Tipping on Arcadia

[englishgal]

Can anyone help please?:confused:

 

We are going on Arcadia's 72 night Grand Alaska tour on Tuesday and I cannot find the recommended tips to give.

 

As I need to go to the bank and get the cash ( pound sterling) I need some idea on how much.

 

Many thanks :)

[BrianI]

£3.10 per person per day is the recommended amount. (£1.60 for your waiters and £1.50 for your cabin steward) You can draw cash from reception charged to you account.

Brian

[Merlin7]

No need to take a large amount of cash with you. Visit reception.

[William Dean]

£3.10 per person per day is the recommended amount. (£1.60 for your waiters and £1.50 for your cabin steward) You can draw cash from reception charged to you account.

Brian

 

That sounds very mean. It is $11/day on Cunard. Perhaps that pays for the higher standards.

 

WD

[dsrdsrdsr]

That sounds very mean. It is $11/day on Cunard. Perhaps that pays for the higher standards.

 

WD

 

That's not really a problem. If you think you're being mean at £3.10, give more. If you think standards are lower and the waiters aren't worth so much, stick to the £3.10.

 

(Incidentally, the reason the recommended tips are less is because P&O pay higher basic wages.)

[bazzaw]

I am not sure that Cunard has "higher standards" when it comes to the service staff. We were more than happy with our table stewards and cabin attendant on our Arcadia voyage Southampton to Brisbane earlier this year - and tipped them higher than the recommended rate accordingly.

 

Barry

[C at Sea]

From my experience on the Cunard cruise I went on, the service was no where near as good as when I've been on P&O. We hardly saw our cabin steward. He didnt introduce himself the first night. The waiters were adequate. They really only interacted with us on the last night - probably to hope we gave extra tips. I thought it was because the tips were already taken off at source but we then went on a Princess cruise that did the same and the service was excellent on that one. So either thats what Cunards like or we had a bad cruise!

[BrianI]

That sounds very mean. It is $11/day on Cunard. Perhaps that pays for the higher standards.

 

WD

I have only been on one Cunard cruise (QE2) but the standards of the waiting staff and cabin staff were nowhere near as good as P&O and there was a compulsory 15% charge on drinks.

The figure I quoted is the P&O recommended rate. You may pay more or less, its your choice.

Brian

[William Dean]

I have only been on one Cunard cruise (QE2) but the standards of the waiting staff and cabin staff were nowhere near as good as P&O

 

I have only once had a waiter chewing gum when he brought my food - and I'm talking land, sea and air all taken together.

 

P & O Arcadia.

 

WD

[dsrdsrdsr]

Is that why you reckon that Cunard has overall higher standards than P&O? Because one single waiter on one occasion was chewing gum? IMO that's really too small a sample to base it on.

 

How do you know it was gum, anyway? He didn't stick it to the tablecloth, did he?:eek:

[thranite]

Is that why you reckon that Cunard has overall higher standards than P&O?

 

 

They simply have and always have had. It's a fact of life. However, in my experience, the standards on both lines have dropped over the last few years, and those of P&O have dropped further and faster. Possibly as a result of trying to be all things to all men, instead of doing what they do best.

 

T

[William Dean]

Is that why you reckon that Cunard has overall higher standards than P&O? Because one single waiter on one occasion was chewing gum? IMO that's really too small a sample to base it on.

 

How do you know it was gum, anyway? He didn't stick it to the tablecloth, did he?:eek:

 

Everything on Arcadia was less impressive than on the Cunarder we knew and loved. The only thing that was more impressive was the balcony - a rear corner cabin on C deck - which was, admittedly, huge. But the furniture on that balcony wasn't the gorgeous weathered teak we were used to.

 

So.

 

Food was far, far, far less good than we were used to.

 

The cabin was smaller and more cramped than we were used to.

 

The cabin bathroom was less well designed - and (ironically) appeared older than we were used to.

 

Service all over the ship was less impressive with P&O.

 

Arcadia was just plain ugly compared to what we were used to.

