P&O reduce prices/refunds

[FangedRose]

22 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

E

You don't have to go down on first day to cancel gratuities you can do it anytime during the cruise and there are no forms to fill in they fill in form and you just sign it.

Maybe it was a different cruise line I'm thinking of. I remember talking to tablemates who were sitting in the atrium, near reception, filling in a form to remove gratuities. 

 

Different cruise lines, different procedures.

[terrierjohn]

26 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

Maybe it was a different cruise line I'm thinking of. I remember talking to tablemates who were sitting in the atrium, near reception, filling in a form to remove gratuities. 

 

Different cruise lines, different procedures.

That was P&O before they did away with separate gratuities.

[FangedRose]

27 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

That was P&O before they did away with separate gratuities.

Thought it was P&O but not entirely sure.

[CarlaMarie]

8 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Thought it was P&O but not entirely sure.

 

When P&O started adding the gratuities for you to your account at a daily rate, which I think was around £7 pp if I recall, you could go down to reception and request the form to remove them. On the form you had the option to remove the gratiities entirely, reduce the daily rate you would be willing to pay, state a total sum you would pay, and even stipulate that you would rather tip in person. You then had to sign it and pop it back to reception.

 

There used to be quite a queue for these forms as nobody knew where the gratuities would actually be going at the time.

Edited September 25, 2023 by CarlaMarie

[Fionboard]

14 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

When P&O started adding the gratuities for you to your account at a daily rate, which I think was around £7 pp if I recall, you could go down to reception and request the form to remove them. On the form you had the option to remove the gratiities entirely, reduce the daily rate you would be willing to pay, state a total sum you would pay, and even stipulate that you would rather tip in person. You then had to sign it and pop it back to reception.

 

There used to be quite a queue for these forms as nobody knew where the gratuities would actually be going at the time.

Straight into P&O bank account, going by comments I heard from some crew members in those days. Always tipped direct and still do. They appreciate it. 

[majortom10]

31 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Straight into P&O bank account, going by comments I heard from some crew members in those days. Always tipped direct and still do. They appreciate it. 

I am sure they will appreciate it because you are actually paying tips twice once included in cruise fare and once in cash.

[FangedRose]

52 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

When P&O started adding the gratuities for you to your account at a daily rate, which I think was around £7 pp if I recall, you could go down to reception and request the form to remove them. On the form you had the option to remove the gratiities entirely, reduce the daily rate you would be willing to pay, state a total sum you would pay, and even stipulate that you would rather tip in person. You then had to sign it and pop it back to reception.

 

There used to be quite a queue for these forms as nobody knew where the gratuities would actually be going at the time.

Yes, that's what I remember.

[CarlaMarie]

13 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Straight into P&O bank account, going by comments I heard from some crew members in those days. Always tipped direct and still do. They appreciate it. 

 

Yes that's what we did and still do. When the auto grats first came about my Dad spoke to our cabin steward and waiters to let them know he would rather carry on like normal and tip in person and they were very appreciative. 

[Bill Y]

48 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

When P&O started adding the gratuities for you to your account at a daily rate, which I think was around £7 pp if I recall, you could go down to reception and request the form to remove them. On the form you had the option to remove the gratiities entirely, reduce the daily rate you would be willing to pay, state a total sum you would pay, and even stipulate that you would rather tip in person. You then had to sign it and pop it back to reception.

 

There used to be quite a queue for these forms as nobody knew where the gratuities would actually be going at the time.

Ten years ago they were £3 plus PPPN, cheaper than princess and there was little talk of people not paying although some used envelopes. By the time they were abolished they had doubled and there was talk on CC that very few were paying then anyway, but the people claiming this always stressed that they paid them and tipped on top. When the abolition was announced it was only implemented on new bookings, on our last P&O cruise pre covid in 2019 auto gratuities were still collected.

[ParisHilton]

My wife is on the phone to an agent at a cruise agency and they are very forcefully saying you don't have to pay for gratuities. I'm not liking her.

[Megabear2]

Just now, ParisHilton said:

My wife is on the phone to an agent at a cruise agency and they are very forcefully saying you don't have to pay for gratuities. I'm not liking her.

What your wife!!!??

[ParisHilton]

3 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

What your wife!!!??

That's a whole other story!

[Fionboard]

8 hours ago, majortom10 said:

I am sure they will appreciate it because you are actually paying tips twice once included in cruise fare and once in cash.

Yes, but I like to know it is in their pockets! Not sure they get what's included in the cruise price. They deserve it.

