Tipping

[CarleneBarrett]

I am Australian so uneducated re tipping. Do you tip on shore excursions and if so, who gets the money? Also, how much is expected at restaurants, shops, etc? Thanks.

[Keith1010]

Yes unlike in the USA tipping is wide spread.

 

No tipping in stores.

 

In restaurants generally 15/18/20% of the total bill before tax. Most of the money goes to the actual waiter but often a percentage of their tips are shared with others such as those cleaning tables and working in the back. This varies by restaurant.

 

When you embark the ship you will check in your luggage and the porters appreciate tips. It ranges but somewhere between $2.00 to $5.00 per bag. In hotels if you are given assistance from the bellboy a similar tip is appreciated. They keep the money but it is possible in some places like hotels there is sharing of tips.

 

For taxi's many tip between 10 to 20%. They keep the money.

 

As to tours this really ranges by the person.

 

If you book a ships tour often people will give a tip to the tour guide and in some cases the bus driver. They keep the money. How much will depend on how helpful they were (and if not helpful some people will not tip) By the way if those in the restaurant, or say in the taxi are not helpful and service is bad many will tip below the figures I mentioned. Back to the ships tour on say an average tour of a price of $75.00 to $150.00 per person people might tip around $5.00 to $10.00 to the guide and a few dollars to the bus driver. But again this varies by person.

 

As to private tours. If it is conducted by the owner of the company some will not tip because all of the revenue pretty much goes to the owner for their expenses and then the rest is profit but you can tip if you would like. If the tour guide is not the owner then again base the tip on the quality of the tour and guide but a tip in the 10 to 15 percent range is appreciated. They will keep the tip.

 

I hope this helps. The complication of our system over here is that there are recommendations but in the end people do as they please.

 

I am glad you asked.

 

We have friends from Australia and New Zealand and I asked them for input on tipping before our visits there and it was a big help to me.

 

Keith

[Karennella]

Unless there is a problem we just accept that we need to tip 20% in restaurants. Then when you are doing an exchange mentally, add 50% to what you see. So when the steak is $US40, it will cost roughly $A60 by the time you account for exchange, local tax and tips. The ettiquette, I believe, is that if the service is so dreadful that you feel you should not have to tip, you need to ask to speak to the manager and explain this, not just walk out with out tipping. Dreadful service is rare by our standards,it is generally better than we get. Once we accepted that this is the usual rate, it stopped being stressful.

You can see that you need to keep some cash ready for some tips. We did get abused once for adding a tip to the credit card bill but that was a long time ago and I think it is normal to add it like that these days.But best you hoard your dollar notes for tips for bags and so on.

 

To be honest, what I dislike in the US is that often when you leave the tip, which is huge by our standard, we rarely get a thank you.However in Europe or here anything is appreciated. Today in Sydney I left $4 when the bill was $71 and the girl was really pleased. But it is just their culture and we need to respect it. And only hope that our culture will be respected in turn by our overseas visitors.

[bUU]

To be honest, what I dislike in the US is that often when you leave the tip, which is huge by our standard, we rarely get a thank you.However in Europe or here anything is appreciated.

You should get the same thank you in the US for payment of the bill plus a standard gratuity that you get for payment of the bill in Australia without any gratuity.

 

The best way of thinking of the restaurant gratuity in the United States is as an unwritten part of the menu price, specifically that portion of the menu price that covers the cost of the table service itself.

[wolfie11]

Most places outside the US add a 15% service charge to the restaurant bill. This is not done in the US, unless (and check the fine print on your menu and your receipt) you have a large party, usually of six or more, where it is added to your bill. If the gratuity has been added, you can leave it at that, or leave a few dollars to bring it up to 20%.

[OceansMotion]

Unless there is a problem we just accept that we need to tip 20% in restaurants. Then when you are doing an exchange mentally, add 50% to what you see. So when the steak is $US40, it will cost roughly $A60 by the time you account for exchange, local tax and tips. The ettiquette, I believe, is that if the service is so dreadful that you feel you should not have to tip, you need to ask to speak to the manager and explain this, not just walk out with out tipping. Dreadful service is rare by our standards,it is generally better than we get. Once we accepted that this is the usual rate, it stopped being stressful.

You can see that you need to keep some cash ready for some tips. We did get abused once for adding a tip to the credit card bill but that was a long time ago and I think it is normal to add it like that these days.But best you hoard your dollar notes for tips for bags and so on.

 

To be honest, what I dislike in the US is that often when you leave the tip, which is huge by our standard, we rarely get a thank you.However in Europe or here anything is appreciated. Today in Sydney I left $4 when the bill was $71 and the girl was really pleased. But it is just their culture and we need to respect it. And only hope that our culture will be respected in turn by our overseas visitors.

