Having returned from our first liveaboard, I can now speak from experience rather than speculation, as I did in my post(s?) above. (Always a good practice.) In my post, I voiced an opinion that I'd rather be given an opportunity to tip in advance, when I paid for the liveaboard on-line, rather than be expected to fork over a wad of cash on the boat. Our liveaboard did not accept credit cards, so the choice we were given was US dollars or Indonesian Rupiah. We duly lugged an inch-thick stash of Rupiah in our mo ney belts through several weeks in Indonesia, our trip culminating with the liveaboard.
We were stunned by how much the crew seemed to work to make the divers happy. They worked HARD. Every crew member, from the director on down, pulled his weight and more. Nobody ever seemed to have the attitude of "that's not my job," and no matter who you asked for help or asked a question to, they would immediately see to it. If I had any reservations about the practice of tipping (which I did), they were dispelled on the very first day.
Service industry people in the U.S. expect tips as part of their normal compensation and often don't work any harder in the hope of a tip. If in the olden days the purpose of a tip was to reward exceptional service, it has lost that meaning in the U.S. But on our Indonesian liveaboard, I got the feeling that the tip was very much on their minds, especially on the last day or two when all of us noticed an even greater effort by the crew. When a divemaster sits down with you after the dive to help you identify fish and ask how your dive was without your asking, you know something's fishy--but in a sort of charming way.
On the last day, the director gave us the dreaded "and now you may tip if you wish" speech. I expected somewhat of a heavy-handed approach, but I thought he did it with just the right touch. We were told a tip is not required, that the crew would split the pot evenly--from the captain and director on down to the cook--and that a typical tip is "about 10%." Envelopes were discretely available on the table for anonymous tipping. My wife and I tipped 10%, which was an annoying half-inch thick wad of Rupiah. This was one of my complaints in my post above--that we'd have to carry an annoying amount of local cash. It was indeed annoying, especially since the liveaboard was not our first stop on this trip to Indonesia--but the bottom line is that I got some pleasure out of tipping, and I felt 10% was quite reasonable for the level of effort they put in. Yes, everyone on a dive boat is paid well by Indonesian standards, but after seeing how hard they worked, we felt good about tipping. I'm sure that many divers on the boat did not come from countries where American-sized tips are common, and so 10% is probably a good number for all to work from.
Anyway, whatever I said in my posts above about tipping and wishing it were possible to just include the tip or service charge at the time of on-line booking--forget about it. If the crew works that hard on every liveaboard I do, I won't hesitate, even if it means carrying a half inch stack of local currency.
We were stunned by how much the crew seemed to work to make the divers happy. They worked HARD. Every crew member, from the director on down, pulled his weight and more. Nobody ever seemed to have the attitude of "that's not my job," and no matter who you asked for help or asked a question to, they would immediately see to it. If I had any reservations about the practice of tipping (which I did), they were dispelled on the very first day.
Service industry people in the U.S. expect tips as part of their normal compensation and often don't work any harder in the hope of a tip. If in the olden days the purpose of a tip was to reward exceptional service, it has lost that meaning in the U.S. But on our Indonesian liveaboard, I got the feeling that the tip was very much on their minds, especially on the last day or two when all of us noticed an even greater effort by the crew. When a divemaster sits down with you after the dive to help you identify fish and ask how your dive was without your asking, you know something's fishy--but in a sort of charming way.
On the last day, the director gave us the dreaded "and now you may tip if you wish" speech. I expected somewhat of a heavy-handed approach, but I thought he did it with just the right touch. We were told a tip is not required, that the crew would split the pot evenly--from the captain and director on down to the cook--and that a typical tip is "about 10%." Envelopes were discretely available on the table for anonymous tipping. My wife and I tipped 10%, which was an annoying half-inch thick wad of Rupiah. This was one of my complaints in my post above--that we'd have to carry an annoying amount of local cash. It was indeed annoying, especially since the liveaboard was not our first stop on this trip to Indonesia--but the bottom line is that I got some pleasure out of tipping, and I felt 10% was quite reasonable for the level of effort they put in. Yes, everyone on a dive boat is paid well by Indonesian standards, but after seeing how hard they worked, we felt good about tipping. I'm sure that many divers on the boat did not come from countries where American-sized tips are common, and so 10% is probably a good number for all to work from.
Anyway, whatever I said in my posts above about tipping and wishing it were possible to just include the tip or service charge at the time of on-line booking--forget about it. If the crew works that hard on every liveaboard I do, I won't hesitate, even if it means carrying a half inch stack of local currency.
