Cruises

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On other lines where tips are specified amounts it is normally half the adult rate for a child.
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Cheers. I'd budgetted for full so that gives me a bit spare for tipping the childrens crew. What I was hoping!

Edit! Thinking about it, I expect the children will cause them all more work rather than less. Their beds will need making up every day if they are put away and they will be ordering hot chocolate every night from room service. Oh, I shall just take the full amount -tips x 4 - and dish it all out. I'm sure it will still be cheaper in tips than our USA holiday last year.

We give it all at the end in cash in provided envelopes, yes?
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Wine will have a % added not sure about Fred Olsen but with the US Cruise companies it is 15% on drinks and on the wine so no need to tip him or drinks waiters.
Enjoy it and let the kids order what they want!

Sue
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I will. I am looking forward to someone elses purse taking the strain for two weeks for my growing boy! Especially during the summer holidays when they seem to grow almost daily. I really should have been the one given the fare discount, not him :)
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british goverment announced yesterday that tips must not form part of the minimum wage from next year.this prevents companies (restaurants and bars etc)using tips to subsidize low pay. can we now have cruise companies who advertise/sell holidays in britain enforced do the same.then we will see how good they are at organising the gratuity takings for their staff.
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hi...johnny..me i am looking forward to see what stunts they will pull to deprive the crew of a proper wage..
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Most cruise ships are Bahamas registered- so they are not subject to other countries employment laws.
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It's like asking Hilton who advertise in the UK to do the same wordwide.
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yes hilton hotels will only have to abide with the british gratuity law in their british hotels only, should that include ships that are british registered or enter british waters ?.
these cruise ships get away with murder they hire in the philipines and eastern block for low paid staff register in the bahamas then advertise cruises on british websites whilst not allowing you the public to book them on american websites where their cheaper .i think its called open market.(for companies only)
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I don't think anyone registers ships in the UK anymore because of the strict regulations we have in place. Instead they use flags of convenience such as Nassau, Panama. Liberia etc where the regulations on pay and qualifications for officers are much laxer.
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Oooh, I have a quick question... I'm going on the Aurora Weekender in Sept, it's only 2 nights, but I'm wondering if say, £5 per person for the cabin steward and about the same each for our waiter and wine waiter will be sufficient?

I've visited many ships in the past but have never really done a cruise so this is the only thing I'm a bit fuzzy on.
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I cant remember how much exactly they say, but it tells you in the cabin.

Its normally around £2.60pp per day.

HTH

Kath x
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I believe P&O suggest £3.75pppd total. However I can't work out how this is split as they also suggest £1.50pppd for both waiting staff and £1.60pppd for the cabin steward which doesn't add up. :think

luci :wave
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On the Norwegian Sun we paid $10 per person per day so after 7 days we paid £70 approx as the service charge. Given the level of service we received we thought this was good value. If we had been tipping throughout we would probably have handed over more money but without the guarentee that those behind the scenes would have gotten a share. We left $20 extra for the cabin staff who went the extra mile to make our stay special. Doing it this way also meant we didn't need to carry cash about with us on board.

Drinks orders carried an automatic 15% service charge.
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My holiday information from P&O indicates that P&P add an automatic service charge of £1.60pp per day for the Restaurant Stewards if on Freedom Dining, but no mention of what to give in the cabin.

It just says that you can increase/decrease the amount and tip anyone else directly, including Cabin Steward.

When I was on Oceana last, there was a card in the information wallet advising us what to tip.

Now Im confused lol

Kath x
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Argh! Confusing!!

Ok, will just put away what it suggests on the first day and see what's left over when my sisters and I have had a good go at the cocktail bar!
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Well, we are back. We gave 3x adult rate (2 adults, 2 children) as we got good service from waiters and cabin and children were treated well too. We also gave £15 to Wine Waiter which was not expected but he was worth it - a great guy.

Loads of people were moaning about tipping though and that was with a ship with great service across the board. I heard excuses like ' I only wish I could afford it' (that passenger went on loads of excursions) 'It's not fair to the other staff' and 'It should be included inthe price' (that person got a cheap deal and told everyone daily!)

...oh, there are some selfish people in this world.
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"oh, there are some selfish people in this world"

Or people who just like to know where they stand. Thomsons specify that tips are included in their cruise prices which is great. We left about twenty Euros for the cabin cleaner and gave a similar tip to our two dinner waiters. It's great knowing that your drink bill wasn't going to have 15% added to it every time (I'd rather queue at the bar) or a wacking great "service charge" was going to be levied at the end of the cruise.
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