Tipping on P&O

[jeanlyon]

I order from the wine line - much easier, having had a look at the menu at lunchtime.

[davecttr]

Which is why you get the stupid situation of

- The waiter brings the menu, but not the wine list

- The waiter comes back to take your order

- The wine waiter eventually appears, and then seems shocked that you actually want to read the wine list

 

Whether the wine waiter then managed to get back, take the order, and bring the wine to the table, before the waiter brought the starters was not frequent. So if it was a warm starter, then it gets sent back, until the wine waiter does their job.

 

There were some days when the wine waiter had not even made an initial appearance just to hand over the wine list, before the starters arrived. And that was even after asking the waiter if he could ask the wine waiter to come over.

 

And I pay a commission for this poor service?

Mmm, you won't start your meal until you get your wine? That level of service is way above what you should expect in the mdr on a cruise ship. Pre order the wine or eat in a fine dining restaurant.

[Elviex]

On Arcadia's short cruise to Guernsey recently we were told we couldn't pre order wine because we were Freedom Dining. It was the first time we had tried to pre order. Is this the norm for Freedom Diners?

 

 

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[jeanlyon]

Well I can imagine it would be, because how on earth do they know where you are going to sit or what time you are going to eat.

[Elviex]

Thanks Jeanlyon, that was the reason we were given so fair enough and we understand. But it was just to explain to some who may think they can preorder come what may, as obviously you can't!

 

 

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[Elviex]

Had another thought....if we know which restaurant and roughly what time could they not have the wine there ready?? Just a thought!

 

 

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[terrierjohn]

Well the £3-95pppd is paid to cabin steward,waiter and assistant waiter so even if nobody else is paid out of it that throws your wage configuration completely out of the window. So lets say cabin steward gets £1-50 then using your formula it is £3 per cabin of 2 people x 14nts x10 cabins which equals £420 per 14nt cruise so a big difference in your estimation of £1106 from your totally wrong assumption that cabin steward keeps it all which he doesnt.

 

So as the old saying goes dont let facts get in the way of a good argument.

Your calculation is OK but the number of cabins is wrong, the last time we spoke with a steward he said he handled 19 cabins, plus some of these will have more than 2 passengers, so the total will be nearer a £1000, or £2000 per month. __________________

John.

[majortom10]

Your calculation is OK but the number of cabins is wrong, the last time we spoke with a steward he said he handled 19 cabins, plus some of these will have more than 2 passengers, so the total will be nearer a £1000, or £2000 per month. __________________

John.

 

Read the whole thread he initially got his calculations way too high and said so in a later message yours are even higher and completeley inaccurate because £3-95 tip is shared between cabin steward, waiter and assistant waiter.

[Janet-]

I always use to write "ban smoking on balconies" on the questionnaire. I now write "include tips in the price of the cruise". If enough people did this perhaps we could change P & O's policy.

[terrierjohn]

Read the whole thread he initially got his calculations way too high and said so in a later message yours are even higher and completeley inaccurate because £3-95 tip is shared between cabin steward, waiter and assistant waiter.

 

Nope he only allocated £1.50 to the Steward, which is probably less than he actually gets, which I assume is indicated in the brochure. I stand by my calculations.

[Lancashire Lass]

I always use to write "ban smoking on balconies" on the questionnaire. I now write "include tips in the price of the cruise". If enough people did this perhaps we could change P & O's policy.

 

Good idea. I will do that next month. :)

[CCFC]

They don't have to include them in the price of the cruise to make them work, just make them compulsory, quite a few lines do it that way. That way you know what to expect.

[dsrdsrdsr]

They don't have to include them in the price of the cruise to make them work, just make them compulsory, quite a few lines do it that way. That way you know what to expect.

If they're compulsory, then I'm fairly sure they have to include them by law in the price of the cruise. Hidden compulsory extras aren't allowed. That's why stuff like port charges, which are usually shown separately in the USA, are included in the price by P&O.

[CCFC]

Its added daily to your room charge so it doesn't need to be put on the cruise price.

[jeanlyon]

But the point is - although it's added to your bill, you can remove it. If they added it to the price of the cruise to start with, we wouldn't be having these endless discussions.

[Sealoveragain]

I agree with those who say the tips should be included in the price of the cruise.

We had dreadful service from our waiters in the MDR on our last cruise. For the first time we didn't turn up on the last night as we simply couldn't thank them for giving us good service. We didn't remove the auto-tips obviously because others would have suffered. We tipped our cabin steward and butler extra as we always do. It's the first time we have never tipped our waiters extra.

I think I too will add on the questionnaire, that I think tips should be included in the price.

