Shore excursions and tipping. A quandary for a cheapskate

[radsman]

Does anyone know if it is customary to tip on a shore excursion scheduled through the cruise like. For example, I pay $120 to go scuba diving through Princess... would I tip the dive master at the end??

 

If I scheduled my own dive trip, I would definately tip.

 

The privately scheduled dive trips are ALWAYS cheaper. But if I include the cost of a tip, the price is about even... and less hastle. Thanks for the input.

 

And please, no commentary on my 'cheapness'. It is because I am thrifty that I am even going on this cruise...;)

[billet]

I tip on the Princess excursions as well as private ones.

[smitty3000]

Does anyone know if it is customary to tip on a shore excursion scheduled through the cruise like. For example, I pay $120 to go scuba diving through Princess... would I tip the dive master at the end??

 

If I scheduled my own dive trip, I would definately tip.

 

The privately scheduled dive trips are ALWAYS cheaper. But if I include the cost of a tip, the price is about even... and less hastle. Thanks for the input.

 

And please, no commentary on my 'cheapness'. It is because I am thrifty that I am even going on this cruise...;)

Your not cheap your what I call frugal, like me. And your right, that is how we are going on a 10 day cruise too! :)

[Stacey779]

I'd personally still recommend tipping. I know the excursions are more expensive through the cruise line, but the markup is actually something the cruise line adds on so they make money off it. In other words, the shore excursion operator isn't getting any of that, which is why I would still tip.

[steponboard]

I pay an exorbitant premium to go on a shore excursion through the cruise and the tour guides are well paid. I do not tip ship sponsored tours.

[Toto2Kansas]

We always tip no matter if it's a ships excursion or private excursion. Remember, on the ships excursion, even though it may cost you more, the tour operator is giving up to 40-50% to the cruise line for booking their excursions. ;)

[Akheila]

seems as though you are getting a mixed bag of answers. Ultimately....if you enjoy your outing...then tip..if you don't feel that the crew provided good service, then don't. I think that you need to take the fact that its a ship excursion out of the equation.

 

People tip (or should) for good service. Not poor service...or obligation.

 

Good luck in your decision. and I think in this time we can ALL apreciate frugality. It is the way many are able to stay afloat...or enjoy a nice vacation!

 

Cheers

[radsman]

Thank you for your comments.

 

I suppose another question would be.. Does Princess include the expected tip amount to the excursion operator as part of the contract price?

[billet]

seems as though you are getting a mixed bag of answers. Ultimately....if you enjoy your outing...then tip..if you don't feel that the crew provided good service, then don't. I think that you need to take the fact that its a ship excursion out of the equation.

 

People tip (or should) for good service. Not poor service...or obligation.

 

Good luck in your decision. and I think in this time we can ALL apreciate frugality. It is the way many are able to stay afloat...or enjoy a nice vacation!

 

Cheers

 

Well said

[paul929207]

I always tip at the end of the tour.

[DaisyRose]

I find Princess shore excursions to be on the expensive side, and I don't think I should have to add a tip on top of the fairly high price I am paying. I think the tour guides should be fairly paid from the price of the ticket I purchased. That said, I really don't know just how well they are paid. I know that tour guides really do appreciate tips. I also would have to say that most of the guides I have had have been exceptional, and offered a great deal of interesting input. When I first started cruising, I didn't always tip guides on excursions, but I came to believe that if they do a good job, a couple of dollars per person is a nice way to say thank you. I tip more when I'm with a smaller group, because there are fewer opportunities for the guide to be tipped, and I tip a little less if I'm on a busfull of passengers; also a little more for a full day trip, and a little less for a short trip. I also tip the driver a couple of dollars. I've come to feel good about giving just a little something extra. When I think about the total cost of a trip, an extra $50 or so for tips does not seem to be burdensome, and yet I think it makes a nice difference to the guide. The only time I don't tip is if I think the guide did a poor job.

[Colo Cruiser]

In the divemaster scenario yes absolutley a tip would be in order.

[traveling1969]

Good service-small tip. Poor service-no tip. Average service-no tip...unless I hit the casino for a few bucks the night before:D

Bon Voyage!

[Toto2Kansas]

Thank you for your comments.

 

I suppose another question would be.. Does Princess include the expected tip amount to the excursion operator as part of the contract price?

 

One word answer to that question, NO.

[grandmato4]

Thank you for your comments.

 

I suppose another question would be.. Does Princess include the expected tip amount to the excursion operator as part of the contract price?

 

No.

 

It never crosses our minds to consider tipping or not tipping based upon an excursion booked through the cruiseline or privately. Neither do we consider a higher cost excursion to mean we can simply ignor tipping at the end of the excursion. If we could not afford to tip anything if the service warented it we wouldn't be booking the excursion in the first place. We only consider the experience on the excursion as to if we tip and how much we tip. If the excursion delivers only exactly what it was advertised to deliver- we say Thank You, but do not tip as we recieved exactly what we paid for. If the excursion delivers what was advertised and a bit more we tip a bit beyond the cost of the excursion. If the excursion not only delivers what was advertised but goes far beyond then we tip accordingly. Thrifty for us would be to find a way to experience what we would experience on a paid excursion on our own without the assistance of any tour guide. And yes, we have been thirfty in several ports of call over the years.

