Teddy123

Not many can say they have not had a doctor prescription in the last 12 months.

 

The Nationwide policy is invalid if you have.

 

 

David

All it says is that if you have had a prescription, "You will not be AUTOMATICALLY covered for any claims relating DIRECTLY to THAT medical condition".

I have been cruising a long time and have never seen napkin waving

I've seen some waving for chefs, but the worst was on Celebrity where each table was encouraged to make as much noise as possible to show their waiters were best - complete with "come on, you can do better than that". Truly awful!

Everyone will make their own decision about what to do, and form their own opinion about whether others are acting in an appropriate and fair manner.

Totally agree, gradually little by little P & O have eroded what cruising was all about and introduced floating Blackpools. There is room, surely, within the fleet to accommodate that level of service, dress codes etc. But, it all boils down to profits of course.

I believe P&O are deliberately going down market and doing everything to minimise costs and headline prices. I don't see this changing within the P&O fleet but now go with Cunard whenever possible. The trouble is, they really only have 2 ships that do anything other than transatlantic so itineraries are limited.

OP. Find out how well vegans are catered for generally. A friend has just been on a US line and they didn't have a clue.

There are one or two vegan options on the vegetarian menu, but they won't offer much variety over a whole cruise. Worth asking about anything more.

Yes we have cancelled the last couple of times as well on the basis that they are dried out and inedible. I would politely disagree with your last sentiment and say that I have never been offered anything in the MDR that was so dried out that there were cracks showing on the top of it.

Well, I've never had canapes like this. I've had some very dry sandwiches though (admittedly in buffets, but almost straight after thet were put out). Clearly, food and experiences will vary.

This forum is full of people complaining about everything but I'm not sure why the canapes attract such venom. They're not brilliant and we usually cancel ours (including the strawberries) simply because we don't want yet more to eat, but they are no worse of their kind than the other food on board.

We have certainly been provided with vegetarian canapes when we asked for them - but as I recall, some at least were cheese so I don't know about vegan.

It may not be in place yet! It was due to be launched on our cruise on Aurora (13th May), but we still had the old room service menu. When I queried it at reception, I was told that the new menu had been delayed and the 'free' menu was still in place. Interestingly, we ordered chargeable items from room service one day (only) but didn't get charged for them - and we weren't in a suite this time. All very confusing!

We ordered smoked salmon, which used to be chargeable even on the old "free" menu, three times - without charge (also not in a suite). Since there has always been a charge for some items, why P&O find it so difficult to introduce a charge for (almost) everything - and hence delay it - I don't know.

My own observations: in Britannia, about 50% to 70% of men wear tuxedos, but in Britannia Club and Grills it is at least 90%.

I would agree with this.

With UK-registered ships Cunard would have been required to pay EU wage scales per the Equality Act 2010

Not true. The Equality Act is about discrimination based on sex etc. There is no such thing as "EU wage scales". On UK-registered ships the UK minimum wage doesn't apply if the person isn't normally resident in the UK.

Should be OK in the Beach house although it is likely that others will be in there dressed formally.

I ate in the Beach House every formal night a few cruises back - because I forgot my dinner suit!! I didn't see anybody dressed formally (on Oriana).

And never understood how it's any of my business what someone is paid (other than me and Mrs Gut, maybe the kids too).

Some people care whether the people who are serving them are paid a fair amount and believe that in order for them to get a fair amount they should receive the auto gratuities. Whether this is the right system or not is another matter. Other people think they get a fair amount without the gratuities - and nobody knows for sure which is right. Others, it seems, simply don't care.

So if the 'roll it up into the price' brigade want to get that to happen, what they should do is stop paying the optional charge and try and persuade everyone else to do the same. The alternative it is to play King Cnut and get damp feet.

Not very fair on the thousands and thousands of hard-working crew who would miss out in the process!