 

 

 

Some restaurants charge the waiter the percentage they have to pay the credit card company and take it out of their tip. It can be anywhere from 3-5%. So if you take that amount off the tip and add the fact that they have to share it with others, not much is left. I pay my bill with the credit card and always leave a cash tip. I know they appreciate that by the look on their faces.

 

 

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[wolfie11]

Some restaurants charge the waiter the percentage they have to pay the credit card company and take it out of their tip. It can be anywhere from 3-5%. So if you take that amount off the tip and add the fact that they have to share it with others, not much is left. I pay my bill with the credit card and always leave a cash tip. I know they appreciate that by the look on their faces.

 

 

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Some restaurants may do that, although none I've ever worked at. The main reason waitstaff like cash tips is that the restaurant is required by law to report credit card tips to the IRS as income. Cash tips are reported on a form the employee fills out. The combined amount of credit card and cash tips is required to total a certain amount that would bring the employee's wage up to a minimum wage. Not saying any waitstaff would underreport tips to the IRS, but.....

[Keith1010]

Some restaurants may do that, although none I've ever worked at. The main reason waitstaff like cash tips is that the restaurant is required by law to report credit card tips to the IRS as income. Cash tips are reported on a form the employee fills out. The combined amount of credit card and cash tips is required to total a certain amount that would bring the employee's wage up to a minimum wage. Not saying any waitstaff would underreport tips to the IRS, but.....

 

Yes, your explanation is my understanding as well.

 

CarleneBarrett I just want to add to what I posted earlier about restaurant tipping in the USA. As I mentioned the range typically is 15 to 20 percent. In fact, some of the receipts before you add in the amount for the tip will actually show what the amount should be in USA dollars at 15%, 18% and 20%.

 

Most people tip before tax. Also they take into consideration the amount should a bottle of wine be purchased.

 

But there are just recommendations.

 

I have tipped above this amount in some instances either because our overall bill was quite low but we were at the restaurant for a good deal of time and/or the waiter kept coming back refilling beverages. This has happened to us when having lunch or dinner or even breakfast with another couple(s). I've also tipped above this from time to time when service was exclamatory.

 

On the other hand if the service was poor/dismal I would trip below these percentages. Thankfully this is an exception but it has happened to me.

 

Like most things everyone has their own approach to this and the other items I mentioned in my earlier post.

 

Keith

[CruiseGal999]

I am SO glad to see people here say to tip on the BEFORE tax amount! I do this and people just nag me about it. I try to explain ... why would I give someone 15-20% of the tax? Never made sense to me. Just happy I'm not alone.

[gbits]

I am SO glad to see people here say to tip on the BEFORE tax amount! I do this and people just nag me about it. I try to explain ... why would I give someone 15-20% of the tax? Never made sense to me. Just happy I'm not alone.

 

 

 

Right there with you CruiseGal999! I am forever arguing with my husband and adult children about this. Calculation of tip should always be pretax imo. I also try to leave it in cash when paying by credit card for all the reasons cited above.

 

 

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[bUU]

I know they appreciate that by the look on their faces.

I would expect staff to appreciate higher gratuities more than standard gratuities, which is the effective result. I've never found the bother and risk of carrying more cash to be worth it. I'd sooner tip on the after tax total rather than the before tax total and give the staff more that way.

 

This post may have been entered by voice recognition. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[Sallyandtex]

We have prepaid our ships gratuities in the past and believe this will be added to the bill for our HAL cruise.

We are also doing an Insight tour and have prepaid the tips.

Being Australian its really annoying and awkward working it all out, and its great when the tip has been added to the bill for you. We use pay wave for purchases as well and are used to not carrying cash so I will be loading up small bills for bell boys etc as we got caught having to give large notes out on our first trip to USA!

[Karennella]

Right there with you CruiseGal999! I am forever arguing with my husband and adult children about this. Calculation of tip should always be pretax imo. I also try to leave it in cash when paying by credit card for all the reasons cited above.

 

 

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Glad I read this as it seems from what everyone says that it is best to leave a cash tip. What is going to happen to porters etc when you switch to mostly cashless as has already happened in some parts of Europe?

[bUU]

I think some people insist that they personally will never go cashless, in the same way that some people insisted that they'd never go online and the same way that some people insisted that they'd never dress casual in the workplace on Fridays. So it is a question that really cannot be answered except by people who realize that they can and will adapt to such a change when they encounter it in life.

[Herfnerd]

When tipping in restaurants, sit-down service (where there is a waitstaff) is normally tipped at 20% (as mentioned, pre-tax). However, more and more counterservice restaurants (where you order, pay and pick up your food at the counter) have a tip jar by the register or a tip line to fill out on the receipt. JMHO, and I have worked as a waiter and at a mall counter service restaurant, if you decide to tip in these places, it shouldn't be at 20% of the bill - depending on what/where I am, a few bucks is fine.

 

IIRC, when we ate at Tracy's Crab Shack in Juneau, we tipped $5 on a $70 bill but we got our own food when called, drinks and bussed our own counter spot.