What do you tip a tour guide?

[Baybear]

Going on Summit in three days. Taking a tour in every port including two Celebrity tours and three local tour companies.

 

What do you tip at the end of one of these tours? Almost every one of them are $100 for the Wife and I together for each tour (before tip).

 

Celebrity tip?

Island Tour Company tip?

 

TIA

[Fouremco]

Going on Summit in three days. Taking a tour in every port including two Celebrity tours and three local tour companies.

 

What do you tip at the end of one of these tours? Almost every one of them are $100 for the Wife and I together for each tour (before tip).

 

Celebrity tip?

Island Tour Company tip?

 

TIA

I give about 15%, but more - or less - if warranted. I may give less if the tour guide is also the owner.

[Gonzo70]

For me it varies wildly; have infrequently done $0 and occasionally gone as high as $50 total (for my wife and I). I do not consider the cost of the tour, but here are the primary factors for me:

 

*Amount of effort/work from the guide

*Quality & friendliness of the guide

*Size of the tour (i.e. I tip far more on a private or small tour than on a tour with 60 people on a coach bus)

[packercruising]

Don't forget to tip the driver. :)

[carolslc]

We usually tip with a $20 bill for us as a couple for excursions around that price range.

 

Enjoy your cruise! We just got back off the Summit on Saturday. I miss it!!

[Lsimon]

I pretty much follow the same line of thinking as Gonzo above. If I'm on a tour that has 12 people and received lots of personalized attention, like a day sail with great service including drinks and lunch, I'll tip high. But if I'm on a bus with 60 people and a tour guide I'll tip much less. In the latter situation it might range from a nothing to a couple dollars and upwards to 10 of the tour cost depending on how much the guide actually helps us and the job they do. Some guides are clearly better than others and the good ones deserve recognition. For example a tour guide that shows us around the Vatican and Coliseum in Rome and provides great information in an interesting manor deserves a whole lot more than the "guide" who does little more than get us to and from the bus parking lot.

 

Don't forget to tip the driver. :)

I consider myself a pretty good tipper but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't get tipping a driver separately who has no interaction with the passengers on the tour. It just doesn't seem like a tipped position to me. I'd appreciate thoughts pro and con on this.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Lsimon

[packercruising]

 

I consider myself a pretty good tipper but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't get tipping a driver separately who has no interaction with the passengers on the tour. It just doesn't seem like a tipped position to me. I'd appreciate thoughts pro and con on this.

 

Sometimes the driver is more personable, knowledgeable and helpful than the tour guide. Also, it depends on where you are. In some places drivers are dependent on tips.

[urkidn]

 

I consider myself a pretty good tipper but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't get tipping a driver separately who has no interaction with the passengers on the tour. It just doesn't seem like a tipped position to me. I'd appreciate thoughts pro and con on this.

 

Personally I prefer that the driver NOT interact with the passengers. His job is to get us there safely and to concentrate on the driving side of things without distractions. I always tip him, especially after going on some of those hairy, scary Caribbean roads that are little more than a car-width wide with an embankment on one side, a mountain on the other and a truck coming towards you.

[surebeatssailing]

We don't tip the driver separately . I believe most of the time the tour guides & drivers share the tips.

[Baybear]

OP here: Thanks... Your responses were a wide range of interesting comments and "practices."

 

I wonder whether a tour guide tips-out to the driver, like servers do to bussers in a restaurant... don't really know.

 

I particularly liked the "proportional" comment about being in a large group vs. a small more personalized tour. That's the response I'm "taking to the bank" next week. We're on two Celebrity tours with probably about 40 or so people and we'd probably tip $5-10 on that one, but tip $20 for the Island tours where there are only 6-12 of us.

 

Thanks for your intelligent thoughts.

[cpj]

I overtip the guides and I also tip the driver. The reason I do this is because I do not give any money to charities at all. At least when I give to these people I know there getting it. I always overtip on the cruises because I know they need it and they have hard jobs.

[Wine-O]

I think somewhere between 5 and 10%, depending on how good they were.

[riclop]

Going on Summit in three days. Taking a tour in every port including two Celebrity tours and three local tour companies.

 

What do you tip at the end of one of these tours? Almost every one of them are $100 for the Wife and I together for each tour (before tip).

 

Celebrity tip?

Island Tour Company tip?