[Fionboard]

8 hours ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

Yes that's what we did and still do. When the auto grats first came about my Dad spoke to our cabin steward and waiters to let them know he would rather carry on like normal and tip in person and they were very appreciative. 

Cabin stewards were desperate to get excellent on the questionnaires or they did not get the full gratuities.  

[FangedRose]

1 minute ago, Fionboard said:

Cabin stewards were desperate to get excellent on the questionnaires or they did not get the full gratuities.  

I remember being asked by a cabin steward to mark him excellent. So i immediately deducted one star. Instead of doing his job properly (which would have got him at least 4 stars) he was badgering the guests to fill the form in "properly". I made sure I put the form in the box in reception, instead of leaving it my cabin, as I didn't quite trust him!

[Fionboard]

Just now, FangedRose said:

I remember being asked by a cabin steward to mark him excellent. So i immediately deducted one star. Instead of doing his job properly (which would have got him at least 4 stars) he was badgering the guests to fill the form in "properly". I made sure I put the form in the box in reception, instead of leaving it my cabin, as I didn't quite trust him!

Proves my point!

[FangedRose]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Proves my point!

Not quite. It proves it was a tick box exercise. The steward was more interested in getting ratings, not by doing his job properly, but by guilt tripping the guests.

[GSPG]

Yes I know P&O (and other cruise lines) lines are cutting everything, EVERYTHING to the bone, but I can’t believe for 1 minute they are not passing on each cabin’s gratuity.

If they did, there would not be any staff, why would they work?

It needs an undercover operation to find out, report on Panorama or whatever.

 

In addition, we see more staff carrying out other duties around the ship, they’ll be appearing in the Headliners next.

There must be incentive for the staff to stay?

[davecttr]

13 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Cabin stewards were desperate to get excellent on the questionnaires or they did not get the full gratuities.  

Yes, and in my case I was confined to my cabin with Norovirus and suffering stomach cramps. The idiot steward knocked once and burst in waiving the form about. I told him to leave in VERY colourfull language. Guess what marking he got.

[Fionboard]

1 hour ago, GSPG said:

Yes I know P&O (and other cruise lines) lines are cutting everything, EVERYTHING to the bone, but I can’t believe for 1 minute they are not passing on each cabin’s gratuity.

If they did, there would not be any staff, why would they work?

It needs an undercover operation to find out, report on Panorama or whatever.

 

In addition, we see more staff carrying out other duties around the ship, they’ll be appearing in the Headliners next.

There must be incentive for the staff to stay?

No jobs in their home countries and no benefits like we have. Many have families at home they need to provide for. 

[Fionboard]

12 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Not quite. It proves it was a tick box exercise. The steward was more interested in getting ratings, not by doing his job properly, but by guilt tripping the guests.

Exactly. Ratings were all important. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, GSPG said:

Yes I know P&O (and other cruise lines) lines are cutting everything, EVERYTHING to the bone, but I can’t believe for 1 minute they are not passing on each cabin’s gratuity.

If they did, there would not be any staff, why would they work?

It needs an undercover operation to find out, report on Panorama or whatever.

 

In addition, we see more staff carrying out other duties around the ship, they’ll be appearing in the Headliners next.

There must be incentive for the staff to stay?

It's possible that they cannot get a US visa to enable them to work on US cruise lines?

[ParisHilton]

56 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Exactly. Ratings were all important. 

Ratings seem to drive a lot of things these days.  It's the dangerous game of setting targets. It works for management as they can lazily see who is hitting the targets. But when it becomes more 'profitable' for staff to hit targets than do a good job then you have problems.

Obviously good management have targets that can only be hit by doing a good job, not sure how often those are there.

 

Anecdotal story from one of my first jobs. My boss said he used to run a call centre and the metric was on how many rings before they picked up. They realised that NOT picking up was better than picking up late. Thus driving bad customer experience!

[ParisHilton]

Also, and not casting any aspertions. I assume cash in an envelope doesn't always go via the taxman, whereas paid via the company does. And goes toward minimum wage requirements.

Hard to know if it's fairer as there must be 'unseen' staff that benefit from these tips.

I had a conversation with the laundry manager at one point on our cruise, really helpful chap, but couldn't tip him (though I confess I could have tried harder).  There are jokes in my family about how well I know the guest services team too.....

[ParisHilton]

Just want to say thanks for all the advice. 

We've taken the plunge and booked rci for next year😀

 

Nice to see there might be some discount when I hit 55 though at this rate I'll be a platinum member of whatever by then.

 

Would have been a cracking price but we got scared at the thought of getting sick in the bay of biscay and triggering migraines , so paid a bit extra to get midships .