Spoke to P&O regarding their 40% increase in automatic gratuities.

Following on from the form being given out to people who have removed from Service Reward Programme am I being cynical or is it me. Has anyone else received an e-mail from P&O introducing the crew from around the world and getting to know the faces behind the service. Four 60 second videos then show about restaurant manager, cabin steward, bar steward and butler talking about their families and children and how one dreams of opening her own restaurant. P&O are really pushing the boat out to make us feel as guilty as possible and not to remove Service Reward Programme. Dont they realise that their intimidation and actions is making it worse and making more people to removing Service Reward Programme and not the opposite effect.

Not recently nor from P&O but we did get one last year from Princess so it may just be a Carnival thing.

We have a total of 45 cruises on P&O and,Princess and only ever had the one.

I have now decided that I will definitely cancel our auto tips when we board this week and will pay tips in cash. If I get a letter I will be asking on board why they think that they can pressure us into paying auto tips.

Good idea and mention it also in your post cruise survey.

Following on from the form being given out to people who have removed from Service Reward Programme am I being cynical or is it me. Has anyone else received an e-mail from P&O introducing the crew from around the world and getting to know the faces behind the service. Four 60 second videos then show about restaurant manager, cabin steward, bar steward and butler talking about their families and children and how one dreams of opening her own restaurant. P&O are really pushing the boat out to make us feel as guilty as possible and not to remove Service Reward Programme. Dont they realise that their intimidation and actions is making it worse and making more people to removing Service Reward Programme and not the opposite effect.

Yes i received that email too.

No, definitely not. Tips should not be expected. I will tip him or her when I am ready before I go to dinner with the other envelopes on the last evening. I don't say to my hairdresser, by the way I will tip you when you've finished. IT;S A GIFT, FREELY GIVEN, not a forced thing.

Absolutely right Jean. Well said.

You are entitled to your actions and i am not suggesting you don't tip but when you stop your autogratuities which is your option then don't show respect to your cabin steward when he knows you have stopped the AGs by at least letting him know you will see him okay on the last night leaves question marks about your true intentions.

Sorry, I don't agree. He has no business knowing my intentions. In my experience they are far more concerned with the survey being excellent which it always is when I do it. He will get his tip, but it won't be discussed. Do you think I should tell the waiters I will be tipping them as well?

Sorry, I don't agree. He has no business knowing my intentions. In my experience they are far more concerned with the survey being excellent which it always is when I do it. He will get his tip, but it won't be discussed. Do you think I should tell the waiters I will be tipping them as well?

Your call.

We have never stopped AGs but if i did and now when the CS knows because they are delivering the letter i would let them know it was nothing they did wrong and i will see you okay cash wise and give you an excellent review out of respect to him/her.

If their service was poor that is a different ball game altogether.

Rumour has it that they knew before. I have been removing the tips for at least my last 6 cruises. CS has never asked me for anything, the only thing is the survey and they usually ask if everything is OK and please can I put excellent, which is ridiculous, becaue Very good should be enough, but if he/she needs excellent then that's what I put, well unless it was terrible, but not had that experience.

Rumour has it that they knew before. I have been removing the tips for at least my last 6 cruises. CS has never asked me for anything, the only thing is the survey and they usually ask if everything is OK and please can I put excellent, which is ridiculous, becaue Very good should be enough, but if he/she needs excellent then that's what I put, well unless it was terrible, but not had that experience.

Thats interesting,we are close to 100 nights on P&O but do most of our cruises 182 nights on RCCL and the cabin stewards on there are a lot more forword if you don't tip enough.

Out of curiosity was any other piece of mail handed over personally or just this one?

Hi no he just handed me the form on its own and returned later with end of cruise questionnaire which he seemed to be more concerned about .

My head is well out of the sand and away from those unwilling to tip the staff.

This thread is about the optional service charge and nothing at all to do with tips.

This thread is about the optional service charge and nothing at all to do with tips.

Can you define the difference please, both are optional.

Exactly my point. A tip is something freely given. A service charge is put on the bill. Apparently it's optional so we remove it and tip in person.

This thread is about the optional service charge and nothing at all to do with tips.

Wrong it’s about tips.

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Can you define the difference please, both are optional.

No because whoever this person is does not like tips and never has as he/she has proved over many years.

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Exactly my point. A tip is something freely given. A service charge is put on the bill. Apparently it's optional so we remove it and tip in person.

It is a auto tip. Brought in to accommodate tipping in freedom dining.

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Yes, think you're right Dai. Didn't have this before Freedom Dining.

I remember a few years ago when on-board a Princess ship that when people asked to cancel the gratuities they were asked (myself included) to attend the desk the following day. Upon arrival that day there was a table behind which there were crew members who gave us the forms to complete in front of them.

Myself and many other guests immediately demanded a meeting with the Hotel manager and when we did meet he apologised for doing this and putting guests in a difficult position. It never happened again.

I launched the poll on this question, but it does seem to have moved on with this form of shame if one does not pay AG.

Has anyone contacted PO to complain and if so what reply?

Just one thing from earlier in the thread, PO will have to include any new AG into the basic price if they want to make it mandatory. Offering a cruise with one price tag and then adding would be illegal in UK and maybe any of Europe. So it is as is or included.

