The all-inclusive tipping note -- Boats, DMs & Instructors

[DandyDon]

caymaniac once bubbled...

In Bonaire on a boat trip for a week, I was on a boat where the DM's loaded the tanks on board. The DM's there did nothing else, they didn't arrange my equip., they didn't help me in or out of the water, they did hand me my camera, they wouldn't take us to the sights that we wanted ( we had a writer photographer on board from a dive mag.), I thought they (DM's) acted coldly and I considered telling the operations but I thought NOT tipping would be better.

This is rare around the Caribbean, isn't it. But in this case, I think I'd gripe to the manager and not tip, both. I'm spending a lot to be there, dive there, and not be home making money, so I tip to reinforce good; if I don't get good, I request change.

don

 

[PolsVoice]

How do you tip your divemaster after a dive? Is it done by percentage like the 15-20% for nice meals or is it just kinda give him 5-10 bucks?

What is the common courtesy practice?

- PV

 

[Big-t-2538]

Depends on the service that was provided....length of the trip (2-tank afternoon vs. 3 days of 3 tank dives)

Was the boat and DM just a taxi to the site...or did we get detailed briefings, help in and out of the water, free to chose our own path, drinks?, etc, etc.

For me....an afternoon 2 tanker taxi service is 5 bucks. Somone who busted their butts, had good drinks on SIs, was entertaining and informative, will earn 20$ for the 3 tank day.

 

[saying]

I actually had a query along these lines to ready me for a liveaboard I'm getting on at the end of this month.

10 - 15% per crewmate or 10 - 15% for the whole crew? Does one pass money to the crew directly or does, say, the captain make a collection on the last day of the trip?

I reckon I need to be prepared as I doubt there's an ATM machine aboard.

 

[scubasean]

I actually had a query along these lines to ready me for a liveaboard I'm getting on at the end of this month.

10 - 15% per crewmate or 10 - 15% for the whole crew? Does one pass money to the crew directly or does, say, the captain make a collection on the last day of the trip?

I reckon I need to be prepared as I doubt there's an ATM machine aboard.

10 percent of the total purchase price...not per crewmate...but in total...

For my liveaboard, they had a bucket they put out after the trip, just before entering the harbor.

Sean

 

[Diver0001]

How do you tip your divemaster after a dive? Is it done by percentage like the 15-20% for nice meals or is it just kinda give him 5-10 bucks?

What is the common courtesy practice?

- PV

Divemasters should always been tipped as much as possible. If there is still money in your wallet when you go home you can come back later and leave it in an envelope.



R..

 

[TechBlue]

Divemasters should always been tipped as much as possible. If there is still money in your wallet when you go home you can come back later and leave it in an envelope.



R..

Yeah baby! Tipping is certainly misunderstood by a lot of people (some are just cheap) here in the NE all the crews actually work for free and the chance to dive, so tipping is a big part of compensation, most of our dives are deco dives and invlove a lot of gearing up and maintenance. Be generous take care of your boat crew, most people give the tip to the skipper who hands it to the crew to divvy up or when it's given to various crew members they do the same thing it gets thrown in the kitty and divvied up. btw Roturer you're welcome any time

 

[melfox26]

Diver0001:
"Divemasters should always been tipped as much as possible. If there is still money in your wallet when you go home you can come back later and leave it in an envelope. "

Let me guess, you're a divemaster?

Kidding aside, 5-10 bucks per dive day, depending on quality of service, should be more than acceptable to a divemaster.

 

[DivemasterSteve]

I actually had a query along these lines to ready me for a liveaboard I'm getting on at the end of this month.

I reckon I need to be prepared as I doubt there's an ATM machine aboard.

what liveaboard are you going on? when i went on Blackbeards almost 2 years ago the Captain explained to us that all tips received were split equally between all the crew and we could just give it to him and he would take care of splitting it up. the norm is 10% of the total cost of the trip, but if there was one member of the staff that really went out of their way to help you out during the trip you can always slip him/her some by themself.

steve

 

[DEEPLOU]

Yeah baby! Tipping is certainly misunderstood by a lot of people (some are just cheap) here in the NE all the crews actually work for free and the chance to dive, so tipping is a big part of compensation, most of our dives are deco dives and invlove a lot of gearing up and maintenance. Be generous take care of your boat crew, most people give the tip to the skipper who hands it to the crew to divvy up or when it's given to various crew members they do the same thing it gets thrown in the kitty and divvied up. btw Roturer you're welcome any time

Usually "here in the NE" the crews are just that crews, not divemasters. Here on LI, we usually give it to one of the crew (if more than one).

However, this came up on a trip to FL. The dive operator was a husband and wife team. It was their operation and they ran it. He at the helm and she at the ropes.
Do you tip them? Her ? ? or what?