pisces14

Things must have changed. We have always have the wine package. We were on the world cruise in 2015 and someone we met on there also had the wine package. He would have a pre-dinner drink from a bottle in his wine package in the Crow's Nest and there was no problem at all in doing that. Our next cruise is on Cunard but we are booked on the Aurora in January next year. I very much enjoyed the wine flights in the Glasshouse I'm sorry to hear they have got rid of the vast majority.:(

We know from all the comments here that most would prefer tips to be included, yet most still continue to accept the “optional” system. Folks, nothing will change while you do. Remove the tips and make it quite plain why you are doing so in any survey.

 

Let’s think like Aussies for once.

 

DAVID.

I do agree with what you are saying. Nothing will change until we all make a stand. I have been changing my mind back and forth with this one. Whether to just pay the auto-tips or whether to remove them and pay the old way and make a point on the form that they should be included in the cruise price. As my husband is fond of saying I was going to enrol in a decision making class but I couldn't decide whether to or not.:o

 

I only know about cruise life from what I have seen and heard on all of the cruises I have been on. I have spoken to many of the staff who have worked on the ships for several years. They tell me they enjoy their job and the secruity that goes with it. They look forward to time off after severa months but some prefer to continue for a longer stint in order to be able to have a comfortable life along with their families later on.

In my Nursing Home we employ several care assistants from abroad who work under the same conditions. Sometimes they do not go home to visit for 2 to 3 years. They tell me that this is what they expect when being accepted to work in the UK whilst receiving although our minimum wage is far more than they would be able to earn at home. They are very happy to live well in the UK and send a decent amount of money back for their family. Many tell me they feel proud that they were chosen in their family to be able to do this. They are excellent employees with exception. Caring, efficient and hard working. Nothing is too much trouble. Of course they are paid exactly the same as all the other staff. Minimum Wage. They ask regularly to work extra shifts if there are any available. They never, ever complain about anything whatsoever and are a pleasure to work with and to know. Our Residents know and love them. They are a credit to the country they came from.

 

I too in the past have worked very long hours as my husband has in order to make ends meet and have been employed now for many, many years and still working for my family and to enjoy holidays. We dont get them cheap and dont expect them to be cheap. I just prefer to pay a tip when it is deserved.

 

I appreciate what you've been saying about people in the UK working long hours and not receiving tips. No one ever tipped me in the job I had either. The point I was making was that the British have always tipped those in the service industry and those who work on the ships are in the service industry. The only objection I have to the auto-tips is that people are allowed to remove them. Which is why I am in favour of them being included in the price of the cruise.

Without a doubt, P&O are cost cutting and this has been a steady but continuous process over many years but, to be fair to them, so has every smart business. As DaiB rightly points out, we pay a lot less for our cruises now than we used to.

 

Of course, this raises the question of would we rather pay more for a higher quality product? Well, personally, I would, but if I was P&O I would do what they are doing. In order to fill their vast and ever increasing capacity, they have to appeal to the masses and cannot rely on the affluent few as they used to. This means lower prices and a product engineered to that price. Those of us who like the luxuries in life still have the (usually) excellent Select Dining restaurants etc.

 

As for the shops, I have always felt that it’s absolute tat at premium prices. The only things that we would ever buy are cheaper online at home!

Unfortunately you are right. P&O have to fill their ships and therefore are charging cheaper prices and cost cutting. We've always liked P&O for their destinations and the fact that we can cruise to and from the UK. However I'm slowly being put off P&O with the way they seem to be going. Would I prefer higher prices and a higher quality product. Absolutely!

I'm not a long evening dress person myself. I usually wear evening trousers and glitzy type tops. The only dresses I wear are knee length cocktail dresses. I think as long as you wear something like that you'll be fine. I've always found most women will wear or black and white, or simply black on the B&W night.

Except we are not talking about "tips" - a small thank you for doing a good job, but the £48 million in Service Charges P&O is aiming to collect to pay the bulk of the stewards and waiters pay.

I think you are splitting hairs and you know exactly what I'm referring to. I realise it's now called a service reward. Call it a service reward or gratuities I'm not talking about a small thank you I'm talking about the £7pppn that some people won't be paying and as Dai says in order to save themselves money.

I really don't know why this thread is continuing. I have realised from reading (most of it not all as people keep repeating the same thing) that some people won't tip and will satisfy their conscience because they are convinced P&O are ripping them off. They have no more idea than me what happens to the tips but I suppose it helps to be self righteous when you accept service from the staff knowing you aren't going to tip them.That's fine that's up to them. Hopefully P&O will eventually include the tips in the price of the cruise. Until such time we will continue to do what we have have always done pay the auto-tips and pay extra to those we think deserve it. My thanks to everyone who has helped me make that decision.

