The old tipping question

Ok I know what I normally tip the DM per person on my dives and just curious to see it they are inline with what other divers normally tip in Key Largo...

What do you tip per tank? Do you tip DM and Captain or do they split?

Thanks in advance for replies to this discussion.

i tip 10 a tank
if all is well and life is good
if i have to row...
tip goes down...
a lot!

to be divided however they choose

As a guide guide,I do not tip nor expect to be tipped...I find diving for a living is reward enough.
I have been given a $500usd Suunto dive computer for one diver for five days of diving and a dollar beer for 25 divers for two weeks of diving. Enjoy the experience, dive safe and stop worrying about the small stuff.

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT

In many parts of Florida, DM's (or guides) are volunteers and are in the water for the free dives and the tips. They take on a fair amount of responsibility considering that the only compensation is a free dive. If the DM/guide is good, I normally tip between $15 and $20 on a two tank dive. In palm beach county, the deck hand and DM (and sometimes the captain) normally pool the tip money and split it up in some fashion. I almost always hand the tip to the DM rather than the cap't or deck hand but I am sure you can give the funds to any of them.

This questions comes up a lot. Tips are always welcome and help make up for the long hours a dive professional works....usually from 7:30AM to 6PM....makes for a long day. A good rule of thumb for a tip would be $5.00 to $10.00 per tank. A lot of the times though I see those tips being a lot less. .

At my shop we pool tips, it's fair as everyone works together to make a customers experience special. The only difference is for dive guides or instructors, they keep what's given to them for the personalized service.

Good Diving,

Thanks for the replies...
@Krazytomdiver I don't sweat the small stuff just curios...

We have four diver that we tip for so that really adds up...so $15 for two tanks is pretty steep.
We do always end up tipping more at the end of the trip depending on our experience.

I think in Roatan for the two of us at the end of the week (as we were with same DM and Capt all week) I think we gave them close to $300....but with two more $600 on top of dives seems high. In Roatan all dives were included in package...

I have some thoughts on tipping. I understand it is the custom but to me it would be more fair to add a gratuity charge to the trip fee. My base tip is 5 bucks a tank (only once I tipped less for horrid service) and often tip more. The problem is the slackers that tip less or not at all. That puts the pressure on the people that do tip. I understand that that would add paper work for the operator and a tax on the tipped crew but I think that would be offset by the overall increase in revenue.

Lets throw out some figures. A 7 dollar per tank tip on a 2 tank 65 dollar dive is really an increase in the cost of the trip of almost 22%. If you are doing 2 trips a day with two tanks thats not a small chunk of change.

The problem now is it is costing more and more for divers to reach the boat due to the increase cost of gas. I live in Vero Beach so a round trip to Jupiter (closest place to catch a boat) is 140 miles. I have cut back on my diving due to the increased cost. I would imagine people are cutting their tips also.

I realize, as Capt Gary said, that the hours are long. Thats why I think a mandatory gratuity would smooth things out. The crew has a better idea of what they will be making and those people whose eyes glaze over and duck their heads as they scurry off the boat are force to chip in.

Just my .02

I tip the DM 5 to 10 per tank, depending on service. If I have a guide, that's an extra tip that is usually pretty generous.

The idea of a mandatory tip kind of rubs me the wrong way and all I can offer is what happens when I see it in restaurants.

1. After implementation, service usually goes from "excellent" to "ok".

2. I usually tip 20 percent in a restaurant. (two kids working through school waiting on tables makes you do that). If there's a mandatory tip included on the bill, I never exceed the amount they charged, so the waitstaff actually ends up with less than they would have gotten...at least from me.

3. The restaurant has to be very very good for me to go back a second time. I'd much rather they just increase the prices on the menu and pay their staff better.

4. I can't see my reaction to having a tip added on for me at a dive operation as being any different.

By the way, I've been on Captain Gary's boats a few times (though I doubt he'd remember me). Each time was an excellent experience, and of course, I tipped accordingly.

I should have added, as bilsant did, that I also dove last fall with Conch Republic last fall. Fantastic all around. The service was outstanding. I could leave my gear at the shop instead of shleping it back to the rental condo, tanks were filled always ready, and the dive master was superb. A guy with an English accent....can't remember his name dammit. No problem shoveling out the tips.

OTOH there were tourists on the boat who scoffed at my suggested tips...i.e. why so much...we paid for the dive... yadda yadda yadda.......hence argument for fixed gratuity.

Thezeker:

I have some thoughts on tipping. I understand it is the custom but to me it would be more fair to add a gratuity charge to the trip fee.

Click to expand...

Thezeker:

I realize, as Capt Gary said, that the hours are long. Thats why I think a mandatory gratuity would smooth things out. The crew has a better idea of what they will be making and those people whose eyes glaze over and duck their heads as they scurry off the boat are force to chip in.

Just my .02

Click to expand...

To add a "mandatory gratuity" would not a good way to do that at all as gratuity is a degree of how gracious one is for the services rendered. Now on the other hand a "Service charge" would be a better way to word it as it does not imply that you are deciding in advance how grateful I will be post dive.

I do like to tip myself but I am more in to the non pressure tip approach. I have been on dive trips where it was suddle a tip jar set out and mybe a quick phrase of "Hey we hope you guys enjoyed the dive and if you would like feel free to leave a tip in the jar" and I absolutely love those approaches.

What I do hate now is when they put the jar out and spend 10 minutes telling you how bad the economy is and their kids are about to go into state custody while their wife (or husband) is threatning divorce and the house is about to be foreclosed and the car repoed.

I just hate that america gets the terms gratuity and service charge mixed up. Yes I do agree though a service charge would be an interesting approach to rewarding dive crews who do work hard.