Tipping on P&O

Hi i am planning a cruise with P&O next year but up until now ive cruised with RCI where ive paid gratuities up front. What is the tipping policy with P&O? Thanks for replys in advance.

Hi i am planning a cruise with P&O next year but up until now ive cruised with RCI where ive paid gratuities up front. What is the tipping policy with P&O? Thanks for replys in advance.

Tips are added automatically to your onboard account.

Tips are automatically added - I think at £3.95 per day per person. You can choose to opt out if you wish to tip personally at the end of the crusie by going to reception on the first day.

Tips are added automatically to your onboard account at £3-95pppd or you can go to reception and have them removed and pay your cabin steward and waiters whatever amount you want higher or lower personally or pay nothing at all. The problem of removing gratuities and paying personally is if you are on freedom dining will not have the same waiters every night so impossible to tip them.

Hi Lostboy

I believe P&O tips have increased to £3.95 per person per day.

We keep on the automatic tips but still give a bit extra to our waiters and cabin steward because they've always been so good and also perhaps to a special bar waiter.

Thank you all for your replies, knowing all of the above will make it easier for me to budget for the holiday! Im looking foward to trying P&O and visiting some new ports of call!:)

We keep on the automatic tips but still give a bit extra to our waiters and cabin steward because they've always been so good and also perhaps to a special bar waiter.

We do this as well:)

We do this as well:)

So do we.

Its all very well getting all high and mighty and saying things like "I don't get tips in my job" - the fact is these waiters and stewards rely on tips to make a living and they do so much to make your holiday special

So do we.

 

Its all very well getting all high and mighty and saying things like "I don't get tips in my job" - the fact is these waiters and stewards rely on tips to make a living and they do so much to make your holiday special

I absolutely agree. We always give a little extra because we know that the stewards and waiters get to keep the extra as we have paid the automatic tips. These people work so hard to make the holiday that little bit special and earn every penny of the tips.

P&O tips are lower than most other cruise lines so giving a little more means that we still only pay a similar amount to the amount that we pay automatically on Princess or Cunard. I also think that people who remove the tips for their children are wrong because the steward and waiters have to work as hard for a child as they do for an adult, so if we take grandchildren with us we also add a little extra for them.

For the OP - please bear in mind that if you remove your tips and decide to pay the waiters and cabin steward individually they have to hand over the tips (up to the amount of the automatic tips) to go into the pool, they are only allowed to keep anthing above the automatic tip.

There is a thread at the min on Facebook about the gratuities I am amazed at the amount of people that get them removed ,I could and would not dream of removing them the crew wait on you hand and foot and get paid so little for doing it they all most certainly deserve the tips we pay £3-95ph isn't going to break anyone's bank is it since if you book select you get more than enough OBC to pay back in gratuities :)

£3-95ph isn't going to break anyone's bank is it since if you book select you get more than enough OBC to pay back in gratuities :)

So you give P&O money, they give it back to you, and then you give it back to them again, so they can pay their staff.

Hmm, very sensible. How about adding a few more loops of the money just for fun.

So you give P&O money, they give it back to you, and then you give it back to them again, so they can pay their staff.

 

Hmm, very sensible. How about adding a few more loops of the money just for fun.

Its called very clever marketing and they also along with all other cruise companies play on our conscience that its our responsibility to pay gratuities or else they get poor wages. This is the responsibility of the cruise company to pay staff decent wages but if they can get customers to pay instead it means more profit for them.

Its called very clever marketing and they also along with all other cruise companies play on our conscience that its our responsibility to pay gratuities or else they get poor wages. This is the responsibility of the cruise company to pay staff decent wages but if they can get customers to pay instead it means more profit for them.

Not Thomson, tips are included in the fare and you can't remove them as they are not itemised. It works very well and the crew are happy with the arrangements.

