Excursion Tipping? (Yes/No)

[13cheermom]

Just curious how everyone feels about tipping for excursions. Have been on Carnival excursions and some private excursions and they all seem to ask for tips. On the larger bus type tours I sometimes question the necessity of a tip vs the smaller group tours I tend to feel obligated to give a tip. Also what do you feel is the appropriate tip for either tour? I will be traveling to Europe this fall and wondered if this itinerary is different from the us as far as tipping? Thanks for any previous experience or shared thoughts!:)

[Cruise a holic]

Just curious how everyone feels about tipping for excursions. Have been on Carnival excursions and some private excursions and they all seem to ask for tips. On the larger bus type tours I sometimes question the necessity of a tip vs the smaller group tours I tend to feel obligated to give a tip. Also what do you feel is the appropriate tip for either tour? I will be traveling to Europe this fall and wondered if this itinerary is different from the us as far as tipping? Thanks for any previous experience or shared thoughts!:)

 

We always tip! Only once I remember a horrible tour guide and we didn't tip. They typically are hard working people who do not get paid very well. We give the bus driver a tip in addition to the tour guide. The amount varies- a couple of dollars for the driver and at least $5. per couple for the guide.

[jimbo5544]

We always tipped as well.

[hayesktrm]

I would also like to know what is appropriate. We are going to an all-inclusive resort in Cozumel, cave tubing (do you tip the guides and bus driver?) and we have a Victor Bodden tour. I know we will tip our guide (private tour), but then we are going the the monkey place and zip lining. Do I tip those places, too? And then how much?

[alilspunk]

We always tip as well... have given up to $20 for exceptional service. I doubt the tour guides make anywhere close to what the tour "owners" make so I like giving them a little extra :)

[Lovefuninthesun]

We always tip everybody!:o

The porters, the shuttle bus drivers, the excursion guides, etc.

 

When it is a large tour, we do $4/$5 total. On smaller, and private tours, we tip more because usually the experience is much better. On our Lawrence of Antigua tour we tipped our tour guide $20 because the day was fabulous.

[cathyoo]

We always tip, although I am not fond of the begging tour guide. I don't mind a sign or a tip jar but I don't like it when the guide or driver keep reminding us of their poor circumstances. The amount depends upon how many people I need to tip on the excursion, the length of the excursion and the experience. Anywhere from $5 to $25 for the 2 of us.

[mikel24m]

I would also like to know what is appropriate. We are going to an all-inclusive resort in Cozumel, cave tubing (do you tip the guides and bus driver?) and we have a Victor Bodden tour. I know we will tip our guide (private tour), but then we are going the the monkey place and zip lining. Do I tip those places, too? And then how much?

 

We always tip a $20 to our server when we go to Nachi Cocum or Mr Sanchos in Cozumel,we did the same when we went cave tubing and we also did the same with Victors guides.When we went to pay him we gave the change ($20) to our tour guide and they are always happy.Email Victor and ask to get Tex as your tour guide he is awesome

[TerReuv]

We always tip as well... have given up to $20 for exceptional service. I doubt the tour guides make anywhere close to what the tour "owners" make so I like giving them a little extra :)

 

Do you think you would tip if the people doing your tour were the owner's of the tour company? Just wondering. I have always heard you don't tip the owner of say a hair salon, etc. Do you think it would apply tothe owner of the tour company that is doing the tour?

[Sparky2]

We always tip! Only once I remember a horrible tour guide and we didn't tip. They typically are hard working people who do not get paid very well. We give the bus driver a tip in addition to the tour guide. The amount varies- a couple of dollars for the driver and at least $5. per couple for the guide.

 

Same amounts as you have mentioned. $2 for bus driver & $5 for tour guide (per couple). This would be on shore excursions of about 3-4 hour duration.

[mikel24m]

Do you think you would tip if the people doing your tour were the owner's of the tour company? Just wondering. I have always heard you don't tip the owner of say a hair salon, etc. Do you think it would apply tothe owner of the tour company that is doing the tour?

 

I was thinking about this earlier. I wonder what the tour guides make for personal tours like Victor Boddens. My wife and myself have the guide for the entire day for $80 plus a $20 tip to him. That doesn't seem very expensive to us ,I wonder if they split the money or if he gets paid hourly

[Cruise a holic]

Do you think you would tip if the people doing your tour were the owner's of the tour company? Just wondering. I have always heard you don't tip the owner of say a hair salon, etc. Do you think it would apply tothe owner of the tour company that is doing the tour?

 

Probably yes. And fyi my manicurist owns the shop and I tip her. Sometimes however, if they charge a premium for using the owner for a service, like a:) hair salon, I wouldn't tip additional.

