A few recorded facts.

[Cristaltips]

As long as the CS does his job properly we will always give them a 10.

 

 

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I’ve given a 10 in the past when it hasn’t really been deserved because I’m afraid that he wont get his bonus,he works hard, away from home for long time blah blah blah. We found an odd shoe when putting cases away under the bed on our last cruise which proves he hadn’t been there. Gave shoe to him to deal with rather than hand into reception and cause him grief and still gave him a 10 at the end of the cruise.

[grapau27]

I’ve given a 10 in the past when it hasn’t really been deserved because I’m afraid that he wont get his bonus,he works hard, away from home for long time blah blah blah. We found an odd shoe when putting cases away under the bed on our last cruise which proves he hadn’t been there. Gave shoe to him to deal with rather than hand into reception and cause him grief and still gave him a 10 at the end of the cruise.

We had a Chinese lady CS on RC Harmony of the seas last year who pulled the bed to one side and hoovered underneath which i saw.

What i can't understand is why it seems at least 99% of CS are men.

I do a lot of housework so am not sexist but every time we have had a female CS the cabins were spotless.

 

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[AnOnymously]

As I said, customers feeling forced into scoring high to protect staff from their employers using out AG's as a weapon. The only win out of that is PO.

[pisces14]

Sadly that is such a generalisation that it does insult those who have chosen, and for good reasons, not to use the AG system. Mainly because it is broken. The post on here that got deleted suggested heavily that PO got some of those AG's and that they were a pernicious way of trying to control staff.

 

I hope for their hard work, long hours and time away from home looking after, often difficult customers, and, like a good scout, is expected to smile and whistle under all circumstances do get good wages which they can comfortably live on and send plenty home. I also want to reward them for that hard work which can make a cruise a wonderful experience, but I will not pay a levy secretly, from us, administered by the cruise line, that can be used against staff to say my thank you for that. Before I started reading these threads, and particularly that deleted post, I was willing to pay PO the AG amount when I booked the cruise, because the recent rise is far too much, but now NO AG and tip the staff individually. That will mean, if I understand the PO policy, they will (given the possibility of losing bonuses because of not hitting targets) get their full bonus and get the cash tips I give them. That must sound good to staff.

 

I therefore resent the op suggesting and insinuating that I will not pay tips to the staff to reduce the cost of the cruise.

 

I saw the thread you refer to and I quoted something he wrote but my post has been removed too. However I remember most of it. The poster (a member of staff)whose thread was removed stated he/she didn't think going back to envelopes was necessarily a good thing because 'The current clientele don't tend to tip'. So you may not withhold tips but it looks like many do.

[grapau27]

I saw the thread you refer to and I quoted something he wrote but my post has been removed too. However I remember most of it. The poster (a member of staff)whose thread was removed stated he/she didn't think going back to envelopes was necessarily a good thing because 'The current clientele don't tend to tip'. So you may not withhold tips but it looks like many do.

Thats how i read it after i saw it on an email from another cruise site yesterday.

We have always tipped in line with the cruise companies recommendations plus a little more and it doesn't seem right that lots of people don't and that was the reason i emailed P&O and the crux of my conversation with the P&O guest relations lady.

 

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[pisces14]

Thats how i read it after i saw it on an email from another cruise site yesterday.

We have always tipped in line with the cruise companies recommendations plus a little more and it doesn't seem right that lots of people don't and that was the reason i emailed P&O and the crux of my conversation with the P&O guest relations lady.

 

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Thank you grapau I'm glad you saw it. As the thread has been removed I can't quote the actual words but that is more or less what the staff member said. If one is to believe everything he/she said as fact then one must also believe that as fact too. Which is the main reason like you that I think the gratuities should be included in the cruise price.

[NoFlyGuy]

Until recently I have always paid the auto grats.

 

All of you who post here that still do then, no problem, it's a personal choice.

 

But I would ask the question as to whether you have a 'line in the sand'.

 

If P&O decide tomorrow to increase the AG to say £10 or £12 or any amount they decide, would you just carry on paying it regardless?

[yuvraj]

I’ve given a 10 in the past when it hasn’t really been deserved because I’m afraid that he wont get his bonus,he works hard, away from home for long time blah blah blah. We found an odd shoe when putting cases away under the bed on our last cruise which proves he hadn’t been there. Gave shoe to him to deal with rather than hand into reception and cause him grief and still gave him a 10 at the end of the cruise.

 

I would do the same. Unless he was lousy and made my life hell, I would give him 10 because his pay depends on it. Plus I don't want him to lose his job. I would not however give him an extra tip.