Im all for paying the gratuaties then giving individual staff a little extra on top. Great staff add to the enjoyment of your cruise so if they deserve an extra tip then so be it!:)

I'm always astounded by the number of people queuing at the Front Desk within minutes of boarding. Surely they can't all have something to complain in such a short space of time?? My husband and I are convinced that they are the ones that remove the daily gratuities. Personally I think they should walk the plank as we leave port...............

Well I would think that is correct. Until our last two cruises where we had loads of OBC, we always removed our tips and did it personally. We just preferred it that way. Now we can't be bothered and leave them on. I was on a table with other who had removed their tips and everyone had envelopes to give to the waiters on the last night. Just because people prefer to do it that way, doesn't mean they don't tip.

We almost cancelled our gratuities last week because the service on Ventura was very much below expectations. Some of the staff were surly and unsmiling and you could die of thirst waiting for a waiter. The ship appeared to be understaffed. The cabin guy was fantastic and we tipped him well. We actually changed from fixed dining to freedom dining for our second week mostly due to bad service.

Without wanting to cause a massive lash back, why don,t P&O pay their workers a decent wage. I work very hard, in a care home, for minimum wage, I don,t expect tips to bump up my salary. As Davecttr says, tips are included in fare on Thomsons, the staff are happy with this and send money home etc, we have only cruised with Thomsons before and we always tip our cabin stewards, bar staff, waiters and the man who spent the whole 2 weeks cleaning the hand rails!! So if I appear mean, so be it, I will have auto tips removed, and will tip who I feel deserves one, I have never paid up front for good service and I am not starting now.

I don't understand why tips are necessary. If the quoted figure of £3.95 per person per day is considered the right figure why don't P&O just increase the price of the cruise accordingly and say tips are neither required or expected ? If passengers then want to give the staff something extra they of course can but it should not be expected.

So much fuss would be avoided.

Without wanting to cause a massive lash back, why don,t P&O pay their workers a decent wage. I work very hard, in a care home, for minimum wage, I don,t expect tips to bump up my salary. As Davecttr says, tips are included in fare on Thomsons, the staff are happy with this and send money home etc, we have only cruised with Thomsons before and we always tip our cabin stewards, bar staff, waiters and the man who spent the whole 2 weeks cleaning the hand rails!! So if I appear mean, so be it, I will have auto tips removed, and will tip who I feel deserves one, I have never paid up front for good service and I am not starting now.

On P&O the auto tips go into a common pool for the ship. If you remove the auto tip and tip individually the staff member has to put that money into the pool. If they don't they could be soon on the plane home :eek:

If you leave the auto tip on any money you give to your cabin steward etc is theirs to keep. This is what I do. Drinks waiters are on commission of I believe 6%.

I suppose the marketing 'experts' at HQ would throw up their hands in horror if it was suggested the tip was included in the fare. After all including £56 per fortnight in the fare up front would mean nobody would book with P&O as it would be too expensive. Instead they do it sneakily via auto tips. Have the idiots never thought that 'tips included' is actually good public relations. :rolleyes:

I suspect that the practice of tipping on cruise ships arose because they were originally targeted at the US market, where tipping is a way of life. Americans expect to tip anyone and everyone.

Totally agree that the tips should be included in the cost. I have always said that. The difference is minimal and then there would be no fuss.

Sorry Davecttr but if I left auto tips on I would definately not tip extra. I am sure that the staff that receive tips directly have found a way of getting it into their pocket. If P&O put the tips into the cost of the holiday it wouldn,t put me off as I wouldn,t know they had done it. I don,t think it would make it more expensive, it would still be cheaper than Thomsons , for the cruise we are going on anyway. It just annoys me that P&O think we should pay a set amount , up front, for a service that should be the norm. Lots of people work very hard , with a smile on their face, in the hospitility industry. With no tips. I am sure that I have read on another thread that the tips aren,t shared out amongst all the staff anyway, so what is the point!

Totally agree that the tips should be included in the cost. I have always said that. The difference is minimal and then there would be no fuss.

Well it is rather in the cost, it's just payable at the end of the cruise rather than before.

If it were included in the brochure price we would likely have to pay VAT on it!