 

The dining room (we were at the stern, near to the windows, on deck 2) was horribly noisy - the pods made conversation difficult.

 

I can't think of a single thing that Arcadia did better. Even the checking in was less organised - the priority line was less obvious. And, if I recall, we had to insist on priority, rather than being directed to the line.

 

So no, it wasn't just one thing.

 

It was the whole shebang.

 

WD

[daiB]

Everything on Arcadia was less impressive than on the Cunarder we knew and loved. The only thing that was more impressive was the balcony - a rear corner cabin on C deck - which was, admittedly, huge. But the furniture on that balcony wasn't the gorgeous weathered teak we were used to.

 

So.

 

Food was far, far, far less good than we were used to.

 

The cabin was smaller and more cramped than we were used to.

 

The cabin bathroom was less well designed - and (ironically) appeared older than we were used to.

 

Service all over the ship was less impressive with P&O.

 

Arcadia was just plain ugly compared to what we were used to.

 

The dining room (we were at the stern, near to the windows, on deck 2) was horribly noisy - the pods made conversation difficult.

 

I can't think of a single thing that Arcadia did better. Even the checking in was less organised - the priority line was less obvious. And, if I recall, we had to insist on priority, rather than being directed to the line.

 

So no, it wasn't just one thing.

 

It was the whole shebang.

 

WD

 

 

Excellent WD so we will not have to put up with you again on here.:D Cos you clearly have a problem with P&O.

 

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

:cool:

 

Dai

[blitznbobs]

Everything on Arcadia was less impressive than on the Cunarder we knew and loved. The only thing that was more impressive was the balcony - a rear corner cabin on C deck - which was, admittedly, huge. But the furniture on that balcony wasn't the gorgeous weathered teak we were used to.

 

So.

 

Food was far, far, far less good than we were used to.

 

The cabin was smaller and more cramped than we were used to.

 

The cabin bathroom was less well designed - and (ironically) appeared older than we were used to.

 

Service all over the ship was less impressive with P&O.

 

Arcadia was just plain ugly compared to what we were used to.

 

The dining room (we were at the stern, near to the windows, on deck 2) was horribly noisy - the pods made conversation difficult.

 

I can't think of a single thing that Arcadia did better. Even the checking in was less organised - the priority line was less obvious. And, if I recall, we had to insist on priority, rather than being directed to the line.

 

So no, it wasn't just one thing.

 

It was the whole shebang.

 

WD

 

I'd stick to Cunard if I was you then... leave P&O to us commoners from ooop North...

 

Bx

[William Dean]

I'd stick to Cunard if I was you then... leave P&O to us commoners from ooop North...

 

Bx

 

I am advised that Aurora and Oriana keep the brand flying. But no way would I return to Arcadia, still less the ugly sisters.

 

Adonia may be interesting however.

 

WD

[William Dean]

Excellent WD so we will not have to put up with you again on here.:D Cos you clearly have a problem with P&O.

 

I don't have anything per se against P&O. Just one appalling trip. I would have expected more of a defence for your line than you have provided. Or have you given up on them?

 

WD

[silver service]

i actually like both lines. cunard, yes has a different feel to pando. been on arcadia 3 times. actually find it rather soulless. liked queen victoria, queen mary just huge. my favourit to date, aurora. large enough, the crew friendly, and easy to find your way around.:)

[salsalady]

I've just returned from Arcadia's world cruise, where we cruised from Hong Kong to Southampton, our waiters were lovely guys, very attentive and polite. Sometimes the menu could have been a bit more varied, but basically it was repeated on every sector. This wasn't the waiters fault, it was the Executive chefs fault (IMO).

 

I like Arcadia very much, she is my favourite in the fleet, (still waiting to experience Azura), but having spent 55 nights on her in the last 6 months, we are ready to have a break from her and try some different ships.

 

As Brian originally stated, the tips are £3.10 per person per day, but we also tipped our wine waiter as we had an excellent service from him.

 

Karen