Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Greed

That's because of the way they do it also....'for your convenience we have taken the problem away from you and added.....' By the way the rate per passenger per day alters depending on cabin grade, our gratuity charge with them last Autum would have been in excess of £500 for 2 people on a 14 day cruise.

In the small print, and hidden away, is the comment that you can amend it at any time, not true they will not backdate if you fail to remove this 'Tax' on day one. We started cruising with them, sometimes twice a year, in 2001 and back then you collected small brown envelopes and gave whomever what you wanted. We still do this today, why the head waiter gets more than the table waiter at dinner is beyond me when all they do is ponce about, the table staff work flat out now they have less of them and they are required to do 30 covers and drinks (2 staff members in a team) for 3 sittings a night.

I have walked out of restaurants that refuse to remove their cover charge before now and cancelled my booking, I always tip if the service is even half decent but in cash to the staff.

To which staff?

What about the staff you dont see but contribute just as much?

And do you tip at Tesco?

Tips are generally collected into a central pot and then distributed to all staff.... my daughter has worked in a few restaurants for summer holiday jobs and that's how they work it.

Quite an emotive subject.

I always tip good service.

The Cruises are a different matter.

We are going on our sixth in Jan.

A daily tip is charged per person ...and from what I read you cannot opt out.

It's not much £3/day/ head.

We always give our cabin steward a separate Extra amount . They all work so hard for their low wages.

Many others have a different view. But that's what we choose to do.

On one of the American lines, we learnt that the tips are a real issue. The people on board get no money at all from the cruise line - only their board and lodging on the ship. They are totally reliant on tips for an income to send home to their families. This was the last time we used that line - a cabin steward chased a passenger up the corridor shouting that the tip was insufficient (it was the specified amount left in the enevelope). That left a nasty taste and put us off that line - that and the sheer size of the ships now.

We have now been on a ship where the tips were included in the fare. We did wonder if the service would be as good on a ship like that. If anything it was better - by quite a margin. Now we always try and book on to smaller ships where the tips are included - and some of the trips we have been on have worked out cheaper than the ones that, superficially, looked lower cost.

Paul. You might like to try P&O. Yes they are American owned but still run in a fairly british way. There is a gratuity at the end of the cruise but all seems well managed and civilised. certainly the service is excellent and mostly the ships are small enough not to be anonymous. Above all, they arent full of yanks who always seem the most charming people in their own country but thoroughly offputting abroad en masse.

Mind you I am sure the same could be said about some parts of british society as on the costas.

I am a strong believer that tips are to reward those who have gone over and above what is expected as a minimum, and entirely at the customer's discretion. As many others have said, I always leave a few pound coins rather than adding onto a card payment.

My brother will always leave a tip of 10% of the bill in a restaurant regardless of the quality of service, and never tip anyone else. I take a rather different view- presumably the staff are being paid to do their job, and if I choose to, I can tip any amount I feel appropriate- and I extend this to other situations as well, usually leaving a tip for hotel cleaners in the room before leaving, and a Christmas tip for your binmen can prove a good investment if you later have a bit of extra stuff to get rid of that won't fit in the bin.

When MrsW was hairdressing, all the staff had their own tip jar, but it was only at Christmas that they 'filled up'.

In 1971 I paid the bin men ten bob to take my rusty Ford Anglia shell away.....................

Generally a cover charge is a different thing, at least in my experience. It is generally a small charge that covers such things as the bread etc. It may also be a small additional charge that is charged on Sundays and public holidays when wages are higher. I have seldom found a cover charge that I felt I could object to.

Having said all that it may well be that the cover charges are getting excessive in some restaurants and that it is being used as a term to hide this so-called service charge.

To give an idea of what I consider reasonable one of the best meals I have ever eaten in terms of both taste, presentation and service was on our trip in Sicily in July. I would challenge anyone to offer better and to top it our table was out on a terrace in the garden with a view over the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento. Cost, including wine, €130 (€65 each).

We spoke to the chef and he is a young guy with an absolute passion for using local products and traditional flavours prepared to perfection and presented in an appetising and attractive way.

I can really recommend it as a place to stay and to eat.

Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna

Have a look at the photos in Google Maps and you will get a good idea of what it is like.

In this case it was a pleasure to leave a tip to be shared amongst the staff(sharing is staff policy).

Sorry it is a slight thread drift but presents and example of something diagonally opposite the avaricious behaviour of some.

We used to use them a lot. Stopped when the ships got so large. A friend reported back on a Caribbean cruise with them recently - sounded like the worst of Brits Abroad.

We have become fans of Star Clipper (up to 200 passengers and under canvas) and of Regent Seven Seas - up to 700 passengers and all inclusive - not too expensive when you compare their discounted prices with the all in costs of P&O etc once all the trips, bar costs and tips have been accounted for. We used to really enjoy Minerva - especially the top historian speakers - but they now use the same trip agents as every other cruise line (they used to do it all themselves) and have put their prices up by too much.