ATTN: Oceania crew members

[Harters]

24 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

These days I think lots of people are happier to sail without flying so maybe that’s why P&O,

We did our first cruises with P & O, back in the late 1980s and early 90s. Then became disenchanted with the formality and, apart from a couple of short very casual cruises, didnt properly cruise again until we discovered Oceania in 2017. My parents in law however, loved the formality, Britishness and, of course,  relative cheapness of the line.  I still like the idea of driving to Southampton to go on holiday and might see what O is doing in 2025 that's a round trip. 

[Harters]

18 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

The "holiday" industry in the UK is *much* more regulated than in the US.  (That's good and bad.)

Definitely good, IMO. In particular, the "package holiday" protection in case, for example, a TA or operator goes bust. It helped at the beginning of Covid when we had a Canada holiday (including Alaska cruise) cancelled. The company tried to persuade us to take a credit against a future booking. We knew we had the law on our side and with effectively a "see you court" threat, got a full refund. 

[Snaefell3]

3 hours ago, Harters said:

Definitely good, IMO. In particular, the "package holiday" protection in case, for example, a TA or operator goes bust. It helped at the beginning of Covid when we had a Canada holiday (including Alaska cruise) cancelled. The company tried to persuade us to take a credit against a future booking. We knew we had the law on our side and with effectively a "see you court" threat, got a full refund. 

Yup.

 

On the other hand, UK fares are, on average, appreciably higher to account for the statistical risk that companies face.  Since that "higher" includes a profit, I'm happy to self-insure for some of that risk and buy insurance for the rest.

[slw207693]

LOTS AND LOTS OF MISINFORMATION on this thread.

 

I just got off Marina yesterday, spent a month on Vista in September.    I met with the Chief Purser on Marina, Ronan, who is responsible for all on board accounts to understand how the cash flows work.  
 

1.  Since Covid, Oceania has been paying the tips for restaurant and housekeeping staff so they earn a base salary.   This helps when the ships aren’t full.  The gratuities that are put on your account, regardless of who gives it or where they come from are kept by Oceania to pay for those base salaries.  
 

2.  Any cash tips you give a crew member are theirs to keep and they do not need to report it unless it is excessive (think thousnds).  They are also allowed to keep any snacks (chips, chocolates, cookies, etc) you give them and are thrilled by the gesture.  
 

3.  Any NON refundable credit you have, no matter how small does NOT go to crew wellness, any tip fund nor is split among the crew.   It goes to Oceania.  The Purser’s office sends a letter a couple days before the end of the cruise to let you know you need to use it or lose it.   They encourage you to purchase items in the boutique, which you can THEN donate to crew wellness for their monthly raffles or bingo parties as prizes.   Or buy them snacks.

 

4.  I had wanted to make a donation to the crew wellness, so I went to the front desk and told them how much.  This generated a cash advance (the 5% charge was waived), I was handed the cash, the HR manager came and I handed it directly to him.   On the Oceania statement at the end of the cruise, I had a Balance Due (the amount I donated) and a very small *Non refundable Balance that I went and bought snacks in the boutique to zero out.   The Balance Due went on the credit card.  

 

If I had REFUNDABLE credit, I could have donated that OR taken it as cash  no earlier than 2 days before the cruise ends.

 

5.   Simply More excursion money can ONLY be spent on excursions.  The culinary school or Culinary led tours are NOT a covered excursion option (The Culinary school is a concession like the Spa and Boutiques).   
 

This caught some guests by surprise when they bought things in the boutiques trying to use up what they perceived as a credit balance on their accounts but the “credit” was associated with the excursions and didn’t reduce the balance.   
 

6.  Spa voucher credits based on your loyalty level come from Oceania, not the Spa.  Oceania dictates that you can have 2 treatments, BUT the automatically generated gratuity can NOT be paid with the voucher.  You can also NOT use the credit voucher for any spa “specials” being advertised.   The Spa Manager offered a 75 minute full body massage for $199 plus tip (normally $249 plus tip) and our $200 voucher could not be used.   You can NOT buy products if you have any money leftover from a treatment using the voucher.   
 

We are Presidents level and it has taken many cruises and  lots of question asking to final feel like we understand  how the debit and credits works.  
 

Hope this clarifies a lot of the misinformation.   The crew work very hard on your behalf and are grateful for all the kind gestures, whether expressed in words or by snacks or monetary contributions.   Get to know them.  
 

 

[LHT28]

40 minutes ago, slw207693 said:

LOTS AND LOTS OF MISINFORMATION on this thread.

 

I just got off Marina yesterday, spent a month on Vista in September.    I met with the Chief Purser on Marina, Ronan, who is responsible for all on board accounts to understand how the cash flows work.  
 

1.  Since Covid, Oceania has been paying the tips for restaurant and housekeeping staff so they earn a base salary.   This helps when the ships aren’t full.  The gratuities that are put on your account, regardless of who gives it or where they come from are kept by Oceania to pay for those base salaries.  
 

2.  Any cash tips you give a crew member are theirs to keep and they do not need to report it unless it is excessive (think thousnds).  They are also allowed to keep any snacks (chips, chocolates, cookies, etc) you give them and are thrilled by the gesture.  
 

 

So I guess it is best to remove the daily gratuity from your account  & tip the staff in cash 

According to your   report that will be the only way staff will get the gratuities 🤔

[tigerfan75]

16 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

So I guess it is best to remove the daily gratuity from your account  & tip the staff in cash 

According to your   report that will be the only way staff will get the gratuities 🤔

I read the explanation differently.  As I understand it, O is paying the gratuities continuously at a full guest ship level. As an offset to its paying of the gratuities, O takes whatever the auto gratuities generate from the actual guest level.

[Mura]

It's a few years since we cruised but it seems to me (in my ever failing memory) that when we gave cash tips to the crew they were able to keep them ... but then, we didn't ask! Usually we have tips included in our fare and so any extras that we gave we assumed went directly to the crew member ... usually a cabin attendant, butler or server.

 

Mura

[pinotlover]

A Simple Question. Have we FINALLY settled the question as answered by two (2) different Butlers to me, and the Chief Purser by poster # 55? Monies given as tips directly to individual crew members are theirs to keep. They are not pooled.

 

Is there any one that can’t grasp that? Are there those that want to argue none of them know what they’re talking about? 
 

Can we agree this issue is closed?

[Harry Lake]

15 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

A Simple Question. Have we FINALLY settled the question as answered by two (2) different Butlers to me, and the Chief Purser by poster # 55? Monies given as tips directly to individual crew members are theirs to keep. They are not pooled.

 

Is there any one that can’t grasp that? Are there those that want to argue none of them know what they’re talking about? 
 

Can we agree this issue is closed?

Have you asked for the thread to be closed?

[edgee]

4 hours ago, slw207693 said:

Simply More excursion money can ONLY be spent on excursions.  The culinary school or Culinary led tours are NOT a covered excursion option (The Culinary school is a concession like the Spa and Boutiques).

Not our experience. May be ship specific because on Vista last month we had left over SM credit due to excursion at our final port being cancelled. Front desk told us we would lose the remaining value of the benefit unless we used it. With no more ports were told only remaining way to use it was for culinary classes if there were any openings. We went to excursion desk and they confirmed that to be true.