AnOnymously

many people speed on the roads or drive using hand held mobile phones without getting caught. But some, probably a small percentage, do get caught. One can regard that as a risk worth taking or believe that standing the risk of being caught is not worth the risk. I guess that will be true with this policy. Do you want to be the one that is caught?

LOL - that is this posters MO regularly here on CC, I have found.

 

Bon voyage

But how else is there to interpret this phrase

When anger is inherent in the review it subtracts from the credibility of the review and hints at other issues than the food

which was the one used unless it means that poster is being less than honest and is not just complaining just about the food. Yes they were that is what they said. How on earth can someone make that statement about someone else without impugning their integrity.

Glad that nancyshaw commented again on how bad the food is on Celebrity. How many times do we have to hear the same story. I think we get the point that she and Doug and Cindy do not like X. I have not cancelled my next cruises. I guess I will go and enjoy myself along with the many other fellow cruisers. I board in 17 days. Hopefully X will still be in business.

Glad you told us again how much you like Celebrity, sorry you find it hard to hear that not everybody agrees with you and dares to post that several times as you and others post several times how much you enjoy them.

There is a lot to be said that those in suites pay more pppn in gratuities than balcony and inside cabins. Why should a percentage of my gratuity go to butlers when I dont use one let those that have butlers pay extra gratuities. It works on most other cruise lines where there is a sliding scale of prices depending in what standard of cabin you are in.

Sounds good to me.

In YOUR opinion, the food is not better in Blu. Doesn’t make it a fact, no matter how many times you repeat it. Obviously, there are many who disagree with you. Nobody is right or wrong; it’s just an opinion.

And you manage to ignore or quote to offer some fairness to your comment that I was posting against this fairly absolute statement

Celeb food is not inedible, to get better food than you get in the regular MDR, pay for suite or aqua class.

 

MDR used to be good but now needs to be less than to justify paying for a suite. That is just the class structure Celeb now encourages. It is something to come to terms with. Want better, you have to pay for it

We always carry photo copies with us.

I was in a hotel once where a certain county always booked sunbeds fairly early in the morning and left them all day.

On the last day of our holiday we left after the towels had gone down, but before occupation.

The guilty towel placers came down after we had left to discover several dozen towels in a heap in a corner. Never did find out who did it:rolleyes:, but I would have loved to be a fly on the wall!!! I would not do such a thing!:halo:

The OP of this thread and several others who have posted negative opinions about the food on X in the MDR, Blu, or OVC seem to state those opinions as undeniable absolutes. Some have posted those opinions repeatedly across various threads with a seeming vendetta. People have widely differing opinions. My DH and I can both taste the same dish from the same plate at the same time and one of us might love it and the other will hate it. He won't eat fish unless it's a choice of fish or nothing. I enjoy it. I think it's helpful to hear both sides, but posters should keep in mind that not everyone will agree, nor should they offer opinions that indicate that anyone who might think differently has no palate. When I have eaten in a restaurant on a consistent basis and know the quality and then read something like "inedible" I have to question the review. If on the other hand the reviewer gives specifics about the meal they had and why they didn't care for it, the review tells more. When anger is inherent in the review it subtracts from the credibility of the review and hints at other issues than the food. Of course, that is only my opinion.;)

And some people insist on posting their likes across many threads and complaining about people who express their opinions which happen to be different.

I think readers are entitled to both opinions good and bad and as you keep posting what you think is relevant, so will I. I had those experiences with Celebrity and I do wonder why people are willing to pay for something that I found below par for the price. That may be minority opinion on here but that is not surprising is it, when there is always an outcry when someone posts negative comments, like the ones that started this thread, with their integrity being impugned with comments like

When anger is inherent in the review it subtracts from the credibility of the review and hints at other issues than the food

not for better quality food...just better prepared, as in pretty much plated to order vs the MDR where they put 20 plates on the table and the waiter picks the one he wants. The food in Blu is also generally served hotter (as in heat) since it pretty much goes from grill to you without sitting under a heat lamp. Finally, the atmosphere is very different....you get more personalized service. Blu is definitely worth paying a bit extra....how much extra is debatable but the overall dining experience is better in Blu vs the MDR. Fianlly, don't discount a full breakfast without a hassle....that may be worth more than the dinner experience.

