pisces14

My sentiments too.

If you are in Freedom dining you will have different waiters every night.

If you are on first or second sitting you could let the waiters know you have left the autotip on and if it makes you feel better put a small amount of cash in an envelope and give to them on the last night.

No-one knows how much you put in the envelope and chances are a lot of people might have stopped their tips who are handing out envelopes and no one knows if they are putting £5 or £50 in their envelopes.

Pay your autotips thats what the crew want and just enjoy your cruise

 

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Another post with good advice.:D

If you leave the auto tip on, you will not have any reason to feel embarrassed! We always leave the auto gratuity on. Occasionally we have also left an extra "envelope" tip for really exceptional service, but that is the exception.

 

Personally, I would be far more embarrassed lining up to have the auto-tip removed at the end of my trip...

Good advice :D

They get paid a wage to do that, it is not my job to subsidise P and O. If you want to get stroppy about it, talk to P and O. I pay my fare, and, yes, I do leave a tip, but on my terms, not what P and O think it should be to help their wage bill.

 

 

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I have made my feelings plain to P&O. With regard to P&O paying higher wages that is a different discussion. This discussion is regarding tipping the staff. At least you do tip something. However those who tip nothing are in effect expecting you and I to subside them. It seems to me that the people who get stroppy are those who won't pay the tips.

No not a troll,I just don't agree with the "tipping police''who insist their way is the right way.I am honest enough to admit to doing what a lot of people do,anyway back to the OP,it really is your choice,don't let people bully you.

I'm fairly certain anyone who removes the tips expected by the staff who wait on them and clean up after them won't be bullied into anything. They must have the skin of a rhinoceros.

Hurrah, common sense being spoken at last. Do what you want to do, what you think is right, sod the rest

 

 

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So removing gratuities expected by the staff who wait on you and clean up after you is now regarded as common sense. :rolleyes: That's not how I regard it.

You have absolutely no evidence to suggest this. Its people like you that make ridiculous comments like this that really spoil this Forum.

No I have no evidence at all. Spoil the forum??? I'm not on here to win friends and influence people. I just want to voice my opinion. This isn't a P&O fan club is it?:rolleyes:

This is one of the best posts i have read on this subject.

 

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Thank you. I stand by what I say. I don't believe auto tipping was introduced because of Freedom dining. It was brought on after the Arcadia incident. I don't do freedom dining either and I don't see this as a reason to remove the auto tips. I'm sorry if people think my post spoils this forum but perhaps that's because the truth hurts.

Quite honestly it's P&O who make me angry. They tell people the tips are discretionary. If so WHY have auto-tipping? If they are discretionary then they should not take payment out of anyone's account. They should go back to tipping the old way. If the staff rely on the tips to boost their wages then, no-one should be allowed to remove them. In effect what they are doing now is allowing those of us who feel an obligation to tip subsidise those who for whatever flimsy reason remove tips. As far as I'm concerned there is no other way to look at this. I hope someone from P&O is reading this and actually takes notice of the acrimony it causes.

I'm afraid the people who say they are not bothered about who does or who doesn't pay gratuities I suspect don't pay them.

If the cabin is bigger it will take the steward longer to clean. Since the 'tips' are not 'tips' but wages it would seem reasonable that you pay the right amount for the steward otherwise those in smaller cabins are subsidising you.

I think this has to be one of the most ridiculous statements I've read on here. To begin the cost of a suite is much greater than the cost of an inside cabin so the cost of cleaning a bigger cabin is already taken care of. Apart from that we make very little work for the cabin steward and I've passed smaller cabins with the sort of mess I'd be ashamed to leave for the cabin steward to clean up. Not forgetting the fact that often there are 4 people in some cabins. While in our suite there are just two of us and as others have said the butler also assists the cabin steward.

I have met many people who think they are better because they are in a suite or balcony. We choose an inside cabin as we would rather spend our money in other ways, but have met those who seem to think they are better because they have paid more. We avoid the subject whilst on the ship these days. I agree that everyone should pay the same in tips regardless of cabin price. I just wish they would include it in the fare and call it what it is - a service charge.

Strangely the snobs I've met on cruises have generally been in the cheaper cabins.

As I've said about 3 times now this could all be resolved if the gratuities were included in the fare, but I won't be holding my breath until they do.

Our upcoming 17 night cruise cost us £1249 pp, so as we all get the same service, then the charge should be the same for everyone. so that's £102 pp in tips. Interestingly, those who can afford a Suite or Balcony it doesn't sound much at all! I guess for some who save up for their holiday, perhaps tips are just not affordable?

