This comes up often, and I posted the info below on a recent thread specific to the two most common liveaboard questions:
- "What should I bring on a liveaboard?"
- "What's the deal with tipping on a liveaboard?"
The most important thing to bring is a sense of humor and a generally good, positive attitude. If you're not familiar with boats - much less living on one - here's a few FACTS about boats:
- everything on a boat breaks
- everything on a boat leaks
- everything on a boat gets wet
- nothing on a boat every really dries
- everything on a boat smells like a boat; where things break, get wet, and never really dry
- anything that doesn't smell like a boat smells like people who live on a boat
- everything mechanical on a boat is very loud (until it breaks; then it becomes very quiet)
- everything non-mechanical on a boat creaks and/or rattles (until it breaks in; then it gets very quiet; that's usually the day before it breaks)
- everything on a boat is small
- if something is not small, it's not on the boat
- if something is not available on the island/mainland, it's not on the boat
- if something is not on the boat, it's not on the boat
- if you need something specific but didn't bring it, it's not on the boat
- even things that are usually on the boat are often not on the boat
- most things that happen on a boat happen simply "because it's a boat"
A thousand major/minor/uncomfortable/disgusting/annoying/inconvenient things can go wrong on a boat over the course of a year. Statistically, that means that 20 of them will happen the week you're on board. You won't notice 15 of them. Will any of the the other 5 things ruin your trip? Honestly - other than a condition which presents a clear and imminent safety or health issue - whether or not something ruins your trip is entirely up to you. I choose to focus on the things like diving that make my trip enjoyable; folks who choose to focus on things that will ruin their trip can always find something that will.
But, as an optimist, keep in mind that you also get to take the good with the bad...
- everything GOOD that happens on a live-aboard happens "because it's a boat"
- you're never more than an hour or so from the next dive, the next meal, the next nap, or your first drink - because it's a boat
- you set your gear up once and don't worry about it again - because it's a boat
- you're right over the dive site - because it's a boat
- two hours later you're right over the next dive site - because it's a boat
- it's a twenty foot walk from your last bite of desert after dinner to your night dive - because it's a boat
- it's a ten foot walk from your night dive to a hot shower - because it's a boat
- it's a twenty foot walk from the hot shower to a cold beer - because it's a boat
- it's a twenty foot walk from the cold beer to your bed - because it's a boat
- when you wake up the next morning to the smell of coffee and waffles...you're right over the next great dive site - because it's a boat
Tipping? I can only provide my American perspective. But first, if you're reading this and you a.) are not American, b.) disagree in principle with the societal convention of tipping in certain cultures, or c.) are otherwise too cheap to tip --- don't bother reading on if you're simply going to dog-pile this thread with general "I don't believe in tipping...crew should be paid...not my fault...I don't need their help...I already paid enough for the trip...no one tips me when I do my job" type of responses. There's plenty of threads elsewhere for that.
To put liveaboard tipping in context break it down this way: Imagine the same dive trip but not living aboard. You're dining out three meals a day for 6 days, having a drink or two at a bar every day for 6 days, you're doing do a 2-tank morning charter, a 2-tank afternoon charter, and a night dive charter every day for 6 days. With even conservative tipping on boat dives and budget-minded meals, you'd be looking at handing out more than $300 in gratuities over the course of the week. Well, the crew on the liveaboard are "the servers" for all the things listed above. Some have proposed a figure of "10% of trip cost" which is a good start.
Now further consider that the crew also works 16hrs a day doing everything
else that needs to get done on a boat. Including tidying your cabin daily, making your bed daily, cleaning your toilet daily, etc. Good crews on good boats - luckily have never experienced a bad one - will wait on you hand and foot above water and below while you're awake. When you fall asleep they're working a few more hours to make sure tomorrow is even better. Then, when they go to bed, it's four of them in a cabin smaller than yours, under/behind/adjacent to the engine room and generators, that they live in for several months at a stretch, with effectively everything they own during that time. (Seriously, it would be illegal to house convicted felons in the same fashion. They deserve a good tip merely for mustering a smile once during any given day.) From what I understand, on the typical liveaboard the base salary they receive for that week's work is on the order of US$100-$150 a week.
For a week-long trip I budget for $300+ pretty much regardless of the cost of the charter. The + usually takes the form of a couple of extra $20's slipped into the hands of a few individuals who's efforts made my trip particularly enjoyable. I also tend to leave the boat shy a backup light or two, maybe a guide with a rusted out illegible SPG finds my backup in his bin after I've headed to the airport, and there's one fabulous guide who has an Atomic Frameless mask now instead of the genuine piece-of-**** he was diving with when I got on board.
Ultimately, the advice of "tips are at your discretion, whatever you feel is appropriate is the right amount" is the right advice. I simply tend to believe that you should give some real consideration to "what's appropriate" before deciding on the amount. I tip a lot. I've never over-tipped.
