Gratuties

[dodgydino]

Its probably been discussed before but i was wondering what peoples opinins are regarding gratuities.

On our first cruise we paid the gratuities as standard but when we went on our second we decided we would like to tip those staff that looked after us on a personal basis and opted out of the discretionary service charge.

When we came back off our cruise i was talking to a family member who cruises regularly and he pointed out it was OK to tip those personal to your self but what about the people in the background who wash linen, Cook dinner and generally keep the ship spick and span.

I cant say i really give it a thought up until then so this year we planned on leaving our gratuities as were.

I just read our cruise book that came in the post and in it theres a section on tipping, It mentions that 100% of our service charge goes to the cabin steward, Butler, Head waiter, Assistant waiter or junior waiter. We dont have a butler so in effect our tips go to three different people.

It seems that the person cooking lunch or the guy cleaning linen gets nothing.... Is this right?

What do people tend to do ....Leave the gratuities in place or tip personally?

[Scriv]

We leave the auto gratuities in place and often tip extra to people who have been particularly looking after us well.

[SDadw01]

We leave the auto gratuities in place and often tip extra to people who have been particularly looking after us well.

 

That's exactly what we do! :-)

[daiB]

Its probably been discussed before but i was wondering what peoples opinins are regarding gratuities.

 

On our first cruise we paid the gratuities as standard but when we went on our second we decided we would like to tip those staff that looked after us on a personal basis and opted out of the discretionary service charge.

 

When we came back off our cruise i was talking to a family member who cruises regularly and he pointed out it was OK to tip those personal to your self but what about the people in the background who wash linen, Cook dinner and generally keep the ship spick and span.

 

I cant say i really give it a thought up until then so this year we planned on leaving our gratuities as were.

 

I just read our cruise book that came in the post and in it theres a section on tipping, It mentions that 100% of our service charge goes to the cabin steward, Butler, Head waiter, Assistant waiter or junior waiter. We dont have a butler so in effect our tips go to three different people.

 

It seems that the person cooking lunch or the guy cleaning linen gets nothing.... Is this right?

 

What do people tend to do ....Leave the gratuities in place or tip personally?

 

 

The other members of staff do not get tips but their pay is at different rates. Some of the back room staff are tipped by the waiters and stewards, ie those who help them. Auto tipping only tips those who you would tip anyway. Removing it is pointless.

[the english lady]

Personally we leave the auto tips in place, and do not tip anyone extra.

As has been stated as people have posted that they tip extra on top, others think you have to.

You do not have to.

We are going on Cunard next year, and reading that forum people tip here there and everywhere. We will not be doing the same.

Auto tips I agree with-although I wish it was included in the price. Tiping on top of tipping I do not.

It is entirely up to you.

Do I feel guilty when I walk out after the final meal...no I do not...I say goodbye and thank you-if I can even see the waiters, then I leave.

[Scriv]

I think you are qute right, the english lady. I feel kind of obliged to tip on top of the gratuities although I know I don't have to because a lot of people do this. I wish I could brazen it out..

Edited August 7, 2015 by Scriv

[the english lady]

I think you are qute right, the english lady. I feel kind of obliged to tip on top of the gratuities although I know I don't have to because a lot of people do this. I wish I could brazen it out..

 

I do not brazen it out. Most of the time I cannot even see the waiters.

As long as I am polite, treat them with respect , do not cause problems etc. I am sure they would rather have that than some oik who can be disrespectful to them etc etc , but leaves a tip at the end.

I also complete the questionnaire, and have always so far given the room steward top marks. We have never had a problem one and I know the questionnaire matters.

When I left this past time I was chatting/laughing with our cabin steward until just before we disembarked.

If you leave auto tips on, you have already tipped them.

[FAB1]

I agree with The English Lady and do exactly the same. Getting a good score on the questionnaire is very important to them.

[Victoria '82]

We also leave the tips in place but do give extra where the service is teriffic.

