Tips/charges

[bee-ess]

I am sure they are queuing up to work for P&O at their base in India. The wages are so much better than they get at home even though to us they will be poor. If I remove the auto tip, then I do it on Day one and use an envelope on the last day for my waiters and cabin steward. I have never found it a problem. The only time I left them on was when I had a large amount of OBC which I knew we would not use.

 

What on earth would be the advantage of leaving them on until late in the cruise and then removing them?

 

I would say that it is so that they don't get bad service throughout the trip and then pay what tip they want at the end.

[Scorpio41]

Just get rid of tips and increase the fare.

 

I said I thought this would be the best option earlier to stop all this negativity around the service charge.

 

Do you think there is some kind of financial advantage to P&O by having the service charge?

[jeanlyon]

I would say that it is so that they don't get bad service throughout the trip and then pay what tip they want at the end.

 

I have never had bad service on a ship, whether I remove the tips or not.

[bee-ess]

Just looked back though my records and the 5 times that we have been on P&O since the auto tips started these are the amounts we have paid. We did not use P&O in 2015 so may be someone can fill in the increments between the £3.50 and £5.50.

It seems quite a steep increase in % terms although still cheaper than the US lines

 

July 2012 – 3.10 per day

March 2013 - 3.10 per day

July 2013 – 3.50 per day

March 2014 – 3.50 per day

May 2016 - 5.50 per day

[balf]

I

 

What on earth would be the advantage of leaving them on until late in the cruise and then removing them?

 

 

If they remove them at the start they think the staff will know and they want to ensure that they get the best service possible. Also, to avoid any embarrassment they avoid the dining room on the last evening and normally even avoid the room steward who you tend not to see at disembarkation.

 

David.

[silver surfer 2010]

We heard from a member of staff on our recent cruise that waiters in Freedom Dining don't get any of the auto tips and that is why they are rotated between the 2, trying to be fair.

Personally we like to hand over the envelope, what happens after that is not our problem, we are satisfied that we have done our bit. This last cruise we split the tip 50/50 between the waiters and the cabin steward and everyone seemed happy.

[jeanlyon]

Yes that's exactly what we do.

[RJChatsworth]

In today's Daily Mail (Page 45) there is a piece on tips. I quote:

 

'You are not expected to leave a tip every time you order a drink or eat a meal. P&O Cruises, for example, has a £5.50 per guest per day charge........The money will be split between the whole crew, including waiters and cabin stewards.'

 

The 'whole crew'.........what the captain too?! I don't think I believe it!

[davecttr]

In today's Daily Mail (Page 45) there is a piece on tips. I quote:

 

'You are not expected to leave a tip every time you order a drink or eat a meal. P&O Cruises, for example, has a £5.50 per guest per day charge........The money will be split between the whole crew, including waiters and cabin stewards.'

 

The 'whole crew'.........what the captain too?! I don't think I believe it!

 

Does anyone believe anything they print in the daily wail? :D

[peteukmcr]

Does anyone believe anything they print in the daily wail? :D

 

 

Nope, shouldn't even be given shelf space

[daiB]

Nope, shouldn't even be given shelf space

 

 

Glad we agree on something.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[majortom10]

There are that many different "rumours" and "what I have heard" with regards to who and if the staff are told that "tips/gratuities" are removed that I do not think anyone knows the whole truth. We returned from a Cunard cruise on Sunday and removed auto gratuities at beginning of the cruise and paid in cash in envelopes at the end of the cruise. We did not notice any decline in service from our waiters/steward so if they are told people remove auto gratuities there was no decline in service.

[jeanlyon]

Exactly. And it's not the whole crew who get the tips, it's the waiters and the cabin steward, who sometimes share it with a helper.

[Florry]

I think that the concept that people avoid the MDR on the last day is a dated rumour that people seem to revel in. We have never eaten in MDR on the last night of any cruise in 15 years, and have always paid our tips in full. Some people just like to do something special on the last night of their holiday. Now freedom exists, waiters wouldn't be the same anyway - unless you turned up at the same time each night and got the same table by default. Let's move with the times and assume everyone who goes to reception takes their tips off and doesn't pay them, an equally ridiculous concept.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Florry

[Mysticalmother]

Received an email from P &O yesterday which included a link to what I think might be updated information on the "service charges" on their website. Hope this link works....

