travelingman

I sent them a message asking about what we are seeing on the "Manage My Booking - My Account". I got a response several days later. Response - "That page is down right now". Couldn't have asked for more enlightening information. Al I can say is that I tried to find out something. Maybe one of you could try and see if you can get anything else from them - like when is it supposed to be up again. Unfortunately I deleted their response before it dawned on me I should have responded with - "tell me something I don't know and when is it expected to be back up?" Stan

@KBs mum Shore based staff will get similar pay to any other persons in that country doing the same work. @pontac As @KBs mum says, coach drivers are paid according to German law, have a decent wage, a pension and free health care and while no-one will refuse being given money, they are not dependent on tips. Thanks to both of you for the clarification. My assumption was that they were paid the same as the Viking on board staff. What you say does make sense though. So, it comes down to - do I want to tip them. As an American it is hard to get out of this habit. But I do understand we should follow the particular countries culture. Happy Cruising all. Stan

Since the bus drivers and guides are "working" for Viking I would imagine that they (as with the ship's employees) are dependent upon the tips for a good part of their pay. Therefore, I would not recommend not tipping either one of them. I do agree that in a lot of the European countries that tipping is not customary, except for maybe the practice of rounding up. And yes, many of us forget that we need some small coins for the toilets. Sometimes you can get around that by going to a McDonald's, but we have been to some of those that we have had to pay for the use of the toilets. So, always be ready with some small coins. Stan

Never had a problem getting 1 and 2 euro coins at the front desk on the Viking river cruises. Stan

I agree with the advice on guides and drivers mainly because they most likely will be different at each port. Another point on the tips you do not have to carry all of that change with you everywhere. We leave most of ours in the cabin safe or only get 10 Euros worth from the Guest Services desk every few days. Also, know that you can avoid the large number of coins by tipping the guide 5 Euro which is just one Euro more than the recommended amount. We have done this a number of times when we thought they did an exceptional job. Stan

I am also interested in responses also as we have the B2B booked departing Nov. 12 combining the Eclectic with 3 Continents. Stan