Landtour guide gratuity

Any ideas for a reasonable gratuity for a 12 day landtour tour guide!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

$10 pp per day I believe is the suggestion.

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Actually $7 per pax/per day. We're a party of three, and for 12 days this would be $250.00. This seems a wee bit excessive, for handing out room keys, and answering a few questions.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Actually $7 per pax/per day. We're a party of three, and for 12 days this would be $250.00. This seems a wee bit excessive, for handing out room keys, and answering a few questions.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

:shrug: No problem. You asked; they answered.

You should tip what You feel is appropriate.

Some guidebooks suggest 15 to 20% of the tour cost..Some say $7 per person per day..

A quote from this WEB site re tipping etiquette:

http://www.travelsense.org/tips/tippingetiquette.cfm

Quote: TOUR TIPPING ETIQUETTE

If you're taking a tour and a tip is not automatically included, tip a local guide $1 per person for a half-day tour, $2 for full-day tour. Tip a private guide more.

If you are on a multi-day tour with a tour manager - someone who travels with the group for several days and is essentially in charge - tour operators suggest anywhere from $3-8 per person per day. Don't forget the bus driver either - $2 per person per day.

Unquote

IMO a tip of $10 - $12 per day per couple for the guide plus $5.00 for the driver per couple ..Total $15.- $17 per couple per day..

For three people IMO a tip of $20 per day split between guide & driver is sufficient..On our Alaska land tour Richard, our Coach Driver (who worked for HAL) was the actual tour guide & was fantastic..He really showed us Alaska & pointed out some wonderful sites.. Richard did all the driving & guiding, & was very knowledgeable...We were a small group of about 28 or 29 as we were an overflow group & that was fantastic..Anyone who gets Richard as the Coach Driver is in for a treat! His wife also works for HAL, & they winter in one of the Western states...We tipped Richard more than the Group Escort which was sent by the Travel Agent..

The Group Escort handled checking the group into the hotels, gave out room keys & arranged for the baggage to be sent to the rooms & picked up the next morning.. I think we tipped him a few dollars per day but really can't remember..

It's been a few years since I did the HAL cruisetour (2007), but at that time HAL provided information on tipping your driver and guide in the documents received prior to the cruisetour.

I believe ours was $4 pp per day for the guide and $2 for the driver, but that was 7 years ago.

This is from the HAL website:

GRATUITIES DURING YOUR LAND+SEA

JOURNEY

Because gratuity practices on land differ from those aboard ship, many of our guests request guidelines on local standards. Gratuities are strictly up to you

and should be based on the quality of service you feel you have received. If you desire to offer an individual expression of your appreciation, you may use the following guidelines.

• Land+Sea Journey Host: US$4.00 - $6.00 per

guest, per day

• Driver-Guides: US$4.00 per guest, per day

• Klondike Spirit Cabin Crew: US$1.00 per guest,

per day

• McKinley Explorer® Rail Guides: US$1.50 per

guest, per day

• Optional Excursion Guides: US$2.00 per guest ,

per ½ day tour and US$5.00 full day tour

Please Note: All luggage-handling gratuities are

included in your journey for all hotels shown on your

itinerary.

Just consider it part of the cost of your trip. If you were on just a cruise, there would still be gratuities to pay. Have a great trip!

I am curious what you all feel is appropriate tipping for semi private ( maybe up to 8 people) and private tours while we are in port for the day - 1/2 day as well as full day?

I am curious what you all feel is appropriate tipping for semi private ( maybe up to 8 people) and private tours while we are in port for the day - 1/2 day as well as full day?

The post above yours by agabbymama quotes HAL's WEB site on land & sea tipping..

If I were doing an Alaska tour/cruise & had a driver/guide I would probably give him $15 per day per couple or $10.00 per couple if it was a half day tour..

However, but it looks like I'm a bit on the high side of tipping compared to HAL's suggestions..

Forgot to mention that Cruise Critic has an "Insiders guide to cruise tipping" which I downloaded in 2013..Unfortunately Cruise Critic does not date their articles.. So have no idea when it was published..

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=132

Tipping is a personal decision. If you feel the guide provided a good tour, tip accordingly.

Thank you for the links! I wasn't sure if a land-tour would be tipped the same as port tours, but sounds like the guidelines are similar