Excursions - tipping

We are scheduled on two ship excursions- misty fiords boat ride and Juneau whale watch - and one independent in Skagway- Chilkoot Charters. What are the tipping guidelines for these tours?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hi MickeysGal - The tipping guidelines are pretty much the same as they were the last time you asked this question, just prior to your 2012 Alaska cruise. Here is the thread you started then:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1647787

You got some good responses on that thread, which would be applicable to your tours this year. Ultimately, tipping is at your discretion. I think you are well-traveled enough, judging by your posting history on Cruise Critic, to know what the appropriate amounts might be.

Hi MickeysGal - The tipping guidelines are pretty much the same as they were the last time you asked this question, just prior to your 2012 Alaska cruise. Here is the thread you started then:

 

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1647787

 

 

 

You got some good responses on that thread, which would be applicable to your tours this year. Ultimately, tipping is at your discretion. I think you are well-traveled enough, judging by your posting history on Cruise Critic, to know what the appropriate amounts might be.

Thanks- I had no idea I started that thread that many years ago.

Thanks for digging it up. I tend to not do any ship exclusions- this is a change for us- so just wanted to make sure my bases are covered. Don't want to do the wrong thing.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

My problem is that we are taking a family cruise that i am paying for- in celebration of my retirement and i have NO IDEA what to tip for our helicopter ride to do dogsledding which is a $525 per person excursion for a total of $3150! I really can't afford 20% which would be $630 on top of that! it is going to involve two helicopters i am sure- and i need to tip the dogsled people and the helicopter guide. Would you think that $150 for the dog sled people and then $100 for each of the helicopter guides would be ok or is that being cheap. (there would be 4 people in each helicopter)

My problem is that we are taking a family cruise that i am paying for- in celebration of my retirement and i have NO IDEA what to tip for our helicopter ride to do dogsledding which is a $525 per person excursion for a total of $3150! I really can't afford 20% which would be $630 on top of that! it is going to involve two helicopters i am sure- and i need to tip the dogsled people and the helicopter guide. Would you think that $150 for the dog sled people and then $100 for each of the helicopter guides would be ok or is that being cheap. (there would be 4 people in each helicopter)

I'm in the same dilemma. We are taking our 4 grandkids and some of these excursions are expensive and tipping 15% for 6 people is a tad much. Sometime more then what I am paying for the next day's excursion. In this case I don't think you should go by any percentage point but rather the day of you judge for yourself how much you want to pay to who. It never occurred to me to tip the dog sled people but really who probably should get more since they do more, the helicopter guy is only flying you for about an another of total flying time.

Now I'm also doing a flight seeing trip. She will be flying us for a couple of hours so I'll probably give her a bigger tip then the helicopter guy because I'll not only be with her long she will be a tour guide as well. Then the whale watching, will also be more personal. So my advise (and I'm putting on the flame retardant suit) is to decide what you want to tip when you are there. It never occurred to me to tip the helicopter guy since his time is so short and the excursion so expensive.

Tipping helicopter pilots?????

Strewth who next?...

Tipping helicopter pilots?????

 

Strewth who next?...

Not me until I read CC boards. And these people are talking 15% to 20%. Same for flights and whale watching. I don't know why I would tip the guide and the train and not trip the train engineer. I mean, they did all the work, right? It is just getting out of hand. The tips on my excursions would come out to around $5000 for this trip.

We have several excursions privately booked: Taku glacier flight, whale watching, Chilkoot charter and misty fjords . I have every intention of tipping the guides but it is highly doubtful if will be in the upper percentiles being discussed.

The people you are dealing with are not food service people who make $2.13 per hour. They are well paid professionals. Tipping has gotten out of hand. Tip the amount you feel is appropriate, and don't even think twice if it is enough.

Perhaps I am cheap but I might tip $10-20 for an excursion. There is NO way l'd tip 20%. And agree- I don't tip the plane crew flying out nor would I tip a helicopter crew.

