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Removing gratuities after a cruise


Harvey1976
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I hate to bring this subject up but it is a genuine question. My elderly parents have just returned from a cruise and I have found out they spent £400 on tips and also paid the gratuities. Does anyone know if I can get the gratuities back after a cruise had finished. They didn’t realise that they were paying the service charge. I did tell them before they went but they forgot and typical them they didn’t check their bill and just paid it.

 

 

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I hate to bring this subject up but it is a genuine question. My elderly parents have just returned from a cruise and I have found out they spent £400 on tips and also paid the gratuities. Does anyone know if I can get the gratuities back after a cruise had finished. They didn’t realise that they were paying the service charge. I did tell them before they went but they forgot and typical them they didn’t check their bill and just paid it.

 

 

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As all items were on their last statement, viewed prior to payment, they had the opportunity to remove.

Although the chances are very (very) slim, suggest your parents contact their TA, if one used, or write a letter to the MD. who knows?

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As all items were on their last statement, viewed prior to payment, they had the opportunity to remove.

 

Although the chances are very (very) slim, suggest your parents contact their TA, if one used, or write a letter to the MD. who knows?

 

 

 

I think they will probably just leave it and put it down to their own fault.

 

 

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Just do a chargeback with the credit card company or bank.

 

P&O never had an authorisation to take the money so a chargeback will succeed.

I believe that gratuities are in the Ts and Cs which every passenger MUST agree before travel. There authorisation was provided.

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Did they have reason to feel the tips were not deserved or just didn’t want (retrospectively) to pay them? Tips on P&O are lower than most lines and tipping is common across most Cruise lines.

 

 

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Did they have reason to feel the tips were not deserved or just didn’t want (retrospectively) to pay them? Tips on P&O are lower than most lines and tipping is common across most Cruise lines.

 

 

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Did you read post 1 completely,I don't think you did.
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Did they have reason to feel the tips were not deserved or just didn’t want (retrospectively) to pay them? Tips on P&O are lower than most lines and tipping is common across most Cruise lines.

 

 

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As I understand it the op refers to paying the auto grats and paying a further £400.00 in tips.

That’s fine of course if that’s what was intended but it was in error.

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Why not contact P&O and see what they say - or write to someone high up in P&O. It seems like a complete misunderstanding and I would like to think that someone in P&O would have some compassion re the situation. Its not as if they only paid an extra £10 in tips on top of the service charge!

 

Good luck

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Did they have reason to feel the tips were not deserved or just didn’t want (retrospectively) to pay them? Tips on P&O are lower than most lines and tipping is common across most Cruise lines.

 

 

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My understanding of the original post is that they paid £400 in cash and left the gratuities on. The explanation I infer from this is that they did not understand the set up and unwittingly paid twice. I am in agreement with Presto, write to P&O customer relations and explain what these elderly people did and why. They may offer a voucher off a subsequent cruise or something like that. They may of course say this was just an unfortunate incident.

 

Regards John

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I believe that gratuities are in the Ts and Cs which every passenger MUST agree before travel. There authorisation was provided.

 

Your understanding is wrong.

 

There is NOTHING in the T&Cs about the service charge (https://www.pocruises.com/Global/pdf/poc-booking-conditions.pdf). In fact the existence of a service charge is not mentioned at ANY stage in the booking process.

 

As the service charge only appears on the bill on the last night without any mention of it, then in no sense can it have been said to have been 'authorised'.

 

Frankly if anyone contacted P&O after their cruise and asked for the service charge back then P&O would be idiots if they didn't refund and opened this can of worms.

Edited by picsa
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I think they will just leave it and put it down to not looking at the bill.

 

 

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Try and persuade them to get in touch with someone - nothing ventured I suppose...................

 

Having said that, I could never persuade my elderly parents to do anything ever ......... never ............ ever ;)

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I think they will just leave it and put it down to not looking at the bill.

 

 

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It would not hurt to write a short polite letter and send it in. They might just get a bit of OBC next time or something and P&O will see what can happen with older first timers.

 

Regards John

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have to agree. For a new cruiser, there is nothing anywhere, unless you look, to say about tips. OK, it's in the brochure, but does anybody read that from cover to cover? It's a cheek really to put it on the bill unless somebody actually knows about it. Most of us do, but we are only a few on here really.

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Did you read post 1 completely,I don't think you did.

