Oceana Compulsary Tipping

[PeteandMandy]

P & O plan to try out compulsory tipping on Oceana next year and I just wondered how everyone thought about this.

Personally, I prefer to choose to who and what level of tipping I give, dependent of the service I receive, not to be told I will have x amount added to my bill, no matter what the service is like.

Vote now!

[Mike M]

Pete and Mandy:

When most lines went to adding tips to your account I was completely against it. I thought service would go down the tubes, it would turn the staff into robots and it would remove the personal connection between the passenger and the waitsaff and cabin attendant. From my observation it hasn't.

I do want the ability to adjust the amount up or down. I also I want people to have the ability to remove the charge from their account and give it in person. I also want the ability to personally give an individual additional cash if I feel they have added to my cruise. This is something that I feel really says "You've done a good job."

I also like the fact that I don't have to mess with the tip envelopes on the last night. I can just put some money in an envelope for the people who made my cruise special and it doesn't have to be on the last night.

I have spoken with crew and all have told me that the "stiff" rate is no longer as high. There is no longer the issue of people not showing up in the dining room on the last night just so they won't have to tip. There have been studies done by NCL and Carnival that show that most people who ask to have the tips removed from their account because they want to tip in person actually never tip. This really does ruin it for the people that do like to give a personal reward to the people that do make their cruise special.

Take care,
Mike