[cjknox]

We always tip, the amount just depends upon the quality of the tour and above all the tour guide.

[cynt]

I tip for good service. However, the more the ask the less I tip.

[TerReuv]

Probably yes. And fyi my manicurist owns the shop and I tip her. Sometimes however, if they charge a premium for using the owner for a service, like a:) hair salon, I wouldn't tip additional.

 

Yeah - same with me. My manicurist is also the owner and I have always tipped her. Just was curious what others thought. If you are already paying around $100 for the tour owner to do the tour, not sure about tipping. Unless, they seemed to go over and above what you are paying for.

[13cheermom]

So for those of you that traveled to Europe and done excursions, did you tip in euros or us dollars?

[sjcruiser]

Depending on the excursion, we tip a $2-$5 dollars for the driver, and $5-10 for the tour guide, for exceptional service, we go up to double the normal amounts. We take into consideration the living conditions or economy of the place visiting, but also dislike the constant reminders of tipping.

[larkz]

I always tip, always in varying amounts depending on the excursion/tour, how many people are on the team, etc. Couple of bucks for a short drive to a venue, $5 to $10 for a short excursion, $20 for a long one, and if it knocks my socks off, maybe an extra $20.

 

I like to reward a good work ethic.

[Bunkie103]

We've always tipped on excursions, but I was taken by surprise on a Carnival sponsored excursion when the last 20 minutes were devoted completely to the fact that we needed to tip the person in charge. Kind of gave me a bad taste and made me not want to tip the person at all since we had paid $79pp for the tour and there were four of us. :rolleyes:

[mousey]

Same amounts as you have mentioned. $2 for bus driver & $5 for tour guide (per couple). This would be on shore excursions of about 3-4 hour duration.

 

 

Ditto! Except if the tour guides are exceptional we'll tip $10 per couple. Sometimes if it's a really long and involved tour, you know, the ones where you go on a boat snorkeling, have free lunch and drinks, and go horseback riding too (this was all included in one tour we took on the Splendor last year)...we will tip $5 per person to each of the two guides. This excursion was awesome and the four of us had a fabulous time! I also don't like guides begging for tips. On this excursion though the guys had a tip jar that they passed around that said..."Please help us pay for our Coronas and Cuban Cigars tonight!" We thought that was pretty funny. I think passing around a tip jar is fine.

[mikel24m]

We've always tipped on excursions, but I was taken by surprise on a Carnival sponsored excursion when the last 20 minutes were devoted completely to the fact that we needed to tip the person in charge. Kind of gave me a bad taste and made me not want to tip the person at all since we had paid $79pp for the tour and there were four of us. :rolleyes:

 

We had this too on a ship excursion to St. John and I think we paid about $90 each

[mzloolue]

So far I have not tipped for an excursion.

 

I am not saying that I never will, but so far I have not.

[13cheermom]

So back to my original posted question, in Europe do you tip with euros or dollars??? I know that some of the excursions I'm doing with carnival are in excess of $200/pp. for 10 hour day and include a meal. Just curious if you base the tip on the dollar amount of the excursion or length of excursion. Curious as what most do while in Europe on their tours. Also if a meal is included do you also leave a tip for the service also in the restaurant. My main point in asking this is so I can plan on how to budget for these extras. Also due to the fact being in Europe money isn't easily available as when we are in the United States. Thanks again if anyone can answer these questions.

[boaterette]

So back to my original posted question, in Europe do you tip with euros or dollars??? I know that some of the excursions I'm doing with carnival are in excess of $200/pp. for 10 hour day and include a meal. Just curious if you base the tip on the dollar amount of the excursion or length of excursion. Curious as what most do while in Europe on their tours. Also if a meal is included do you also leave a tip for the service also in the restaurant. My main point in asking this is so I can plan on how to budget for these extras. Also due to the fact being in Europe money isn't easily available as when we are in the United States. Thanks again if anyone can answer these questions.

 

In Europe you tip in Euros. And yes I would tip the servers at the restaurant unless told otherwise on the tour. And for a $200 tour I would tip $20 per person. Hope this answers your questions.

[alilspunk]

Do you think you would tip if the people doing your tour were the owner's of the tour company? Just wondering. I have always heard you don't tip the owner of say a hair salon, etc. Do you think it would apply tothe owner of the tour company that is doing the tour?

 

Im leaning towards no.. in my mind all the money i am paying for the excursion is theirs so why add on top of that? But i would never say never :D depending on the service and any circumstances i could give a few extra dollars at the end pf the trip!