To tip or not to tip…..

You may have heard from May 2019 P&O have made the decision to get rid of “tips or “service charges”whatever you wish to call them. I have to say It’s come as a very welcome announcement to lots of passengers.

“Tipping” is a conversation I have on a daily basis with the majority of my customers. Those who have cruised before have an understanding of how it works although it does differ from cruise line to cruise line. Those who have never cruised before find it a little daunting I always think. Questions like how much do you tip? Who do you tip? When do you tip? and lots more are the most common ones.

If we take P&O at the moment their tipping policy is that they will add a discretionary amount of £7 per person per night to your onboard account and this is for guests over 12 years. This amount can be increased or decreased at your own discretion or even removed giving you the flexibility to choose who and how much you tip.

It would be nice and simple if all the cruise lines followed the same way of adding tips, but they are all slightly different for example with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity there is the option to prepay your tips when you book, there is also the option to have them added to your account on board or again you can remove them and tip at your own discretion. Totally different are Marella cruises who include the tips in your cruise cost. I could list lots of other ways in which cruise lines deal with tips but I think you get the idea and for passengers, it can become confusing.

P&O have made the decision that from May next year the service charge or tips are no longer going to be added to your account, they are now all “part and parcel” of your cruise holiday. I personally think this is a great move. No more worrying about what you should tip, should you tip at your discretion, how do I tip….instead it’s included in your cruise cost and one less thing to think about. I know that the majority of cruise passengers I talk to like to tip, it’s part of cruising, this just takes away the questions and the concern surrounding the best way for you to do it.

What is your view do you like to pre-pay your tips, are you happy to have them added to your account on board or do you prefer to tip as you wish.  Are you happy with the news that P&O will soon start to include them in your actual cruise cost? I would love to hear your thoughts on tipping and P&O’s new policy.

Thanks as always for reading. Until next time Abbi x