To Pay or Not To Pay!

Now, if any of you are like me, I like to reward any good service I receive.  Whether it be my local hairdresser or when we go out for a meal, I feel good service should be rewarded.  To me, it is second nature, even if it is a couple of £££ I like to make sure the person who served us or cut my hair did a good job.  The great thing is they don’t expect it.  So on that note, it lead me to the recent story of P&O increasing their gratuities by 17%.  They are currently sitting at £6 per person per day and will increase by £1, for all cruises departing on or after the 23rd March.  Fred Olsen are also set to raise their gratuities from £4 per person per day, to £5.

Now although this may seem like quite a lot to some people, what they have to sometimes remember is the sheer number of people that are involved in making sure your cruise goes as smoothly as possible.  If it wasn’t for the engineers and other members of staff behind the scenes, the cruise ship wouldn’t leave the dock.  Recently on my Ventura cruise back in October, I left the gratuities on as to be honest, I didn’t take cash with me, only for my excursion to Bruges.  And I will be doing the same on my cruise in December.

However, in comparison to most cruise lines, P&O have always been offering the lower service charge compared to its competition.  They have also advised that this is not a mandatory charge.  On the day of boarding your chosen cruise* you can indeed go down to the guest services desk and advise them not to charge, and of course yo can choose to pay those that you have had direct dealings with on your cruise – for instance you cabin steward, or the bar staff who knows what you want to drink before you even have to ask for it!  It is all down to personal preference.  Everyone has their different views on this, with some cruise lines, such as NCL and Thomson/Marella, who have gone all-inclusive including all the service charges, so therefore have worked this into the fare, meaning their customers do not have to worry about gratuities on-board the ship.  Some people believe believe that this will reflect the service they receive, whereby if the service charge has already been paid, the staff don’t have to “earn it”.  Others believe that all cruise lines should start including this in their cruise fare, so that everything is included in the cost from the start.

What are your feelings on gratuities?  Do you pre-pay, add them to your account or remove them altogether?