 

http://www.pocruises.com/explore/articles/news/valuing-great-service/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=explore_16maypp&utm_campaign=explore_newsletter&sisearchengine=536&siproduct=explore_newsletter&utm_content=rewardingservice

 

Makes interesting reading imho

Edited May 26, 2016 by Mysticalmother

[RJChatsworth]

Received an email from P &O yesterday which included a link to what I think might be updated information on the "service charges" on their website. Hope this link works....

 

http://www.pocruises.com/explore/articles/news/valuing-great-service/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=explore_16maypp&utm_campaign=explore_newsletter&sisearchengine=536&siproduct=explore_newsletter&utm_content=rewardingservice

 

Makes interesting reading imho

 

Very interesting indeed! I can't imagine anyone reading that could now believe it went just to the cabin steward and waiters.

[davecttr]

Well P&O are just repeating what they have already said on the subject, 100% of your daily £5.50 goes to the waiters/cabin stewards and associated staff.

 

There is also an incentive scheme based on passenger nominations.

 

Good enough for me, however!, how can P&O have a lower daily gratuity charge than other Carnival corp lines. Surely the ships running costs are somewhat similar?

[jeanlyon]

That link is very interesting. They have definitely changed the wording. It used to say that the grats went to the waiters and cabin steward.

[terrierjohn]

Well P&O are just repeating what they have already said on the subject, 100% of your daily £5.50 goes to the waiters/cabin stewards and associated staff.

 

There is also an incentive scheme based on passenger nominations.

 

Good enough for me, however!, how can P&O have a lower daily gratuity charge than other Carnival corp lines. Surely the ships running costs are somewhat similar?

Correct Dave P&O's auto tip amount is well below most other main stream cruise lines which at current exchange rates are between £8 - £9 pppd.

So unless P&O's base wage rates are higher than the others, one would expect that all P&O stewards and waiters would have their names down for a job on another line, which might account for them being far less friendly and happy.

Edited May 26, 2016 by terrierjohn

[jeanlyon]

Just to put it into context, Fred Olsen is £4.00 pppd. wonder if it's something to do with British passengers mostly.

[jjohnboy32]

So I am going to remove the auto tip as we have two cabins for a family of 4. Just hope I don't come back the room one night with a horse's head on the pillow or a carefully placed curly black hair on the bed!!!

[RJChatsworth]

Correct Dave P&O's auto tip amount is well below most other main stream cruise lines which at current exchange rates are between £8 - £9 pppd.

So unless P&O's base wage rates are higher than the others, one would expect that all P&O stewards and waiters would have their names down for a job on another line, which might account for them being far less friendly and happy.

 

I would have expected, perhaps wrongly, that the basic wage of respective grades on all Carnival cruise lines i.e. P&O, Princess and Cunard etc were similar, but they can get away with recovering more on some lines because they operate largely in areas where the passengers are used to higher levels of tipping. I wonder what other readers think.

 

In the old days of QE2 a waiter told me their wages were consistent with the GDP of the country from where they came. This meant that a German waiter, for example, earned more than a waiter from Goa, but back at home the buying power of the money they each earned was the same. With the ships now registered in Bermuda I doubt whether this is still the case and perhaps it is all based on Bermuda law, whatever that is.

[insanemagnet]

Where the ship is registered will have no impact at all on staff wages.

 

The wages will simply be determined by a "what do we need to pay to get staff" calculation.

 

As for the level of the Service Charge in comparison to other lines, Americans can be persuaded by their high tipping culture to pay more, British people less. It will have nothing to do with the amount the staff receive.

[bee-ess]

So I am going to remove the auto tip as we have two cabins for a family of 4. Just hope I don't come back the room one night with a horse's head on the pillow or a carefully placed curly black hair on the bed!!!

 

I would hide your toothbrushes when you leave the cabin !!

[majortom10]

Where the ship is registered will have no impact at all on staff wages.

 

The wages will simply be determined by a "what do we need to pay to get staff" calculation.

 

As for the level of the Service Charge in comparison to other lines, Americans can be persuaded by their high tipping culture to pay more, British people less. It will have nothing to do with the amount the staff receive.

 

It does have an affect on staff wages where the ship is registered. Commodore Christopher Rynd was asked only last week why Queen Victoria was registered in Bermuda and his reply was for 2 reasons. One was so that all Cunard ships can offer weddings which they cannot if registered in the UK and secondly more important, his words not mine, so they can compete in the world without the shackles of UK/Euro laws i.e. level of wages paid to staff.