ChocolatePirate Posted July 1, 2014 #1 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Do you typically tip the bus or van driver and tour guide on the Regent free shore excursions? How much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RachelG Posted July 1, 2014 #2 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Yes, the tour guides and drivers are not regent employees. How much depends on quality of the tour. If the guide is terrible, forces non scheduled shopping stops, or drones on constantly, no tip. Of if the driver gets lost and drives us around aimlessly for 2 hours as happened to me outside of Rome once or the bus is filthy, no tip. Otherwise, 5-10 euro or dollar or the equivalent local currency for 1/2 day and twice as much for a full day. Half as much for driver generally. Use your judgment though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrHemlock Posted July 1, 2014 #3 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Concur with RachelG above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RachelG Posted July 2, 2014 #4 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Also, forgot to add, but sometimes the driver gets a tip and the guide gets none, or vice versa. We have had a couple of tours where I felt sorry for the driver having to listen to such a horrible guide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelcat2 Posted July 2, 2014 #5 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Yes - we do tip the guide and driver. We are currently in Russia and noticed a tip basket for the driver in the bus. We handed the tip to the guide (the guides in St. Petersburg have all been excellent). It was so nice of you to ask this question. Unfortunately, many people feel that since the excursion is included that the tip is as well. Enjoy your cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhp Posted July 2, 2014 #6 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Concur with RachelG above as to amounts to each. So many passengers leave the bus giving nothing. I have watched that many times. They are so appreciative, and this amount never was included, but some people think it is. In the whole scheme of what we pay, it is a pittance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridolphi Posted July 2, 2014 #7 Share Posted July 2, 2014 Agree with all above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolatePirate Posted July 2, 2014 Author #8 Share Posted July 2, 2014 (edited) It was so nice of you to ask this question. Unfortunately, many people feel that since the excursion is included that the tip is as well. Enjoy your cruise. Thank you all for your replies. When we went on the Alaska cruise last summer, it was easy to figure out how much to tip; since we will be in the UK this summer, I didn't want to be seen as the "ugly American." Edited July 2, 2014 by DixieDeer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcandkc Posted July 2, 2014 #9 Share Posted July 2, 2014 I'm glad to know my husband and I have been doing the right thing except for one item. We thought the driver and tour guide would have an arrangement for sharing. Can't go back to correct our mistake but can do better in the future. We will be on voyager out of London in August so timely info. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 2012_Alaska_bound Posted July 4, 2014 #10 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I've seen on other threads that it is best to tip the guides and drivers in the local currency. However, on the Baltic cruises almost every port will have a different currency. Since I don't really plan to spend anything off the ship other than tips, is it ok to tip with Euros (or dollars) in these countries? TravelCat, I noticed on your cruise blog thread that you didn't have opportunity in St. Petersberg to get local currency? What did you do for tips there? Hope you all can help with this one, since I don't want to be the "Ugly American" either! Martha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RachelG Posted July 4, 2014 #11 Share Posted July 4, 2014 A tip in euros would probably be be better than no tip at all, but do not tip with euro coins unless that is the local currency. They can't exchange the coins. However, I have done 3 Baltic cruises and have always obtained some local currency except in Latvia and Estonia. In those two countries, euros are almost universally accepted in restaurants, etc. in Russia, I used rubles which I had obtained prior to the trip from Bank of America. In a lot of places the driver and guide have a sharing arrangement, but not always. If the driver has a basket for tips, I tip separately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rarin2go Posted July 4, 2014 #12 Share Posted July 4, 2014 The Eurozone (countries where the euro is the national currency) consists of: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrvlcruiser Posted July 4, 2014 #13 Share Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) rairn2go: thanks for this! Peggy Edited July 4, 2014 by xrvlcruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 2012_Alaska_bound Posted July 4, 2014 #14 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Just re-read TravelCat's current Voyager blog and realized that the comments about having no opportunity to get money in Russia were from experiences several years ago. Hoping someone who has been this year (like TC) will be able to comment. We are only taking included excursions in St. Petersburg so am wondering if we will stop at an ATM. Thanks for the tip about Euro coins. And thanks for the info on which countries are in the EU as far as money goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJBelle Posted July 4, 2014 #15 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Hi, we were in St. Petersburg about 10 years ago and I remember the guides were fine with American dollars. Generally I agree that it is better to give the tips in the local currency, but dollars or euros are certainly better than not giving a tip at all - or driving yourself crazy trying to get some local money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ2002 Posted July 4, 2014 #16 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Hi, we were in St. Petersburg about 10 years ago and I remember the guides were fine with American dollars. Generally I agree that it is better to give the tips in the local currency, but dollars or euros are certainly better than not giving a tip at all - or driving yourself crazy trying to get some local money! We were in St. Petersburg last year, and USD were gladly accepted by vendors and the guides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelcat2 Posted July 5, 2014 #17 Share Posted July 5, 2014 RJ2002, U.S. dollars are still welcome in Russia. This is what we used to tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2old4this Posted July 8, 2014 #18 Share Posted July 8, 2014 We were on a 20 person escorted bus tour of Lisbon some years back and our group of strangers discussed how we would reward the guide and driver for what we generally agreed had been below average services. The suggested amounts per person differed greatly. A few admitted they were tipping to avoid the eye contact with the guide. We were at lunch and away from both men at the time. We decided we would pass the basket we found sitting on the dashboard. Before the bus stopped the basket had made its way from front to back and to the people in the seat behind the driver. The passenger in the front seat made it known to both driver and guide they were to share cash in the basket. None of us knew the amount of cash in the basket or what individuals gave. We did see that the basket contained a good amount of strange paper money and odd shaped coinage. The passenger with the basket held it until everyone had departed. No guilt feelings or 'ugly American' slights as the bus moved back into traffic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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