I'm sorry I disagree with you all. Perhaps I'm a lot older but I was brought up to tip people. My parents always tipped. Yes I am old enough to remember when a young boy would deliver our groceries on his bike ( just like Granville in 'Open all hours) He and the boy who delivered our fruit and veg would get a tip from my mother every week. My husband and I always tip in restaurants, hairdressers etc. It's not just an American thing but obviously young people today seem bewildered by it, just as I'm bewildered by the non-tipping generation.

I've heard nothing from P&O and we have 3200 points. I'll be a little more than miffed if we lose those.:mad:

 

It really does look as if P&O are getting desperate so there must be a lot of people removing the auto tips. The last increase was the straw that broke the camels back.

That's exactly what I think and the more this goes on the more hopeful I become that the gratuities will be included in the price of the cruise.

I think P&O really has gone too far by issuing these letters and it could really backfire on them.

 

To start with it is making people aware they can remove or reduce the optional charge, and that other people are doing so.

 

One of the factors keeping the system going is people thinking that everyone else is paying. As more people become aware that others are not paying, they will feel safe to join that crowd.

I do think you have a point here.

It seems like the use of emotional blackmail.

Your cruise should be a happy occasion not stressful.

Like you I've spoken to P&O with my suggestion they include the gratuities in the price of the cruise. I'd decided to fill out the form removing the auto-tips and suggest again they be included in the price of the cruise. I'm not sure now that I want that form sent to my cabin. It's not that I'd find it stressful more embarrassing if I'm honest. If we did decide to remove the auto-tips we could as someone suggested let the staff know we intended to pay by cash and they would have to trust we would do that. Although I suppose we could give them the money at the start of the cruise. :confused:

I would be interested to know that as well.

 

We have never removed the auto tips so I don’t know what they normally do. As we are now considering removing them and tipping by cash in protest at the lack of clarity around all this and regular above inflation rises it would be interesting to know what to expect.

 

 

 

Delivering a letter to the cabin does ensure that the staff know exactly who has removed tips and I have never heard anyone mention this happening before so I also assumed that it was new.

 

 

Some of the regulars on here remove and tip in cash so they should be able to clarify.

Like you I had thought of removing the tips and paying cash to the staff. After reading Selbourne's

reply to me that hundreds of people are removing the auto-tips I'm not really sure it's something we could do. I really would not be able to look my cabin steward or butler in the face if I had one of those letters delivered to my cabin.

The letters are a new thing, but the questions on them (that I can see) are identical to the questions that are on the form that you are asked to fill in at reception if you ask for the service charge to be removed. It would be illogical to ask the same passengers the same questions twice, hence my assumption that these are sent to the cabins of those who have requested the service charge to be removed but haven’t completed the sections on the form asking for the reasons why.

 

Of course it could be that so many people are now removing the service charge that, to ease pressure on reception, they are trialling a new system where instead of asking passengers to fill in the forms at reception they simply take your cabin number and then send this letter to the cabins, but we were on Aurora just a couple of weeks ago and the normal system of filling in forms at reception was in place and no letters were sent to cabins. The poor team at reception were processing hundreds of them.

Thank you for your reply. Oh my goodness hundreds of people are removing the auto-tips. Perhaps as you suggest if so many people are removing the tips its easier to simply put the form in the cabin. I can only see things getting worse.

I did say we would remove the auto tips on our next cruise so that I could write on the form that tips should be included in the price. I'm really having second thoughts now.

Thanks. That worked! That just seems to be a version of the form that all guests removing the service charge are asked to complete and reads as though it is sent to the cabins of those who have asked for the charge to be removed but haven't answered the questions on the form. Nothing sinister about that.

Are you saying this is not a new thing but the usual form people fill in when they remove the auto-tips? There seems to be quite an outcry on P&O's Facebook page with some people saying it's intimidation. So I assumed it was a new thing.

The purpose of the optional service charge is to increase P&O's profits.

 

By operating the scheme they can reduce the headline price of the cruise by not needing to include the bulk of the wage bill for a significant number of staff.

 

The result is they sell more cruises and take more money from onboard spend with the ships sailing at capacity.

 

Meanwhile it is the staff who are taking the risk that customers don't pay the optional charge and so reducing the amount in the pool to distribute into their pay packet.

 

Make no mistake there is no way P&O loses whether passengers pay the charge, pay cash, or pay nothing. The only impact for P&O is increased profits.

Surely if the service charge were simply to increase P&O's profit they would have already included them in the price of the cruise. If not then they really are relying on those who pay the gratuities to subsidise other people's cruises in spite of what some say to the contrary.

We've always used CPS even when we've been on a world cruise which has been twice to date. We've never had a problem and we like the convenience. I can't say how they compare price wise because we've never considered using anyone else.We usually opt for the OBC and pay for the parking.

Be careful what you wish for. You can be sure they wont just add the basic daily cost of the tips to the price of a cruise.

