delron

Yet I suspect you would not be happy if Princess raised the fare on the UK web site by equivalent of 13.50 per day due to "the culture".

I think we Brits already pay a lot more for our Princess cruises than those based in the USA.

Not relevant. I suspect you and I got paid nearly as much in a month than these guys' base annual salary.

 

As to getting rid of gratuities - 'aint gonna happen... Besides employees in the service industry generally get right-royally (I see Michel Roux Jr got called out in the UK press this week) - and unlike the UK (or to an extent here in the US) your taxes aren't being used to subsidise Princess' profits - just your gratuities ;)

 

However, if you feel that strongly, just sail P&O - then again they got mauled a few years back when it was discovered they were paying staff less than a £ / hr...

Lets get something straight here, tipping is not a culture that us Brits really subscribe to, in fact if we are offered a tip it usually offends most of us Brits.

So just because we board an American owned cruise ship that is plying its trade out of Southampton (England) with passengers that mainly consist of UK based people doesn't mean we have to welcome or embrace the act of tipping the crew members.

So if us Brits choose to opt out of the automated gratuities that Princess adds on a daily basis to our onboard spending account, doesn't mean we deserve to get any negative remarks on here from those who`s culture it is to tip.

Sorry if I offend some people on here, but its all about the different cultures and the USA & UK are totally different countries in so many ways.

So what suits one type of passengers doesn't another, so lets just all live with that fact and get on with it.