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That being said; I was quite concerned with the tipping at CCV... However; by the end of the week, I was feeling that the effort the crew from top to bottom was second to none and felt a very good tip was not out of the question... I ended up giving our DM (from the wife and me) 125.00 and our boat operator 100.00. Housekeeping and other staff another 100.00. Gave Robert an additional 20 on the side... Could not have been a better trip and felt fine, actually good about the tips...
Yeah, after reading this long thread about tipping, I was wondering when someone was going to mention how simple the process has been at CCV for 25 years.
At the end of the week, along with the dreaded "eviction papers", they hand you an envelope with a tip explanation. You can do the communal tip if you like, you can tip any way you wish, but the tip jar gets extended to all of the "hidden staff" that you might not otherwise see.
The tip envelope comes with a suggested tip of 10% of your ground package price, if you feel that the service warranted such. So that is roughly $120 per diver, if you look at the highest season rate. We usually throw in $100, and also mark the envelope that we have "taken care of" the DM and Captain separately ($50 each). They provide check-off boxes so you can easily convey your wishes.
This allows the tip to be spread around, and even to the Dockmaster, the guy that fills the tanks, the yard boys- people you never might notice.
And about the $50 each to the DM and the Captain? The Captain always lends a lot of assist to divers when entering and exiting, making the most dangerous part of the dive... walking on the boat- a lot safer. I almost always tip them the same. There is very little difference in the quality of the Captains or DMs at CCV, they are all first rate and very helpful.
Tipping might be an American affectation, but a huge portion of the dive travelers in the Bay Islands are from the US, so that's how their systems work at most of the AI's (FI, AKR, CCV), although some AI's cater to other nationalities as a rule.
$200 for tips to the quality of staff that I get at CCV for getting in 27 dives and 21 meals, well- that's not too hard to voluntarily cough up.