red zebra

With a name like @Nippy Sweetie I couldn't pass this thread without reading it. Obviously you will know not to ask if they support Rangers or Celtic 😄 but as others have said, keep it simple have you been on a river cruise before (beware the braggers), did you enjoy your day ashore (beware the moaners) and if anyone starts on about politics or religion just say that you are holiday and as chief rabbi to the socialist workers party you don't want to talk shop.

Happy to stand corrected @Winifred 22 still no excuse for the dropping standards I'm afraid, I am paying for the holiday of a lifetime, and expect the same standards previously experienced.

Curios to know if the Maleth Aero debacle has affected the share price, whailst not in any mainstream news it has been all over the www

Do you have any idea the 100s of millions of pounds that were given to cruise, rail and bus companies during the pandemic, I suggest not, and were shareholders payments frozen, no chance. Coach companies on the other hand were given nothing and the country lost many of those businesses (no I don't own or work for one)

Prices are already inflated across every travel company due to fuel costs, wages, food etc, reducing standards on top of that is unacceptable. Many companies have not dropped their standards like P&O who now want to pile em high, cut their costs and all on the back off generations of seafarers who spent decades making it the brand it was!

Oceana

I don't miss P&O being bought over by Americans and their cost cutting, this year will be our last with the company

Thank you all for taking the time to reply, appreciate it. I might take my life in my hands and attempt an email to P&O to see about the Epicurian breakfasts, thanks again

Hi guys looking for someone who is able to give me a definitive list here if possible.

We have splashed out on a conservatory suit on Arvia for the Xmas/NY trip, not trying to be smart here, it is just a special anniversary for me and the boss.

So the confusion, what 'little extras' will be available to us at this cabin grade please

It will likely be our last P&O cruise as the information on their website is appalling and the total lack of response from the humorously titled customer services is laughable.

If any of you fine seafarers can help, the little lady will be delighted.

TIA

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

I doubt that very much.  In my experience workers always prefer the system that provides the highest compensation.

Ok so clearly you know what I really think and also the thoughts of my colleagues. So all my posts were totally pointless and I should have just asked you for my opinion from the start.

I pity you, so indoctrinated, so (allegedly) superior, helping out the little guy, wow, the way you throw your money around I might just get myself a job on a cruise ship.

Thank the lord for America and its citizens for showing the rest of the world the way forward.

p.s. you really need to start considering what is really important to your workers, it's not all about cash you know, ever heard of work/life balance, or perhaps you are one of the fat cats I referred to earlier?

No need to reply guys, you have made your thoughts clear, you do it your way, we will do it ours.

2 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

You have a very mistaken opinion of big corporations in the US.  The tipping culture only applies to jobs where it is effective in incentivizing performance.  Military, firefighters, etc., are adequately paid by salary and other benefits.  Just because you choose a different compensation method in your country does not make it worldwide applicable.  I see no reason to break the tipping system of compensation.  It works quite well and those who work for tips are very well compensated. In fact, some of the more vocal opponents of doing away with this system are those who do work for tips.  One wonders if workers in Scotland might appreciate our system.

Curiously the two American guys I work with (California & Wisconsin) disagree with your premise and are glad to be out of it.

No, workers in Scotland would not appreciate your system (i'm one of them remember) it is demeaning and akin to a dancing bear. If chucking someone a couple of extra bills from your over extended wallet makes you feel good, so be it. You keep your system thanks, we are just fine here.

5 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

 It is still a matter of pay me now or pay me later and either way I'm paying the cost.  I suspect the employees would balk at it it though as it affects their taxes how the income is reported.  It isn't only a US issue.

Tax on income is tax on income, no matter how it is earned.

8 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

I personally don't have a problem with the gratuity being rolled into the cost of the cruise fare.  It is still a matter of pay me now or pay me later and either way I'm paying the cost.  

Why? Why are you paying people to do the jobs they are already being paid for? Sorry but I don't get it. If i build a complex subsea data logging system for a client, and it works as they want it to, I get paid every month, nothing more. They don't send me tips from the Gulf of Mexico, Africa or the North Sea. Why is it you find it necessary to tip someone for doing their job?

