Service Reward Scheme

[TORTY2]

As a matter of interest, is the day of disembarkation counted in the number of days for which charges are added.

[BrianI]

As a matter of interest, is the day of disembarkation counted in the number of days for which charges are added.

No, charges are per night.

Brian

[SteveH2508]

You increase the base salary of an employee by a certain amount and that incurs an additional 200% mark up for corporate overheads and wage costs :eek::confused::confused:

 

It amazes me how Thomson fill their ships with tips included and you get good service and happy crews. Plus they make a profit :confused:

 

That 200% figure is either BS or their control of back office costs sucks.

 

In our organisation (a college) we reckon (roughly) that the employee add-on marginal costs are about 33% - Employers NI and superannuation and a bit for HR admin and desks etc.

 

Probably nearer 40% now with the hike in National Insurance :mad: but 200% - no way!

[davecttr]

Sorry for quoting my own post, but I would be really grateful if someone who has been on eg Thomson or another line where tips are included , could possibly answer my question?

Thank you.

Tips are included in the base price on Thomson and not itemised so you can't get them removed. If you feel you want to award exceptional performance you can give crew members additional tips and they can keep them. There is no tipping pool into which they must pay the money. There is no pressure to tip individually and in my experience when doing so the crew member has never refused the money!. I have found some staff so efficient and helpful with happy friendly demeanour that I bung them a few bob in a discreet way.

[Mysticalmother]

Tips are included in the base price on Thomson and not itemised so you can't get them removed. If you feel you want to award exceptional performance you can give crew members additional tips and they can keep them. There is no tipping pool into which they must pay the money. There is no pressure to tip individually and in my experience when doing so the crew member has never refused the money!. I have found some staff so efficient and helpful with happy friendly demeanour that I bung them a few bob in a discreet way.

 

Thanks Davecttr......rather as I suspected, but good to know there is no pressure. Even though I leave the auto tips on with P & O i do still feel pressured to tip on top of that, which rather defeats the object of auto tips!

[kruzgal]

 

Advertise a 14 nighter at £77 more and emphasise that there is no need to tip, that should attract peoples attention ;)

 

 

Would they even need to increase the headline price by the full £77 though because as we are aware of on this board there are people who currently pay nothing so P&O know what %age of the current tips are paid all that they need to do is to extrapolate that % and divide the total by the number of passengers.

 

I so agree with the above. One of the the larger mass market cruise lines should be brave and tackle this issue, roll it into the cruise fare and market themselves as being "tips included". No need to add on the full amount as everyone would then pay a smaller amount rather than those who do pay subsidising those who don't.

 

Personally I hate dining in restaurants where the tip is added on automatically and so I avoid them and they lose my business as a result. That's not good for their business, but hopefully it will be a practice that is stopped.

 

Times change and cruise lines should change too.

[Florry]

Isn't the problem that if it was included in the price it would be taxable in some form? Not that I'm an expert.

[davecttr]

Isn't the problem that if it was included in the price it would be taxable in some form? Not that I'm an expert.

Yes, Thomson employ a lot of crew from the Phillipines and the top tax rate there is 20% for 140,000 pesos which s equivalent to about £2029 :eek:

 

The P&O £5.50 per day rate would need increasing to £6.87.50 per day or they could get a guaranteed £4.40 as salary which might well be equivalent to what they get anyway if say only 80% of the passengers tip.

 

Or looking at it another way they could get the whole £5.50 if the price of a 14 nighter increased by £19.25

 

Of course there are corporate costs as well and in some cases corporate income is taxed but tips don't count as income so the company continue with a tipping policy because it benefits them, not their employees or customers.

[terrierjohn]

That 200% figure is either BS or their control of back office costs sucks.

 

In our organisation (a college) we reckon (roughly) that the employee add-on marginal costs are about 33% - Employers NI and superannuation and a bit for HR admin and desks etc.

 

Probably nearer 40% now with the hike in National Insurance :mad: but 200% - no way!

Are you aware how much cruise lines pay in interest on the cost of borrowing to fund new ships? All of which is added into the cost of running the business.

[Brayman]

Thanks Davecttr......rather as I suspected, but good to know there is no pressure. Even though I leave the auto tips on with P & O i do still feel pressured to tip on top of that, which rather defeats the object of auto tips!

 

I don't understand where you are receiving the pressure from to tip on top of the auto-tips?

[Scriv]

I don't understand where you are receiving the pressure from to tip on top of the auto-tips?

 

From inside ourselves, Brayman. I feel it too.

[daiB]

From inside ourselves, Brayman. I feel it too.

 

 

The only pressure was from us, before the rise to £5 as when it was first introduced at just under £4 this was less than we gave. Therefore we made it up to what we had paid in the past.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Balaena]

The only pressure was from us, before the rise to £5 as when it was first introduced at just under £4 this was less than we gave. Therefore we made it up to what we had paid in the past.

 

Dai, hope you don't mind me asking, do you tip your butler extra (assuming he has done a great job) and if so, and again if you don't mind me asking, approximately how much.

 

Bal

[daiB]

The only pressure was from us, before the rise to £5 as when it was first introduced at just under £4 this was less than we gave. Therefore we made it up to what we had paid in the past.

 

Dai, hope you don't mind me asking, do you tip your butler extra (assuming he has done a great job) and if so, and again if you don't mind me asking, approximately how much.

 

Bal

 

We do the amount changes possibly £2/3/4 per day.

[Mysticalmother]

I don't understand where you are receiving the pressure from to tip on top of the auto-tips?

