But what do other cruise lines think?

I’m sure that most of you have heard this week that P&O are scrapping their daily discretionary service charge on sailings from May 2019. Of course a move like this has raised a lot of questions and comments. Some from my own Ria’s Cruise Writings Facebook page along the lines of ‘The cost of the cruises might go up’ ‘A good move in the right direction’ ‘I think others will follow’.

I do think this was a great move by P&O and after regularly discussing tips with my customers over the years it was a long time coming. Many Brits will quite happily tip on their cruises and prefer to do so with who they want and how much they can afford. I’ve always been quite happy to do it but we always look at what we can afford as i don’t want to necessarily sacrifice any elements of my holiday as i have to set aside money for tipping.

Some guests are worried about the gratuities being built into the costing therefore cruise prices might increase, however P&O have confirmed that the cost of its cruises would not increase “as a direct result of this change” and that while tipping staff “is neither required nor expected” guests would still be able to choose to do so.

One of the first things i though of was ‘in wonder if the the other cruise lines will get on board with this?’ After doing a bit of searching i managed to find the following.

Princess Cruises have said its guests appreciated that gratuities were “a way of rewarding excellent service”. “Feedback indicates that guests are comfortable with this approach and as such we will continue to offer it on all of our ships,” they said.

A Cunard spokesman had this to say: “We think it’s important to offer our guests a convenient way to recognise service.”

A Celebrity Cruises spokesperson stated almost all guests choose to “reward” the service they receive.

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, said the line had no plans to vary its recommended charge, but confirmed it was “reviewed constantly”.

Other lines are yet to comment or have declined to do so.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think other cruise lines will get on board with this? Will customers be more swayed towards travelling with P&O knowing tips aren’t an issue? Leave us your comments.