how much to tip excursion guide

We are taking the helicopter tour to the glacier in Juneau. The total cost for two people is around $360. Is a tip necessary, and if so, how much?

Klheckman

When we take shore excursions, we generally tip $2 - $2.50 per person for a half day tour. Could be more if the tour guide was exemplary.

'Vegas Jim

My feeling is that a helicopter pilot should be treated as any airline pilot. They are highly trained professionals and, as such, don't generally expect the paying pax to tip.I'm sure they are well paid to begin with, reflected in the cost of a ticket.

I have no idea about a tipping a helicopter pilot, however one might not be tipping them for being a pilot ... one might be tipping them for the tour-guide portion of their job.

On a land excursion I tend to tip $2.50 per person for a half-day tour for the guide, and another dollar or so for a bus driver. For an all-day excursion -- longer than 5 or 6 hours -- I'll tip $5 per person for the guide and about $3 for the driver.

Greg+
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Our helicopter pilot was also our tour guide as he expalined everything as we flew over the glaciers and other areas. We tipped him $5 a piece.

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Hmmm, what would you tip a driver here in the US on an outing? In my neck of the woods the going rate is 10-15 %, just like in a restaurant. When I took the shuttle from the Ft Lauderdale airport to the hotel the driver said hardly anyone tips him anything. How sad.

Mariposa

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>When I took the shuttle from the Ft Lauderdale airport to the hotel the driver said hardly anyone tips him anything. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If he'd get off his butt and help with the luggage, I'd tip him. Ninety percent of shuttle drivers would rather watch us get a hernia before they'd move. I tip the very few who do help.

1957-USS General A.E. Anderson, Tokyo to San Francisco; 1999-Norwegian Sea, W. Carib; 1999-RVI, Europe; 2000-Mercury, W. Carib; 2000-Volendam, S. Carib; 2001-Viking Star, Danube River; 2001-Veendam, E. Carib; 2002 B2B- Veendam, Alaska; 2003 B2B-Zuiderdam, W/E Carib; Mar 2004-Maasdam, E Carib; 26 Nov 2005 Veendam, S Carib

Hi Stevesan, I guess I got lucky cuz our driver did indeed hoist all that luggage onto and off of the bus for us. It all went onto a luggage cart and into the hotel when we arrived and I didn't have to touch a piece of luggage the morning we headed for the ship. Had the same driver both times. A very pleasant and helpful guy. All he asked was that we each be sure to identify that we all had our correct luggage before he left the hotel.

Now the luggage handlers at the ship, well, I think they just stand there looking at all the luggage until you tip them, then they load them into the ship for us and hopefully we see them again onboard. LOL

Mariposa

I've always been afraid not to tip the guys who take the luggage at the pier. I have visions of terrible things happening.