balf

Given your son's medical woes,even if you all make it to the departure port, the cruise line has the right to have a medical evaluation done by the ship's physician to determine if your son is fit to cruise.

 

While there is a physician on board ship and a medical care facility, the type of medical assistance your son may need probably could not be provided.

And the NHS care ceases on embarkation.

DAVID.

Try this strategy.

1) cancel tips.

2) always mark staff survey excellent. Costs nothing and do we really want any member of staff however bad to become unemployable.

3) tip in cash as you think fit.

I find it somewhat tacky for P&O to expect passsengers to do their job for them. Worse even as those “how did we do emails”

David

It’s a freebie. Use and be thankful..

David

Thank you Roscoe. Last year I ordered the 50 gr. caviar for embarkation but, it was such a paltry amount, just a few miniscule dollops on some tiny crackers.

 

Jonathan

 

 

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And it wasn’t even proper caviar.

DAVID.

We are both 59 and have been insured with Avia for a number of years so dont know if loyalty brings the price down.

Usually the opposite.

David

If you are referring to my post then it is not a basic policy and have had it for a number of years and have asked on the phone if it covers all aspects of cruising i.e. helilift in medical emergency and was told it covers all aspects of cruising up to maximum amounts as in all policies. Does not cover for missed ports or cabin confinement but didnt want that anyway.

Never rely on assurances given over the phone. Everyone needs to read the insurance contract carefully. Having said that Aviva are not a cowboy company but you should check via paper docs.

DAVID

You never know the price of insurance till you make a claim.

DAVID

 

There are plenty of instances when the official advice in an incident of 'take your time and don't rush' has been proved to be completely wrong. Only recently the long standing advice from the Fire authorities for fires in high rise buildings of 'stay put until rescued' has been changed to 'get the hell out NOW'.

Very good point, and it is so often the case that people have to lose their lives to force change. No one knows what would happen in a real emergency when passengers are sitting in comfort in a theatre and panic breaks out. And does anyone really think that an aircraft can be emptied in 90 seconds as demonstrated in official tests using primed young fit people, of which there are not many among cruise passengers.

David

Agreed. However all one wishes is clarity of the new wording and confirmation of an enforcement policy.

 

.

Enforcement policy? you may have a long wait.

DAVID

Then he should explain himself better. We all know it's Hackleback or similar(hopefully NOT Paddlefish roe) If in QG, you can ask if they have a higher brand of Caviar. They might.

Sadly, British irony doesn’t always make it crossing the pond.

I don’t suppose the word “Hackleback” appears anywhere on the menu?

DAVID.

Well what we can’t understand is why they wouldn’t swap our cabin with someone who has bought the same grade cabin as us, but has asked for a twin bed configuration with non fixed beds. (So beds could be pushed together)

Like I’ve said before, if we are stuck with this room then that’s fine, I just want to exhaust every possibility of getting a better cabin before giving up.

 

 

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I think it’s been pointed out here that no cruise can sail with every cabin occupied. Disasters can happen to make cabins unoccupiable so they have to keep some in reserve. I would suggest asking to see the Hotel Manager as soon as you board. From personal experience this has worked for us in the past.

DAVID.

Well it certainly isn’t Beluga, so Toad may have a point.

David

Back before tips became gratuities and American culture became ingrained into ours without us even noticing they were just that, a little extra given for good service. Now tips are regarded as part payment of staff wages in most, but not all of the hotel and resteraunt industry. Put simply, we have been conned and it does seem sad to me to hear people talking about being willing to pay whatever is imposed by a cruise line.

This does seem to be a largely British trend when looking at tipping culture in other countries.

DAVID

As long as the CS does his job properly we will always give them a 10.

 

 

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Yes, probably most passengers will particularly if they have had the standard “please mark excellent” chat with waiters and stewards.

Why? It doesn’t cost them anything.

DAVID

BIL had his car stolen off his drive just after he had a vasectomy.

 

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Happens to me all the time.

DAVID.

Do I get the impression the tide is turning?

David

[quote=daiB;55945327)

I am very happy with my position and very unlikely to change it. BTW the more I am pushed the more I know I am getting it right.

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Sorry you missed last evenings short lived thread dai, you would have found it enlightening.

DAVID

Sorry David but even if there were 100 people watching this and all agreed with you and stopped auto tipping it would have no effect given there must be well over 500,000 cruisers per year use P&O.

 

In all a useless exercise apart from those who do not want to tip.

 

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I don’t think it would take 5k to bring about a change. If everyone who posts and the probably much greater numbers of observers who would prefer the tips on fare system all expressed their reason for not paying,notice at least would be taken.

A tiny minority of women changed the UK electoral system, though I’m not advocating anyone throwing themselves in front of the 3.15 at Doncaster.............though come to think of it.

DAVID

I would prefer it if P&O added a fixed service charge onto the cruise price but until then i will continue to pay the autotip and give extra cash tips too.

 

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Unfortunately if you do they won’t.

David

I never quite understood the increase in tax liability. Surely tax is based on profit.

 

If service charge is mandatory then it is part of the fare and must be advertised as such. If not, then it cannot form part of staff's base remuneration. It can only be regarded as a variable bonus which will depend on the generosity of guests on a particular sailing and collective staff performance. If it is not mandatory then it is discretionary and nobody needs to lose sleep over whether other guests pay the service charge or give tips.

The ones who don’t pay probably get the best nights sleep.

David

I don't get the Blues I just leave the auto tip on and get on with enjoying the cruise

 

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And that’s the whole problem, things won’t change while people continue to pay the tips on the present grosley unfair system even while they would prefer for them to added to the fare.

Stop paying them and inform P&O the reason for you doing so. Better than getting in to pointless arguments here that are obviously getting to you.

DAVID.

I think there a few barroom lawyers here so to be specific let’s look at how Carnival handles another possible charge namely fuel supplement.

(d) Cruise Fare does not include fuel supplement charges, security surcharges, or similar incidental surcharges (“surcharges”); Carnival reserves the right to impose or pass any of thesesurchargesandnorightofcancellationshallbeimplied. “Fuelsupplement”shallmean any additional charge to defray a portion of Carnival’s fuel costs. The amount of fuel supplements and government fees and taxes collected are subject to change. Carnival reserves the right to charge a fuel supplement of up to $9.00 USD, or its equivalent in foreign currency, per person per day, without prior notice, in the event that the price of light sweet crude oil according to the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange Index) is greater than $70.00 USD per barrel of oil. Carnival may collect any fuel supplement in effect at the time

of sailing, even if the cruise fare has been paid in full.

Note as specifically stated this will not be added to the fare. So any additional charges are not likely to affect the advertised fare.

DAVID.

From the Advertising Standards Authority

 

 

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

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.

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.

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

They could certainly charge a MANDITORY service charge of £5 or whatever. That would then be regarded as the norm be most passengers. However if they wished to collect the maximum they could equally make this any figure they wished though what effect this would have on bookings is the whole point. We don’t know how many passengers book without any intention of paying any tips.

DAVID