Gratuities increase.

[sinbad10 757]

There is a thread on another forum where somebody wrote by e-mail to P&O with regards to 40% increase in the space of a year from £5 to £6 and then recently to £7. The person then had a phone call from P&O in response and some of the answers given were very interesting-

1) to my suggestion that they should cut the gratuities and just pay the staff a decent wage that the passengers don't have to subsidise with gratuities, I was told they are paid an above industry average wage which is "fair and proportional"

2) they have surveyed their passengers, and the majority don't want the gratuity included in the fare.

3) He said that increasing the gratuity brings them more in line with other brands

4) accusations that the cruise lines line their own pockets with the gratuities. I was assured that for P&O, all of the gratuity money goes to the staff, none goes to the company. However, if a staff member is on a disciplinary, then they don't get their gratuity. Out of curiosity I asked where that money goes, but was told he was not permitted to say, but repeated that it does not go to the company

[HLM 519]

1. Fair and proportional, whatever that means?

2. I find that hard to believe.

3. So very soon it'll be around the £10pppd then, pity service doesn't justify it.

4. So sure It doesn't go to the company, yet they are not permitted to say where it goes.

All of the above doesn't actually tell us anything, so we are no more wiser than were were before.

HLM.

 

[towny44 229]

Maybe we don't understand how P&O deal with gratuities, but I am now certainly a lot wiser about how I intend to deal with auto grats in future, on all cruise lines, I will ask for them to be deleted but probably continue to give "a little" extra to staff who have given excellent service.

Once P&O end up paying all the service reward out of their profits, then possibly they might think about including them in the fare.

[Davybe 529]

P&O are cheap compared to some cruise lines.

If you have not taken the option to pre-pay your tips and gratuities, we will automatically add them to your onboard SeaPass account for your restaurant and stateroom services. They will be added in following amounts: $14.50 per person per day for guests in Interior, Oceanview and Balcony staterooms, $15.00 per person per day for guests in Concierge Class and AquaClass staterooms and $18.00 per person per day for guests in Suites. A standard service charge of 18% is automatically added to the price of drinks and 15% is added for beauty treatments. 

Taken from Celebrities FAQs Princess have just put up the daily rate, most major cruise lines will be charging this before long....Davybe

[HLM 519]

9 minutes ago, Davybe said:

Taken from Celebrities FAQs Princess have just put up the daily rate, most major cruise lines will be charging this before long....Davybe

Indeed they will, but if P&O are to trying to get there gratuities in line with others they need to significantly improve their service standards, even more so if they also introduce the additional 15% service charge.

While I can I'll continue to opt out me thinks.

HLM.

[Davybe 529]

At the moment we all have a choice regarding Grat's. Pay them or not quite simple ,you even get a choice of how to pay them, and how much....Davybe

[roncyn 22]

We have always opted out of the standard charges and paid the staff who have given us service in an envelope. Has anyone who pays in this way noticed that in the past they have always put the envelope in their pockets but in the last year or so it has been placed on top of their work station. As none of them will answer any questions we are wondering if they have to hand over the money. Does anyone else have the same thought? 

[Davybe 529]

12 hours ago, roncyn said:

We have always opted out of the standard charges and paid the staff who have given us service in an envelope. Has anyone who pays in this way noticed that in the past they have always put the envelope in their pockets but in the last year or so it has been placed on top of their work station. As none of them will answer any questions we are wondering if they have to hand over the money. Does anyone else have the same thought? 

I always understood they pooled the money ,but have never seen them put the envelope on the work station.

We always used envelopes until we had the choice of Auto tipping, and as we opt for Freedom dining now so tipping the waiters would be hard unless you get the same ones each night.On P&O we opt for the Select fare ,mainly to get the choices but the coach and shuttles are included, and Enough OBC to cover the tips, which makes it easy for us....Davybe

[Roger De-Tolly 3]

On 03/04/2018 at 9:51 PM, roncyn said:

We have always opted out of the standard charges and paid the staff who have given us service in an envelope. Has anyone who pays in this way noticed that in the past they have always put the envelope in their pockets but in the last year or so it has been placed on top of their work station. As none of them will answer any questions we are wondering if they have to hand over the money. Does anyone else have the same thought? 

