bee-ess Posted May 24, 2016 #101 Share Posted May 24, 2016 I am sure they are queuing up to work for P&O at their base in India. The wages are so much better than they get at home even though to us they will be poor. If I remove the auto tip, then I do it on Day one and use an envelope on the last day for my waiters and cabin steward. I have never found it a problem. The only time I left them on was when I had a large amount of OBC which I knew we would not use. What on earth would be the advantage of leaving them on until late in the cruise and then removing them? I would say that it is so that they don't get bad service throughout the trip and then pay what tip they want at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpio41 Posted May 24, 2016 #102 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Just get rid of tips and increase the fare. I said I thought this would be the best option earlier to stop all this negativity around the service charge. Do you think there is some kind of financial advantage to P&O by having the service charge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanlyon Posted May 24, 2016 #103 Share Posted May 24, 2016 I would say that it is so that they don't get bad service throughout the trip and then pay what tip they want at the end. I have never had bad service on a ship, whether I remove the tips or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bee-ess Posted May 24, 2016 #104 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Just looked back though my records and the 5 times that we have been on P&O since the auto tips started these are the amounts we have paid. We did not use P&O in 2015 so may be someone can fill in the increments between the £3.50 and £5.50. It seems quite a steep increase in % terms although still cheaper than the US lines July 2012 – 3.10 per day March 2013 - 3.10 per day July 2013 – 3.50 per day March 2014 – 3.50 per day May 2016 - 5.50 per day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balf Posted May 24, 2016 #105 Share Posted May 24, 2016 I What on earth would be the advantage of leaving them on until late in the cruise and then removing them? If they remove them at the start they think the staff will know and they want to ensure that they get the best service possible. Also, to avoid any embarrassment they avoid the dining room on the last evening and normally even avoid the room steward who you tend not to see at disembarkation. David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver surfer 2010 Posted May 24, 2016 #106 Share Posted May 24, 2016 We heard from a member of staff on our recent cruise that waiters in Freedom Dining don't get any of the auto tips and that is why they are rotated between the 2, trying to be fair. Personally we like to hand over the envelope, what happens after that is not our problem, we are satisfied that we have done our bit. This last cruise we split the tip 50/50 between the waiters and the cabin steward and everyone seemed happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanlyon Posted May 24, 2016 #107 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Yes that's exactly what we do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RJChatsworth Posted May 25, 2016 #108 Share Posted May 25, 2016 In today's Daily Mail (Page 45) there is a piece on tips. I quote: 'You are not expected to leave a tip every time you order a drink or eat a meal. P&O Cruises, for example, has a £5.50 per guest per day charge........The money will be split between the whole crew, including waiters and cabin stewards.' The 'whole crew'.........what the captain too?! I don't think I believe it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecttr Posted May 25, 2016 #109 Share Posted May 25, 2016 In today's Daily Mail (Page 45) there is a piece on tips. I quote: 'You are not expected to leave a tip every time you order a drink or eat a meal. P&O Cruises, for example, has a £5.50 per guest per day charge........The money will be split between the whole crew, including waiters and cabin stewards.' The 'whole crew'.........what the captain too?! I don't think I believe it! Does anyone believe anything they print in the daily wail? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteukmcr Posted May 25, 2016 #110 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Does anyone believe anything they print in the daily wail? :D Nope, shouldn't even be given shelf space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daiB Posted May 25, 2016 #111 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Nope, shouldn't even be given shelf space Glad we agree on something. Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom10 Posted May 25, 2016 #112 Share Posted May 25, 2016 There are that many different "rumours" and "what I have heard" with regards to who and if the staff are told that "tips/gratuities" are removed that I do not think anyone knows the whole truth. We returned from a Cunard cruise on Sunday and removed auto gratuities at beginning of the cruise and paid in cash in envelopes at the end of the cruise. We did not notice any decline in service from our waiters/steward so if they are told people remove auto gratuities there was no decline in service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanlyon Posted May 25, 2016 #113 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Exactly. And it's not the whole crew who get the tips, it's the waiters and the cabin steward, who sometimes share it with a helper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florry Posted May 25, 2016 #114 Share Posted May 25, 2016 (edited) I think that the concept that people avoid the MDR on the last day is a dated rumour that people seem to revel in. We have never eaten in MDR on the last night of any cruise in 15 years, and have always paid our tips in full. Some people just like to do something special on the last night of their holiday. Now freedom exists, waiters wouldn't be the same anyway - unless you turned up at the same time each night and got the same table by default. Let's move with the times and assume everyone who goes to reception takes their tips off and doesn't pay them, an equally ridiculous concept. Edited May 25, 2016 by Florry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mysticalmother Posted May 26, 2016 #115 Share Posted May 26, 2016 (edited) Received an email from P &O yesterday which included a link to what I think might be updated information on the "service charges" on