White Pass & Yukon Route Railway: The conductors and brakemen on this famous Skagway train do not expect tips. The historic railroad is the attraction itself, operating more like a transit system than a personalized guided tour.
2. Helicopter Pilots: If you book a helicopter flight to a glacier for dog sledding or ice walking, do not tip the pilot. They are highly paid aviation professionals, and their services are fully baked into the (very expensive) excursion price. Note: You should, however, tip the dog sled mushers or glacier guides who meet you on the ice ($10 to $20).

Cash Logistics: What to Pack

Do not rely on ATMs in small Alaskan ports like Skagway or Ketchikan—they frequently run out of cash when three mega-ships are in port. Likewise, the ship’s Guest Services desk will quickly run out of $1 and $5 bills by day two of the cruise.

Go to your local bank before you leave for your trip. Bring $50 to $100 per person in cash per week, entirely in $1, $5, and $10 bills.

Luggage Porters at the Pier

Your very first cash tip will happen before you even board. When you arrive at the cruise terminal in Seattle, Vancouver, or Whittier, you will hand your large suitcases to union stevedores (porters). You must tip them $1 to $2 per bag in cash. They ensure your luggage makes it safely from the curb onto the ship.

Can You Remove Auto-Gratuities?

If you experience poor service, you technically have the right to visit the Guest Services desk and ask to have your daily auto-gratuities removed or reduced.

Do not do this.

Removing auto-gratuities to tip exclusively in cash is a common but harmful practice. When you pull your contribution from the communal pool, you are directly taking money away from the invisible crew members who wash your bedsheets, cook your meals, and clean the public spaces overnight. If you have a problem with your cabin steward or a waiter, address the issue with the hotel director or maitre d’ to fix the problem, but leave the auto-gratuities intact so the rest of the crew isn’t penalized.

All-Inclusive Alaska Cruise Lines

If you despise the nickel-and-diming nature of tipping, consider upgrading your vacation. Luxury cruise lines operate on an all-inclusive model where crew gratuities are built directly into your base fare.

If you sail on Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, or Viking Ocean Cruises, daily auto-gratuities do not exist. You will not be asked to sign a slip with an empty tip line at the bar, and leaving cash for your room steward is neither required nor expected.

Just remember: Even on an ultra-luxury cruise, you still need to carry small bills into port. Independent Alaskan tour guides are not employed by the cruise line, so your cash tips on shore are still the standard way to show appreciation for a great excursion.