 

 

 

I read it but it wasn’t completely clear in hindsight. If they tipped cash plus auto tipped that’s a different matter. I will give clearer advice in future, as long as the question is clear as well.

 

Did you offer advice.....? Or just criticise someone else’s post?

 

 

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[quote

 

As the service charge only appears on the bill on the last night without any mention of it, then in no sense can it have been said to have been 'authorised'.

 

We are just back from Aurora - the charges were on our bill on the second day.

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There is a whole page devoted to it in the "Your Holiday Information" booklet (page 7). Plus a paragraph at rear of same booklet under "our Policies, Service Reward Programme" (page 40). This is the booklet that contains excursion info and your luggage labels.

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[quote

 

As the service charge only appears on the bill on the last night without any mention of it, then in no sense can it have been said to have been 'authorised'.

 

We are just back from Aurora - the charges were on our bill on the second day.

 

Have they started to automatically provide daily paper bills to your cabin without requesting them or did you ask for one?

 

If it is the latter then unless you take action you won't see this charge until the last night.

 

As I said before, if someone asks for this unauthorised charge back after the cruise then P&O would be stupid to do anything other than to hand it back.

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There is a whole page devoted to it in the "Your Holiday Information" booklet (page 7). Plus a paragraph at rear of same booklet under "our Policies, Service Reward Programme" (page 40). This is the booklet that contains excursion info and your luggage labels.

 

Sorry but there is nothing when you book online with P&O (or where you print out your luggage labels).

 

But that is getting away from the point that for everything else which is charged to your cabin you need to hand over your card and sign to authorise, and you get a receipt.

 

Hiding something in a brochure isn't getting authorisation.

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I'm sure I remember seeing references to it in the Horizon daily programme. There are notices in cabins, I've even seen a notice on the reception desk about it.

In every case it is always referred to as optional, which is why it is not in T&Cs because paying it is not a condition of cruising. It is quite clear that this can be removed whenever it is mentioned in any literature, notice or sign.

It can hardly be said to be a hidden charge.

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I'm sure I remember seeing references to it in the Horizon daily programme. There are notices in cabins, I've even seen a notice on the reception desk about it.

In every case it is always referred to as optional, which is why it is not in T&Cs because paying it is not a condition of cruising. It is quite clear that this can be removed whenever it is mentioned in any literature, notice or sign.

It can hardly be said to be a hidden charge.

 

But that is all once you are onboard. If someone books online there is no mention of it at all. It is perfectly feasible that a new cruiser could be onboard before they are aware of this charge. I do think that P&O should put something into the booking process about this, one of these boxes that flash up and you need to read before you move on for example.

 

Also under the new GDPR regulations you can only use information for the specific purpose it was provided. To use personal information (and I presume this would cover a credit card) for other purposes you require active, explicit consent. Consent by default is no longer acceptable since May 2018.

 

I think a polite letter to P&O would sort this out for the OP, in the circumstances of a genuine error and double payment I am sure that P&O will do something.

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I'm sure I remember seeing references to it in the Horizon daily programme. There are notices in cabins, I've even seen a notice on the reception desk about it.

In every case it is always referred to as optional, which is why it is not in T&Cs because paying it is not a condition of cruising. It is quite clear that this can be removed whenever it is mentioned in any literature, notice or sign.

It can hardly be said to be a hidden charge.

 

But none of that could be said to authorise this optional charge!

 

At no stage does P&O present you with a bill with the service charge on and say - We are planning on taking £X, sign if that is that OK?

 

Where is the positive authorisation that P&O can take the service charge, a charge they have not mentioned at any point in the booking process.

 

As I have said a number of times, if you contacted P&O after the cruise and asked for the service charge back P&O would be stupid to refuse you.

 

They know that if you raised it with the card company P&O would not be able to show they had any authorisation to take the money (if P&O tried to make the argument you are the card company would be rolling on the floor in laughter).

 

The last thing that P&O would want to do is make it public knowledge that people can do this, which might happen if they refused and someone raised it with the consumer champions in the press.

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I have been told(not sure if its true) that now, if you want to remove the tips with NCL you can ONLY remove them(i.e ask for a refund) on your return.I suppose they think fewer people will remove them once home because it requires some effort.I wonder if this means that you can ask for them to be removed in retrospect, too with P and O?It might be worth your parents writing to P and O asking for a refund and explaining the reason.

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