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Another way to look at gratuities


simonpjd
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This may be a load of cobblers but maybe not.

Let’s take an average cruise ship.

2000 pax.

1000 crew of which , a guess here but probably not far off, 350 get a slice of the auto gratuity payments.

 

Now do the sums.

P&O would love everyone to pay the £7 a day.

So that would be £14000 a day.

Shared by 350 crew is £40 a day or £280 a week or c£14000 a year. Plus the P&O wages (unknown)

According to my Google search the average pay in Manilla is 550USD a month.

 

So even if only 50% of pax pay up the tipping dosh comes to a lot more than average pay in the Philippines.

 

Makes me wonder what their official wage is. And, of course, that is one thing all the companies keep very very quiet about.

 

Just a few thoughts...

 

 

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According to my Google search the average pay in Manilla is 550USD a month.

 

So even if only 50% of pax pay up the tipping dosh comes to a lot more than average pay in the Philippines...

 

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When we sailed on the Enchantment of the Seas a few years back, our cabin steward team was composed of a husband and wife from the Philippines. We started chatting about our families and they revealed that they have children back home.

 

So we asked them about the logistics of both parents working on a ship for months at a time with small children back home. They told us that the children stayed with their grandparents, but that they covered all of the kids and grandparents expenses and that they lived very well. The reason why they were doing this is because it allowed their family to enjoy a comfortable life, and in a few years, they could make more money than most people in the Philippines make in a lifetime. They’d have a nice house completely paid for, and a secure financial future for their family, including their kids college tuition paid in full, and they’d enjoy an early retirement.

 

So while I don’t know exactly how much cruise ship employees make, it seems that it’s enough to provide more than what many of them could’ve ever dreamed of.

 

 

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Did you calculate into your equation that cruise ship employees work 7 days per week and 16+ hours per day and what would you recon a fair wage for that? They choose not to work in Manila nor are you vacationing in Manila. I compare the $14.50USD to tipping at home for three meals a day and cabin service. It’s a steal which is why we tip on top of the recommended rates.

 

 

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I’ve turned 180degrees to come round to that view too

 

I'm sure that many others have done the same judging by Jeanlyon's recent thread. I think many read the deleted thread and did some quick sums and realised that the autotip money that we faithfully paid to P&O for staff tips is not all going to the staff. My wife and like many others are not prepared to trust P&O to pass the money on in full and therefore will tip in full in cash to the staff who serve us.

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I shall be taking a copy of ccc666's original post with me on Ventura and I shall be presenting it to reception and Sellotaping it to my cabin door if they send me a letter asking me to reconsider.

 

I shall of course still be handing out £5's, £10's & £20's like confetti to those who deserve it.

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Lots of guesses, conspiracy theory and serious allegations of financial impropriety already on this thread. If you think P&O are guilty of dishonesty and pocketing autogratuities, presumably you will not take any more cruises with such an untrustworthy company. Take your money elsewhere.

 

I admit that greater transparency would be helpful but I do not think any of us has any right to know about remuneration of any staff or to expect their wages to be linked to their country of residence, whether Philippines or India. I don’t see that principle applying in areas such as business or sport, why should it apply in wages of cruise line employees?

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Not too sure it matters whether cruise staff are paid western or 3rd world salaries, what it should be is a competitive rate that the cruise lines and staff are happy with.

Nor do I agree that they work 16 hour days, 7 days a week, our last steward worked from around 8 in the morning till 1:00pm officially, sometimes 2;00pm, then 6:00 - 10:00pm, that's about 9 or 10 hrs a day.

What is clearly without doubt is that if all passengers paid the full auto gratuity, then P&O would take in enough money to pay the FULL wages of all the stewards and waiters, and still have a sizeable chunk left over to pay some of the other staff.

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Lots of guesses, conspiracy theory and serious allegations of financial impropriety already on this thread. If you think P&O are guilty of dishonesty and pocketing autogratuities, presumably you will not take any more cruises with such an untrustworthy company. Take your money elsewhere.

 

I admit that greater transparency would be helpful but I do not think any of us has any right to know about remuneration of any staff or to expect their wages to be linked to their country of residence, whether Philippines or India. I don’t see that principle applying in areas such as business or sport, why should it apply in wages of cruise line employees?

That might be true but if people hand over a sizeable sum in cash on the promise it is going to the crew we at least deserve to know our cash is going to where we wanted it to go.

 

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