what is the avg. tip you should leave????

[Lorenzoid]

It depends where in the world you are diving. Do you mean the US? There are some places in the world and styles of diving (e.g., many liveaboards) where dive staff expect every guest to tip and to tip a certain percentage of the cost, other places where it's common for the amount of the tip to vary considerably from one diver to another, and still other places where dive staff are tickled when they receive an occasional tip. In some places in the world it can also sometimes depend on what kind of clientele frequent the dive op.

 

[rick00001967]

i will have to refrain from commenting on one of these threads again. i just can't deal with the stress. lol

i just wish i got tips at my job (not scuba related). i work as hard as anyone else at their job and in 22 years or so of doing it, i have yet to receive one. i'm lucky to get a thank you from some of my customers. maybe i should try standing their with my hand out with a sad look on my face until someone hands me a couple extra bucks. lol

sorry......couldn't help myself

 

[BDSC]

I will usually tip $5 per tank as a standard amount even if I feel no real tip was earned. It seems folks are just expected to tip no matter what. When I go out on a charter there are a few things I expect to be the norm. I expect the boat to be reasonably clean and for the captain to get us safely to the dive site and back and if I rent tanks from the dive operator I expect them to be full. All that I have paid for in the charter price. So if I haul my own gear on the boat and set it up, switch my own tanks, and then take it all down at the end of the day........exactly what service am I tipping for? Now if a DM offers to do a lot of that for me and I say OK, then I can see tipping because they have gone above the call of duty in my book.

 

[tr3a]

Question? around what kinda of tip should you leave when on a dive charter?
Thanks

Depends on location. In Papua after a weeks diving the dive operator would only accept a 50.00 tip for the 2 of us which they put into a X-mas fund for their workers.

 

[fjpatrum]

Depends on location. In Papua after a weeks diving the dive operator would only accept a 50.00 tip for the 2 of us which they put into a X-mas fund for their workers.

Sounds like you should have tipped the workers directly... then again, I have no idea what the etiquette is in Papua.

Personally, I go with "whatever I can afford and feel they earned". As with most folks, that works out to about $5 or $10 per tank. I have "stiffed" one boat though because I felt they were completely unprofessional in their treatment of me and other passengers.

 

[TheTrickster]

Tip?

Don't get me started...one of the worst things in society.

"We recommend a minimum of 60€ per person for crew tips"

Oh really!! - If you recommend that then - just add it to the total cost advertised!!!!

And Restaurants - 'A 12% service charge will be charged for tables with more than 8 people', the fact that you have a good number of customers, spending their money - you want to penalise them for it..!!!

When I was a DM and later an Instructor, our JOB was to haul tanks, help customers and generally give them a good time - and the end of the week we got paid for it.

I generally don't tip.

 

[iluvtheocean]

only 12% most around here do 18% for the restaurants.

and i agree how much you tip depends on where you are and level of service. around here would be $5 or $10 per tank -- which still averages out to about 15-20+%

 

[mathauck0814]

Locally, the appropriate tip is the amount that keeps the person employed and able to continue to do their jobs well. If your favorite local charter has trouble keeping employees and/or they seem to get lower quality and/or more transient over time, you'll know that the tipping culture is off center. If the local charter has the same crew every time, they know you year after year and are able to pay their bills and be happy then the tipping culture is probably healthy. Good crew is hard to come by and will leave if they can't make ends meet.

This makes more sense for local/domestic charters than vacation/destination charters, I'm guessing.

In general, I try to tip the way that I would want to be (reasonably) paid if I were in their shoes. That seems to translate to between 15%-25% of the cost of my trip.

 

[corvettejoe]

It depends where in the world you are diving. Do you mean the US?

LOL I forgot about that factor.

When I went to Mexico, I tipped my mexican guide in a shallow reef $20 for a two tank dive. The Boat looked like it was barely going to make it, and it was the back-roll-off style, and even launched from our little on-site resort dive shop that was all-inclusive. He showed me a good time and was my buddy for the dives. He was shocked I gave him so much... in the US I wouldn't think twice about it, it's what we do for our DM's and guides. In Mexico and other countries, I guess it's a LOT of money...especially when so many foreigners (non-US people) don't tip at all.

Also, same trip to Mexico... I was going to tip my cave dive guide as well (not mexican) and he insisted it wasn't necessary and gave me some stuff equal value of the tip I gave him. It was also a paid guided dive too of just the two of us, so that may have had something to do with it.

 

[TMHeimer]

Where? Location makes a difference.

Yes. On charters in the Gulf of Mex. I usually tip $10/tank. Before I was a DM it was $5/tank. Though a class and not a charter, the only tip I've seen in NS was a student buying me a beer.