P&O have just announced that they are raising the price of their gratuity charge.
The daily service charge paid per guest (known as the Service Reward Programme to P&O) is changing from £5 a day to £6 a day.
All passengers aged 12 and above will have to pay this charge, per person per day, unless they opt to remove their gratuities.
In a statement about the surprising move P&O said that: “For cruises departing March 27 2017 onwards, the daily amount for each guest aged 12 and over is £6.00. The Service Reward appears on the account as a ‘service charge’.
“Should any guest wish to reward a crew member personally in addition to this or if they wish to vary the amount in any way they may do this at reception on board.”
P&O have always had a historically low service charge compared to their competition and the fee has not been raised largely since 2015 when the price changed from £3.95 to £5.
Our cruise community reacted to the news and told us their thoughts…
Ilovesunshine told us: “I won’t be queuing to remove it unless we receive poor service. We have only once removed tips out of 30 cruises.”
Mauden thought that it was: “Still very reasonable compared to a lot of other lines.”
On the other hand, Carol said: “Just my opinion of course, but if they keep raising them, people will just stop paying them altogether!” You can read what else our forum made of the news here!
So what do you think about the increase in price? Does the price of gratuities put you off? Have you ever removed your gratuities or do you always pay them? Let us know in the comments below…