[grapau27]

I would do the same. Unless he was lousy and made my life hell, I would give him 10 because his pay depends on it. Plus I don't want him to lose his job. I would not however give him an extra tip.

I do the same and i suspect most of us do give 10s for the same reason.

 

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[pisces14]

Until recently I have always paid the auto grats.

 

All of you who post here that still do then, no problem, it's a personal choice.

 

But I would ask the question as to whether you have a 'line in the sand'.

 

If P&O decide tomorrow to increase the AG to say £10 or £12 or any amount they decide, would you just carry on paying it regardless?

 

Our next cruise is with Cunard (our first with Cunard) and the auto-gratuities are $13.50pp

which I think is almost £10 and yes we will leave them on. Now whether P&O could get away with charging £10 or £12 I doubt very much. I don't think many will be paying £7pp.

[AnOnymously]

Our next cruise is with Cunard (our first with Cunard) and the auto-gratuities are $13.50pp

which I think is almost £10 and yes we will leave them on. Now whether P&O could get away with charging £10 or £12 I doubt very much. I don't think many will be paying £7pp.

All depends really on what the cruise cost and many other factors. But for instance our 7 night cruise is close up to 4 grand and £100 in that is a very small percentage of the total price If that cruise had only cost £1000 or less for an inside cabin, that is a much greater cost to add in percentage terms.

[bee-ess]

I do the same and i suspect most of us do give 10s for the same reason.

 

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I fully accept your admirable reasons for doing this - but, don't you think it is a bit of a nonsense to give someone an inflated score to try to ensure that they get the tip that your have already paid for !!

But, ff you and others give a fair score they may not get the tip that again you have paid for.

For these reasons rightly or wrongly I will tip by cash in hand as I don't want P&O keeping the money that I would have paid for staff tips.

[pisces14]

All depends really on what the cruise cost and many other factors. But for instance our 7 night cruise is close up to 4 grand and £100 in that is a very small percentage of the total price If that cruise had only cost £1000 or less for an inside cabin, that is a much greater cost to add in percentage terms.

 

I see your point but the fact is on P&O whatever you've paid for your cabin is in my view immaterial. Everyone has exactly the same service so should pay the same charge. With the possible exception of suite passengers who also have the services of a butler. Although, I'm sure like us most suite passengers will give extra in an envelope too. On Cunard of course Grills passengers pay a higher service charge than those in the Britannia class.

[daiB]

All depends really on what the cruise cost and many other factors. But for instance our 7 night cruise is close up to 4 grand and £100 in that is a very small percentage of the total price If that cruise had only cost £1000 or less for an inside cabin, that is a much greater cost to add in percentage terms.

 

 

 

Certainly the impact on you as an individual is different. If you get a late deal at £700 for 2 weeks then the tips are 20% of your fare. If you have a suite for which you have paid £3500 then the tips are only 4% of your fare so the impact is far less.

 

This is based on a per person rate and clearly doubled in most cases but the % stays the same.

 

 

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[ONT-CA]

In this era of "Fake News" one has to be wary of almost everything printed. So it is with the news that my daily gratuity is somehow taken and kept by the cruise line. It would seem to me that if this were so, the line would be placing itself in line for a lost business backlash. So until proven otherwise we will continue to have the daily gratuity placed on our account, for at £7, £8, £9 or £10 we are speaking of the price of one drink at the bar. One drink shared by so many.

[NoFlyGuy]

I know it's the same pro rata but when we did the 50 day Caribbean, USA and Amazon cruise, to see our cruise account debited £700 on day 1 did cause a sharp intake of breath.

 

In view of all the recent threads on this subject I still haven't made my mind up what to do on the next cruise. Will probably decide once onboard.

[pisces14]

I know it's the same pro rata but when we did the 50 day Caribbean, USA and Amazon cruise, to see our cruise account debited £700 on day 1 did cause a sharp intake of breath.

 

In view of all the recent threads on this subject I still haven't made my mind up what to do on the next cruise. Will probably decide once onboard.

 

I must admit I have no idea how much was taken out for gratuities on our last world cruise but we had £2000 each OBC so I'm sure it more than covered it.

[tokyo]

The first thing we do when we get on board is cancel the auto tips. I am old school and like to do it my way. Cash in an envelope. We also put a little card in saying thank you. If the service is good then the tip is good, if service is poor the tip is poor. Happy to say most of the time we have had good service. There is a good chance that by paying cash is cost us more than auto tips. I should add that I always treat all the staff who serve me with respect and if they have time have a chat with them.

