Tip the captain

[highdesert]

From what Ive read and seen, good service has nothing to do with tipping as far as diving goes. You are to tip 10 dollars per tank or youre a cheapskate was more or less the impression I got from other threads..

Personally I think tipping in general has gotten out of hand and has become "expected" rather than a bonus. They should just call it "the 2nd bill" these days instead of tip...

I am not familiar with where you dive, and call me a cheapskate if you will, but I think $10 a tank is absolutely nuts.

 

[Tigerman]

To stay a bit more on topic than my last couple of posts.. Doesnt the boat generally have a container meant for tips? If you drop the tip in that container, it should magically be distributed among the crew by itself, shouldnt it?

I am not familiar with where you dive, and call me a cheapskate if you will, but I think $10 a tank is absolutely nuts.

I normally dive in Norway, a country where the tip are something you earn, not something you expect and its usually a topic that apply to places where you are served food and drinks alas it not being much of a topic when diving..
I couldnt agree more on $10 a tank being absolutely nuts, but thats actually what Ive seen people state as a decent tip, amongst other places on this very board.. I mean, maybe $80 to the shop and then $20 for tips? Thats starting to get pretty.. not cheap..

 

[emcbride81]

Personally I think tipping in general has gotten out of hand and has become "expected" rather than a bonus. They should just call it "the 2nd bill" these days instead of tip...[/quote]

I agree...it seems like it is now a way to avoid paying people what the jobs is worth...it puts a lot of pressure on the customer regardless of how good the service was.

 

[robertarak]

I start the tip at $5.00 per tank. Knowing that most often the DM and crew work for tips alone, and I expect to pay this before the day ever starts. It goes up or down from there depending on service.

 

[fisheyeview]

I have worked on a lot of dive boats over the years in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami & the Keys. At the risk of ticking off some fellow DM's, I must tell you that I have always been paid to work on the boats. It is not a ton of money, but they do get paid. With the tips it's not bad.

When I work on a boat I am not expecting tips. If I do a good job and you want to tip I will not turn it down.

Most boats split the tip between the crew. If the captain is the owner then he usually (but not always) gives the tips to the crew.

 

[Garrobo]

If you can afford a dive trip, you can afford a tip. The service would have to be pretty bad for me not to tip the DM and Captain five bucks each. And if there is a pretty little lady coordinating the dive on board she gets a tip too. I don't know what they make but I'm sure it isn't near what I get in retirement checks. If you consider that you are paying around $70-75 for each dive, there isn't much money to go around when you take into consideration the outlay for a dive operator and their employees. So let's not be a bunch of cheapskates and help out those on the short end of the stick.

 

[diverdowndh]

If my fiance' gets lots of help in/out of the water, I get left alone for the most part, then we usually tip about $20 for a couple of dives for the both of us. I always give it to whomever my dm was for the day. If I don't get a fabulous day "in the life of" then tips are scarce from me... they ARE optional. I've been known to lay even more down to my dm if, after our vacation, we feel like we really got serviced. I've also changed who I dive with in Cozumel because the dm's were arrogant, not helpful (played "I don't speak good English" when asked for help... too bad, I speak pretty good Spanish!) and did a couple of things that I have never seen, nor seen since by a dm. They started shouting "Nada! Nada!" when we got off the boats - I went directly to the shop, told the owner/operator, paid my bill and went looking for another dive outfit. There are plenty out there that would love to have your business. I don't ask for much but if I feel like a tip is warranted, i'll gladly give them out.

 

[diverdowndh]

I start the tip at $5.00 per tank. Knowing that most often the DM and crew work for tips alone, and I expect to pay this before the day ever starts. It goes up or down from there depending on service.

I guess I should have been a little clearer, this post has my thoughts in a nutshell!

 

[Tigerman]

If you can afford a dive trip, you can afford a tip. The service would have to be pretty bad for me not to tip the DM and Captain five bucks each. And if there is a pretty little lady coordinating the dive on board she gets a tip too. I don't know what they make but I'm sure it isn't near what I get in retirement checks. If you consider that you are paying around $70-75 for each dive, there isn't much money to go around when you take into consideration the outlay for a dive operator and their employees. So let's not be a bunch of cheapskates and help out those on the short end of the stick.

Lets do some easy math here..
6 divers on a boat, paying 80 USD for a 2-tank dive. Thats 480 USD.
6 divers on a boat, paying 20 USD each in tips (10 per tank). Thats another 120 USD.
That makes 600 USD.
Im pretty sure you can pay 3 people for working 3 hours each on 600 USD...

Now if that boat goes out on morning, afternoon and evening/night dives thats 1800 USD a day, 12600 USD a week and thats with only 6 divers on the boat..
When I went to Cozumel last week, I paid "a fair bit more" than 80 USD and there was 9 divers on the boat.. And the boats I saw on the water for the greater part wasnt exactly luxurious either..

And in the end, if I should pay a tip or not shouldnt be down to wether "i can afford it" or not. What kinda thinking IS that? Its like saying I can afford to be robbed, so I should be.
As I said before and wont hesitate to say again, its not called a TIP because its part of the BILL...

 

[Garrobo]

Tigerman: You listed the optimum situation for an OP. Doesn't happen that way. I've been on dives with only three or four people on the ( $200,000+) boat and nothing going out that afternoon from the shop in Keys where the property rent and land and building costs are some of the highest in the country. Lots of people rationalize not tipping. I'm not one of them. Have at it. Cozumel? I've never run across a situation like you describe and have never heard anyone else come up with stuff like that. Maybe there is another reason for your experience. Think about it.