Tipping on excursions

Just wondering if you tip tour guides based on the cost of the excursion, the length of the tour, or a combination of both. For instance - our Misty Fjords flight costs $209/pp and takes about 2 hours. Our Carcross rail/bus excursion costs $219/pp and takes ~ 9 hours - but I imagine the tour bus driver is the only one that gets a tip - and we spend 2-3 hours with that person. How about for a 3-hour whale watch for $90/pp (regularly $140)?

I'm only giving you my opinion. I tip $10-20 for tours. I ALWAYS give the Denali Park shuttle bus driver $20, and frankly very few people tip. But I am always thankful for the skilled safe driving and their patience with stops. :)

You bus trip may have a driver and guide, I tip both.

I also don't care WHO owns the tour, if I have enjoyed myself- and I always do with my core group of repeaters- I tip. :)

Other's will also have guidelines. It is a benefit to have a bunch of $5/10's handy.

We do the same as the above poster does. It is rare when you have just a bus driver -- all of our tours, especially the all day ones, have had a guide.

We also take a lot of $5 and $10 with us.

Haven't been to AK yet, but we've been on other cruises and individual tours while visiting Hawaii, etc. We usually tip about 15% of the cost of the excursion.

Thanks for the responses.

NancyIL thank you for asking that question that was on my mind too! So I am I correct in understanding that in the case of my dog sled helicopter excursion that is costing $498 each for 3 of us, I should be prepared to tip 15% to the pilot ($225) I guess I need to save a little more moola then I expected!

and don't forget the dogs. Do you tip them in dog bones? hehehe :D

Good thinking, Nancy! Glad you started this one. ;)

Like bjksgk, I am curious about what is appropriate for a helicopter or floatplane pilot?

I am also wondering the same thing. We're going flightseeing with Island Wings and the owner is the pilot. Is 15% really typical for a tip on such an excursion when the owner will be pocketing all the profit from the flight anyway? ($62 for a tip sounds a little high (for two people) when you consider this.)

I should point out that most of my excursions have been $100pp or less. The most expensive one was for the Mauna Kea Summit tour on the Big Island. It was about $170pp. We think we tipped $40 for the 2 of us. That's about 12%.

If there's a bus driver, we have usually given him/her $5-10 and more to the tour guide. If there are several tour guides, we give the entire tip to the "lead" person and tell them it's for the entire group. let them deal w/ figuring out how to divide it up.

I didn't even think about the more expensive tours in AK. 15% would really add to the cost of the excursions. It would just about wipe out the savings we are counting on by booking directly. I found that the independent excursions are about 10-20% less than those booked through the ship. Most of the time they are w/ the exact same operators! You'd think the ship would get a discount for the volume bookings and pass a portion of that savings on to you. But it's the opposite. I'm sure the squeeze the vendors to get the best price, but then charge more and make a very nice profit on the sales. They should get something to pay for their on-board excursion staff and other conveniences, but not so much.

You also made a good point regarding Michelle at Island Wings. We also have a flight scheduled w/ her. Since she's the owner and the tour operator, I would imagine that she doesn't get as many tips as pilots for other companies.

I guess we probably would tip 15% up to a max of $30pp for the AK tours.

I didn't even think about the more expensive tours in AK. 15% would really add to the cost of the excursions. It would just about wipe out the savings we are counting on by booking directly. I found that the independent excursions are about 10-20% less than those booked through the ship. Most of the time they are w/ the exact same operators! You'd think the ship would get a discount for the volume bookings and pass a portion of that savings on to you. But it's the opposite. I'm sure the squeeze the vendors to get the best price, but then charge more and make a very nice profit on the sales.

Actually, you should tip no matter how you book, so booking independently compared with booking through the cruise line still offers a discount - actually moreso if you tip solely based on a percentage of the excursion cost. If you read the Princess board, you will see how Princess continues to charge for almost every little extra they can. You would think their goal is to have satisfied customers. Though that is a secondary goal, their main goal is profit. And with the intense competition in the cruise industry these days, they keep their base prices low then have you pay for everything else.

During our excursions last year, we tipped but not 15% of the higher cost excursions such as flightseeing. On the other hand, our tips were more than 15% on occasion - for example the shuttle busses.

Tipping is discretionary and you need to figure what is right and best for you. When I was hopping on and off shuttle busses one day at Denali, I certainly did not tip every driver. I tipped the ones that got me to Wonder Lake and back from Wonder Lake. But one day I probably took 4-5 busses, getting off and on to get more time viewing wildlife we had seen but the bus couldn't stop for as long as I wanted.