Worst breakfast I ever had on any ship was in BLU, it was dreadful, went once and never again.

It really does beat me why people are willing to pay much more, except the snob value of being seen to be in a better class.

Rather than saying Celeb food is inedible, I would say that if you want better food, you need to book Suites or Aqua. Just stands to reason , if Suites dining was the same as regular MDR why would anyone pay the much higher rate.

 

Besides, food in the OVC for dinner was very good. If we sail Celeb in the future, we know that once we try the MDR several times and if we again find we cant eat what they serve us (inedible), on the Eclipse the Grill in the OVC is wonderful. Not so on the Infinity, there the Grill was also awful but that is partly my fault. When I saw that things were pre grilled I should have asked for a fresh piece so I could have had some control on how it was prepared.

 

Because of the MDR and some other issues, instead of paying suite prices, we have decided to try another line. Viking O to be exact. Yes paying less than Suite prices for a similar itinerary, balcony with all kinds of inclusive perks.

 

Not sure yet if we would give up Celeb for a long time, just for the immediate future.

 

Celeb food is not inedible, to get better food than you get in the regular MDR, pay for suite or aqua class.

 

MDR used to be good but now needs to be less than to justify paying for a suite. That is just the class structure Celeb now encourages. It is something to come to terms with. Want better, you have to pay for it.

But the food is NOT better in BLU, the best two meals I had were not BLU food but from the MDR menu, and it bneats me, having experienced BLU why people do keep paying more in Aqua.

I am not by any means a lawyer, but having read all the stuff seems to me that it would be difficult for cruise lines to advertise and not break the law on clarity without all compulsory prices being included. It is easier for a restaurant it has a menu, all the time and can poiint things out verbally, a cruise line is not in that position.

Well that doesn’t seem to apply to resteraunts and what about resort charges/taxes applied in many eu countries where customers are not even aware of them until they arrive at the hotel. In America you can make a purchase at the ticket price but when you pay there is a state tax on top. Yes they may appear at the bottom of the menu or on a booking form in small print, but it clearly would not be added to the advertised price or to the menu price.

People do break the rules, but in the case of a restaurant adding a service charge, I think that if you said you would not pay it you would find it removed.

Edit to add...though Which does say that if you are informed about it, you can only refuse to pay because of poor service.

Edit to add further....that it looks as though things are under review

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3568670/Death-knell-restaurant-service-charge-Diners-choice-tipping.html

Wouldn’t affect the cruise price, any more than it would a resteraunt menu item. It would appear in the contract, and how many read that. As has been stated many times here it’s the lead price that most read. This from Which-

 

“Some restaurants add a compulsory service charge to your bill, and others leave it to your discretion. In essence you have the right to refuse to pay the service charge in either circumstance if the service falls below a reasonable standard.

If a service charge is compulsory, the restaurant must make this clear before you eat. For example, by stating this on menus it has in the window or by telling you verbally”

If the restaurant fails to do so, then you can argue that the compulsory service charge does not form part of your contract.

DAVID

From the Advertising Standards Authority

Rule 3.18 of the CAP Code states that "quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers.

https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/compulsory-costs-and-charges-vat.html

On Constellation last year and we just got on the tender, no tickets at all.

I have always complained that the one breakfast I ate in Blu was dreadful, that the dinners in BLU were not a lot to write home about, and that the best evening meals in BLU were from the MDR menu.

But that did mean that on the whole the food was, at times, slightly better than some of the non-luxury lines I have been on, but mostly on a par with them. That just meant for me the food was expensively reasonable.

They cannot.

 

If they charges a mandatory service charge it becomes part of the fare and has to be included in the headline price. At that stage it stops being a service charge.