[cruiserbryce]

I typically do...whether you book it yourself or through the line shouldnt change how you recognize the service. Yes the private ones are cheaper but we have always seen it as worth it to guarantee that you dont get left behind if something delays you back to the ship. We had an excursion in Cabo last time we were there that was more than an hour each direction to the location...there are far too many things that could delay your excursion for us to book something like that on our own

[Pam in CA]

I suppose another question would be.. Does Princess include the expected tip amount to the excursion operator as part of the contract price?

Absolutely not. The ship's tour operators don't get any more for organizing and managing ship's tours than they would if they ran them independently. As a matter of fact, they often make less as they're using Princess as a broker.

 

It never crosses our minds to consider tipping or not tipping based upon an excursion booked through the cruiseline or privately. Neither do we consider a higher cost excursion to mean we can simply ignor tipping at the end of the excursion.

I agree. It wouldn't occur to me that because I'd paid more for an excursion, to stiff the tour guides any more than I'd stiff a waiter in a restaurant because the entree in their restaurant is more than the one next door.

 

"Frugal is the practice of acquiring goods and services in a restrained manner." Booking a private tour vs. a ship's tour is being frugal (depending on whether or not you're willing to assume all responsibility for anything that could go wrong in which case, it's "penny wise, pound foolish"); not tipping is being miserly without consideration of the efforts others have made to provide you with an activity or entertainment.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thank you for your comments.

 

I suppose another question would be.. Does Princess include the expected tip amount to the excursion operator as part of the contract price?

 

No, they don't. It the tour operator is informative, responsive to questions and does a good job, we tip no matter whether we're on a private excursion or one through a cruise line. I base it on job performance.

[taxmantoo]

One thing we have noticed that has not yet been mentionned here.

 

Private guides are usually a lot more discreet or totally silent about tipping when the excursion or tour comes to an end. Guides on ship-sponsored shore excursions tend to be more vocal about it to the point of sometimes being aggressive.

 

My rule (whether a private excursion or a ship-sponsored one)... If they ask, they are not getting any. If not, they will likely get a pretty good one!

[Stevesan]

I pay an exorbitant premium to go on a shore excursion through the cruise and the tour guides are well paid. I do not tip ship sponsored tours.

 

The guides are paid the same whether the owner contracts thru the cruise line, or when operating as an independent.

The price difference is the cut the cruise line takes, 50%- 60%.

 

Before you ask, the data source is from CNBC's July 3, 2009 CNBC "Money" broadcast.

Financial figures were provided by the ship's purser on Norwegian Pearl and an NCL finance VP.

[Stacey779]

My rule (whether a private excursion or a ship-sponsored one)... If they ask, they are not getting any. If not, they will likely get a pretty good one!

 

This is true - I have found some of the ship sponsored tour guides to be obnoxious about this. If they are too vocal about it, we have skipped tipping on occasion. We once had one tell us that he "charged" $5 minimum for his tip. Really? Oops, looks like I'm all out of cash... ;)

[luxurysailer]

So far no one has addressed the issue of how much to tip? The price of excursions has escalated so much that tipping based upon a percentage of the excursion price, say 10% per person, has become quite significant. So, how do you determine how much to tip?

 

A related question is whether a bus driver should be tipped separately, or should the tour guide share tips with the driver?

[Buggbob]

When we were in Mexico we went a rally great excursion, had loads of fun. Near the end of the excursion out comes the tip jar and sales pitch. The operator told us that the servers work for tips they get no salary. He suggested tips starting at $100 for servers, and don't forget the owner. Kind of implied that it was expected for us to give them a $120 -- each! $200 for the server and $40 for the owner -- I don't think so. I did tip a total of $40 which is the largest tip I had ever given in my life.

[MarinaDCA]

So far no one has addressed the issue of how much to tip? The price of excursions has escalated so much that tipping based upon a percentage of the excursion price, say 10% per person, has become quite significant. So, how do you determine how much to tip?

 

A related question is whether a bus driver should be tipped separately, or should the tour guide share tips with the driver?

 

Thats exactly what I want to know. I am taking an excursion in Cayman run by the owner of the business. I know one doesn't tip the owner or a salon or similiar, but I guess its not the same here. What is a good tip for a trip? Is it based on time/type of activity/cost or what?

[grandmato4]

So far no one has addressed the issue of how much to tip? The price of excursions has escalated so much that tipping based upon a percentage of the excursion price, say 10% per person, has become quite significant. So, how do you determine how much to tip?

 

A related question is whether a bus driver should be tipped separately, or should the tour guide share tips with the driver?

 

We don't have a standard amount or percent that we tip nor do we base it upon the cost of the excursion itself. Although thinking back some of the more expensive excursions have gotten the larger amount tips but really only because they had excellent tour guides that went far beyond just doing what the excursion advertised. Often we have found we will tip $5 for a tour that was a bit more than advertised and $20 for a tour that far exceeded what was advertised but it really does vary for us so its hard to give a dollar amount.

 

As far as tiping the tour guide and driver most often we have only tipped the tour guide but when we've had a driver that exceeded just being the driver we have also tipped him a few dollars to show our appreciation.

 

Someone mentioned those annoying tour guides that repeatedly talk about tipping them. We don't mind hearing a simple short reminder that they do accept tips but when they cross that invisible line and attempt to make it sound as if it is mandatory or go into a long drawn out speech about how the tips are really the only way they support themselves they only manage to downgrade the excursion experience and because of that will not recieve any tip.