On bear watching tours (we are doing Island Wings to Traitor's Cove), does the pilot drop you off and come back? We will be standing on an observatory platform in national forest, so I'm assuming there will be park rangers and not necessarily a guide from Island Wings with us? We have 2 or 3 hours viewing time.:confused:

Actually, you should tip no matter how you book, so booking independently compared with booking through the cruise line still offers a discount - actually moreso if you tip solely based on a percentage of the excursion cost. If you read the Princess board, you will see how Princess continues to charge for almost every little extra they can. You would think their goal is to have satisfied customers. Though that is a secondary goal, their main goal is profit. And with the intense competition in the cruise industry these days, they keep their base prices low then have you pay for everything else.

We definitely tip regardless of the method of booking. What I meant was that if I expect to "save" by booking independently, I would then be "spending" it on a 15% tip. Yes, the tip on top of the Princess tour would be even more costly.

If you are going to Traitors Cove you will probably be flown out and a guide from the air service, Island Wings, etc. will then drive you out to the platform, stay with you for the entire tour and answer any questions you have. The Forest Service Rangers aren't really there to answer question. A few of them may. There main job is to keep track of the number of people that show up. This is also a permitted area. Not quite as strict as ANAN but none the less each operator is restricted to how many people they can bring out.

If you have a guide like that please tip them. They depend on that as part of their wage. If all the pilot does is fly you out and pop a CD into the player for you to listen to I wouldn't get carried away about a tip. However, if he or she is a really good pilot they will go out of their way to explain things to you and give you a running commentary.

If the flightseeing tour is a charter, which is what Southeast, Island Wings, and Family Air mainly do a nice tip would be $5.00 to $10.00 per person. Most of these owner operators aren't counting on a tip and they usually split that with the van drivers that pick you up at the dock. At least that's the agreement I had when I was working with them.

For guides on bear tours it depends. If it's a really small group 2 to 4 people

I'd suggest again $5 to $10 per person. If your in a group of 10 to 12 then $5 each would be more than adequate. Again it all depends on how good of a tour they put on.....

On bear watching tours (we are doing Island Wings to Traitor's Cove), does the pilot drop you off and come back? We will be standing on an observatory platform in national forest, so I'm assuming there will be park rangers and not necessarily a guide from Island Wings with us? We have 2 or 3 hours viewing time.:confused:

Actually, there may be a guide with you from Island Wings. I had one for Anan. Yes the plane does leave, usually.

Ok maybe I'm cheap, but I tip $10-20 for flights, not 15%.

I see many people not tipping. But those that do, frequently it's in the amounts above.

Okay, my excursion is one that isn't offered by the cruise line, so what do I do? I'm not receiving a "discount", I am actually paying more :(

Our tour is a little over $500 - how much to pay and to whom? We're taking the train to Carcross and Bus back to Skagway - with Chilkoot Charters.

Ok maybe I'm cheap, but I tip $10-20 for flights, not 15%.

 

I see many people not tipping. But those that do, frequently it's in the amounts above.

Your $10-20 for flights sounds good to me! Do you tip about the same for whale watching?

Okay, my excursion is one that isn't offered by the cruise line, so what do I do? I'm not receiving a "discount", I am actually paying more :(

 

Our tour is a little over $500 - how much to pay and to whom? We're taking the train to Carcross and Bus back to Skagway - with Chilkoot Charters.

I mentioned the Carcross rail/bus excursion in my first post. The bus portion is 2-3 hours of the total time. I don't know if someone from Chilkoot Charters accompanies the group on the train or just meets the train in Carcross. If the latter, then you would tip the driver and guide based on that portion of the trip - which is $69 more than the cost of the one-way train to Carcross. Since this is the first year for this excursion - you will have to fill us in, kingsgirl!

I am feeling much better after reading $10-20 is what you tip for flights. Not that I'm cheap but the idea of 15% nearly gave me a heart attack considering the cost of my whale watching and flightseeing trips. Now, is that $20 per person?

For whale watching, it's about $10pp flights $20pp. I would tip the driver of the Chilkoot bus, $5 and at least that for the guide, but maybe $10??

Thanks for that clarification Budget Queen. I know you have put alot of peoples minds at ease now. I for one appreciate it!! :)

These are my guidelines only. Certainly others have opinions. Go with what is right for you.

For guides on bear tours it depends. If it's a really small group 2 to 4 people

I'd suggest again $5 to $10 per person. If your in a group of 10 to 12 then $5 each would be more than adequate. Again it all depends on how good of a tour they put on.....

Thanks so much!! I believe one of the original comments was to bring $5 and $10 bills for tips. I guess having a stash would be handy for most of the tipping situations.

For whale watching, it's about $10pp flights $20pp. I would tip the driver of the Chilkoot bus, $5 and at least that for the guide, but maybe $10??

For example, on Orca Ent, did you tip the naturalist, the deck hands and Capt. Larrty too? Better to give separately , or one amt. to the Captain?