Tipping Etiquette

[diveDavedive]

Hello all, this is my first post to this forum, I hope it's in the right place.

I am new to diving, just completed my PADI OW. My questions are about tipping a dive boat crew and an instructor.

First the boat. Me and my wife "piggy-backed" along a chartered dive boat out of San Carlos, Mexico. The crew of three worked a total 5 day dives and 1 night, a total of 6 dives per person over two days. I tipped the crew $100 USD for both of us. Is this in line with any standards of etiquette? If not, what would a good or great tip be?

Secondly, we paid for our Open Water dives through a dive shop in San Carlos. Our class room and confined dives were done through a different shop back in the states. The instructor, an American living in San Carlos, hooked us up with a couple of beach dives the first day and then the six dives noted above. We tipped him $100 USD also. Again, was this an appropriate tip, why or why not?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Lorenzoid]

There must be a hundred threads on tipping etiquette on SB. Did you do a search?

For boat diving in the US and places that have a lot of American divers visiting (such as most places in Mexico), I typically tip at least $5 per tank, putting it into a tip jar if they have one, or else handing it to the divemaster. I believe they generally split the tips amongst themselves. I would tip as much as $10 per tank if I felt the crew did something above and beyond the call of duty, which has happened once or twice. For an unusual situation like your shore dives, you will have to judge for yourself what the person did for you and what the service was worth to you.

 

[cb5150]

I personally tip $10 a tank on a charter boat. I'll throw a few extra bucks to a particular crew member (regardless of his/her position on the boat) if I get any extra "personalized" service.

Not sure about the instructor, but hey...if the worst thing you did was OVER tip someone, then I'd say you've got no worries. The Karma gods will smile upon you.

 

[SailNaked]

I never tip and instructor, they are ususally paid.
DMs, always get $5 a tank, and more if I have the $$ to spend, not really based on service, being a DM is enough slavery as it is. I will share if I have it to give.

 

[diveDavedive]

I'll search the boards for the other posts, thanks for the replies

 

[Laurie S.]

Welcome to diving, just curious who did you dive with in San Carlos? My fiance is a Master Instructor there, just wondering if he was your instructor. He certainly can use tips!

 

[boulderjohn]

There is nothing wrong with asking a question without doing a search. Just about every possible topic has been covered on ScubaBoard over the years, and if everyone just relied on the search function, we'd have nothing to talk about. That said, you might find some interesting things through a search.

---------- Post added July 2nd, 2013 at 01:50 PM ----------

I never tip and instructor, they are ususally paid.

With some exceptions, pretty much everyone everywhere who is normally tipped is also paid. Waitresses earn wages in addition to tips.

You might be positively shocked at how little some instructors get paid. It is true that only a small percentage of students tip instructors, but I have had cases in which students gave me "a little extra" without realizing that their tip was more than my pay. I never tipped an instructor until I became one. Since then I have taken many courses at the technical diving level, and I have always tipped my instructor. It is usually in the form of something liquid, if you catch my drift.

 

[Lorenzoid]

There's nothing wrong with asking a question without doing a search, but there's also nothing wrong with a suggestion intended to be helpful: using the "search" function can uncover a wealth of discussion on this topic. I know because I've participated in a couple of threads on the topic. They can get heated! Interesting reads, though.

 

[kelemvor]

You might be positively shocked at how little some instructors get paid. It is true that only a small percentage of students tip instructors, but I have had cases in which students gave me "a little extra" without realizing that their tip was more than my pay. I never tipped an instructor until I became one. Since then I have taken many courses at the technical diving level, and I have always tipped my instructor. It is usually in the form of something liquid, if you catch my drift.

I recently learned that some crew pay the OP for the privilege rather than the other way around. Supposedly, that's the deal down at Rainbow Reef in Key Largo (according to my LDS who arranged a trip with them).


Just the same, I usually tip "the bucket" 20 bucks for a trip. I didn't tip my OW instructor at the time, I figure the $400 I already handed him was plenty.

I feel like that's probably a better than average tip. On the first dive with an op, they're usually cheery and generally good spirited. The second trip out with an op, invariably one of the crew shows up and insists they want to carry my heavy steel 108 tanks from my car to the boat for me.

 

[boulderjohn]

Just the same, I usually tip "the bucket" 20 bucks for a trip. I didn't tip my OW instructor at the time, I figure the $400 I already handed him was plenty.

That may be true if you were dealing with an independent instructor.

In some places, the $400 goes to the shop, where it is divided among shop overhead, the owner's take, the salaries of the clerks, the instructional materials you used, pool rental costs, boat fees,....

In our area, when a student does everything through the whop, all the way through the local OW dives, the instructors will eventually get something like $50-$60 total per student, for all the classroom, pool, and open water work combined. If it is just the two days of classroom, he might get $25 per student. If it is the OW, maybe $35. Depending upon how much time it takes and how many students are involved, it could come to less than $5 per hour.