Excursion Gratuities

How do the gratuities work for Shore Excursions? What is the proper gratuity for a shore excursion and in what currency do you pay it?

Half day tour I give about $5 to guide and about $3 to the driver from my wife and I if I am happy with their service.

If possible, I give in local currency. If not, Euros or US$ depending on where I am.

Depends on the port what currency to give ..local is prefer

We tip 10% for most tours

It is a personal choice on how much

We give about 15%-20% if the guide is excellent and since I do so much research here, the guides usually deserve the tip. I tip in dollars.

How much my family tips all depends on the type of tour. For just a driver to a historical sight we might tip the equivalent of a $1 per person, for a guided tour we generally tip the guide $2-5 per person, and for interactive tours (like animal encounters or zip lining) tip $5+ per person. Some tours will have different guides or tour leaders that specialize in just one part of the excursion so sometimes we reduce these amounts based on how much time their portion of the tour is, and tip each individually after their segment (we don't trust tipping pools to be fair).

As for what currency to tip in I look at it this way, does the port commonly accept USD at the retailers. If so then the local economy is set up to use or convert USD with little problem. If the shops request local or regional currency then I would be prepared to tip that way, since it generally means the banks will charge a goodly percent of the tour employee to convert the tip to a currency accepted locally.

If you have an excellent adventure, then tip. If an excursion is simply transportation, no tip is needed. There are no "guidelines"....it's all up to you and what you feel it was worth.