And some may tip that much, and some may say they tip that much.

Same here, we tip in the $10-20 range. As an aside, I too believe tipping has gotten out of hand. We were very pleasantly surprised when visiting Australia and New Zealand. When we offered our cabdriver a tip, he politely put up his hand and said "We don't tip in Australia; we hope you can go home and encourage your friends to visit us." How refreshing!

Thanks- I had no idea I started that thread that many years ago.

Thanks for digging it up. I tend to not do any ship exclusions- this is a change for us- so just wanted to make sure my bases are covered. Don't want to do the wrong thing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I can't remember things from last week let alone years ago! I applaud you for starting a new thread and asking this, clearly there are many other people looking for answers to this as well and don't have time to dig up old posts. Good stuff! Have a great cruise. I love tipping if people give good service!

We generally tip $25-$100 per excursion in Alaska (a couple times for particularly amazing trips more), depending on the length of time and the work required on the particular trip and/or size of the crew (kayaking guides and fishing trip crews we'll likely give more to than say a walking tour guide, 2.5 hour vehicle tour versus an 8 hour kayaking tour). I'm sure there are some secret tippers we missed, but I'd say easily on more than half of our Alaska excursions, we don't see a single person tip. Most of the friends and family we know that work as waitstaff get ZERO a significant percentage of the time. I somehow doubt that trend gets better when the tipping is more expensive.

We fall on the side that while yes, most likely your tour crew isn't just making waitstaff/agricultural worker pay, they don't all own the company they work for, and Alaska isn't exactly a cheap place to live, with a relatively short tourism season and many of the people we've met working 2-4 jobs to get through each year. We have had a number of amazing, unlike anywhere else we've been experiences in Alaska, and often the experience was made even better by a great guide and crew. Offering them what we do seems fair to us, but may seem excessive or too little to others. Whatever you feel good with should be your guide.

L.J.

Perhaps I am cheap but I might tip $10-20 for an excursion. There is NO way l'd tip 20%. And agree- I don't tip the plane crew flying out nor would I tip a helicopter crew.

 

And some may tip that much, and some may say they tip that much.

Agree with the no tip for the plane crew flying out. And less you want a free pat down don't try to tip the TSA.

If you do.... you may be offered the TSA's VIP "secondary" experience. Tell them you have 10k cash ready for the "full meal deal".... hand, body, and cavity. Show up early at the airport so they can get thorough and personal before the flight.

Thanks- I had no idea I started that thread that many years ago.

Thanks for digging it up. I tend to not do any ship exclusions- this is a change for us- so just wanted to make sure my bases are covered. Don't want to do the wrong thing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hi Mickeysgal - I appreciate your question as all the helpful and varied responses are of interest and benefit to me for our upcoming Sept cruise. I'm obviously not an expert in keywords and phrasing searches to find answers to questions posed 5 years ago, and even with 4 cruises under my belt, I can barely remember tips or protocol I read about last week unless I make note of it in writing so I enjoy reading all the current posts to refresh my memory. Although I think I finally understand the on board tipping 'guidelines', lol. Sounds like you've got some great excursions planned!

I'm with WalleyeAJ on tipping. We tipped our flightseeing guide and whale watching captain $50 I think. We tipped everyone. I felt like we were handing money out all the time. But that's just the nature of cruises and excursions and vacations for us.

The only one my husband and I disagreed on was a train bartender on the land part. We tipped on the bar tab, then my husband also gave him $20 as we exited the train also. I would have only tipped the car host upon leaving figuring the drink tip was the tip for the bartender.

Honestly I was very surprised that tipping was not seeming to be the norm. Don't recall seeing anyone else ever pass a tip out as we finished the activity.

Honestly I was very surprised that tipping was not seeming to be the norm. Don't recall seeing anyone else ever pass a tip out as we finished the activity.

I agree. We were on a whale watching trip a few weeks ago and my wife and I were the only ones out of 12 that left a tip.