People who book suites are already paying more for the same food, service etc as someone on an inside. Why should they also subsidise others gratuities. Not being able to afford tips is not an excuse in my book I'm afraid.

And I believe in Father Christmas.

 

David.

Me too.:rolleyes:

On land, at least here in the UK staff get the minimum wage so a tip is just an extra, not an essential part of someone's livelihood. Consequently in the Uk your are quite correct I for one could not really care less if someone else tips or how much.

 

A lot of us however are not assuming anything, you get to know staff and prior to the autotips staff were quite open about just how often pax did not attend the MDR on the last night and did not pay tips, a big part of those staffs earnings. Now staff don't / are not allowed to talk about these issues as much

 

I feel sorry for the staff who are deprived of chunk of their wages because the tips are really that. This being the case if others don't pay, those who do pay, end up paying more hence the recent, regular increases.

 

Everyone is however entitled to their opinion.

I wasn't going to make any further comments but I do agree with you(in part) People know that paying gratuities is and always has been expected when cruising.Those who don't are in effect expecting their fellow passengers to make up the shortfall. Why should we??

There will never be an end to this discussion until such time that P&O include the gratuities in the price of the cruise. That probably won't happen until the majority of passengers are removing the auto tips.That day can't come soon enough for me. Until then we'll reluctantly keep subsidising the cruises taken by tightwads.

Don't laugh or groan, but we are thinking that we may split the difference in our next 17 day cruise. Hubby will keep the auto gratuities on, but I will not. He will sign for all drinks etc. I will then use my gratuities (taken in cash) to pay additional tips for those crew member that we would want to say a special thank you to. We then feel that we will give something to those that we only see once, but also get the chance to say thanks to those we meet the most....

 

It also means that we are not dodging out 'tips' ......

 

To be honest, even as I type this we are torn about what to do and don't feel happy with any option .... I just wish that P&O would get it sorted out ...

 

Do I keep them on and then pay extra when others pay none at all???

Do I penalise the staff for a rubbish system?

I feel really guilty ---- does P&O?

 

The whole system is a mess ------

 

And a PS for anyone who thinks that we are just uncaring and should not book a cruise ------ you don't know us at all, so please no judgements.

I'm not judging you at all as I feel the same as you I think. The whole system is wrong. I am so fed up of reading on this forum and other forums, people making every excuse under the sun as to why they remove the tips. IMO no-one should be allowed to remove them without a very good reason. We have always left the auto tips on and also given extra, so it's annoying to think that we are subsidising others. P&O should include them in the price of the cruise. The reason they don't of course is because they want to sell all the cabins. So they are happy for those who pay the tips to subsidise those who don't. Why should we??? We have never removed the tips and I know I said we'd pay those who give good service by envelope but I'm guessing on our next cruise my husband won't remove the tips and I too would feel like a cheapskate. So what do we do??? I suppose we'll continue subsidising the cheapskates.:(

I really don't know why I got involved with this thread it doesn't do my blood pressure any good.:D

Out of interest which tours did you do ? We are looking for something to do there when we go soon. It is not our favourite island by a long way, don't really like the town and no beaches worth going to, but don't really want to stay on the ship as we will have had 8 sea days getting there.

I don't know if they still do this excursion it was called the 'Indian River rowboat'. It was an hours drive to the river which I enjoyed as we were able to see a lot of the island. The boat trip was really leisurely and we stopped for refreshments at one point. I don't know if it's the sort of thing you enjoy, but it's something you may consider.

On our World cruise in 2103 we had 11 sea days on the trot and I enjoyed every one.:D

I just love it when someone makes an assumption that people who remove the auto tips are mean or trying to reduce the amount. We have done both, left the auto on and also removed it. These days, we remove it and pay our tips direct. Mostly because on the last night, everyone at the table used an envelope except us when we left the auto tips on. Somewhat embarrassing. So we now do it the old way and prefer it. I await comments that we like the master/servant thing which is also a load of tosh. I tip my hairdresser. I tip taxi drivers. I tip waiters in a restaurant. What's the difference.

I seem to remember you saying on another thread about tipping that the only time you left the auto tips on was when you had a lot of OBC. Why was that?

Anyhow like a lot of people I get sick of reading these threads because they just annoy me. However like the OP I’m also considering whether to remove the tips on our next cruise. I really wish they would just include them in the price of the cruise but I’m sure we all know why they won’t

Like Presto 2 the main reason I’m considering removing the auto tips is because a lot of people pay nothing.