Look guys, I appreciate it is the norm stateside because your big corporations pay crap wages for service staff and you have people over there that still work for tips only so please, sort your own economy and jobs market out before imposing your values on the rest of the world.

I go back to my initial post, when you bump into a military lad or lass, a firefighter, paramedic etc, due you tip them for doing their jobs? No you don't, you expect them to do the job they are trained and paid for, but you go on holiday (for which you have worked and saved hard) and are happy to hand over a disproportionate amount of your money to people doing the job they are paid to do. How does that work?

As for @RocketMan275 if you want to tip folks when you visit Scotland, that's down to you, it is neither expected nor demanded. Over here we do our jobs to the best of our abilities, it's what we are paid for and down to personal pride and simple please and thank yous go much further than a few cents here and there.

The American culture has set a precedence, it is down to you to break it. Lead, don't be sheep.

5 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

If you think the crew is underpaid then you can rectify that by directly supplementing their pay with gratuities.

Companies don't impose taxes.  Governments do.  Just think how much better we all would be if governments reduced their taxes.

Governments don't run cruise companies, the cruise companies are those that apply all these additional tariffs. It may be the norm across the pond to tip for everything and anything but I still don't accept we should have to pay people extra just for doing the job they are paid to do.

Sure if government reduced personal taxation we would all be better off and be able to spend more, but to offset that they would have to increase corporate tax and we all know how well some of the big companies avoid that. Anyway a topic for another day.

I still am against automatically applying tips, it doesn't happen in hotels so why on ships. Many hotels are staffed by similar people to those found on a cruise ship yet we seem to accept it. I still say it is the cruise companies profiteering from their staff and whilst everyone continues to obey the cruise companies, nothing will change

I object to this assumption that, having worked hard all year, saved up for our trip, we then are expected to tip people for doing their jobs. Why is it assumed that the person who has done something for us, for which they are being paid, should then be further rewarded for doing their job.

Do we tip the military for protecting our borders, the police for keeping us safe, fire service, paramedics etc etc.

People are guilted into paying them because cruise personnel are paid so poorly, so by continuing this practice we continue to encourage the cruise companies to keep wages low and the profits for the fat cats high.

Then, if needs be, you have to go through the hullabaloo of asking them to be removed because you have received poor service!

I swear some of these companies would slap a tax on every breath of fresh air you take whilst aboard. 

Juggler - Surely the flight from Gatwick is scheduled too, at a cost, or do BA also provide those for free?

With the greatest respect Nellie, 7 -8 hours on a coach after my holiday doesn't exactly fill me with joy 🤨 I'd probably need another holiday, there is still a supplement from Manchester too. We have done it before by train, but with the cost of that and a hotel it adds another £400 to the holiday 😮

Having been on Oceana the last few years we hoped to go again this September (despite being caught up in that Medicane last year).

Now I understand that the base price includes the cost of flights from Gatwick, based in Scotland as we are, we are used to paying a supplement. Unfortunately the cruise we wanted was sold out flying from Glasgow and Newcastle. P&O offered to arrange us Jet2 flights from Glasgow but wanted and extra £186 each for the privilege (the normal supplement is £50) so I asked if they would take the Gatwick flight element off the cost of the cruise, but no. It appears that the flight from Gatwick is given away free to all who are fortunate enough to have that as their local airport and everyone else has to pay extra, in our case, a lot extra.

I did some checking after my call to them, either I can go Ryanair Edinburghto Malta with luggage for about £100 each or we can fly to London (inc bags), pre cruise, get a hotel overnight and save about £200 on their offer, all so I can get my free flight! 

No doubt there will be an increase in cruise price to compensate, P&O seem to be penny pinching right now and it is devaluing the brand

Probably the worse condition I have seen this old girl in last week, I know she is going in for a 2 week refit next month but boy, do they have their work cut out! Still had a decent week though.

I would love it if the gave a nod to the queen of the merchant fleet in her day and called her Canberra

Don't wish to hijack the OPs thread, but as I understand it, when we dock in civitavecchia we would need to get a bus to the train station, then a train to Rome, then vice versa returning to the ship.

Is this a viable alternative to taking a expensive ship trip (usual caveats about timings etc)?