Tipping tour guides

[Elorac123]

24 minutes ago, yes!yes!yes! said:

Yes, I know, but he/she said that they had plenty of other currencies at home from other holidays.

Oops,,mis read that,,,also any aircraft will take any currency for charity 

Cheers Carole

[Hogbay]

I would accept US $ any day over our spiralling dollar heading for 50 cence . Welcome to Australia and have a wonderful time. 

[Gwendy]

14 hours ago, Elorac123 said:

Oops,,mis read that,,,also any aircraft will take any currency for charity 

Cheers Carole

Airlines don’t do this any more.  Some currency exchanges will take your coins and donate to charity.  Some can’t be bothered.  Even the exchanges at airports aren’t interested in my growing bag of coins.

Tried really hard to get rid of them, but some small shops in US didn’t want them either. Lol.

[Ozwoody]

21 minutes ago, Gwendy said:

Airlines don’t do this any more.  Some currency exchanges will take your coins and donate to charity.  Some can’t be bothered.  Even the exchanges at airports aren’t interested in my growing bag of coins.

Tried really hard to get rid of them, but some small shops in US didn’t want them either. Lol.

And god forbid if you have Peruvian Sol's, nobody wants them.

[lyndarra]

@Worldtraveler 4727

Would love to know how the tour went?

Edited October 29, 2023 by lyndarra

[Worldtraveler 4727]

PROBLEM SOLVED: I purchased a gift card from Coles for our tour guide! 👍🏻

[Worldtraveler 4727]

@lyndarra the tour has been wonderful! We came into Sydney two days early and took in the sites and the blue mountains. We picked up our tour of 24 people on Thursday and flew to Cairns, where we enjoyed a tour of the aquarium, dinner at the aquarium and the next day a full day out on the Great Barrier reef. 
Last night we flew into Darwin and are taking in the jumping crock and the royal flying doctors. 
Tomorrow we fly to Alice Springs and take a motorcoach to Uluru. 
From there we fly back to Sydney for one night and board our ship for 13 days around NZ

The hotels have all been absolutely wonderful, as has all the food that has been included, mainly breakfast, some lunches, and a couple dinners.

Our tour guide has been wonderful as well. 

[lyndarra]

It sounds wonderful and a great itinerary, packing a lot in to get more of a feel for the place than just dropping in at ports.

BTW I loved the aquarium in Cairns, was there last January on a HAL cruise. Darwin is hot, I've been there several times, but the heat and humidity does not bother me as it does some. Over 30C/86F almost every day of the year.

Thanks for the update.

[Worldtraveler 4727]

1 minute ago, lyndarra said:

It sounds wonderful and a great itinerary, packing a lot in to get more of a feel for the place than just dropping in at ports.

BTW I loved the aquarium in Cairns, was there last January on a HAL cruise. Darwin is hot, I've been there several times, but the heat and humidity does not bother me as it does some. Over 30C/86F almost every day of the year.

Thanks for the update

 

 

Yes! Likely only to get to AU once, so wanted to see some of the interior. 
We had a wonderfully passionate, young, marine, biologist tour guide at the aquarium. She is passionate about sharks, and we learned a great deal!
Uluru and Darwin are very warm and it’s very humid in Darwin here today, but feels much like South Florida where we winter. 
We LOVED Cairns. Small enough, yet it has everything in anything that a person would want or need.  
And I can’t say enough about the friendliness of every Australian we have met! It is truly been a wonderful experience in this beautiful country so far!

[MMDown Under]

26 minutes ago, Worldtraveler 4727 said:

PROBLEM SOLVED: I purchased a gift card from Coles for our tour guide! 👍🏻

What a smart idea.  Your tour guide would have appreciated that you went to the trouble to buy a gift card. 

[Worldtraveler 4727]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

What a smart idea.  Your tour guide would have appreciated that you went to the trouble to buy a gift card. 

Thank you! 
He is doing a great job, and my American state of mind made me want to do “something” and have it be as uncomplicated as possible. 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Worldtraveler 4727

[MMDown Under]

7 minutes ago, Worldtraveler 4727 said:

 

 

Yes! Likely only to get to AU once, so wanted to see some of the interior. 
We had a wonderfully passionate, young, marine, biologist tour guide at the aquarium. She is passionate about sharks, and we learned a great deal!
Uluru and Darwin are very warm and it’s very humid in Darwin here today, but feels much like South Florida where we winter. 
We LOVED Cairns. Small enough, yet it has everything in anything that a person would want or need.  
And I can’t say enough about the friendliness of every Australian we have met! It is truly been a wonderful experience in this beautiful country so far!

Delighted to hear that you are enjoying your cruise Down Under.  I feel that way about Americans I meet in the USA.

[Worldtraveler 4727]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

Delighted to hear that you are enjoying your cruise Down Under.  I feel that way about Americans I meet in the USA.

On our flight over on Air New Zealand, I was talking to one of the flight attendants, and he said,”You will enjoy Australia – – Australians are very much like Americans.”
I am anxious to find out if there is a much of a difference between Australians and New Zealanders. 🤔

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, Worldtraveler 4727 said:

On our flight over on Air New Zealand, I was talking to one of the flight attendants, and he said,”You will enjoy Australia – – Australians are very much like Americans.”
I am anxious to find out if there is a much of a difference between Australians and New Zealanders. 🤔

Just the accent.  You may need a interpreter!  