A hypothetical situation. A couple book a cruise and inbetween paying and sailing something happens that blows their budget to smithereens. what do they do? They can enjoy the cruise without spending a penny, after all food and drink is provided 24/7, there is entertainment, etc, etc. But what happens when they get to a port that they have always dreamed of visiting? Yes, they can wander round the port again not spending much, perhaps a coffee and something to drink but what about that excursion they had wanted to take but now they have had to decide that they can't do all the trips they had wanted to do because of their reduced circumstances.

 

And then suddenly they realise that a saving can be made by stopping the gratuities. As far as this couple is concerned, the crew gets paid and why should they (the couple) give them money that they can use to enhance the holiday experience; perhaps to visit the one site that they have dreamed about since booking.

 

What do you say to this couple? Tell them their circumstances are unfortunate but that they shouldn't 'take it out' on the crew.

The basic options are spend it all on yourself or give the crew some. If you believe the crew are paid enough that they don't rely on the gratuities, why not spend it all on yourself? If you believe the crew actually rely on the gratuities, and are paid on the assumption they get them, then it's up to your conscience.

If a company wants to 'cheat' by hiding part of the cost, then [it's] their problem if customers take them up on the optional nature of the charge.

Some people see it as the company suffering, others think that it's the staff who rely on the service charge who suffer.

I can afford the cost but it's my choice if I want to tip or not.

Why do people always refer to them as the hard working staff ,yes they do a job as we all do and get paid for it.

If they are not happy they can leave.

Oh and Tips are not an associated cost .

Just because you feel the need to tip every tom dick and Harry , that's a choice for you.

The sooner Cunard increase the fares to build in the gratuities, the better for the crew and for passengers.

I believe a fairer, and easier, solution (which I assume is possible) would be to leave the auto gratuity in place but reduce its amount. This way, everyone who should benefit will do, albeit to a reduced level. I don't think it's practical to tip directly everyone who serves at breakfast, lunch and dinner and in the buffet (and therefore who you see face to face) - but if you don't tip everyone, somebody will miss out through no fault of their own.

Including the service charge in the fare and leaving people to add an extra tip if they wish would obviously solve problems for crew and passengers alike. However, my perspective is that P&O is trying to minimise its headline prices (hence other moves like charging for room service and going for a new "mega ship") in an attempt to move down market price-wise - and even the £84 for a 14-night cruise is not something they want to add to the price.

The arithmetic is simple: on a 14 night-cruise, with breakfast in the dining room and Freedom Dining, one can easily be served by 56 different people (2 per table). That ignores lunches, the buffet, deck eateries, etc. It seems some people are so worried about the details of the system that they wish to cope with the logistics of handing out 60 or more individual tips rather than let the service charge stand. They must also form a judgement on each of the 60 or so people as to whether they deserve a tip.

If they are so concerned about how their money is spent that they wish to do this, they are free to do so.

I'm sure nobody takes the easy way out and just tips 10 people, say, making the 50 others go without the reward that they would have had from the service charge.

*rolls eyes*

*shakes head*

... we decided to revert to the traditional envelope method as frankly, we don't want P&O keeping our money.

P&O state very clearly, eg at http://www.pocruises.com/explore/articles/news/introducing-our-new-service-reward-programme, that ALL tips go to staff. So clearly your rationale for removing the Service Charge is that you think P&O are liars. As has been said, you are entitled to this opinion.

Do you honestly think that they have different waiters in the restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner I don't think so they perhaps don't need so many at breakfast/lunch so this is where they get the rota breaks as per contract or if not are sent and serve in the buffet.

But it's quite possible to eat in three different places for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

That's exactly what we'll be doing. We're going on Britannia on Sunday and for the first time we'll be removing the auto-gratuities for reasons I won't go into on this thread. We've therefore been collecting £5 notes and £2 coins so we'll tip £5 at dinner and £2 at breakfast. We've also got extra in case we want to tip the wine water or bar staff and will tip our steward s significant sum at the end of the cruise. Overall we will be paying £6 each per day so we're not doing it to save money

And, presumably, going without lunch and tea every day!

And tip every person who serves you at breakfast and lunch, in the MDR and buffet, because otherwise they miss out when the service charge is removed (unless, of course, you think they deserve to be omitted).