sparky43

Three or four years ago, there were two couples on our table who made no secret of the fact that they had cancelled the automatic tips and would be giving "a few dollars" to their cabin attendant!!! That was based on the tipping culture in their own country and that's what they were following, not the culture in the country/countries they were visiting. I think one of the reasons that auto-tipping on P&O arouses such passions is that P&O sadly does not have the usual international passenger mix, drawing some 95% of its passengers from the UK and Ireland.

I think you have a good point there. I think Brits are getting better at tipping but it is not something I am comfortable with.

I suppose the question might be -would you have been happy to pay ~£1200 more for your cruise? if P&O marketed the cruise with Gratuities included.

It would obviously work out the same for you but would you have had second thoughts on booking it.

 

When I look at Thomson A!&Grats I subtract those calculated at other lines rates from the price asked and compare that with similar cruises. Have to say I much prefer it all to be included and that way you dont have to worry whether the staff are stiffed or not as it is totally out of your control (some will say as it is with P&O)

One can then give real tips to anyone who provides you with an extra service in the knowledge that it will not be taken off them and maybe allocated to someone else on another ship.

 

There is an article here on tipping but as usual there is no date on it. Surprisingly no comments either.

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=261

I think I would prefer that the gratuities are included providing the cruise line published how much and how it was divided up with the crew. I have cruised for many years and have always found the "tipping" to be a worry I.e who to tip, how much to give etc. I feel uncomfortable rewarding some select people like cabin stewards and waiters but not anyone else. Yet there are hundreds of crew who do a good job and probably get paid less than stewards or waiters. I have tipped both ways i.e auto and cash but feel that whatever I do underneath there is always that suspicion that it is P&O "stiffing" the crew and not the passengers. Would I notice a price rise if they were included, probably but I would still book the cruise. I

We've done 105nights kept the auto-tips on and still gave extra to our waiters, cabin steward, butler and others. I really do get a little tired of these threads with people continually finding reasons why they shouldn't pay gratuities. Either pay up or stop cruising.

Rather a rude and patronising answer. Stop assuming that just because people discuss the issues on auto gratuities they do not want to reward staff. On the contrary if you had read the posts you will see that nowhere have I personally said I would not pay. BUT I am not happy paying large amounts of money to P & O if they do not ensure the staff are rewarded. If you are tired of the posts them stop reading them

Just to add, that £1.2mil does seem a lot over 99 days, but if you then break that down to a weekly figure, and then split the figure by the number of crew in the tip pool, the actual sum per person is only around £400 per week (back of a fag packet calculation). This does not seem excessive to me, given the hours worked.

However, I would still prefer to see the tips incorporated in the fare, so the the 99 day cruise was £1200 more expensive.

 

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£400 per week on top of their wages!!!

Or alternatively, cancel auto gratuities and tip with cash directly then you know where your money has gone.

BTW I know its a long cruise but handing over that amount in tips is daunting.

Very daunting! Did think about asking for discount!!!

So, my 99 night cruise in January will cost me an extra £1118 in auto gratuities and I am not sure that I can trust P&O to distribute this fairly amongst the crew. Has anyone ever counted exactly how much one ship rakes in every week on auto gratuities. The amount is eye watering and yet we cannot find out from P&O, Carnival , whoever, what they do with all of this money. Just imagine if a lot of the staff do not reach the "excellent" mark. They would not get their share . Do you think P&O would donate the excess to Charity? No, I doubt it more like pay a bonus to their executives. Last year the UK Government investigated tipping in the service industries and I am sure they put a stop to big companies STEALING the tips/gratuities from their staff. Some of the comments on here seem to presume that people who remove auto tips are some sort of second class cruiser or a cheap skate. What I choose to do is my business but my conscience would NOT allow me to hand over that amount of money without trying to ascertain if the staff do actually receive it. Maybe I should take my cheque book and write a cheque for the cabin steward or get their bank details and so a quick transfer?? Shareholders please do a bit of agitating to get P&O to set up a transparent system

The more I read about tipping the more I realise that most of us cruisers are being duped by one of the biggest companies in the UK. P&O clearly find it difficult to be open and transparent about their practises in relation to their staff and indeed their customers. I am appalled that P&O allocate tips as a "bonus" based on whether the staff have achieved an "excellent" grading. Individual customers personalities are so diverse that some people will love their cabin steward/waiter and others may not like them as much, so completing questionnaires about the service could be ambiguous. Many years ago this system was used as a reward for staff who were then (on some ships) given an extra day off as a reward for good service but this was at the expense of the cruise line. Not extra from the passengers. I am also appalled that P&O can get away with using money given by passengers, whether auto or cash for bonuses based on THEIR decisions to who is the most deserving. Absolute fraud and mishandling of their passengers money. How do they get away with it?

