Tips on tips

[cappyjon431]

Excellent way to look at it.

Assuming the person tips day boat crews and waitstaff at restaurants.

[H2O Gal]

PS - Doesn't $35/day in tips sound pretty reasonable if you consider how much you would you spend in tips a day if you did 4-5 boat dives and ate three meals out at a restaurant?

I agree it sounds totally reasonable if you look at it that way.

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

I would be curious how many people are also tipping maids, bell men, shuttle drivers, etc... during their travels. Those people definitly get less perks to their job than a crewmember on a liveaboard and they don't make much and often rely on tips. This can all add up quite a bit during a trip. We just went on a liveaboard and stayed one night in Miami coming/going and stayed at another hotel for 2 nights in the Bahamas. It's always a fun experience making sure you have enough cash to tip everyone throughout the entire trip. I usually try to tip shuttle drivers, maids, bell men a few bucks for their assistance. I think 10-15% is acceptable but I agree that it depends on the level of service you received. I've also noticed on the two liveaboards I've been on that a couple crew members did not make an attempt to really interact with us like the rest of the crew. It was quite obvious on the last 1 1/2 days onboard that suddenly they were much more eager to talk to us or point things out on a dive as the trip came to a close. I doubt that was a coincidence.

I work 100% in commission sales so I can see both sides. Often times people just aren't that aware of the impact potential they make in someone's pay. I've spent plenty of time working with someone on a sale and I end up getting no credit/pay on the sale. However, I feel like I give better service than someone making an hourly wage/salary because my level of service depends on my paycheck. Maybe this is why service often seems to lack on some of our vacations when staff gets a built in gratuity. I defintily wouldn't be leaving a 10-15% tip if the trip service was poor just based on their minimum wage.

This topic is one of the most annoying & stressful parts of a vacation. I'm already paying for air, hotel, diving, transportation,food, activities, souveniers, my dog's vacation and tipping. I don't know, living on a boat with all your meals taken care of, no rent or mortgage, meeting new people every week, diving every week and making some money doesn't seem too bad to me (cramped quarters and hard work considered)...

[cappyjon431]

I think 10-15% is acceptable but I agree that it depends on the level of service you received. I've also noticed on the two liveaboards I've been on that a couple crew members did not make an attempt to really interact with us like the rest of the crew. It was quite obvious on the last 1 1/2 days onboard that suddenly they were much more eager to talk to us or point things out on a dive as the trip came to a close. I doubt that was a coincidence.).

I think this type of behavior should be brought to the captain's attention. He needs to know if there are crew members on board who are only interacting wit h the guests at the end of the trip as a way of increasing tips. In their defense (and I am not trying to be an apologist here, it is just that I have seen this before), it is possible that some crew members (in our case the engineer) who frequently does most of his work behind the scenes. Our engineer was perpetually greasy, always fixing different systems, and frequently was only periodically available to interact with guests.

I work 100% in commission sales so I can see both sides. Often times people just aren't that aware of the impact potential they make in someone's pay. I've spent plenty of time working with someone on a sale and I end up getting no credit/pay on the sale. However, I feel like I give better service than someone making an hourly wage/salary because my level of service depends on my paycheck. Maybe this is why service often seems to lack on some of our vacations when staff gets a built in gratuity. I defintily wouldn't be leaving a 10-15% tip if the trip service was poor just based on their minimum wage.

I honestly believe that if a tip was built into the price of the fare, their would be less incentive to provide outstanding service. As I have posted earlier, in looking at ten years of guests' report cards (sheets handed out to guests at the end of the cruise to rate various categories), what made our cruises great was the crew's level of service. Sure the diving, accomodations, and food were good, but time after time Guests said that crew service made for an outstanding trip.

This topic is one of the most annoying & stressful parts of a vacation. I'm already paying for air, hotel, diving, transportation,food, activities, souveniers, my dog's vacation and tipping. I don't know, living on a boat with all your meals taken care of, no rent or mortgage, meeting new people every week, diving every week and making some money doesn't seem too bad to me (cramped quarters and hard work considered)...

All these benfits are indeed the reason I stayed on the boat so long, but many crew members do pay rent or mortgage (for their time off the boat), do pay for college loans, have car payments, (I paid child support), etc. Remember, may crews work for extended time on the boat, but then get mandatory time off the boat where they are not paid but still need to support themselves. We worked eight weeks on the boat, then were forced to take four weeks off which were unpaid. Those four weeks would have been pretty grim without our guests' generosity.