Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, a weekly look into the world of Royal Caribbean cruising.

I'm your host, Matt Hodgeberg, and this is episode number 51.

When it comes to tipping and gratuity, there's a lot of questions out there.

So this week, we're going to talk all about tipping on your Royal Caribbean cruise.

Who gets it, how much, why, and more helpful tips for figuring out this way to reward the

excellent service you will encounter both on board and onshore.

Here we go.

This week's show topic is actually inspired by one of our listeners.

Natalie sent me an email all about tipping and she wanted to know more information.

So Natalie from Pittsburgh, she wrote to me and says, I want to thank you for the fabulous

podcast. I'm proud to say I want to thank you for the fabulous podcast.

I'm proud to say I finally caught up with all the episodes and have enjoyed them all.

Much like your parents, as you described them, my husband never plans and just shows up

on vacation, leaving all the decisions to me.

I was able to use your podcast to prepare him for our Oasis of the Seas crews last April,

and it was so helpful. I especially love the Labdadi podcast because we listened to it together with a map

and made a plan of action ahead of time landing the perfect shady spot under a palm tree

at Columbus Cove.

And when they came around selling Labadoosies, we knew we'd better try one.

Speaking of Labidi, I have a suggesting for a show topic for you, tipping.

I was really unprepared for the amount of tipping expected on Labidi.

I had pictured Labadee as being completely private with just rural Caribbean employees,

...