Tipping on P&O

[majortom10]

We have always tipped on P&O by envelope and by auto tip since it was introduced but one point has been bought up that with auto tip there is no method of not giving a tip to somebody who you dont think deserves it without affecting those that do. on Oriana in March we as usual left the auto tip in place but by the end of the cruise if I thought we could remove the part of the tip which goes to the cabin steward I would have done but couldnt without affecting the waiters who were excellent. It has given me food for thought for future cruises in whether to remove the auto tips and revert back to the way it used to be in giving envelopes because I could have given the waiters their share because they deserved it and not given any to the cabin steward.

[terrierjohn]

We have always tipped on P&O by envelope and by auto tip since it was introduced but one point has been bought up that with auto tip there is no method of not giving a tip to somebody who you dont think deserves it without affecting those that do. on Oriana in March we as usual left the auto tip in place but by the end of the cruise if I thought we could remove the part of the tip which goes to the cabin steward I would have done but couldnt without affecting the waiters who were excellent. It has given me food for thought for future cruises in whether to remove the auto tips and revert back to the way it used to be in giving envelopes because I could have given the waiters their share because they deserved it and not given any to the cabin steward.

I posted this on another thread but I still think it is worth repeating, especially for those passengers who still feel that the expected on board gratuities, whether by auto tip or by envelope, are actually a tip for the quality, or not, of the service provided.

Your gratuities are going to make up the wages of all the staff who are on low wage contracts, to make their wages up to an acceptable standard. This has always been the case on most cruise lines, even when tips were handed over in cash they were shared out to other staff members.

Yes it might be better if these gratuities were included in the basic price of the cruise, but since the practise is industry wide I imagine the cruise lines have good reasons to maintain this system. IMO it would probably lead to much higher overall prices once the bean counters started adding overheads to these "extra" wages, so I am happy to observe the practise and pay the full auto tips, plus a little extra to those staff who give me a little extra.

[bridmo]

I don't understand all the fuss, if I go out for a meal I tip the waiters, if I get a taxi I tip the driver, when on holiday I tip the maid, the bar staff etc so why worry about such a small tip on P & O after cruising on NCL & Celebrity were their tips are alot P & O are just a fraction of the cost? £3.95 would be less than a restuarant tip alone

Oh well each to their own

[cruisefan2012]

I`m going to get shot down in flames for this but I truly believe its a bloody cheek to ask for a tip...

 

I work very hard in my job dealing with customers for up 10 hours a day, doing my job so I can afford luxuries like weekends away and cruise holidays.

 

If you are getting accommodation, food, facilities to use, a great job travelling the world then you dont need tips...

 

Somebody made a comment about cabin stewards earning up to £20,000 a year on tips - think up to 2 people in a cabin for up too 2 weeks at a time times how ever many cabins they have to clean daily, not a bad gig If you ask me

[Somerset Cruiser]

I`m going to get shot down in flames for this but I truly believe its a bloody cheek to ask for a tip...

 

I work very hard in my job dealing with customers for up 10 hours a day, doing my job so I can afford luxuries like weekends away and cruise holidays.

 

If you are getting accommodation, food, facilities to use, a great job travelling the world then you dont need tips...

 

Somebody made a comment about cabin stewards earning up to £20,000 a year on tips - think up to 2 people in a cabin for up too 2 weeks at a time times how ever many cabins they have to clean daily, not a bad gig If you ask me

 

Not by me, I dislike tipping, is it enough, is it too much, will they be offended.

 

The auto tips I can live with, happy to pay them, not sure they are justified but happy all the same.

 

In February our cabin steward was offended when we didn't tip him extra for the ice he brought us most days, I have since seen on here that the extra tip for ice is the norm, but as it was our first time with a balcony so we hadn't had ice before.

[PurpleMoonlight]

I think £20,000 pa in tips is somewhat overstated.

 

The £4 is split between 3 primary individuals I believe so say £1.30 each per passenger per day, assuming all pay the auto tipping. That's £458 per passenger pa. A steward looks after about 10 cabins so that's £9,160 pa.

 

Some people will tip more but some will remove the auto tipping.

[Josy1953]

We have always tipped on P&O by envelope and by auto tip since it was introduced but one point has been bought up that with auto tip there is no method of not giving a tip to somebody who you dont think deserves it without affecting those that do. on Oriana in March we as usual left the auto tip in place but by the end of the cruise if I thought we could remove the part of the tip which goes to the cabin steward I would have done but couldnt without affecting the waiters who were excellent. It has given me food for thought for future cruises in whether to remove the auto tips and revert back to the way it used to be in giving envelopes because I could have given the waiters their share because they deserved it and not given any to the cabin steward.

I really wanted to remove the waiters' tips on one cruise because the attitude and service was so bad but on the same cruise we had the best cabin steward that we have ever had. We felt that we had no option but to leave the autotip on because to reduce it would have impacted the cabin steward and even if we had removed the autotip and tipped the cabin steward separately he would have had to hand it over to the pool so he would have still been impacted. We dealt with the problem by giving the cabin steward extra which he could keep, I also went to the pursers desk and made a formal complaint in writing about the service and attitude of the waiting staff, in the complaint I pointed out the anomaly of not being able to stop the waiters' tips without impacting on the cabin steward and vice-versa. I was told by the lady at the pursers desk that they are often told the same thing by passengers and the only advice is to make a point on the passenger survey stating the problems with the names of the staff who performed badly, the other thing that she said that was interesting was to fill in a "you made a difference" form and say that the difference that the person made was to make the cruise less enjoyable, it is a mis-conception that these forms are only for praise, they are actually to inform the staff of problems as well as exceptional performances.

[bobstheboy]

I posted this on another thread but I still think it is worth repeating, especially for those passengers who still feel that the expected on board gratuities, whether by auto tip or by envelope, are actually a tip for the quality, or not, of the service provided.

Your gratuities are going to make up the wages of all the staff who are on low wage contracts, to make their wages up to an acceptable standard. This has always been the case on most cruise lines, even when tips were handed over in cash they were shared out to other staff members.

Yes it might be better if these gratuities were included in the basic price of the cruise, but since the practise is industry wide I imagine the cruise lines have good reasons to maintain this system. IMO it would probably lead to much higher overall prices once the bean counters started adding overheads to these "extra" wages, so I am happy to observe the practise and pay the full auto tips, plus a little extra to those staff who give me a little extra.

 

Having done 25 + cruises I don't mind tipping, either the conventional way or auto tips. I cannot agree that one should tip whether the service is good , bad or indifferent. I expect good, courteous service and am very polite and engage in conversation with the staff. I have had bad service and reported same.

[terrierjohn]

Having done 25 + cruises I don't mind tipping, either the conventional way or auto tips. I cannot agree that one should tip whether the service is good , bad or indifferent. I expect good, courteous service and am very polite and engage in conversation with the staff. I have had bad service and reported same.

But that was my entire point, the suggested gratuity is not really a tip at all, just a mechanism to ensure that low wage contract hotel staff get a decent living wage. Whether you would prefer to see this incorporated in the cruise fare or not, it's best just to consider it as part of the fare, and if service levels are poor then report it to passenger services, or hotel management as P&O now call it.