Hmm ... I have a few things to add to this thread.
First, I spent some time diving in Utila (Bay Islands, Honduras), which as you may know is a budget destination, where the majority of divers are backpackers just passing through on their gap year or whatever. They do not tip. Heck, I was paying $20 for a dive, including rental gear! Now, I have been to fancy dive resorts since then and tipped accordingly, but my time on Utila made me realize that there are places where the diving is low-budget, and tips are rare. I kind of thought southern Thailand might be like that as well, since it's on the same sort of backpacker circuit. I dive a bit in Florida these days, and I usually awkwardly put $20 in the tip jar at the end of the day (two 2-tank dives). I feel awkward and not sure what to do, because I have been to places where tips are almost unheard of as well as fancy resorts where they expect $100 at the end of my stay.
Second: Is there an apt analogy between dive crew and restaurant servers when it comes to tipping? In the US, restaurant servers are often paid unrealistically low wages (often less than the normal government-mandated minimum wage) because they are legally considered "tipped employees"--meaning that the government expects these people to make much of their income from tips and so does not require paying them the full minimum wage. So, in the US, tips are not so much an "extra bonus for good service" as, in effect, part of the cost of the meal. Many people do not realize it because they don't know about the "tipped employee" category, but stiffing a waiter in the US out of a tip is not unlike refusing to pay for part of one's meal. So my question is whether dive crew in the US are classified as "tipped employees," meaning that they are paid unrealistically low wages based on an assumption that they make much of their income from tips. If so, then I should tip the dive crew in the US the same way I tip waiters in the US: 15-20%. However, in countries in which waiters are paid a decent salary--say, most places in Europe--everything is already included in the bill, and you are not expected to tip very much if at all. In some places, nobody leaves a tip, because the waiters are paid normal salaries, given health insurance, paid vacation, etc., in accordance with the requirements of that country's laws. If the dive crew in such countries are similarly employees who are paid in accordance with that country's laws, then I see no reason to give them US-sized tips. What I am saying (in too many words--sorry) is that US-sized tips are a result of specific US laws that allow "tipped employees" to be paid unrealistically low wages.
Third point/question: I was amused by the talk of the Dutch being non-tippers. Of course, most Europeans are not big tippers for the reason I mentioned above, but the Dutch do have a reputation for being especially frugal. I know because I (an American) am about to marry one of them. Our honeymoon will be in Curacao and Bonaire--the Netherlands Antilles--which receive not only many American visitors but many Dutch visitors as well. I am curious as to whether the dive professionals there see a huge difference in tipping standards. Do the Americans leave those huge 15%-20% tips, while the Dutch leave nothing, and everyone is satisified with it being this way? That seems crazy--the expected tip size is based on the person's nationality! I can tell you right now that my wife is going to chide me for tipping more than a token few dollars, since she almost surely will feel like the country is more Dutch than American.
