Tipping in Cuba

[cormike1]

It has been quite a long time since I have been to Cuba. Years ago we were told that school supplies, berets, nail polish, etc. was appreciated by the staff for tips, along with money of course. Is this still the case? I don't want to offend anyone by leaving something they don't want. We always chatted to our maids, gardeners, etc. and found out if they had children and then left things for them to take home to their kids. Can anyone help me out. Thanks

[ONT-CA]

It has been quite a long time since I have been to Cuba. Years ago we were told that school supplies, berets, nail polish, etc. was appreciated by the staff for tips, along with money of course. Is this still the case? I don't want to offend anyone by leaving something they don't want. We always chatted to our maids, gardeners, etc. and found out if they had children and then left things for them to take home to their kids. Can anyone help me out. Thanks

 

We take with us on our annual visit something for a school. Last year we handed 30 packets, each containing a protractor, a ruler and the two customary triangles, that which we thought would be appropriate for a grade school. The previous year is was a big bag of tooth brushes and tooth paste with some ball point pens.

 

As to personal gift presentation, we no longer cart along small gifts that we once offered, for it is difficult to determine just what it is that is needed and appreciated. But the one item that is in short supply and more than just appreciated is cash. So when ashore we tip in CUC's remembering that while one CUC is roughly equivalent to one dollar, one CUC will buy a lot more in Cuba than our dollar can buy at home. However, aboard the ship we tip in our home currency with the exception of the Loonie/Toonie coins (*) which are not exchangeable in Cuba.

 

(*) For those not familiar with Canadian currency, our one dollar and two dollar bills were withdrawn and replaced with coins. The one dollar coin bears the Loon on the reverse side and was nicknamed the Loonie. When the two dollar coin came along, well ...

[Eleteace]

Yep when I went a few years ago they all wanted pens. People came up to me in the street asking for pens..

 

 

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[VidaNaPraia]

Yep when I went a few years ago they all wanted pens. People came up to me in the street asking for pens.

 

So what they've learned from the tourists is HOW TO BEG !

Great contribution to furthering Cuban society.

[cormike1]

Thanks for all your replies. I appreciate them.

 

VidaNaPraia.....just about every Caribbean island I have visited, and there have been quite a few over the past 35 years, have appreciated getting school supplies. A lot of things were blocked going into Cuba so they have very little ways of getting some items. I don't mind helping out and I don't consider it begging....a necessity for school.

[Bigpaw]

So what they've learned from the tourists is HOW TO BEG !

Great contribution to furthering Cuban society.

 

Here is an interesting about just this subject entitled Cuba: Think before you gift https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g147270-c129786/Cuba:Caribbean:Think.Before.You.Gift.html

[VidaNaPraia]

VidaNaPraia.....just about every Caribbean island I have visited, and there have been quite a few over the past 35 years, have appreciated getting school supplies. A lot of things were blocked going into Cuba so they have very little ways of getting some items. I don't mind helping out and I don't consider it begging....a necessity for school.

 

Cuba is NOT like "just about every Caribbean island".

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In this case, the key phrases from the article linked to above are:

 

 

"Most people seem to think that Cubans are poorer than they are (and have little idea who is poor and who is not in Cuba).

 

Another argument for gifting is the one of “there are many things that the Cubans can’t get.” Like in any other country there may be a lack of supply of certain items at certain times. Often these shortages are temporary, and within a matter of days, the shortage disappears altogether. Or there may in fact never have been a shortage in the first place. Sometimes the reports of shortages come from the reports of misinformed tourists who are basing their understanding of a whole country on some off-hand comment by a resort worker.

 

And then there is the willy-nilly off resort gifting, which is even worse. Tourists invading schools with pencils….

There are now schools in Cuba (located near resorts) that have guards posted by the entrance to stop tourists from entering and disturbing the children."

------

And in my experience, when a certain casa owner was lamenting the lack of pencils for his relatives' kid in the countryside, it turned out on further enquiry that he didn't think she should have to work to sharpen the plentiful supply of regular pencils she had, but what he really wanted for her were those automatic engineering pencils, refillable with a package of leads. (See the comment about false shortages from the article.)

 

Also...

There were Cubans I met who bought ME gifts when I left for home !

[Queen of DaNile]

If you give the supplies to a school where the teacher can decide how to distribute them, that is one thing. Giving randomly on the street is something else. Kids have been begging for pens for decades in other countries and giving them just encourages destructive behavior.

 

For an even more disturbing read:

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/09/giving_money_to_child_beggars_don_t_do_it.html

Edited February 8, 2017 by Queen of DaNile

[YoHoHo]

(*) For those not familiar with Canadian currency, our one dollar and two dollar bills were withdrawn and replaced with coins. The one dollar coin bears the Loon on the reverse side and was nicknamed the Loonie. When the two dollar coin came along, well ...

After the Loonie, I thought one worth twice as much should have been called a Doubloon. Maybe that was just my inner pirate.

[mlbcruiser]

Some good food for thought and enlightening info. on this thread. HOWEVER (!), no one has said anything about actual cash tipping - like in restaurants to the servers. So I just went on TripAdvisor - got the info. off info. on the sidebar of the Havana boards. Basically, most tipping is done at all inclusive resorts, and not always. The article advised never to tip out of charity because you feel wages are low and people are poor. 1 CUC is around a day's wage. Leaving 1 CUC in a cabbie's tip basket is not unsual. O.K. to tip a small amount if you feel your service was really good. The most important thing, it said, is to treat the staff with respect.

Edited February 13, 2017 by mlbcruiser

[Go-Bucks!]

Here is an interesting about just this subject entitled Cuba: Think before you gift https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g147270-c129786/Cuba:Caribbean:Think.Before.You.Gift.html

 

 

EXCELLENT article!!

 

 

Two of my daughters were missionaries in Haiti and one of the first things they teach new missionaries (or any family/friends who come visit them) is to not just give away money or things because you feel sorry for the Haitians. Part of the way that missionaries help the native people is by helping them obtain work in order to provide for their own families, like the old adage "give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach a man to fish and he will have food for life." This also provides the people with dignity and self worth.

 

 

Although Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, the people are joyous and friendly. My daughters made many friends and counted it a privilege to have been able to live there. Even though there is a drastic difference in our socio-economic levels, we should help them in the best way possible so they won't need to beg or steal.

[ONT-CA]

We have always tipped the staff aboard the Crystal very well, for having direct and personal contact with them we can tell you that the moment the ship docks at Montego Bay, Jamaica those who have shore leave do so carrying large empty suitcases and their foreign currency tips. They return to the ship laden with treasures of things that are either scarce or unavailable in Cuba. And I don't mean games and trinkets but family needed household items. We have always felt that you cannot offend anyone in need by offering assistance.

 

As to the vendors in Cuba, in our travels we have always practiced the adage "Shop cautiously but with compassion". While shopping in Cienfuego I was chastised by a fellow passenger when purchasing something. He said, "You should hone up on your negotiating skills" The asking price which I had paid was half of that of home. There is a time and a place for haggling but surely not when so little of what we have can be given to do so much good.

[VidaNaPraia]

W.....things that are either scarce or unavailable in Cuba. And I don't mean games and trinkets but family needed household items. We have always felt that you cannot offend anyone in need by offering assistance.

 

There are shortages, but most of the needed items turn up on the market eventually in Cuba.

 

 

You have to define "in need" relative to Cuban society, not yours. Those who work in tourism in any way are some of the most well off in Cuba. Many sell items given to them in multiples by vacationing visitors. Perhaps better to just give cash.