Agreed, except that it can still be a service charge added to the c

basic price, but included in the tit al upfront price, so the shown price includes a service charge.

I see what you are saying there. You could adjust it to zero but you would have to go to reception to do so like we do now. This would possibly just make the ques a bit shorter. One day they may decide to include tips in the fare, or even give you the option to include it in the fare. You never know :)

Sam.

Why make one go to reception and stand in a queue, it should be adjustable anyway on the TV.

Afternoon everyone. I love reading about gratuities on forums, always interesting to read other peoples reactions and points of view! So, here is mine. I know it'll never happen but what if P&O started at a base rate for auto tips at, for example £5, and then it was up to the passenger to raise or lower the amount as they see fit. P&O could set a minimum maybe so that it couldn't be zero. If you feel the staff really do go above and beyond then you can raise the amount as you see fit. In an ideal world you could do this on the in cabin tv so no waiting at reception unless you wanted to go back to tipping the old (and still much used) way.

I do agree that it would be useful to include the tips in the price or maybe somehow add them to the cruise personaliser to pay at a date before you sail.

Sam.

If they could not be adjusted to zero then there is a compulsory element to it, once there is a compulsory element, then the price HAS to be reflected in the cruise price, if the contract is being enacted by any UK agent, by law.

Looks like a RESULT!

Had this from PO regarding that infamous letter

I can confirm we do not send anything to the cabins asking you to change your mind. It is entirely your choice if you wish to remove or amend the gratuities, please visit reception at the start of your cruise where they will have a form for you to complete.

or is it the left hand not knowing what the right is doing?

Hope not.

Anyone had one since that first fatal batch?

Yes but not all of it P&O have failed to answer honestly to my questions and too many more people who have asked what happens to the money that is not given to staff because they have not received a high enough standard on the customer questionnaire or are under disciplinary.

For me there are a couple of issues

1. That PO say that cash tips staff can keep, yet they know that many people remove AG and tip in cash, so if there is no record of that some people do get more from the system than others. Why do PO not ask for all tips to be pooled and taken account of when sharing out AG. Seems PO don't care about the unfairness to staff.

2. Why do they therefore not go back to just having cash tips. Some say they were introduced because of changes in dining, but as things are they will get less, see my point above, which still makes this unfair.

And just to add that they maintain that the majority of customers prefer this system, do not present any facts for that, and also seem not to account for those who do want to just reduce their costs and remove AG and would hate for it to be included in an upfront cost.

But I do think that there might be some tax advantages for PO this way and so is beneficial, but I am also sure that creative accounting could also play a part. Perhaps they do not increase these staff wages, they just put up the AG instead. Yes, staff gets it all, but PO's wages bill does not rise as much as it could if they paid the increase in wages.

Thanks for the heads up.

Booked for next year and first time for me on PO, so just for my interest, people keep talking about envelopes. Does that really mean envelopes, do people take them with them or do PO still provide them? When I have tipped in cash, I have always just planted it in their palm with my goodbye handshake.

I am sure if all the captains complained, there would be change. They are not just paid employees like the cabin stewards, they are charged in law to have the ultimate responsibility for that ship, its crew and passengers.

It will be interesting to see if you get a letter given that you will presumably say that you prefer to pay in cash, as you always do.

 

Perhaps by then they will have realised that the letters are a counterproductive waste of paper.

 

Leaving open letters is presumably supposed to shame people into putting the tips back on. Those who pay in cash will still do so. Those who never had any intention of paying tips (and they don’t have to) will not relent because of this.

 

Want to start a sweet stake on how long it will take for them to add the tips onto the initial price if auto tip removals continue to rise.

Depends on what sweet you were thinking about:o:')

I launched the poll on this question, but it does seem to have moved on with this form of shame if one does not pay AG.

Has anyone contacted PO to complain and if so what reply?

Just one thing from earlier in the thread, PO will have to include any new AG into the basic price if they want to make it mandatory. Offering a cruise with one price tag and then adding would be illegal in UK and maybe any of Europe. So it is as is or included.