Thing is, as so many folk do remove the tips, how do the waiters/stewards know if you are a remover or not. I also understand that even if they are removed, P&O still pay them provided they do not get several, less than excellent's on the questionnaire.

Personally I prefer the old way of tipping, that way we all knew where we stood. I also think that in some cases the service in the MDR has suffered, though to be fair have never noticed that with the bedroom stewards.

 

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111 P&O cruises - 12 in the pipeline

[the english lady]

We also leave the tips in place but do give extra where the service is teriffic.

Thing is' date=' as so many folk do remove the tips, how do the waiters/stewards know if you are a remover or not. I also understand that even if they are removed, P&O still pay them provided they do not get several, less than excellent's on the questionnaire.

Personally I prefer the old way of tipping, that way we all knew where we stood. I also think that in some cases the service in the MDR has suffered, though to be fair have never noticed that with the bedroom stewards.

 

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111 P&O cruises - 12 in the pipeline[/quote']

Rest assured the cabin steward and wait staff know who have removed the auto grats and who haven't.

We started cruising when the envelopes existed, much prefer this way..each to their own.

We must have been jolly jolly lucky in the MDR. We have never had bad wait staff.

[CCFC]

Rest assured the cabin steward and wait staff know who have removed the auto grats and who haven't.

We started cruising when the envelopes existed, much prefer this way..each to their own.

We must have been jolly jolly lucky in the MDR. We have never had bad wait staff.

 

They don't know until you have left the ship and even then they don't have names for very good reason.

[Millers]

Why do we have to tip. Particularly people in certain industries. There are lots of people in low paid jobs, minimum wage etc. but we wouldn't dream of tipping them. I object to tipping, doesn't mean I don't do it, but a lot of tipping is egotistical and self-righteous.

[cruisefan2012]

There was a large thread about tipping on here a few months ago, it got very heated...

 

I don`t tip, do I feel bad for it? No... I`m British not American...

 

I certainly wouldn`t dream of tipping somebody on TOP of the tips...

Edited August 7, 2015 by cruisefan2012

[dsrdsrdsr]

Why do we have to tip. Particularly people in certain industries. There are lots of people in low paid jobs, minimum wage etc. but we wouldn't dream of tipping them. I object to tipping, doesn't mean I don't do it, but a lot of tipping is egotistical and self-righteous.

 

In this case, you tip because P&O's policy is to pay stewards and waiters a low basic wage and let them earn the rest by providing service that encourages passengers to tip. Clearly, objectors to this policy should show their objection by refusing to travel with P&O, not by refusing to tip.

[insanemagnet]

In this case, you tip because P&O's policy is to pay stewards and waiters a low basic wage and let them earn the rest by providing service that encourages passengers to tip. Clearly, objectors to this policy should show their objection by refusing to travel with P&O, not by refusing to tip.

 

Personally I think the auto-gratuities are a shabby and deceitful practice, and thoroughly outdated in 2015.

 

They serve P&O well because they hide a chunk of the price of the cruise, but P&O know that the vast majority of people will be guilted into leaving them in place.

 

Before any leaps in, I do pay them, because despite what was said earlier in the thread about P&O making up the difference if they are removed, personally I do not trust an organisation that operates with guilt payments to be honest to their staff.

 

As for tipping, usual (British) rules apply. If someone goes above and beyond, like two waiters on my recent cruise, then I will leave a good tip as well. If you just do your job, then no.

Edited August 8, 2015 by insanemagnet

[BananaNana]

I was glad to see this thread. We are taking our first cruise and I was a bit concerned about tipping. After reading these replies, I feel a bit better about the auto tips being sufficient.

[Iron-Maiden's-No1-Fan]

Do many people take the tips off? Didn't even realise you could

[Millers]

We always take the auto-tipping of. I object to being told how much to tip. I cruise with p&o because of the cruising and because I can have a choice of who and how much to tip.

[balf]

I

 

I also complete the questionnaire, and have always so far given the room steward top marks. We have never had a problem one and I know the questionnaire matters.

