Private Tours

Might not be the right board for my question, but couldn't find another so...

For those who've hired a private tour guide - what's appropriate when it's time to have lunch? There are going to be just two of us + the guide. I can't imagine asking him to wait while we have a leisurely meal at an expensive restaurant... but yikes, paying for another person when lunch is a fortune isn't something we'd thought about. Feeling pretty silly here....

Might not be the right board for my question, but couldn't find another so...

For those who've hired a private tour guide - what's appropriate when it's time to have lunch?.

Punam,

Probably the best places to ask your questions are your roll call thread or the "Ports of Call" section.

You did not say where your private tour is. That would be helpful to folks to try to help you.

Also, you might ask your tour host if they have any suggestions for lunch, and let it proceed from there. :)

We’ve done it different ways. Some private guides drop you off at lunch time and tell you when and where to meet back. We’ve also had lunch with our private guides (and paid for their meal, although that wasn’t an expectation of theirs). When we were in St. Petersburg on a private tour (just the two of us, with a guide and a driver) we bought our guide’s lunch the first day, which created some awkwardness. She made sure we couldn’t do it the second day. Just depends on the guide and the situation. When possible, we like to eat with and pay for our guide’s lunch. YMMV.

We usually pay for our guides lunch. We did so in Russia 1 day, and in Budapest. We go to local restaurants which are usually reasonable ..

Might not be the right board for my question, but couldn't find another so...

For those who've hired a private tour guide - what's appropriate when it's time to have lunch? There are going to be just two of us + the guide. I can't imagine asking him to wait while we have a leisurely meal at an expensive restaurant... but yikes, paying for another person when lunch is a fortune isn't something we'd thought about. Feeling pretty silly here....

In my experience my guide is not my dining companion. s/he is free to enjoy some time off/grab a bite while I dine on my own, or with my traveling companion when i have one. When I've booked reservations for some place special, I just let the guide know that as we start our day. Then let them know when i expect to be done so that we can continue touring.

have a good trip!

db

Might not be the right board for my question, but couldn't find another so...

For those who've hired a private tour guide - what's appropriate when it's time to have lunch? There are going to be just two of us + the guide. I can't imagine asking him to wait while we have a leisurely meal at an expensive restaurant... but yikes, paying for another person when lunch is a fortune isn't something we'd thought about. Feeling pretty silly here....

I think it depends upon the rapport you have with your driver/guide. Our driver in Bermuda took us to St. George and suggested a place for lunch.....we invited him to join us and he politely declined and said he was "meeting friends"....in Edinburgh we've hired a guide with whom I've had more than a few on line chats and she is making dinner reservations for us. I have not only invited her but begged her to join us for dinner. So, I think it has to be a spur of the moment type thing. I also think you'll get more info on the board for your port.

We usually pay for our guides lunch. We did so in Russia 1 day, and in Budapest. We go to local restaurants which are usually reasonable ..

+1 One thing we insist on when booking a private tour is going to a very local restaurant for lunch....nothing expensive, but authentic. We almost always invite the tour guide to join us and we pay for their meal if they do...but if they prefer to eat with the driver or do something else, that's not a problem.

We have done many private tours, generally speaking the tour guide does not expect to be asked to stay for a meal, unless it is a local place that is more family style and that was usually when we had others on our private tour.

As far as feeling badly for them to wait, you are paying for “X” amount of hours, how you chose to spend it doesn’t usually matter to the guides but I would not feel obligated to treat them to lunch,when you are paying for a tour then giving a tip.

We have found that most of the guides we have hired have a game plan for lunch. Some of them have brought a lunch with them and some announce that they will stay with the vehicle and meet us later. If there is a guide and a driver, they often take lunch together. When the guide does the driving, we always extend an invitation for lunch, and most of them don't accept. I think many welcome a break just like we did when we worked.

I don't think there is an obligation to include the guide for lunch, but I wouldn't feel comfortable if I did not offer lunch, especially in some of the places where the locals aren't too prosperous. However, if it's a really expensive tour and local costs are very high, I would consider that a different situation and possibly wouldn't extend an invitation.

When we are on a very private tour - ie, just the two of us or our traveling party - we always offer to buy lunch for our guide. Always. Sometimes they've accepted, sometimes not. We've been with Cruise Critic groups from 10 to 20 or more people, and I don't think the guides or drivers have ever eaten with any of us. Usually there is a little free time for everyone … or lunch has been pre-arranged as part of the tour …