Tipping Guideline For Galapagos Liveaboards?

[Ministryofgiraffes]

@DiveTheGalapagos, are you saying the Calipso doesn’t pay their staff a living wage and they need tips? Let’s have an open conversation if this is the case. I only want to dive on boats where the crew are compensated properly by the operators. All crew on diveboats should be compensated properly and all professionals/divemasters should be compensated as professionals without having to rely on tips to survive.

For too long it appears that operators have been underpaying staff under the guise of ‘competition’, arguing that they should try and scrounge tips from the guests to make up for their underpayment.. Too many rogue/travelling dive masters have been allowed to accept little to no money for ‘life experience’ and undercut the living wage requirements of locals.

I think it’s time this should be properly addressed. I’m not saying a divemasters union is likely, but what would you say a proper living wage should actually be on an Ecuadorian diveboat for a DM and how far away from that are we now? It’s time DMs were compensated properly.

 

[runsongas]

it might be a living wage for ecuador already, but that doesnt mean it is enough to support a family. tipping makes it a good wage so it is a sustainable career for the local crew that they can maybe build a house and send their kids to school.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

that's the question then....what is the wage to support a family if it is not being paid by these liveaboards? DM is a professional job, it's not a waiter or an airport porter. In many cases diver's lives are in the hands of DMs.. I wouldn't want anyone to be in that position who wasn't being paid enough....i don't want firemen calling in sick because 'the fire is in an area where the people on fire don't tip well'...so i don't really want that to happen with DMs either if i end up on a boat full of Europeans.

if liveboards are not paying DMs a salary that is necessary to support a family and they have to rely on tips, things need to change.

Although whenever this comes up on the board, we never seem to get any clarity on what DMs make in salary per trip or per year on average or what they arguably need....just a lot of circular opinion on tipping, the lack of it, the expectation of it, the necessity of it, the basis for it etc.etc.

so.... it would probably be a lot easier to formulate opinions if there was some clarity on this.. have salaries decreased since they decided to become DMs? are travelling DMs still having a major impact on the earning potential of local DMs, is it getting worse? Are operators squeezing them too hard?

DMs need to be paid property and not rely on tips to live. A 100% sustainable career.

 

[Jcp2]

I wonder if you eat out in the United States. The DM problem is a much smaller part of the hospitality industry issue here.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I 100% agree with this

Iv'e always found it hilarious when employers group all tipping into the same bucket...as if a single mother with 2 jobs who didn't finish high school in Detroit working a minimum wage gig for 8 hours on her feet has the same choices as a Divemaster ... and they are basically the same thing. That lady deserves a 100% tip most days as she likely has no option to do anything else...waitressing is the bottom rung above the oldest profession in the world in many cases...cleaners are paid more.

waitress/Divemaser...one really does rely on tips to live.... the day i walk into a golden griddle and buy an $8 grand breakfast...then maybe we can equate them.

in this day and age there is no excuse for an employer of professional individuals expecting you to supplement the wages of their staff because they don't want to pay them properly...particularly if these professionals have the lives of people in their hands...no commercial pilot or cabin crew ever asked me for a 15-20% tip.

 

[CWK]

... Please bear in mind NEMO does not offer dive cruises. ...

Why does it matter that Nemo does not offer dive cruises?

... On all cruises in Galapagos, both dive and naturalist cruises, the recommended amount is 10% of the cost of your cruise. ...

You said that the recommended amount is 10% for both dive and naturalist cruises.

Tipping is most definitely discretionary based on the service you received. It is in no way obligatory anywhere.

I think tipping is obligatory in America. Other than that, we are in agreement that tipping is "discretionary based on the service you received."

Shall we just leave it at that?

 

[runsongas]

america isn't the only country with a tipping culture. baksheesh is a thing.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Yes, but if we are honest, baksheesh is generally pennies to the poorest of the poor or maybe a servant level job. I.e. less than $1 a day salary level..I’m not sure when professionals started equating this to their expectation in the US. Or when employers started using it as an excuse to not pay their professional staff...

In the US nowadays I think your average cardiothoracic surgeon has a ‘suggested tip’ sign above the gurney

 

[runsongas]

lets be honest. divemastering is not even a skilled trade like commercial hard hat diving. pretty sure the bartender mixing margaritas is making more.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I’ve been reading along and keeping up but also wanted to share this timely article in Undercurrent: The Dive Trip Tipping Conundrum: Part I: Undercurrent 09/2019