[bee-ess]

The first thing we do when we get on board is cancel the auto tips. I am old school and like to do it my way. Cash in an envelope. We also put a little card in saying thank you. If the service is good then the tip is good, if service is poor the tip is poor. Happy to say most of the time we have had good service. There is a good chance that by paying cash is cost us more than auto tips. I should add that I always treat all the staff who serve me with respect and if they have time have a chat with them.

 

Respect !!

[goodsailors]

Out of curiosity, when someone removes the AG how then do they decide how much to give the CS and the MDR waiters etc. Or do these people know how PandO portion the AG between the staff that it covers so they can give their monetary tips accordingly.

[AnOnymously]

I see your point but the fact is on P&O whatever you've paid for your cabin is in my view immaterial. Everyone has exactly the same service so should pay the same charge. With the possible exception of suite passengers who also have the services of a butler. Although, I'm sure like us most suite passengers will give extra in an envelope too. On Cunard of course Grills passengers pay a higher service charge than those in the Britannia class.

There are a couple of flies in that ointment

1. When I go to the restaurant around the corner and purchase a fillet steak for my wife and myself it costs just under £60. When I go and have fish and chips for two it costs about £12. Now should I tip about £1.20 on each occasion because the service is about the same and takes the same amount of time? Or should I tip more when I order the fillet steaks because my meal costs more? I believe and do this later. Should not costs therefore come into the tip for my cruise?

2. You mention that the other consideration would be a suite because it has a butler. Now we are booked into a mini-suite and that does not carry the service of a butler, so that is not a consideration, but unless I have been seriously misled a mini-suite has a balcony about twice the size of a cabin and has considerably more internal space than an ordinary cabin, I hope therefore that the cabin steward will not clean twice as fast and cut a few corners, but will in fact have to take more time to clean and order our mini-suite than an ordinary cabin. But PO insist that the basic AG is the same whatever the cabin, now at the very least that is really not fair to the cabin steward or the passengers that have a much smaller and less costly cabin.

[balf]

As long as the CS does his job properly we will always give them a 10.

 

 

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Yes, probably most passengers will particularly if they have had the standard “please mark excellent” chat with waiters and stewards.

 

Why? It doesn’t cost them anything.

 

DAVID

[balf]

Back before tips became gratuities and American culture became ingrained into ours without us even noticing they were just that, a little extra given for good service. Now tips are regarded as part payment of staff wages in most, but not all of the hotel and resteraunt industry. Put simply, we have been conned and it does seem sad to me to hear people talking about being willing to pay whatever is imposed by a cruise line.

 

This does seem to be a largely British trend when looking at tipping culture in other countries.

 

DAVID

[terrierjohn]

There are a couple of flies in that ointment

When I go to the restaurant around the corner and purchase a fillet steak for my wife and myself it costs just under £60. When I go and have fish and chips for two it costs about £12. Now should I tip about £1.20 on each occasion because the service is about the same and takes the same amount of time? Or should I tip more when I order the fillet steaks because my meal costs more? I believe and do this later. Should not costs therefore come into the tip for my cruise?

However if 2 couples go to the same restaurant and are served by the same wait staff and receive the same service, but one has a bill of £60 whilst the other only has a bill of £15, is it still fair that one tips the waiter 4 times more than the other?

[AnOnymously]

However if 2 couples go to the same restaurant and are served by the same wait staff and receive the same service, but one has a bill of £60 whilst the other only has a bill of £15, is it still fair that one tips the waiter 4 times more than the other?

That depends a bit on whom one thinks it is fair t o. But I am happier that I give more as a tip when I have spent £60 than £15, and the 10% added grats reflect that. It is certainly fairer than a cover charge of £5 for everyone, which is PO's model and certainly much fairer than a standard cover charge when one couple has £15 meals and the other £60 meals and adds starter, sweet, drinks, coffee to the meal and still gets only the £5 cover charge which is added to each bill. And that is the model that PO works on, standard cover charge for all cabins including suites, with butler and twice the size and mini-suites twice the size, cabins with balconies to clean compared to inside cabins which have no balconies and are considerably smaller than mini-suites. No at least to be fair PO should vary AG's according to cabins as many other lines do. In this case one size does not fit all.

 

But all of that still begs the question of who handles AG's and I have just re-read that deleted thread and as far as I can see the two contributors who appeared to be staff did not say anything about preferring the present, it was merely pointed out who got what and how and that it looked as though PO managed to get some of it. Seemed to me that they said any system that passed through PO hands was a problem.