 

The small envelopes that appear in your cabin 2 or 3 days before the end of your cruise, and on the reception desk. The waiters that "hovver" around you on the last night - or the last Formal night. The extra attention you get from your cabin steward on the last but one day. The other people who blatantly hand out envelopes to the waiters in front of you - mind you they may of course have removed their auto tips...

 

The fact that so many people on this forum say that they tip on top of the auto tips!!!

 

It is the little things...

[terrierjohn]

The small envelopes that appear in your cabin 2 or 3 days before the end of your cruise, and on the reception desk. The waiters that "hovver" around you on the last night - or the last Formal night. The extra attention you get from your cabin steward on the last but one day. The other people who blatantly hand out envelopes to the waiters in front of you - mind you they may of course have removed their auto tips...

 

The fact that so many people on this forum say that they tip on top of the auto tips!!!

 

It is the little things...

Never had an envelope in my cabin since auto tips were introduced, and in freedom dining I never see people passing envelopes to the wait staff, but then I don't really look; and on our last cruise I never saw our steward for the last 3 days at all.

[Mysticalmother]

Never had an envelope in my cabin since auto tips were introduced, I have...every single time! and in freedom dining I never see people passing envelopes to the wait staff,i have always had fixed sitting dining but then I don't really look; and on our last cruise I never saw our steward for the last 3 days at all.gosh....did you upset him ? :D

 

Well you have obviously had a different experience. What I posted was exactly what has happened to me on each of my last 3 cruises with P &O and with one of the Cunard ones too.

[the english lady]

Never had an envelope in the cabin since auto tips introduced.

We tend not to hang around in the mdr, never have coffee etc, so wouldn't know about people handing over envelopes in there. However if they were doing it obviously, I think that would say more about them , than anything else.

When they first brought auto grats in I posted that some would feel they had to tip on top of the auto tips. We never have.

Like many I would prefer it to be in the headline price, but if that is not possible then auto grats is the next best thing.

Heavens knows what would happen if the people who tip on top of the auto tips would do ,if they ever went on one of the 6* lines , where grats are not expected, and are refused if offered.

We have never had really bad service anywhere. We are always polite to the crew, chat to them, chat to the room steward ,if we see them. Don't leave our cabin in a mess. Chat to the waiters in the MDR. Always fill out the questionnaire. To me the above is more important than whether they get an extra bit of money from us, on top of the auto grats.

[Ginb56]

Quite agree with you English Lady - we do the same. Confusion seems to be over room service too - do you slip a nominal extra tip each time or not. Previous forums have covered that topic and a mixed bag of responses. When you read about people who do tip room service, that sows a seed in people who hadn't thought about it - and peer pressure can begin... Shame there's not just one policy that cruisers and staff acknowledge that removes any expectation of extra tips other than auto grats.

[davecttr]

There are still envelopes in your cabin, they are in the welcome pack so not as obvious.

 

I find it interesting that the auto gratuity is different amounts on cruise lines owned by the same parent company, namely Carnival. Surely the ships which in many cases are basically identical have similar running costs so how can P&O have a lower daily rate? Or are they making savings elsewhere?

[Josy1953]

We have not had the envelopes in the cabin since auto tips were introduced. We do freedom dining so do not always have the same waiters and have never felt that we should tip the wait staff any extra. We do however usually tip the cabin steward a little extra at the end of the cruise as we have found that they are very obliging if we ask them for anything.

 

On our last cruise we were in the same area of the MDR most evenings but we still did not feel obliged to tip the waiters who had served us to 11 of the 14 days that we were on board though.

[terrierjohn]

There are still envelopes in your cabin, they are in the welcome pack so not as obvious.

 

I find it interesting that the auto gratuity is different amounts on cruise lines owned by the same parent company, namely Carnival. Surely the ships which in many cases are basically identical have similar running costs so how can P&O have a lower daily rate? Or are they making savings elsewhere?

I assumed these, like the postcards, were for your stationary use not for gratuities.

[insanemagnet]

I find it interesting that the auto gratuity is different amounts on cruise lines owned by the same parent company, namely Carnival. Surely the ships which in many cases are basically identical have similar running costs so how can P&O have a lower daily rate? Or are they making savings elsewhere?

 

Not sure why you are puzzled, the Service Charge is simply an income line and goes into the big pot of cash from cruise charges, bar bills, excursion fees, etc.

 

Therefore each company will charge the most it can get away with.

 

The charge has no relationship to the service you receive, it simply funds part of the wage bill.

 

As long as the wage bill for waiting staff and stewards is larger than the Service Charge, then P&O's statement that 100% goes to staff is of course true.

 

What P&O are very careful not to say is what proportion of the Service Charge goes to staff depending on performance. By not saying 100% of the Service Charge is for discretionary payments to staff, should you assume that some is used for contractual payments?

 

Even if P&O make discretionary payments does this amount vary with the total Service Charges paid, or is it a fixed amount. i.e. if nobody on board paid the Service Charge would there still be a discretionary payment. Who knows? (P&O but they are not telling).

[Scriv]

I assumed these, like the postcards, were for your stationary use not for gratuities.

 

Like John, I have also always assumed this.

[Mysticalmother]

Like John, I have also always assumed this.

 

Me too...but we have had the smaller "tip" envelopes left in our cabin a couple of days before the end of the cruise!

On our last cruise , when I was at reception two days before the end querying something else on my account I was actually asked if I wanted any tipping envelopes!

That is why I felt pressure to tip on top. I didnt say whther we tipped extra or not....but we certainly felt pressure.

 

I was asked the question by Braeman why I felt pressure and I have answered it honestly!