pisces14

Just to clarify, mini suite passengers do not get access to the breakfast venue that is for full suites only. I agree the aft suites on Oceana are the biggest in the fleet now that Adonia has gone. We also prefer the aft mini suites which have a large, deep balcony compared to the midship minis which are like two balcony cabins joined together so they have a long narrow balcony.

I'm afraid you're wrong the penthouse suites on the Aurora are the biggest in the P&O fleet. I also found that although the bathroom in the Oceana suite to be very large, the living area itself was smaller that the Oriana suites.

So what are you hoping to achieve and have you considered the consequence.

 

If you remove the optional service charge then the tip pool is reduced by your share so every waiter and steward will receive less as there is less to share out.

 

Meanwhile for your waiters and steward, whilst their share is reduced, you will be giving them between them £14 per day (I am assuming you are not doing this to save money).

 

So your waiters and steward are quids in and everyone else suffers. Hmm.

My reason for doing so is to make a point to P&O that the tips should be included in the price of the cruise. Of course I'm not doing it to save money. Apart from giving my opinion on the phone to P&O I don't see what else I can do to change things and I think it's time for a change. Personally I don't think anyone will suffer as I know from an experience on our last cruise that the tips have to be handed in.

It’s amazing how many of the die-hard auto-tippers, are now saying they are going to take them off. I wonder if they will get called tight-wads, scroungers, mean etc as others have been called who said they took the auto-tips off, and paid accordingly.

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I've never called anyone who PAYS tips a tightwad. My reason for removing the tip is so I can make a comment on the form. We will be paying the gratuities requested along with extra as we always do. The difference is next time we will be giving them directly to the staff.

Yes, that's what we do. However, I don't want "compulsory tipping". I want the set amount included in the price of the cruise, then I tip as I like, just the way we did before the autograts arrived.

I have now decided this is the best way to go. I have persuaded my husband that we should remove the auto tips and tip directly to the staff. (I just hope he doesn't change his mind on our cruise)We will then do as Eddie11 says and comment on the form that we want the tips included in the fare. At some point I think P&O have to get the message.

But did they do anything other than pat you on the head whilst nodding and making sympathetic noises?

Well considering I emailed before Josy53 I definitely think I've simply been placated, because I've heard nothing from the relevant department. Time for another email I think.:mad:

I am sure that questions will be asked.

 

I had a phone call today from P&O to discuss the email that I sent to Christopher Edgington. The lady who called me obviously had a copy of my email and we talked for 25 mins, I got the impression that they are taking our concerns seriously. She did say that we could remove the auto-grats and pay what we thought was fair or not pay at all, as we already know. There is apparently a team who continuously review the gratuity situation and our comments and suggestions from our emails along with the comments made in the telephone conversations will be passed to this team.

 

I am not sure what my OH and I will do on our next cruise because while we feel that we are being taken advantage of for complying with P&O's chose auto-gratuity amount we both feel that it is unfair to possibly impact the waiters and cabin steward.

I also received a phone call the day after I sent my email. I was assured my email would be passed to the relevant department and my opinion was important to P&O. Although I had a long conversation with the young lady who phoned, I'm not confident that my opinion will count for much but hopefully if others have also put in their 2 cents worth and with the poll too, perhaps P&O will begin to think about including the gratuities. With the gratuities going up to £7pp, I think a lot more people will be removing auto -tips if nothing else that should make them think.

 

 

The question is does removal of grats generally affect those people, is there less to share out.

Something I think we will never know, and why I think it's important to not remove the auto tips. A far better system of course is to simply include them in the price of a cruise.

Well we have emailed him so lets see.

We always autotip and leave cash tips on top but i think it is wrong that some pay and others don't thats why a compulsory service charge or gratuitys added to cruise price means everyone is paying their share of the service charge which is fair.

Which is precisely the point I made to Mr Edgington. Let's hope he takes notice.;)

We predominantly cruise 2-7 nights and the tips are swallowed up by our obc.

For people like yourself who are cruising for 33 nights the gratuity amount sticks out like a sore thumb and I'm sure if people pay tips in cash the amount will be nowhere near $1000.

I along with others on a P&O thread have emailed Christopher. Edgington@ pocruises.com asking for gratuitys to be incorporated into the cruise price as it is the fairest way and everyone contributes this way.

We only do long cruises which have included 2 world cruises. Nevertheless we have always paid the auto-tips and also tipped extra. So I don't think doing a long cruise should be a 'get out clause' for not paying the tips.

