The all-inclusive tipping note -- Boats, DMs & Instructors

[Tim Ingersoll]

When in doubt - TIP! I gurantee that the housekeeping staff didn't see any part of that package price. The money will mean a lot more in the maid's pocket that it will to you. Just my two cents.

 

[metridium]

Tim Ingersoll wrote...
When in doubt - TIP!

Luckily, I'm rarely in doubt!

 

[rcasey]

I've been on cruises where I decided to pay for the tipping before departure so that I wouldn't have to worry about it. They gave me a book that had perfed sheets that I could tear out and place in the room or give to the person that said that I pretipped and had a confirmation. They were appreciative.

 

[Titletowndiver]

I've found that even while staying at all-inclusive it pays to tip. You will get MUCH better service (especially from the bartenders )

included the maids tip and bell hops tip etc and it is written on our itenery

Those people wont' see any of that money.......Tip em!oking:

 

[diveski01]

Depends on the resort. When staying at the Allegro Diamond, tipping was actively discouraged by the staff. The bartenders, porters and housekeeping staff would not take a tip no matter how hard you tried. While staying at a similar, but not quite as nice, resort there were tip jars everywhere. Clearly a difference between the two managements.

I always tip DM's unless they're lazy slobs which is rarely the case in Cozumel. I've been very pleased with every DM there so far. Many dive operations are typically not run by the resort itself even though they may have their facilities and boats on the premises. So any gratuities given to the resort will never reach the actual DM's.

 

[Big-t-2538]

be prepared to tip, but when travelling abroad, ask the locals when you get there. There are plenty of places it is considered rude to tip.

 

[socaldiver]

I work at a country club as a bartender. The club "adds" the gratuity automatically to the check, so a lot of the members don't tip. They assume that the bartender or server will get that tip, not so. We don't see it, we might get paid a little more on the hour but IMO if the club didn't add it into the price I think the tips would be more.

So, to answer your question, if the service is good I would tip accordingly for the service provided - chances are the maid and bellhop did not see any of that charge.

 

[Scubaroo]

socaldiver once bubbled...
I work at a country club as a bartender. The club "adds" the gratuity automatically to the check, so a lot of the members don't tip. They assume that the bartender or server will get that tip, not so. We don't see it, we might get paid a little more on the hour but IMO if the club didn't add it into the price I think the tips would be more.

It's almost a given in San Francisco that parties of 5 or 6 or more at ANY service establishment are going to be hit by a 15-20% automatic gratuity charge - which you don't have the option of not paying, even if service sucks. It's not possible to partonise alternate venues, because everyone does it! So you're saying that this isn't always being passed on to staff?

How common is this? Anyone else working in the service industry that can share?

 

[dvleemin]

One thing that rarely seems to get brought up when this tipping questions come up, is that tipping in not a universal practice, but more a north american one. In Australia, if I'm correct, there is NO tipping.

I'm also pretty sure that there isn't near the tipping is Europe as is here.

My point is that what may seem like a normal tip to an American, will seem excessive to someone from another country. As for the person receiving the tip, of course they're going to want the max.

Darryl

 

[stiebs]

dvleemin once bubbled...
One thing that rarely seems to get brought up when this tipping questions come up, is that tipping in not a universal practice, but more a north american one. In Australia, if I'm correct, there is NO tipping.

Tipping does seem to be an integral part of North American culture, but it does extend to certain extent to the rest of the world. Using restaurants as an example, in the US its my understanding that a tip is generally a 10% base up to 20% for exceptional service.

Here in Australia, poor service at a restaurant will most probably get paid with exact change. Excellent service with a smile will probably get 10%.

Virtually any other hospitality/service industry won't expect a tip. And I certainly wouldn't even contemplate tipping a DM.

A lot of it does have to do with base wages. In the US, base wage is a lot lower compared to the same job in Australia.