The only reason why crew tell you to tick excellent is because it carries a weightage of 100%....if you put anything other than excellent it just means fail even if u tick good. To get a CSQ Bonus a cabin steward has to achieve a ridiculously high score of above 95%.

The only reason why crew tell you to tick excellent is because it carries a weightage of 100%....if you put anything other than excellent it just means fail even if u tick good. To get a CSQ Bonus a cabin steward has to achieve a ridiculously high score of above 95%.

And most of us tick excellent because we know this. So customer satisfaction feedback is skewed

And most of us tick excellent because we know this. So customer satisfaction feedback is skewed

We do because they come across as your best friend.

Can you define the difference please, both are optional.

Everyone will recognise a tip as something that the recipient of a service gives as a 'thank you for doing a great job', which is handled over after the service has been delivered and in a manner (cash, card, or even goods) and a value decided by the giver.

Whereas the Service Charge is determined by P&O before you have set foot on the ship, no matter what level of service is delivered the amount is pre-set and who receives it is outside the giver's control.

The distinction is obvious and it is deeply unhelpful and misleading to call a Service Charge which is used to pay the bulk of the cabin steward and waiters wages a 'tip'.

And for the avoidance of doubt I have no objection to tips.

I do have an objection to large multinational companies employing staff on dubious contracts where the staff take all the risk so the company can make bigger profits.

Following on from the form being given out to people who have removed from Service Reward Programme am I being cynical or is it me. Has anyone else received an e-mail from P&O introducing the crew from around the world and getting to know the faces behind the service. Four 60 second videos then show about restaurant manager, cabin steward, bar steward and butler talking about their families and children and how one dreams of opening her own restaurant. P&O are really pushing the boat out to make us feel as guilty as possible and not to remove Service Reward Programme. Dont they realise that their intimidation and actions is making it worse and making more people to removing Service Reward Programme and not the opposite effect.

I received this email and immediately had exactly the same thought as you. I can see no reason why stories about staff leaving their young children on the other side of the world would ever be a positive driver in booking a P&O cruise. Within seconds I thought ‘Ah, this is to try to stop people removing the service charge’. I think it’s a cheap shot and agree it could backfire on them.

I think it might point to the fact that P&O is getting nervous about the amount of people now opting out, including many who have previously paid the service charge. I avoid Facebook like the plague and have never joined it, but there is no denying the critical mass that frequent that site and if this subject has gathered momentum on there P&O will be more concerned about it than our ramblings on here. Most of us on Cruise Critic are seasoned cruisers and know the score and will have made our decisions based upon knowledge and experience. An awful lot of first time cruisers (and potential cruisers) are more likely to be drawn to Facebook and this is the market that P&O is targeting, especially with the two new mega ships on the horizon.

I have never removed the 'service charge' and said I never will but this time I will be removing them and envelope tip to the same amount or even above that amount. I have two reasons for doing so and they are the letter going to those who remove them via the cabin and yesterday's P&O email bribery about the staff! Altogether there are six of us travelling and we have all agreed to do this. We are going to hate doing it but raising the service charge after we booked, the letter and the email all adds up to a very bad taste in the mouth.

This may be a one off and next time I may revert to automatically paying it as yet I'm undecided but on our up coming cruise I will make a very strong point of removing it.

Rightly or wrongly it's my choice but I will always tip one way or the other and P&O can go whistle Dixie

Following on from the form being given out to people who have removed from Service Reward Programme am I being cynical or is it me. Has anyone else received an e-mail from P&O introducing the crew from around the world and getting to know the faces behind the service. Four 60 second videos then show about restaurant manager, cabin steward, bar steward and butler talking about their families and children and how one dreams of opening her own restaurant. P&O are really pushing the boat out to make us feel as guilty as possible and not to remove Service Reward Programme. Dont they realise that their intimidation and actions is making it worse and making more people to removing Service Reward Programme and not the opposite effect.

I'm really getting very tired of the cruise lines wanting passengers to fix the World. So lets talk about facts for a country I know well. A good percent of cruise ship workers now are coming fro the Philippines and yes cruise lines can talk about these people leaving families, and the hardships of children growing without parents because they are away on ships....

Whatever cruise passengers do or pay will not save the people here in the Philippines. And why only worry about the small number on the ships, if you really care that much about these poor hard working people forfeit cruise cruise and give the money to a good NGO.

It is not my job as a passenger to fix the negatives of the World, if tomorrow I give away everything I have, by the next day it will be meaningless. It is not right for the cruise lines to try to pull the help these poor people card and try to have passengers take pity on them.

Every crew member who gets tips that I have talked to all say the same about the same thing they liked cash, but do not want it know they are taking cash. If the crew lines really cared about workers they would pay them and stop this begging act.

But lets look at the facts: Philippines total population 102 million, overseas workers Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW ) 2.2 million. OFW remittances 2016, cash remittances $26.9 billion (how much money the workers sent home.) The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Philippines 304.90 USD Billion in 2016.

It is a poor country with almost 3% of the population working outside of the country. The OFW remittances make up a major part of the economy. The cruise industry in total has only about 250.000 cruise ship crew members: Royal Caribbean Cruises 33,000 crew, Carnival Cruise Line 32,000, Norwegian Cruise Line with 19.000 shipboard employees.

The estimate is about 50,000 of the 250,000 are from the Philippines. Only about 1/10 of 1% of the OFW are on cruise ships.