[Sanjam cruisers]

Hi to all who are taking the time and effort to contribute to this thread, I admit I made a mess of my own calculations as to the amount each person gets from the auto gratuities but the point I was trying to make was : Some contributers were alleging that hotel staff on cruise ships are poorly paid by the cruise lines, that may be the case judging pay rates by UK rates but in comparison to their local pay rates the cruise lines pay more that is why the cruise lines have no problems crewing their ships. I have spoken to P&O crew who have stated that once they have a position with P&O they will get their contract renewed with no problem as long as they meet the expected performance level and they do not have to pay the bond levelled by US based lines.In a perfect world every country would have equal or better pay rates to the UK but that is not the case that is why we are no longer the worlds leading shipbuilding country, why we now import more coal than we export etc, that is the world we now live in.

as I have previously said I recently spent a very enjoyable time in the USA on holiday but what I spent on tips would have paid for another cruise, I have no problem paying my auto gratuities and will add a little on top where neccassery , but let us put paid to the myth that cruise ship hotel staff are poorly paid if that was the case the cruise lines would be forced to increase wages by lack of crew availability . If every cruise line were forced to pay EU minimum wages the average passenger would not be able to pay the increase in the cruise fare then demanded and cruising would again become the pastime of the rich. Be it on your own head as they say business is business.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I agree with those who say the tips should be included in the price of the cruise.

We had dreadful service from our waiters in the MDR on our last cruise. For the first time we didn't turn up on the last night as we simply couldn't thank them for giving us good service. We didn't remove the auto-tips obviously because others would have suffered. We tipped our cabin steward and butler extra as we always do. It's the first time we have never tipped our waiters extra.

I think I too will add on the questionnaire, that I think tips should be included in the price.

Auto tips on P&O cover the steward and the waiters. No-one else, just the steward and the waiters, so if you remove the tips, only the steward and the waiters lose out because only the steward and the waiters get the auto-tips. No-one else would lose out, so you could take off the auto-tips, explain to the front desk why you do it, and pay your steward. That way, only the waiters would lose out. P&O want to know if their waiters are unsatisfactory.

[Josy1953]

Auto tips on P&O cover the steward and the waiters. No-one else, just the steward and the waiters, so if you remove the tips, only the steward and the waiters lose out because only the steward and the waiters get the auto-tips. No-one else would lose out, so you could take off the auto-tips, explain to the front desk why you do it, and pay your steward. That way, only the waiters would lose out. P&O want to know if their waiters are unsatisfactory.

I think that the steward would still have to put the tip that you gave to him into the pool becuase you had removed the autotip and so it would not only be the waiter who would lose out. My reason for thinking this is that on our last Princess cruise 4 years ago we had the worst waiters that we had ever come across. I went to the front desk and made a written complaint and also wrote to Princess after the cruise about the experience. While I was at the front desk I asked whether our cabin steward would be impacted if we removed the autotip given that we were giving a very specific reason for removing the tip that had absolutely had nothing to do the the excellent cabin steward and I was told that even though we stated clearly that our cabin steward was wonderful and our only problem was with the reataurant service the cabin steward would have to hand in the tip that we gave to him. Needless to say we left the autotip on and gave some extra to the cabin steward who was paradoxically the best steward we had ever had in the 20 something cruises that we had done then.

[jeanlyon]

If someone removes the auto tips and pays the cabin steward with an envelope, how on earth would P&O know that he had been tipped. He might have got nothing?

[Sealoveragain]

My husband wanted to complain during the cruise, I wouldn't let him as I thought it would make things worse. He did tell the Restaurant Manager at the end of the cruise and I wrote to P&O when we got home. They are certainly well aware of the poor service we received.

[davecttr]

If someone removes the auto tips and pays the cabin steward with an envelope, how on earth would P&O know that he had been tipped. He might have got nothing?

They have their ways of knowing. Nothing much is secret on a cruise ship for long.

 

then there is the knowledge that they WILL lose their job if found out.

 

Which is why the tip should be included in the fare

[dsrdsrdsr]

I think that the steward would still have to put the tip that you gave to him into the pool becuase you had removed the autotip and so it would not only be the waiter who would lose out. My reason for thinking this is that on our last Princess cruise 4 years ago we had the worst waiters that we had ever come across. I went to the front desk and made a written complaint and also wrote to Princess after the cruise about the experience. While I was at the front desk I asked whether our cabin steward would be impacted if we removed the autotip given that we were giving a very specific reason for removing the tip that had absolutely had nothing to do the the excellent cabin steward and I was told that even though we stated clearly that our cabin steward was wonderful and our only problem was with the reataurant service the cabin steward would have to hand in the tip that we gave to him.

P&O are a different company from Princess. you can't assume that just because Princess do something, that P&O will do the same - it doesn't work that way. On P&O, auto-tips go to the steward and waiter who looks after you. It's not a general pool for all to share.

[Josy1953]

P&O are a different company from Princess. you can't assume that just because Princess do something, that P&O will do the same - it doesn't work that way. On P&O, auto-tips go to the steward and waiter who looks after you. It's not a general pool for all to share.

I accept that Princess and P&O are different companies and may do things differently but the P&O site states :

 

100% of this amount is distributed to your cabin steward, butler, head waiter, assistant waiter or junior waiter that has looked after you whilst you are with us, this is distributed through our tipping pool.

This suggests to me that there is a general tipping pool and so they may have a similar policy regarding tips to that on Princess.

[davecttr]

I accept that Princess and P&O are different companies and may do things differently but the P&O site states :

 

100% of this amount is distributed to your cabin steward, butler, head waiter, assistant waiter or junior waiter that has looked after you whilst you are with us, this is distributed through our tipping pool.

 

This suggests to me that there is a general tipping pool and so they may have a similar policy regarding tips to that on Princess.

 

as P&O state 100% of the amount is distributed i think the tipping pool just includes the staff mentioned.