Gratuities for shore excursion guides.

[JohnnyPS]

We are doing our first Regent cruise (Bosphorus Beauty & The Black Sea) in October.  Having not sailed on Regent before, I am curious if there is any protocol on tipping the guides on the shore excursions.  I know that Regent states that gratuities are included for the ship personnel, but I haven’t been able to find much on tipping the shore excursion guides.

 

I hoping there are some seasoned Regent cruisers who can comment on this.

[BBWC]

Tips on shore excursions are not included.

[A Tucson Guy]

If the excursion guides do a good job, please tip them as they really deserve it. Regent does not give them any tips.

[JohnnyPS]

55 minutes ago, BBWC said:

Tips on shore excursions are not included.

Any tips on tipping?

Is there an amount that people usually give?

Do people tip in the local currency? in my case Euro or Turkish LIra. Is tipping in USD OK?

 

[A Tucson Guy]

Just now, JohnnyPS said:

Any tips on tipping?

Is there an amount that people usually give?

Do people tip in the local currency? in my case Euro or Turkish LIra. Is tipping in USD OK?

 

We tip in US dollars or Euros. We are modest tippers so $5 to $10 PP depending on the length of the excursion. I know, call me a cheapskate!!

[Huggsy]

1 hour ago, A Tucson Guy said:

We tip in US dollars or Euros. We are modest tippers so $5 to $10 PP depending on the length of the excursion. I know, call me a cheapskate!!

You're definitely not a cheapskate.

Hubby and I do the same and we saw others do likewise. We also noted many not tipping at all.

[rcandkc]

1 hour ago, A Tucson Guy said:

We tip in US dollars or Euros. We are modest tippers so $5 to $10 PP depending on the length of the excursion. I know, call me a cheapskate!!

We tip similar amount. We try to tip in their currency if possible. 

[Lonedaddy]

Depending on the location I will tip for outstanding guides.  You should post on the destination pages for turkey.  If we do tip on say the bus tours it will be 5 to 10 bucks depending on what guide did.  I tried to tip the baggage porter in Auckland and a taxi driver in Stockholm and the wouldn’t accept it.

[Trunkabella]

We always tip the bus driver, also.

[BBWC]

3 hours ago, JohnnyPS said:

Any tips on tipping?

Is there an amount that people usually give?

Do people tip in the local currency? in my case Euro or Turkish LIra. Is tipping in USD OK?

 

In Europe, definitely tip in Euros. Euros would be welcomed in Turkey, too. Europeans would probably give a couple of Euros tip, so €5 would be more than adequate. As noted, some countries do not take any tips at all.

[labonnevie]

I think it is a good idea to research tipping customs in the countries we visit. Not everywhere has the same tipping mentality as in the US, where imho it has gone way overboard. Our recent trip around Japan is a great example. Only for something truly exceptional did I feel tipping was even acceptable. In some countries meal prices are considered to include “service “ or the tip. I don’t think we should feel the need to impose our cultural norms on other countries. 
That is not to say that I have any difficulty tipping generously when and where appropriate. 

[annmarz]

Yes, Please research local tipping customs.  In some countries, people are actually insulted when you try to tip them.  We made the error of tipping a waiter in New Zealand - he chased us out the door and down the street to return it!

[mj_holiday]

Yes for tipping guides and bus driver. It is easy to find out the customs, just google it.  They should also be in the back of any guide book.   If don't have Euros or local currency, then tip in USD but need to be rather new looking bills, no rips etc.  Many time these will not be accepted at a bank.

[jessandarnie]

11 hours ago, annmarz said:

Yes, Please research local tipping customs.  In some countries, people are actually insulted when you try to tip them.  We made the error of tipping a waiter in New Zealand - he chased us out the door and down the street to return it!

Not expected in Australia either, anywhere.

[1982CruzStart]

As others have said, do some research.  There are good sites that tell you what the tipping amounts are and whether USD are acceptable or not. Some places discourage the use of USD as it is difficult for the recipients to use or convert the $ to their own currency and there are other places where people are happy, in fact prefer USD for tips. 

 

We have access to a very good foreign exchange retail store and so try and always take the currency of the country we are going to.  Of course in our case we are converting to a foreign currency regardless so it is just as easy for us to get the currency of the country we are visiting as buying USD. 

[Aubie59]

I may be wrong, but once upon a time didn't  the "no tipping necessary" policy included shore excursions as part of Regent's all-inclusive package?  We do tip tour guides and bus drivers, but along the same guidelines as we do with the ship's staff.

[jeb_bud]

On 7/17/2023 at 1:11 PM, A Tucson Guy said:

We tip in US dollars or Euros. We are modest tippers so $5 to $10 PP depending on the length of the excursion. I know, call me a cheapskate!!

That’s what we do too. I like to get some Euros from an 🏧 after I arrive in Europe for tips and bathroom money. If I run out of Euros I fall back on dollars. Turkish tour guides happily accept both. 

[1982CruzStart]

2 hours ago, Aubie59 said:

I may be wrong, but once upon a time didn't  the "no tipping necessary" policy included shore excursions as part of Regent's all-inclusive package?

That hasn't been the case since we started cruising Regent back in 2013. I guess we are fairly new to 
Regent with only 10 years of experience but tips were not included for guides and drivers since are first cruise with Regent. 

[cwn]

2 hours ago, Aubie59 said:

I may be wrong, but once upon a time didn't  the "no tipping necessary" policy included shore excursions as part of Regent's all-inclusive package?  We do tip tour guides and bus drivers, but along the same guidelines as we do with the ship's staff.

No tipping for tours was never included. I think the included tours perk started around 2009-2010 shortly before our fist cruise on Regent. Seems it was fairly new inclusion then. Someone will correct me if the timing is wrong.

Edited July 19, 2023 by cwn

[Aubie59]

Maybe I am thinking back to the Radisson days.