I still think it's the best way to go. Then people can tip any member of staff if they wish with the knowledge that they have already paid for the service provided.

This is the reply I got from P&O to an email I sent regarding the gratuities. This seems to answer all the questions that people have been asking

 

Any tips which you pay to a member of staff directly are theirs to keep and do not need to be declared or pooled with other members of staff.

If that really is the case does this mean that some staff will receive more than others? That doesn't seem fair. Also how do P&O assess how many passengers are paying gratuities if the staff don't have to declare them and why bring in Auto-tips in the first place?

;)I got mixed up as well ,my post should read Travel junkie said ...

 

Katie Middleton however never posted again, just the one post back in 2016.

 

Maybe she got in with the royals and had no more need for us . ;):confused:

That made me smile too.:D:D

But the wine waiters are nothing to do with auto tips at all they get their tips from their drink sales although it is not visibly added to the price it is still there. They work to a different system and could well pool their tips between them.

 

Tips given to wine waiters have nothing to do with this thread.

 

 

 

 

 

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I disagree if staff can keep tips given to them surely ALL staff given tips can keep them. If waiters can keep tips, if cabin stewards can keep tips then wine waiters can keep tips. Our wine waiter handed it in. As far as I'm concerned you or anyone else on here has no more idea than I have. I stand by what I've said ONLY P&O know.

Thank you for posting this. This is exactly the policy as has been explained consistently to me over several years and was confirmed yet again a month ago. I had originally asked what happens if I tip in addition to the service charge (they can keep them) and then more recently what happens if I remove the service charge (they can still keep them). Over the years I have received 3 detailed written responses on this subject and had conversations with a number of senior P&O officers on ships (including Hotel General Manager who has overall responsibility for all affected staff). Every answer whether in writing or face to face has confirmed the policy you state above.

 

As to why other Carnival brands may do things differently, I have no idea nor do I care. I do not cruise with any other Carnival brand and this thread is about P&O, so it is irrelevant.

 

I am 100% content that I know the facts about this subject in so far as they relate to P&O (UK) Cruises. Others will continue to challenge it, offer up conspiracy theories or just chose to disbelieve. That is for them.

I am very sorry to burst your bubble and it may well have been a one off but on our last cruise with P&O my husband gave a tip to a wine waiter who had particularly looked after us during our cruise. The next night which was our very last night the bar manager came up and thanked us for the tip. We had meant it for the wine waiter but it had obviously been handed in. I'm afraid after speaking to P&O recently that no-one is ever told the truth. No passenger knows the truth no-one on here knows the truth. We all have to decide for ourselves what we do regarding the gratuities. I'm heartily sick of these threads but one thing I have finally decided is that the only people who know the truth are the management on P&O and they aren't telling anyone.

Not quite sure what you are referring to but my answer....as I stated... was to the OP whose reason was a change of their financial circumstances.

The original poster started this thread in January 2016. Probably Travel Junkie would have been better to start his/her own thread. My comment was with regard to Travel Junkies post on a similar theme.

I don't know if it's relevant but as I understand it up until the time you pay the final balance you can transfer your booking to another cruise of the same or more cost but not to one of lesser cost and you pay the admin fee of £100. However, if you have paid the final balance then they will not let you transfer the cruise and any cancellation means you have to claim the money back from your insurance company. I have had examples of both of those. We had a cruise booked on Oceana and a few months after we'd booked it - about 8 months before we were due to sail - and had paid the deposit but not the final balance, one of my daughters announced she was pregnant and that the baby was due on the date we were due to sail. I was able to transfer the cruise to the following year to one of slightly greater value and had to pay the admin fee of £100.

On the second occasion, we had paid the final balance and about a month before we were due to go I broke my ankle. On this occasion even though the same cruise was available the next year, I they would not allow me to transfer to another cruise and we had to cancel and claim the money back from our insurance - which we did with no problem. So as I've understood it whether you can transfer or not depends on if you've paid the final balance. Of course they will not let you transfer to another cruise of lesser value, even if the price of the cabin you've booked goes down. I suppose if they allowed that they'd have people changing bookings all the time.

The other thing I've done, with no charge was to transfer a booking from one cabin to another of the same grade - in fact the one next door. We'd booked an aft suite on Azura and after we'd booked I discovered that some of the aft suites have a beam going through the balcony - our was one of those - so I was able to move to the cabin next door with no admin charge.

I had assumed that only a deposit had been paid. Of course as you say if the final balance has been paid that's different. The only option for the OP is to claim on their travel insurance.

I'm surprised that P&O won't allow you to change to another cruise. Has the policy now changed? I recently changed a cruise with Cunard. I had no problem doing so. The same rules were applied, I had to pay £100 and book a more expensive cruise As they are both Carnival owned I would have thought P&O would still be doing the same.