Drewski (Andy), All
Being retired Navy I feel it's time to perform some damage control. First let me start out by saying that my initial response to your thread concerning tipping was based primarily on a certain degree of anger and seeking an audience to vent. If I have offended anyone I offer my sincere apology.
I'm not out to defend what WAS on the website but to just explain how it got to be there. Over the past six months I've put out some feelers to the local dive community in regards to what they would like to see within a dive charter web site. Most divers agree that having some information on the boat is valuable, the trip schedule is essential and pricing is paramount. Other input was to have connections to Hotels and Restaurants for divers traveling from out of town. One of the most important links that every diver mentioned was the weather/sea conditions for the diving area. We all know that this is a GO/NOGO factor and will make or break the dive.
On several occasions during the booking process, prospective divers asked if they could pay via credit card. At first I was a cash only operation but felt that if there was a will there was a way for a newly established charter to provide this service. A good friend and mentor turned me on to PayPal. This has turned out to be a blessing. On several occasions divers weren't able to make it to the ATM prior to boarding the boat and this capability allowed them the piece of mind that it was all good as long as they had their plastic.
Now we get to the Divemaster/boat crew. After speaking with several Divemasters it was agreed upon that each Divemaster would have a connection to the web site that would allow divers the ability to TIP the divemasters via PayPal. We are currently setting up accounts for those divemasters as we speak.
In regards to the Tipping Etiquette for your Scuba Crew this information was taken from what I thought was a reliable source that spoke to the industry standard of DM/Crew tipping. I should have put this out to some of my personal advisors prior to releasing it over the web site. Andy, I want to thank you for going through all the trouble and doing the calculations. This was really an eye opening lesson. If I could have done it all over I would have taken the time to bounce the numbers around and realize that the final figures were ludicrous. I feel that tipping should be based on the degree of services rendered. Poor service calls for poor tipping, acceptable service allows for the industry standard 5-10% or 5 dollars per tank dive, and exceptional service allows for increased generosity by the customer. Please review the following links and see where my initial data was derived from.
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/tipping-etiquette-for-your-scuba-crew-20637.html
I've since taken a look at other sites and found them to be interesting in that they all basically agree that tipping is at the discretion of the diver based on the overall trip experience.
http://www.scuba-diving-smiles.com/tipping-scuba-diving-tips.html
One article that I looked over several time was the one posted of Scuba Board back in 2002 by DocVikingo at
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-8410.html. He finishes by saying "Finally, if in doubt about tipping, ask around. Local divers can tell you about their customs, and the consensus of your fellow divers will give you a good idea of what is appropriate."
I'm asking, what is the acceptable tipping standard for the mid-Atlantic region? I would really like to get some feedback on this so I can offer future customers the right guidelines.
The gratuity web link on the
www.pelicandivecharter.com page is not going away, the general consensus is that it adds value and provides the customer an additional payment option. As for the Captain gratuity, our geographic region doesn't recognize this as a sound practice as does other areas in the south and abroad. This will be removed. There are times on six-pack boats where the Captain does work as the Captain/Crew and Divemaster. Our job starts days before the dive; we perform safety checks/routine maintenance and perform boat setup based on the particular dive being conducted. This all insures your safety.
Sharing equipment among divers is a very risky business unless you are absolutely sure that it's coming from a reliable source. Your life can depends on it. I have a piece of equipment that most divers don't. The piece of equipment I'm talking about is my Dive Boat and I want to share it. Pelican Dive Charter is reliable, we are a newly established six-pack dive platform in a community with very few dive boat options. We want to put divers in the water, have fun and bring them home safely.
We look forward to a great dive season and hope you will consider utilizing Pelican Dive Charter as your Hampton Roads dive platform.
r/
Capt. Dave
