Tipping on Princess Shore Excursions

[KLM3164]

I’m currently on a Mexico cruise and doing 3 Princess shore excursions. The attached photo from the Princess website shows recommended tips for shore excursions. These recommendations seem low so I’m wondering what others tip for GOOD service for 1/2 day and full day tours. I realize tipping is subjective but if you would share your thoughts I’d appreciate it.

[AZjohn]

Princess should pay these people a very decent wage from what they are charging passengers.

I feel tips should then be zero. Why should passengers feel responsible adding tips if Princess is not paying them decent pay??

[PacnGoNow]

16 minutes ago, KLM3164 said:

I’m currently on a Mexico cruise and doing 3 Princess shore excursions. The attached photo from the Princess website shows recommended tips for shore excursions. These recommendations seem low so I’m wondering what others tip for GOOD service for 1/2 day and full day tours. I realize tipping is subjective but if you would share your thoughts I’d appreciate it.

Seems really low, but we just gauge

it by services rendered.  Some are great and some not so much.

 

[georgiacat]

We usually tip about $5 pp (there are 2 of us) for a half day, just okay, excursion and $10 pp for an excellent half day excursion.  If there is an additional driver, we usually tip him/her half of what the guide got.  We withhold tips if we feel that something within the guide's control was not up to par.

[fabby50]

We usually give $20 for the two of us, especially if we are visiting an underdeveloped country.  Since the pandemic, so many people were out of work and we feel they need the money even more these days.  Have seen many people not tip at all or just give a dollar or two.

[JimmyVWine]

20 minutes ago, AZjohn said:

Princess should pay these people a very decent wage from what they are charging passengers.

I feel tips should then be zero. Why should passengers feel responsible adding tips if Princess is not paying them decent pay??

Many (most in fact) excursions, though purchased through Princess are operated by independent tour companies. Think about it. When a Princess ship ports in Belize on the same Tuesday as a Carnival ship, an RCCL ship and an NCL ship and people from all those ships want to go cave tubing, they don’t all go on trips owned and operated by the cruise line. They all go with “Tubing Adventures”, the same company you could book with if you went on Wednesday if you were on a land-based vacation. Otherwise these tour operations would only work one or two days a week when ships are in port. Princess doesn’t operate zip lines. They just act as a booking agent. So the person you are tipping is a local Belizian resident who works for an independent company. 
 

Yes, those figures seem low. And it never makes sense to me to suggest non-round numbers. $2? $4? What are you going to do? Hand your guide a $5 bill and ask for change? Awkward!  And petty. 

[taxmantoo]

2 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Yes, those figures seem low. And it never makes sense to me to suggest non-round numbers. $2? $4? What are you going to do? Hand your guide a $5 bill and ask for change? Awkward!  And petty. 

What I find "awkward and petty" is someone asking me for a tip or suggesting an amount I should leave.  Anyone who asks (i.e. begs) for a tip clearly does not deserve one !

[DallasGuy75219]

19 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

What I find "awkward and petty" is someone asking me for a tip or suggesting an amount I should leave.  Anyone who asks (i.e. begs) for a tip clearly does not deserve one !

Or tour guides who feel the need to remind guests that tips are accepted (or even more ballsy, "encouraged").  I will probably still tip them, but the amount just got decreased when they said that.

[Outerdog]

7 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Or tour guides who feel the need to remind guests that tips are accepted (or even more ballsy, "encouraged").  I will probably still tip them, but the amount just got decreased when they said that.

 

Oh boy, you sure showed them!

 

I'm impressed!

[memoak]

1 hour ago, AZjohn said:

Princess should pay these people a very decent wage from what they are charging passengers.

I feel tips should then be zero. Why should passengers feel responsible adding tips if Princess is not paying them decent pay??

Not tipping a tour guide is like removing your onboard tips   Tacky and cheap. You probably don’t tip your food server or barbers as well

[AZjohn]

Just now, memoak said:

Not tipping a tour guide is like removing your onboard tips   Tacky and cheap. You probably don’t tip your food server or barbers as well

I don’t push the American tip culture on other foreign cultures that don’t do it

[c-boy]

A Lincoln should do it.  but I'm thinking 🤔 there's  going to be some stiffing from some passengers, with the word "suggested"  in there.

Edited February 4, 2023 by c-boy

[JimmyVWine]

37 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

What I find "awkward and petty" is someone asking me for a tip or suggesting an amount I should leave.  Anyone who asks (i.e. begs) for a tip clearly does not deserve one !

Maybe we run in different circles. I’ve never taken an excursion (Princess or private) where anyone ever asked me for a tip let alone begged. Tipping has always been discreet and initiated by the customer. I have had tour guides on bus trips mention that the bus driver appreciates tips. But never a guide who pled for their own. 