I've had 2 Personal cruise specialists. The first one was the best but the second one nevertheless got me exactly what I wanted and it was nice to speak to someone who knew me and my cruising history. I'm very sorry to hear this and will have to think how I book in future.:(

On that basis, I don't use the gym, so let's remove that. I don't use the spa, so let's remove that. I don't use the buffet, so let's remove that. Etc.

I didn't say they should remove it. I said I wouldn't miss it.

We usually eat at 6.30 so have never had afternoon tea. On our last cruise we decided on second sitting and thought we'd probably need the afternoon tea but we didn't. So I don't think it's something I'll miss at all.

But I bet if you send them an "I am disappointed in you" email they will pay you off with £50 OBC.

From past experience I don't think P&O care if I'm disappointed.;)

Important information

Dear

As promised, I am writing to you with an update on the recent payment error.

We have been working with Elavon, the card payment processor and we have been informed by all the UK clearing banks with whom we have been in contact that all refunds have been processed and the pre-authorisation reversals should be finalised by this weekend. If your refund has not been cleared or if you still have an outstanding pre-authorisation please contact us on 0800 052 3840.

If you or anyone associated with the booking have incurred any bank or credit card charges as a direct result of this issue then please respond to this email and we will send you a unique reference number and instructions on how to access securely a reimbursement form through our website. For security we will not send you any links. Please note that reimbursement for charges incurred will not be dealt with by telephone.

Once again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience or concern that this has caused.

Yours sincerely

Paul Ludlow

Senior Vice President, P&O Cruises

This is the email I received. Since we didn't incur any bank charges and didn't suffer any financial hardship. I can't see that I can make a claim for anything.

There was a name plate but no number, it might have been on the back but I didn't look. :D

 

Definitely no robes or slippers, we didn't ask. There was fruit, champagne and chocolates, all of which are way better.

 

Clearly I am a newbie when it comes to suites on cruise ships. :D

Next time you have a butler ask him for his number. You ring the number which pages him, put the phone down and he should call back. You should have rung reception and asked them to contact your butler.:D

I remember our first cruise with a butler. He hadn't left a laundry bag so I phoned him. He was a little put out because he was off duty. I said don't worry I'll ring reception and get someone else to bring it. He was at the door 5 minutes later.;) He turned out to be an excellent butler.

It's the fact that you are new that's the problem. I know lots of people are going to disagree (there are other threads if you search on Butler) but in my experience you have to ask for MDR menus and the Butlers certainly aren't keen to bring you a cooked breakfast - but do if you stand your ground. One Butler at the end of quite a long and expensive cruise actually said how nice it was that we were young and he didn't have to bother too much! On short cruises you may as well forget seeing much of a Butler - my husband thinks they treat it as a holiday [emoji849][emoji6] We did laugh because similar to a story someone else posted, this Butler was unavailable one day and we had a stand-in, we were gob smacked when he didn't just leave a tray but proceeded to lay a cloth on the table - obviously went to a different Butler school [emoji38]

 

I do think the lack of robe was most likely an oversight though. The Butler should have given you his (I've only seem men) number.

 

I've got an E deck suite in October and hope to get a good one! It does help to read up and know about the benefits, on Princess there is a good document detailing everything.

 

 

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Can I ask you your opinion? We have only been on the mid-sized ships never on the larger ships and we generally do long cruises. We have always had good butlers. Even one I considered not so good I'm beginning to wonder if he wasn't so bad after all.;) Reading PamelaElle's post I was really surprised that someone in a suite had such treatment. So do you think the butlers are different on the larger ships? I can see you think they are for the 3/4 day cruises and that's something I had wondered myself. I know one butler we had told us he hated the 'party cruises' as he called them.

Why is there no information about this in the suite I wonder? I was in one last week on Britannia and I thought we could only order the continental breakfast, a hot breakfast would have been nice. There were no robes or slippers in the suite either and the one time we wanted the butler we couldn't find any way of contacting him. First world problems though. The wrap-around balcony was fantastic and the fjords were stunning.

 

We've booked again for next year, I'm definitely ordering bacon and eggs!! :D

I'm surprised there were no robes or slippers in your suite. Didn't you ask the cabin steward about it? Wasn't there are name plate by your phone with the butler's name and his contact number?

We've done 2 World cruises on the Aurora. It's my favourite ship and probably the only ship I would consider for long cruises. In fact we have another long cruise already booked.:D