Tipping Advice for Alaska & Canada

[JULIE A A]

Tipping is a foreign concept to me (from Australia) but I am doing a cruise/land tour to Alaska and don't want to offend anyone by under tipping. Can you please offer some advice - internet search on tipping etiquette is confusing at best.

 

When and how much to tip? Is it everyone or just service staff (restaurants, taxi/bus & tour providers & hotels). Is there an easy calculator/phone app or formula to use? Some have suggested 3 x GST but that in itself is confusing as GST is different depending on which part of Canada you are in (5% or 12%). Do I still tip on the cruise if I have pre-paid them? The land component does not include tips, nor do the shore excursions I believe. Who do I tip? And how much?

 

I tipped a guy in Kenya - thinking I was giving him a generous $15 tip, turns out I gave him $150 (calculated the exchange rate very wrong - he wasn't that good!) I'm not trying to rip people off, I am a fairly generous person but can't afford to give all my money away either. I need to budget a reasonable 'baseline' and then increase or decrease depending on quality of service. Any advice welcomed. Thank you.

[TrinaLC]

In the u.s., tip 15-20% on meals.

 

Tipping a tour guide or tour bus driver $3 -5 for one guest, maybe $5-10 for a couple.

 

Hotel no tipping required but many will leave $3-5 on the dresser for the maid. $3 -5 for bellman who brings bags to room. I don't tip if someone just helps me from car/taxi to front desk. Nor do I tip if they just open the door or routinely hail a cab.

 

No tipping required on the cruise as this is prepaid for the room and dining and added automatically if you order drinks. Many will give a good room steward an extra $10 to $30 but not required or even expected.

 

Can't speak for Canada [emoji1063].

 

 

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[JULIE A A]

Thank you TinaLC - very much appreciated. Sounds very reasonable :)

 

Any idea what I should tip for a $400 aurora photography tour with 8 other paying clients? Or a $500+ helicopter flight & glacier hike excursion?

[rkacruiser]

For the United States and Canada, any gratuity offered for a meal (and a previous poster's range of 15%-20% is proper) ought to be before tax is applied to the cost of your meal.

 

Many of us do offer additional gratuities at the end of the cruise if we have particularly found the service to be good. Cabin Stewards, MDR Stewards, Wine Steward, and perhaps a bartender or Lounge Steward(s) that have provided very good service are the staff that I often offer an additional gratuity.

[Ginnyfyr]

Standard tips here in Canada start at 15% of the price before tax. It is customary to tip your taxi drivers, servers in restaurants, tour guides, hotel maids (exception - if I stay one night, I don't generally leave a tip, but if I stay 2 or more nights or feel like I've been a particularly messy guest, I always leave a tip). When in Alaska I also tip a few dollars to the bus driver and staff on tours (i.e. the boat staff on every whale watching tour we've ever been on has always been very informative and happy to answer questions). You do not have to tip extra on the ship as daily tips cover almost everyone (one exception being room service delivery - they apparently are exempt from the tipping so if you order room service, give them a few dollars) but we always end up tipping extra to our cabin steward and butler (if we have one) as their service has always been outstanding in our experience.

[hubofhockey]

To clarify below on hotels, that is per night, but I wouldn't pay more for a couple.

 

In the u.s., tip 15-20% on meals.

 

Tipping a tour guide or tour bus driver $3 -5 for one guest, maybe $5-10 for a couple.

 

Hotel no tipping required but many will leave $3-5 on the dresser for the maid. $3 -5 for bellman who brings bags to room. I don't tip if someone just helps me from car/taxi to front desk. Nor do I tip if they just open the door or routinely hail a cab.

 

No tipping required on the cruise as this is prepaid for the room and dining and added automatically if you order drinks. Many will give a good room steward an extra $10 to $30 but not required or even expected.

 

Can't speak for Canada [emoji1063].

 

 

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[SadieN]

We don't tip at walk up places (such as Starbucks or burger places) that have tip jars at the registers.

 

Down in Los Angeles an easy way to figure out the amount to tip is to double the tax (8%). YMMV

 

 

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[tee_harbor]

There are some threads on tipping on these really expensive tours. I've got to think if you're paying hundreds of dollars for a tour, you don't want to do a percentage as that will really add up.

 

There's an odd American 'rule' of tipping that you don't tip the owner of a business, as they're making more money than their employees who may depend on tips. Some of these small tour companies' tours--whale watching, fishing charters, van tours--will be led by the owner. Do people tip them?

[bUU]

There's an odd American 'rule' of tipping that you don't tip the owner of a business, ...

I recall that only really applying to haircutters, and even then I think it was just latched onto (by my late mother among others) as an excuse. Service is service. The owner of a small business is as likely to be losing money as earning profit.

 

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