[memoak]

4 minutes ago, AZjohn said:

I don’t push the American tip culture on other foreign cultures that don’t do it

So you tip on excursions in American ports ?  Canadian ? Do you actually research every country you visit ?

[1025cruise]

I accept that you need to tip the tour guide. What gets me is when they say the driver and the guide are separate. I'm sorry, they can split the tips.

[JimmyVWine]

6 minutes ago, AZjohn said:

I don’t push the American tip culture on other foreign cultures that don’t do it

I always research the tipping culture before I go to a country where I am unsure. The funny thing is, 95% of the time I learn that tipping is appropriate. The number of foreign cultures that don’t tip is a very, very, very (did I say very?) small subset. 

[PTMary]

3 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I always research the tipping culture before I go to a country where I am unsure. The funny thing is, 95% of the time I learn that tipping is appropriate. The number of foreign cultures that don’t tip is a very, very, very (did I say very?) small subset. 

 

Bottom line: some people are cheap. And appear to be proud of it. 

[AZjohn]

6 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I always research the tipping culture before I go to a country where I am unsure. The funny thing is, 95% of the time I learn that tipping is appropriate. The number of foreign cultures that don’t tip is a very, very, very (did I say very?) small subset. 

Disagree

[AZjohn]

9 minutes ago, memoak said:

So you tip on excursions in American ports ?  Canadian ? Do you actually research every country you visit ?

Yep

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, AZjohn said:

Princess should pay these people a very decent wage from what they are charging passengers.

I feel tips should then be zero. Why should passengers feel responsible adding tips if Princess is not paying them decent pay??

These people are not employed by Princess. Shore excursions are provided by local vendors. They employ tour guides and drivers

[JimmyVWine]

1 minute ago, AZjohn said:

Disagree

Well, I could agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong. 
 

Tipping in the Americas

In a nutshell: Throughout North, Central, and South America, it is customary to leave gratuity since tips can be a substantial part of a server’s income.

 

 

Tipping in Europe

In a nutshell: Leaving larger tips of 15-20% is unnecessary and sometimes considered ignorant since many countries within the European Union already have laws in place to accommodate gratuity.

 

 

Tipping in the Middle East & Parts of Africa

In a nutshell: Similar to the Americas, tipping is customary and expected by servers in Africa and the Middle East. The amount varies by restaurant and economic state of the country.

 

 

Tipping in East Asia & the South Pacific 

In a nutshell: Outside of tourist areas, countries in East Asia and the South Pacific do not have much of a tipping culture so gratuity is not expected and may even be turned down. Due to an influx of tourism, countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and parts of Turkey are becoming more open to receiving tips; however, tipping is still not considered customary, so it’s not a faux pas if you don’t leave one. In Australia and New Zealand, servers and drivers also don’t expect tips, but appreciate it if you round up the bill.

 

So if you are keeping score, the only places where tipping or rounding up is unwelcome is in non-touristy parts is East and Southeast Asia. And since I am a tourist, I will be in the touristy areas. 

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, KLM3164 said:

I’m currently on a Mexico cruise and doing 3 Princess shore excursions. The attached photo from the Princess website shows recommended tips for shore excursions. These recommendations seem low so I’m wondering what others tip for GOOD service for 1/2 day and full day tours. I realize tipping is subjective but if you would share your thoughts I’d appreciate it.

We were told that the average salary for people living in the ports visited in the Mexican Riviera is $12 per day. If that is true, the amounts suggested would be significant.

 

For good service I normally tip guides $5 to $20 per person and drivers $2 to $10 (2 hours gets a lower tip than a full day) and number of persons on the tour. (I tip more for a private tour than one in a motor coach.)

[cr8tiv1]

@JimmyVWinethanks for the summary.  But there is no mention of Japan.  The Diamond is returning there.  I have read that the Japanese consider it rude to tip.  What about Korea?   and China when it opens up again?

[dog]

No numbers here. We give tips as we see fit for the level of service we get.  Has nothing to do with their salary or country.

[Lady Arwen]

25 minutes ago, dog said:

No numbers here. We give tips as we see fit for the level of service we get.  Has nothing to do with their salary or country.

Same with us.  We only travel in Canada or Europe, so we tip as usual at home and in Euros or British Pound Sterling when away.  10-15 Euros or Pounds for a nice half day tour and more for tour guides who exceed our expectations.  Once in Brussels we left no tip.  Lots of the bus passengers got off half way through the tour and took cabs back to the ship.  We felt sorry for the tour guide and stayed on.  Long story short……it was just awful.  Celebrity credited everyone’s OBC the cost of the excursion.  Only time we didn’t tip.