 

When I left this past time I was chatting/laughing with our cabin steward until just before we disembarked.

 

If you leave auto tips on, you have already tipped them.

 

 

I too never tip the waiters extra, but have to admit that I have always marked excellent for all the staff on the questionnaire. When I employed staff I considered it was up to me to know if they were up to scratch, rather than relying on customers to tell me.

 

David.

[KaththeTaff]

I wouldn't remove the auto gratuities unless the general level of service was unacceptable. I wouldn't even reduce them unless I experienced something that was really bad, such as uncalled for rudeness. I think the auto gratuities are sufficient, and I don't tip extra as a rule, but I would consider it if I encountered something exceptional.

 

I saw and heard some unacceptable comments and behaviour from a couple of our fellow passengers. There is no excuse for that in my eyes, but some people do think that because they are paying gratuities they can act in an impolite and ignorant manner towards those receiving them.

[dodgydino]

It seems as though most people have an opinion of whats right and whats wrong for themselves, Personally i will leave the auto tips in place so long as i dont incur any rudeness from staff (not that i expect any based on previous cruises) but i wil not tip any extra apart from our cabin staff.

I have wondered if tipping is a way for P&O and other cruise liners of paying thier staff a low wage and expecting its customers to make up the difference.......If it is then its a bit naughty.

[dgs1956]

Personally we leave the auto tips in place, and do not tip anyone extra.

As has been stated as people have posted that they tip extra on top, others think you have to.

You do not have to.

We are going on Cunard next year, and reading that forum people tip here there and everywhere. We will not be doing the same.

Auto tips I agree with-although I wish it was included in the price. Tiping on top of tipping I do not.

It is entirely up to you.

Do I feel guilty when I walk out after the final meal...no I do not...I say goodbye and thank you-if I can even see the waiters, then I leave.

 

I agree completely with this. I leave auto tips on as I think its part of the cruise cost. I do give a small tip for Room Service but I don't use it very often. We know we don't have to. As English Lady says, we also thank the waiters after the final meal and leave. No problem whatsoever.

We lived in Spain and they do not tip at all. A lot of British people think you need to leave 10 or 15%. We don't. I would have no problem having a meal and not tipping if the service was nothing special.

[Carter7568]

I am so grateful I can afford to go on a cruise. I am not poor but also not very well off... I understand why P&O have auto tips and will always leave them on. I agree that this is hiding some of the cruise cost but we should all do some research before spending on such a holiday, so it should be no surprise.

 

Some of the staff work hard on these ships and send an awful lot of their wages back to their family. The hours they work are extreme and they don't get a lot of time off. If they can still be very courteous and helpful under such pressure they deserve the tip, especially if you can afford it.

 

I would only consider removing the auto tip if a cabin steward or butler is rude or not very efficient.

 

On the cruises we have been on, a couple of them we have been lucky enough to do a suite and therefore got a butler... Both him and the cabin steward were very very good and we tipped extra in envelopes at the end of the cruise.

 

A question though.........

 

Should you inform them you will also tip extra at the end of the cruise?

[the english lady]

A question though.........

 

Should you inform them you will also tip extra at the end of the cruise?

 

A question in reply.

Why should you want to inform them?

A tip should be for over and above service, than expected.

If you say to them we may tip extra at the end, that sort of to me seems a bit like bribery.

Reading over on the American ship boards they like to give MD's something at the beginning of the cruise. Not sure what then happens if you still had rotten service.

If you want to tip the same person twice-auto grats and on top , then do so. However there is no need to tell them in advance you are going to do that.

They will either give you good service or not. The money should not come into the level of service they provide.

[Carter7568]

When I look at it like that your definitely right.... On the two P&O cruise we have tipped over at the end, we have not told them before hand.... But I wondered what others thought....

 

Can't wait for our up and coming Med cruise, so need the break.....

 

I do think in the future we will have to try other lines as P&O are cutting back on quite a few things....