 

TIA

Its all up to you depending how good the person was.

[Shadavi]

Heading off to south America shortly..:)..I want to know how you get tours that are $100 for the 2 of you:cool:

[cruzsnooze]

I do not tip tours I've booked through the ship. They are already overpriced and the tour people are paid well. On private excursions it depends on the number of hours not the price i paid. It depends if they made special stops for shopping. Did they speak English well enough for me to understand them. So for me there is no one answer it depends.

[dwhe]

Let's not kid ourselves, I've purposely watched how many people tip after a tour and most people don't tip at all especially on coaches.

 

It doesn't matter which continent people are from either.

[OceanCruise]

It depends on the type and size of the tour and we don't differentiate between the ship excursion or a private one. On a smaller van or boat with 12 passengers and excellent service we might tip up to $20-$25 pp. for a full day tour. On a large bus or boat tour that is mostly just transportation it might be $5 or $10 total for the two of us or nothing. We usually give the tip to the guide and tell them to split it with the driver. It depends on if the excursion is simply transportation or if the guide assists with snacks/meals, provides interesting narration, looks after us, etc.

[Baybear]

Heading off to south America shortly..:)..I want to know how you get tours that are $100 for the 2 of you:cool:

 

It's easy... Find a tour for $50 a person and multiply times 2!

[Baybear]

Let's not kid ourselves, I've purposely watched how many people tip after a tour and most people don't tip at all especially on coaches. QUOTE]

 

I think you can divide tipping up into two categories...1) How much should you tip, and 2) Your attitude about the World.

 

Some are Globally sensitive and realize that folks generally in this business on small islands are not nearly as well off financially as the tourists plodding through their Island, so they usually tip and tip well to benefit a more 3rd World area. Others could care less about the poor or less well off, and just figure they already paid for the tour and let the locals fend for themselves.

 

I always tip 20% at restaurants (didn't use to...) after I realized these servers were almost always struggling to make ends meet and I was doing quite well. Sure, a few servers at fancy restaurants may make a lot but 99% of them can use the money just to survive. So on tours I do the same thing... tip well.

 

I think if most people that don't tip really thought about the lives of the local Island people compared to theirs they might start tipping... But then again... maybe not..

[KirkNC]

We would typically tip between 10-20%.

[Clydesmom7865]

I consider myself a pretty good tipper but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't get tipping a driver separately who has no interaction with the passengers on the tour. It just doesn't seem like a tipped position to me. I'd appreciate thoughts pro and con on this.

 

The ONLY time I have tipped a driver was my 14 day trip to Israel where our group had the same driver for the entire trip. He was with us 24/7 and away from his family as we traveled around the country and stayed overnight in other areas during the tour.

 

In Belize on my ship's tour to the Mayan ruins I had bought a couple of the most expensive beers the restaurant served and shared them with our tour guide who was VERY happy as it was one he loved but could not afford. He declined cash when I offered it after having drinks together.

 

On small day tours of a few hours I don't see the point to tipping the driver.

[Fouremco]

I consider myself a pretty good tipper but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't get tipping a driver separately who has no interaction with the passengers on the tour. It just doesn't seem like a tipped position to me. I'd appreciate thoughts pro and con on this.

A point made in the numerous tipping threads is that passengers shouldn't tip only those they interact with. There is recognition of the fact that the "behind the scenes" crew members contribute significantly to your cruise enjoyment. Maybe the same thought process could be applied here?

[packercruising]

The ONLY time I have tipped a driver was my 14 day trip to Israel where our group had the same driver for the entire trip. He was with us 24/7 and away from his family as we traveled around the country and stayed overnight in other areas during the tour.

 

In Belize on my ship's tour to the Mayan ruins I had bought a couple of the most expensive beers the restaurant served and shared them with our tour guide who was VERY happy as it was one he loved but could not afford. He declined cash when I offered it after having drinks together.

 

On small day tours of a few hours I don't see the point to tipping the driver.

 

We seem to get along better with the drivers. Tour guides often do things rote. They could just put in a tape.

[Gig103]

I've only ever given tips on two tours, and both were $5 ( not each). One was in Alaska where the guide got me in all the awesome spots for photos of bears salmon fishing. The other was a very friendly and knowledgeable guide in Valparaiso. Most of the time they only meet expectations.