Yes but it now only gives the number of black tie nights and theme nights. It doesn't say when. It used to.

Yes I'm sure they used to. I think that's because they can change their minds on the ship now. In fact I seem to remember on one of our world cruises it changed and the decision to do so was apparently made by the entertainment manager. Go figure! as our American friends would say.;)

The way I see it is I can moan about people not paying tips or I can give my opinion to P&O and hope they take some notice. Christopher Edgington may not read this or any other forum but I would think they have someone who monitors opinions on the internet.

If you go to the P&O website and check out the FAQs. Type in 'What will the dress code be while I am on board'.It will give you the dress codes for each cruise right up until early next year.

Thanks for his address, I have now E-mailed him to express my opinion on this increase.

Good for you too. I think it's time to let P&O know how we feel.(y)

I have now emailed Christopher Edgington.

Good the more people who think the way we do the better.(y)

If you could post Christopher Edgingtons email address i and others would appreciate it and also send emails.

Thanks. Graham.

The email address I have is christopher.edgington@pocruises.com

Thank you from me too. I have also emailed Christopher Edgington

today giving him my opinion. Perhaps if everyone who feels this is the right move (including the tips in the price)does the same P&O may think twice on the subject.

Probably be £8 or £9 by this time next year.

Unless I've miscounted, I think only 3 of us will be paying the auto-tips by then.;)

100% correct, DaiB. You certainly do pay for those perks! Eye-wateringly expensive....[emoji31]

 

 

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I have just checked out a cruise on the Aurora which is our favourite ship. I couldn't find one in July but a 2 week cruise on the 2cnd August 2019 would cost £9304 for a midship suite. Quite a difference to the Britannia and yet no more perks. From what you say it would seem we would get far more for our money on Celebrity. Unfortunately from what I can see Celebrity don't seem to do longer roundtrips from Southampton other than 2 weeks. We prefer longer cruises and don't want to fly otherwise I could be tempted to give Celebrity a try.

Majority vote wins

 

 

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The majority voted to pay the new service charge.

I really don't see why anyone would disagree with this post. Its a fact that you are entitled to do what you want about tipping. P&O encourage you to do just that. Therein lies the whole problem. If you decide to pay the optional service charge when a lot of people don't then you can't complain because that is their and your option. Also if you decide to give cash tips for good service then its your option.

Unless P&O include the service charge then this discussion will go on and on.

I agree it's P&O's fault entirely. They should either include tips in the price of the cruise or keep the auto-tipping but do NOT allow anyone to remove them unless they have a serious issue which should be investigated. They and the passengers who don't pay tips are being unfair to the staff and the passengers who do.

Why, it’s called democracy

 

 

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That's not what I call it.

58.17% are not

 

 

 

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Perhaps they should consider taking a different form of holiday.

There’s always the assumption that some people don’t contribute(?), how do you know. In any case, it’s not a contribution it’s voluntary, and by that people can do what they want and it’s nobody’s business but theirs

 

 

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The point is that if the gratuities are included in the price then everyone pays the price they want for their cruise and the staff receive the gratuities they are due. I can't see a problem with that. Those who then want to tip a little extra will do so and those who don't will know they don't have to. Everyone is happy.

Not anymore. Our first cruise in 2004 was also our honeymoon and when we arrived in our mini-suite on the old Adonia (sister ship to Oceana) we had 3 bottles of champagne waiting for us. One was for being first time cruisers with P&O, another was for choosing a suite category cabin and the third was to celebrate our honeymoon.

We were also invited to at least one party.

Now you get nothing other than a larger room really.

 

 

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Obviously you didn't read my previous post. We were invited to a suite passengers only cocktail party for the first time in 7 years of cruising in suites. I'm wondering if this is a new thing being introduced for suite passengers on longer cruises.

I think perhaps you get a few more perks with a suite than a mini-suite apart from the butler don't you? I could be wrong:confused::confused:.:confused:

That’s interesting and is perhaps unique to Oceana? We weren’t in a suite on our two cruises on her. We have, however, stayed in a suite on Britannia (3 times) and a Penthouse on Ventura and have never been invited to anything specifically for suite passengers.

We've been on world cruises in the Aurora Penthouse suite and never been invited to anything other than the Peninsular club parties. Our cruise on the Oceana was 35 days so whether it's going to be brought in now for longer cruises I have no idea. Our next cruise with P&O is a long one on the Aurora so I'll see what happens then.