margaritaville at sea ship and cost increase sign

Margaritaville at Sea Now Has Highest Daily Gratuities in North America

February 1, 2026 Randy Young

Daily gratuities on cruises have always been a hotly debated topic. Many guests feel concerned that they don’t know where these funds are going or whether they are actually benefiting the hard-working crew members onboard. This concern has only grown as cruise lines continue raising these rates. Now, Margaritaville at Sea has increased its daily gratuity to the highest level in North America.

Margaritaville at Sea Increases Daily Gratuity to $22 per Day

Margaritaville at Sea has quietly updated its website to show new daily gratuity amounts. These fees are charged per person, per day, once onboard the ship. The fee is currently $22 per person per day for standard cabins and $25 for suites.

This marks the second increase in gratuities in as many years. In 2024, the fee was just $18 which increased to $20 in February 2025.

2024: $18
2025: $20
2026: $22

These fees add up quickly. For a family of four on a 7-day cruise, this results in a $616 charge added to their onboard account once they step onboard the ship.

How does that compare to the cost of the cruise itself? On October 3, 2026, a 7-day sailing on the Islander to Jamaica and the Western Caribbean costs $1,934 for four people in a balcony stateroom. Once onboard, guests will also pay $616 in gratuities, increasing the overall cost of the cruise by 32%.

margaritaville at sea gratuities vs cruise fare

Website Language Around Gratuities Has Changed

Interestingly, Margaritaville at Sea also changed the wording on its website explaining how gratuities are handled. Previously, the policy stated:

“Any gratuities and/or service fees paid by Guest are the property of the Carrier and shall be used by the Carrier in any manner or method and for any purpose that the Carrier deems fit in its sole discretion.”

With the new dollar amounts, the language was updated to say:

“100% of guest-paid gratuities go directly to support our crew. Gratuities and Service Charges help us maintain the high level of hospitality that is a hallmark of our award-winning crew, including:

High levels of staffing and exceptional crew-to-guest ratios across departments
Twice-daily stateroom housekeeping services
Highly skilled professional services and entertainment onboard, including Executive Chefs, Pastry Chefs, Mixologists, Tattoo Artists, Acrobats, Professional Musicians, and more”

Daily Gratuities Across Cruise Lines

Adding daily gratuities is not unique to Margaritaville at Sea. Unfortunately, it has become a common practice across the cruise industry. These fees allow cruise lines to advertise lower upfront prices, making cruises appear like a bargain, while shifting additional costs to the onboard experience.

What’s notable is that with this latest increase, Margaritaville at Sea now has the highest daily gratuity of any cruise line based in North America. That is an odd distinction for a cruise line that typically positions itself as a more budget-friendly option.

My Take: Gratuities Are Getting Ridiculous

Originally, daily gratuities were meant to make life easier for guests by eliminating the need to carry cash and tip individual crew members. The system worked when the fees were relatively modest.

Over time, however, gratuities have steadily increased. Over the last 10 years, daily gratuities have roughly doubled across most cruise lines, and the added cost is becoming hard to ignore.

Unfortunately, this trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Fees continue to rise, and even cruise lines that previously included gratuities, most notably Virgin Voyages, have introduced new charges over the past several months.

While the hard-working crew members onboard absolutely deserve to be compensated fairly, the lack of transparency around how gratuities impact crew pay, combined with fees being added after booking, remains a consumer-unfriendly practice.