What a nice person you are .. ummmmmm. For the record and as I noted in my original post, I passed on a comment from a friend who had receive £2000 back for their awful cruise, their words not mine as I wasn't on the cruise. Yes, I got the destination wrong but as you will see in this thread, I corrected it on the 4th post. What a shame that you that you were so embarrassed with my slight error. I do hope you get over it and not cringing anymore.

Bal

I don't think you need to justify a slight error. Let's face it we all make mistakes although I do believe that some posters think they are perfect. I have only recently joined this site and thought I would get some constructive and useful information from people such as yourself but it seems that any mistake or difference of opinion is greeted with some form of sarcasm. I appreciated your post as I am going on Arcadia in January so any information about the ship, good or bad is very useful. Thank you

Yes we don't make a fuss we do it because it is doing right for the deserving crew.

Wow! well done for being so thoughtful. Clearly you can afford another £12 a day added to your holiday. However, many people cannot and object to having to supplement the wages for the crew. If I choose to holiday in a Hotel in London for example I would not expect to pay an additional £12 a day to the hotel staff so why should Cruises be any different? Gratuities are for good service not to be used as a supplement for the crews wages and then used as a form of emotional blackmail against those people who do not wish to participate in this P&O company rip off.

I presume your comment was aimed at me? If it was then refer directly if you don't mind, for your information disabilities aren't always as obvious as you may think, although wheelchairs/scooters are normally a good indication many people can suffer and be less able, my wife suffers from scoliosis - has a metal rod in her back and suffers chronic pain at times, she's relatively young and you may not even be aware of her disability at first sight so should those who suffer all wear a big badge? Cruise ships are becoming over run at times with wheelchairs and scooters and it's an issue that needs addressing, maybe putting in extra lifts may be an answer or even limiting the number of passengers with mobility issues onboard at any one time, who knows? I stand by my point about waiting in line for lifts though, you can't force able bodied passengers to use the stairs all week if the ships overrun with chairs and scooters.

I agree. My husband is disabled from motorbike accident. He has one arm, breathing problems and a brain injury that leaves him confused and memory loss. He looks absolutely fine and thankfully he is reasonably mobile. Any reference to a disability assumes a person is wheelchair bound but disabilities take so many forms the ship may have to set specific criteria if they had special lifts for disabled. That would cause complaints re equal access etc. In my experience most people respect the needs of a wheelchair user or anyone who needs a mobility aid but maybe that's just my assumption. I get a bit cross when some people in wheelchairs/mobility scooters assume they have more rights than the able bodied and charge around with little thought for fellow passengers. Mutual respect is what is required not special lifts. Personally I use the stairs so that I can burn off a few calories before the next round of food.

Can I suggest that new posters first revisit other tipping threads, where these questions have been debated at length.

 

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You can suggest as often as you wish but people can choose which boards they can contribute to. You do not have to contribute or read these posts if you find the questions by new posters tiresome or tedious.

Thats what my wife said to me when i was posting this post and it sounds a good idea.

Good idea and a constructive answer to a question. Thank you. And I had no intention of "stiffing " the crew as some people insinuate.

Oh dear! Looks like I am going to have to find nearly a thousand pounds extra for my 99 night cruise in January. Any discount on the gratuities for a long cruise?? That amount may be OK for the lucky people that can afford to cruise several times. But, many people, especially older people may well have spent years saving to go on a once in a lifetime trip and then find they have to find a lot more extra money and then feel guilty if they decide to opt out and tip "what they can afford" . All cruise lines should sort out this unpopular system. At the moment I have no idea what to do. To tip or not to tip, "that is the question" I will decide on the day I start the cruise and depending how much I have left in my piggy bank and on the service I receive over several weeks.

If the stewards are so poorly paid how can they afford to pay for an assistant?