Tipping on excursions

[jfs9900]

I have not found anything that covers this on the main board. However a recent trip review suggested otherwise. I was under the impression that the price of excursion included any tip/gratuity for the tour guide. Is this incorrect? Should we bring money to tip the guides, and if so how much?!?!

Sorry if I sound cheap but the price of the excursions already booked are pretty expensive to add additional price on that!!!

 

[SeaSpray]

I agree that excursions are not usually inexpensive to begin with, so on our last cruise (just got back 2 weeks ago), I decided to take each situation separately to see whether we would or should tip the guides. Our big excursion was the day we were at Cozumel, we took the ferry over to the mainland of Mexico for the Tulum ruins excursion. We had a Mexican guide on our bus who explained many things during the 1 hour drive to the ruin site, and who stayed with us during most of the exploration of the site, explaining what a lot of the architectural details on the ruins signified. At the end of this excursion the guide told everyone that he hoped that he did a good job and if we were so inclined, he and the bus driver would happily accept a gratuity. DH and I decided to tip the guide $20, plus a $5 tip to the bus driver. The bus driver was the person who distributed the lunches on the bus and who also served us the drinks. I think the $20 tip to the guide was concidered a good amount by him because he shook my hand and even followed my DH to take shake his hand, and thanked us. We were a party of 4, we had our DSs with us, so we thought $5 per person for the tip was reasonable. I really have no idea how much other people tipped the guide or the bus driver. It's funny, but that's one thing I didn't read a lot about on these boards before the trip (tipping the guides, and amounts). I hope this helps!

 

[musicgirl]

On our 2 excursions in Nassau, we did not tip extra. One was on a very large ferry.

I didn't feel like they did anything special to make the trip more memorable.

This last year in St. Thomas, we did the Capt. Nautica excursion. This was an awesome excursion. We had around 17 people on our boat and they went out of their way to make sure we had great snorkeling.

We were scheduled to go to 3 different places. They changed the last place without telling us, and I'm glad they didn't because it was a great surprise. We were basically the only group (only a small group of divers) and it was absolutely beautiful!!!!

They were also very informative about the area and snorkeling and the sea turtles. They had disposable underwater cameras available for purchase and it was very cheap, especially compared to on the ship!!! At least 3 groups had forgotten to bring theirs!!!

At the end, they casually mentioned the tips and left a bowl or basket out to tip if we wanted. I had no problem leaving them something extra. They were fantastic!! It was only $10, that was all we had, but I'm sure it was appreciated.

Also, don't think of it as being cheap. I know I budgeted for everything I could think of. We live on a budget and that is how life is for us. On a trip like this, it seems like something always pops up that you were not expecting. If you can do it, go for it. I know if I had a lot of money, I would spread it around by giving out nice tips on these occasions!!!

Have fun, Lorie

 

[inkkognito]

We tip on excursions when we feel that it is warranted. For example, in Cozumel we tipped on both the Jeep Safari Tour and the horseback riding excursion. On the jeep tour, the guides were fabulous, telling about the history of the area and keeping us entertained with their humor. The ocean was very wavy, so while we were swimming they kept an eye on everyone and made sure that we were all safe and still having fun. On the horseback riding tour, one of the guides put on a show with tack horses afterwards and then allowed us to take turns sitting on one of the horses that was lying down for photos.
I think we tipped our stingray guide in Grand Cayman too...can't remember for sure, but he was really good...helping us with photos, feeing the rays, etc.
On the Castaway Cay jet ski tour, my husband thought the guide was great, but he didn't tip as he was in swimwear with no money! They probably don't expect it there because I don't think many guests bring cash onto the island.
Barb

 

[tvguy]

I usually tip a couple of bucks per person. On the 12 metre Regetta on St. Martin the captain made it clear he owned the business, and that he made a nice living, but his crew might appreciate a something if we enjoyed our race.
So for an hours work if everyone tipped $2 both of the 2 guys on board they made $32 in tips, plus their wages......a lot more than I make in an hour.

 

[webray]

Tips are not included for your tour guide..unless your excursion specifically states they are. Most are not. We just took some cash with us to make sure we had enough to tip. We had an idea of what we would give each guide..then adjusted according to how much we liked them.

 

[invaderzim]

We always takes lots of ones and fives. In Nassau, we took the island tour and besides our bus operator, each stop had an on-site guide. So we gave each of them $2 and then tipped our driver $10.

This past cruise in Grand Cayman, we took the Island Tour and Stingray City excursion. We tipped the bus driver/tour guide $5 at the end and gave the guide for the stingray city tour $8. He was excellent -- stayed in the water the whole time and gave a lot of details about the stingrays and the area.

On the Tulum Ruins Tour in Cozumel, my husband gave the tour guide $10.

On the ruins tour in Costa Maya, we gave our tour guide $10 and the bus driver $5. The tour guide was excellent -- narrated for the whole hour bus ride, took us on an hour tour of all the ruins and then narrated some more on the way back. I would have given him more if we had it with us. But they were very appreciative.

 

[WorknFires]

In the past, I haven't tipped, mostly because the situation didn't seem to warrent it. A few days ago, when we were in San Juan our excursion to the Bacardi distillery incuded a bus trip with a very informative guide and we tipped her $3 for the both of us.

Cheryl