How Much To Tip on Liveaboards?

[8u88les]

As an Instructor in a country that doesnt tip i know tips are a rarity, but when diving in florida i know better than to stiff the DM. What is standard practice on liveaboards? Does it depend on country like land based operations? I was researching liveaboard trips and saw on the Aurora Liveaboard inTerms and Conditions section the following: "Tips for Crew - Clients will pay onboard a service charge of €8 per night per person, this is an obligatory fee." !!! When paying 300 a night you think they could put 8 towards tip or just raise the price 8 and give it to the crew without telling the customer they are obligated to tip while onboard. Ive seen other sites recommend 10-12 euro per day but it wasnt required. Personally, if i have a lousy time i dont want to tip and if i have a great time i want to leave a big tip, and i may want more of the tip to go to the DM than the others. Whats your take?

 

[Wookie]

We recommend 10-15% of the charter (not airfare, etc) price. That's pretty much what most boats suggest. Personally, I'd rather have a review on a forum, but it's easier for most folks to leave cash then to spend 15 minutes writing something thoughtful.

Let me explain that. I do as you suggest. I set aside money from the charter to pay the crew. Not a pittance, but a real wage. So, tips are a way of keeping score. The crew will ask "How'd we do?" I'll reply "The tips were pretty good, we must have done well", or" The tips were pretty poor. Did we have Europeans or who did we piss off?" Then we can discuss if we thought someone was upset, or their expectations weren't met, etc. If you post in a forum how we did, there is no guessing. Good or bad, I'd rather have feedback than tips. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way so well.

 

[jmsenger]

I usually tip between 10-15% of the charter fee depending on how good the service was during the trip.

 

[Quero]

@8u88les: liveaboard tipping depends more on the nationality of the guest than the country where the liveaboard sails. Wookie alluded to that when he wrote

" The tips were pretty poor. Did we have Europeans...?

Wookie also gave you a clue when he said

That's pretty much what most boats suggest.

in relation to the way boats will follow a market trend. A boat will try to offer a fair wage to crew (they don't want constant turnover because everybody else is offering more money), and local industry trends will play a big role in determining what's a fair wage locally. Thus, a boat in Raja Ampat is going to pay its crew more or less the going wage, not 10% more to relieve the customers of the need to offer tips. If a boat just charged some percentage more to cover those tips, they'd actually have to charge another couple of percent more to make up for the tax burden on income flowing through their books. It's better for everybody if the customer pays the tips directly--nobody pays tax on those amounts and the op gets to guarantee a higher wage to the crew. Aurora is a boat that attracts a lot of Italians, who are not tippers, and I'm guessing that by requiring a service charge they're simplifying their accounting and making sure their crew get a solid income.

 

[gizmo1972]

10 -15% of charter costs
the whole crew work very very hard with guests and behind the scenes !! (the stuff that you dont see!!) not just the smiley DM or guides! so they deserve an equal share
i usually tip $300
have a great trip

 

[Stoo]

We use the 10-15% guide, but always struggle with how to split it. We interact mostly with the dive staff, but the poor sot stuck in the galley can make or break the trip. And what about the guy who pretty much lives in the engine room making sure we have power, a/c, fresh water, heads that flush etc. On our last trip on the T+C Explorer, we didn't even know there was someone down there until about the third day when he finally surfaced!

We usually take the easy way out and if it's offered, tip "the boat", through the Captain. We assume that the split is even and while that might not be the way we would split it, it's an easy way out.

 

[8u88les]

thanks for the 'tips' guys! especially you Quero for warning me that the Aurora attracts mostly Italians! i was already put off by the required tips and the $200 fuel surcharge anyway. if me and the wife take a $4k/person liveaboard i think that 15% is a bit much ($1200). and if you multiply that by the number of customers and the number of trips per month and divide by the number of crew, those guys are making more money than me! 10% might be fine though if service is good and we have a good time.