[Worldtraveler 4727]

23 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Just the accent.  You may need a interpreter!  

😂😂😂

[lyndarra]

21 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Just the accent.  You may need a interpreter!  

I have no problems understanding Americans and occasionally can identify regional accents. But, in New Zealand, I sometimes feel I need an interpreter. My late wife used to help me out with that.

[LittleFish1976]

I would think a tip is most certainly expected particularly from a tour group with US travellers. I would think $10 per day, whether US or AUD, would be appropriate. How much would you tip in the circumstances if you were in the US on a group tour? Do the same. I would be interested to hear if that differs from my suggested amount.

[SinbadThePorter]

42 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

How much would you tip in the circumstances if you were in the US on a group tour? Do the same.

 

But they are not in the US on a group tour, they are in a completely different country with different employment standards and a different (for now) culture.

 

Tipping culture is washing over Australia like the tide over King Canute. It's completely unnecessary, yet seems completely inevitable.

 

My advice is to tip as much or as little as you like, but not to pretend you are doing it for anyone other than yourself.

Edited October 30, 2023 by SinbadThePorter

[LittleFish1976]

38 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

But they are not in the US on a group tour, they are in a completely different country with different employment standards and a different (for now) culture.

 

Tipping culture is washing over Australia like the tide over King Canute. It's completely unnecessary, yet seems completely inevitable.

 

My advice is to tip as much or as little as you like, but not to pretend you are doing it for anyone other than yourself.

Of course anyone can tip as much as they like! I'm not suggesting they pretend to be doing it for anyone other than themselves (thus the wages point is not relevant to that). Not sure what you mean by that?

 

Tipping culture has been here for donkeys' years. We do it very differently from the yanks though. When asked what the 'expectation' would be, it would be that an American tourist would tip.

 

Of course the OP will get a range of opinions and it's up to them to decide what they will do. Doesn't matter to me at all what advice they follow.

[Over from NZ]

Haha. Speaking with a mate who is a tour driver (and thinks it's the same over the ditch).. yes they're expecting it from American's - but only because that's how American's roll! lol. They know that Kiwis and Aussies won't bother. They know that anything is a bonus. They're not going to ask for it or treat you any differently if you don't do it.. but all the same they'll work on the attitude that American's have plenty of money, don't know any better, they tip regardless.. and if you're silly enough to give it to us - we'll take it! hahaha. 🙂 

[MicCanberra]

20 hours ago, Galesa said:

No offence but I'm not sure how a person manages without a card to draw cash from a cash machine these days. Do you go to the bank and withdraw cash at home everytime you need money?

Who needs cash at all nowadays. Spent months in Europe without using cash, have not had to use cash at home here for several years, in fact many places won't take cash.

[MicCanberra]

5 hours ago, Gwendy said:

Airlines don’t do this any more.  Some currency exchanges will take your coins and donate to charity.  Some can’t be bothered.  Even the exchanges at airports aren’t interested in my growing bag of coins.

Tried really hard to get rid of them, but some small shops in US didn’t want them either. Lol.

Qantas still does and every airport has a charity box for any currency to be deposited into.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Qantas still does and every airport has a charity box for any currency to be deposited into.

We have always looked for a charity box at our final departure airport. If I can't find one, I will buy a drink at an airport shop and offload the remainder into their tip jar.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Over from NZ said:

Haha. Speaking with a mate who is a tour driver (and thinks it's the same over the ditch).. yes they're expecting it from American's - but only because that's how American's roll! lol. They know that Kiwis and Aussies won't bother. They know that anything is a bonus. They're not going to ask for it or treat you any differently if you don't do it.. but all the same they'll work on the attitude that American's have plenty of money, don't know any better, they tip regardless.. and if you're silly enough to give it to us - we'll take it! hahaha. 🙂 

I have a good mate that spent several years driving tour coaches out of Darwin - 1, 2, 3, 4 day tours through Kakadu, Litchfield & Katherine. Apart from driving, he was also on the mic for much of the day, acting as a guide in several of the stops, and taking 100's of photos on all sort of cameras on every trip. Halfway through the final day he would give a spiel about why he didn't want to be tipped. It was a yarn about being a recovering alcoholic, and if he was getting money his wife didn't know about, he would be inclined to call at the pub on the way home. He was just dead-set against tipping, figuring it was money for nothing - easy come, easy go.

[Over from NZ]

23 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I have a good mate that spent several years driving tour coaches out of Darwin - 1, 2, 3, 4 day tours through Kakadu, Litchfield & Katherine. Apart from driving, he was also on the mic for much of the day, acting as a guide in several of the stops, and taking 100's of photos on all sort of cameras on every trip. Halfway through the final day he would give a spiel about why he didn't want to be tipped. It was a yarn about being a recovering alcoholic, and if he was getting money his wife didn't know about, he would be inclined to call at the pub on the way home. He was just dead-set against tipping, figuring it was money for nothing - easy come, easy go.

I think his drinking days might have done him some permanent damage.. hahaha.