their website. Hope this link works.... http://www.pocruises.com/explore/articles/news/valuing-great-service/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=explore_16maypp&utm_campaign=explore_newsletter&sisearchengine=536&siproduct=explore_newsletter&utm_content=rewardingservice Makes interesting reading imho Edited May 26, 2016 by Mysticalmother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RJChatsworth Posted May 26, 2016 #116 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Received an email from P &O yesterday which included a link to what I think might be updated information on the "service charges" on their website. Hope this link works.... http://www.pocruises.com/explore/articles/news/valuing-great-service/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=explore_16maypp&utm_campaign=explore_newsletter&sisearchengine=536&siproduct=explore_newsletter&utm_content=rewardingservice Makes interesting reading imho Very interesting indeed! I can't imagine anyone reading that could now believe it went just to the cabin steward and waiters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecttr Posted May 26, 2016 #117 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Well P&O are just repeating what they have already said on the subject, 100% of your daily £5.50 goes to the waiters/cabin stewards and associated staff. There is also an incentive scheme based on passenger nominations. Good enough for me, however!, how can P&O have a lower daily gratuity charge than other Carnival corp lines. Surely the ships running costs are somewhat similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanlyon Posted May 26, 2016 #118 Share Posted May 26, 2016 That link is very interesting. They have definitely changed the wording. It used to say that the grats went to the waiters and cabin steward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrierjohn Posted May 26, 2016 #119 Share Posted May 26, 2016 (edited) Well P&O are just repeating what they have already said on the subject, 100% of your daily £5.50 goes to the waiters/cabin stewards and associated staff. There is also an incentive scheme based on passenger nominations. Good enough for me, however!, how can P&O have a lower daily gratuity charge than other Carnival corp lines. Surely the ships running costs are somewhat similar? Correct Dave P&O's auto tip amount is well below most other main stream cruise lines which at current exchange rates are between £8 - £9 pppd. So unless P&O's base wage rates are higher than the others, one would expect that all P&O stewards and waiters would have their names down for a job on another line, which might account for them being far less friendly and happy. Edited May 26, 2016 by terrierjohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanlyon Posted May 26, 2016 #120 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Just to put it into context, Fred Olsen is £4.00 pppd. wonder if it's something to do with British passengers mostly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjohnboy32 Posted May 26, 2016 #121 Share Posted May 26, 2016 So I am going to remove the auto tip as we have two cabins for a family of 4. Just hope I don't come back the room one night with a horse's head on the pillow or a carefully placed curly black hair on the bed!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RJChatsworth Posted May 26, 2016 #122 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Correct Dave P&O's auto tip amount is well below most other main stream cruise lines which at current exchange rates are between £8 - £9 pppd.So unless P&O's base wage rates are higher than the others, one would expect that all P&O stewards and waiters would have their names down for a job on another line, which might account for them being far less friendly and happy. I would have expected, perhaps wrongly, that the basic wage of respective grades on all Carnival cruise lines i.e. P&O, Princess and Cunard etc were similar, but they can get away with recovering more on some lines because they operate largely in areas where the passengers are used to higher levels of tipping. I wonder what other readers think. In the old days of QE2 a waiter told me their wages were consistent with the GDP of the country from where they came. This meant that a German waiter, for example, earned more than a waiter from Goa, but back at home the buying power of the money they each earned was the same. With the ships now registered in Bermuda I doubt whether this is still the case and perhaps it is all based on Bermuda law, whatever that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insanemagnet Posted May 26, 2016 #123 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Where the ship is registered will have no impact at all on staff wages. The wages will simply be determined by a "what do we need to pay to get staff" calculation. As for the level of the Service Charge in comparison to other lines, Americans can be persuaded by their high tipping culture to pay more, British people less. It will have nothing to do with the amount the staff receive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bee-ess Posted May 26, 2016 #124 Share Posted May 26, 2016 So I am going to remove the auto tip as we have two cabins for a family of 4. Just hope I don't come back the room one night with a horse's head on the pillow or a carefully placed curly black hair on the bed!!! I would hide your toothbrushes when you leave the cabin !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom10 Posted May 26, 2016 #125 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Where the ship is registered will have no impact at all on staff wages. The wages will simply be determined by a "what do we need to pay to get staff" calculation. As for the level of the Service Charge in comparison to other lines, Americans can be persuaded by their high tipping culture to pay more, British people less. It will have nothing to do with the amount the staff receive. It does have an affect on staff wages where the ship is registered. Commodore Christopher Rynd was asked only last week why Queen Victoria was registered in Bermuda and his reply was for 2 reasons. One was so that all Cunard ships can offer weddings which they cannot if registered in the UK and secondly more important, his words not mine, so they can compete in the world without the shackles of UK/Euro laws i.e. level of wages paid to staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now