The money is pooled then diveded among the staff that are eligible for tipping. Those that opt out just create problems better to either pay the auto or opt out all together. Eventually the cruise lines will either up the price to UK cruisers to include tips or cut the number of ships sailing from UK ports to water down the numbers that opt out. In most countries low wages and tipping service staff is the normal way to ensure the highest standard of service with the least amount of management costs. Try a trip to the USA and see how their system works. If you tip fairly then the staff remember and as soon as you walk in the restaurant they find you a table and really look after you. Don't tip well you will get your meal but will be one of those sitting around the pool complaining about the service, same with the maid leave a few $ each day and they will have your room clean and tidy by the time you get back from breakfast.   

[sinbad10 757]

There was a post on cruisecritic from somebody who is obviously employed by P&O with full explainantion and how those who receive money from the Service Reward Scheme. It was very long and very enlightening and he did say that increases have been 126% over last 3 yrs but staff have only received between 5-7% increase. He also said that cabin stewards have between 17-20 cabins to clean and if they dont get excellent on 95% of questionnaires they would not receive the bonus as per contract a standard of good wasnt enough. He did go on to say that any money given in cash is not handed in and can be kept by personnel. Surprisingly the post has been removed and it gave full explanation  of how system is worked and the calculations involved.

[HLM 519]

2 minutes ago, sinbad10 said:

There was a post on cruisecritic from somebody who is obviously employed by P&O with full explainantion and how those who receive money from the Service Reward Scheme. It was very long and very enlightening and he did say that increases have been 126% over last 3 yrs but staff have only received between 5-7% increase. He also said that cabin stewards have between 17-20 cabins to clean and if they dont get excellent on 95% of questionnaires they would not receive the bonus as per contract a standard of good wasnt enough. He did go on to say that any money given in cash is not handed in and can be kept by personnel. Surprisingly the post has been removed and it gave full explanation  of how system is worked and the calculations involved.

I noticed it was taken down as well, it is however on another well known cruise forum and it does make very interesting reading, if true of course!!!!

HLM.

[june63 107]

On our last cruise we specifically asked the waiters and they were quite clear that they were allowed to keep any tips given to them personally.

[Davybe 529]

On 29/04/2018 at 4:36 PM, HLM said:

I noticed it was taken down as well, it is however on another well known cruise forum and it does make very interesting reading, if true of course!!!!

HLM.

As soon as anyone starts a thread on the P&O Facebook pages ,that questions the tipping structure it gets taken down, the should IMO answer the questions and concern's people have regarding these things, not ban discussion.The staff also seem very reluctant to talk about the matter....Davybe

[HLM 519]

16 minutes ago, Davybe said:

As soon as anyone starts a thread on the P&O Facebook pages ,that questions the tipping structure it gets taken down, the should IMO answer the questions and concern's people have regarding these things, not ban discussion.The staff also seem very reluctant to talk about the matter....Davybe

Indeed they do take down discussions, it then only increases people's thoughts on what the truth really is.

They could put the matter to bed once and for all if they just used their media platforms to put it out there.

Crew are losing out because of it, I like many others nowadays opt out of the gratuity/reward scheme because of the uncertainty of where it actually goes.

There are even doubts when giving it personally, but for me at least I have given it to those I wanted to have it, what they do with it after that I can't control.

HLM

 

[towny44 229]

In the past it was always assumed that the tips were high to compensate for the low wage levels that stewards and dining room waiters received, a supposed hangover from the luxury days of cruising where you had to pay the purser to get one of these jobs because of the high rewards in tips.

However in P&Os case, if you believe what they say, these staff are now paid a fair wage commensurate with the industry standard, but if you do the maths you find that the amount of money P&O collect, if everyone paid, would provide an excellent wage for these staff far higher than the believed wage, with quite a lot left over to bolster P&O profits;  according to various websites and staff posting on forums.

We have always paid the requested auto tip, but I don't think we will be doing so in future, not as long as these payments are discretionary, because it seems to me that the reducing numbers paying the grats are having to pay more to compensate P&O for those removing the tips.

[alan123bound 0]

The last 4/5 cruises I have removed the auto tips which is now £7 per day for P&O , this said I still pay that rate but I give it to  the ones that look after us ie: cabin steward and the restaurant servers , I don’t think it’s fair to pay anyone else P&O should look after these general ships crew etc it’s P&O duty to keep the ship safe and clean.

[HthrEdmndsn 88]

6 minutes ago, alan123bound said:

The last 4/5 cruises I have removed the auto tips which is now £7 per day for P&O , this said I still pay that rate but I give it to  the ones that look after us ie: cabin steward and the restaurant servers , I don’t think it’s fair to pay anyone else P&O should look after these general ships crew etc it’s P&O duty to keep the ship safe and clean.

If you check the FAQS on P&O website, it is only those people you mention who get the grats anyway.