Tipping Guideline For Galapagos Liveaboards?

[Ministryofgiraffes]

lets be honest. divemastering is not even a skilled trade like commercial hard hat diving. pretty sure the bartender mixing margaritas is making more.

It would be useful if some DMs could chime in any confirm what DMs make on a liveaboard... How a DM/staff are compensated would certainly affect my decision when choosing one..

 

[Jcp2]

When my kids were younger, there was a known group of good sitters that we used with our friends. The going rate was historically 8/hr so with tip, it worked out to 10/hr. We didn’t use them much, but always got them when we needed them because we paid 12/hr and with tip, it worked out to 15/hr. It was worth it because we only had time when we had time.
Similarly, I bring in a regular Friday treat for the office staff, who serve my colleagues and me equally. They wonder why my requests get priority over theirs without me asking, and I tell them exactly why. Yet none of them have offered to share in the TGIF expense, and actively also partake. Again, it’s worth it to me because I get better usage of my time, which I can’t buy back at any rate.
If you don’t want to tip, then don’t, but demanding that “fair wages” be paid by law in societies where that is not the norm (most of them where vacation diving takes place) just isn’t realistic. If that were the case, then I doubt that the vacation area would remain affordable to most. There’s a reason why everything is so cheap.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

No one would be having this discussion if the tip expectation was a couple of bucks or a box of donuts....

We are taking about scenarios where some argue up to $1600 tip for a 7 day trip.

Or in my case, where another diver basically branded (albeit indirectly) an old guy on fixed income a ‘bum’ because he didn’t leave a $500 tip

 

[Jcp2]

7 day trip costing how much without tip?

 

[scubadada]

Thanks @outofofficebrb

I haven't had an opportunity to read my September issue yet

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

around $8k

 

[Jcp2]

I guess if it’s 8000 for the liveaboard alone, all inclusive diving, meals, and including alcohol, in a non wage regulated flagged ship, I would expect to tip around 10-15%. It’s what I do on a cruise vacation, and I look at it as a service charge rather than a tip.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

seems like it's pretty much the standard. I and most I know have tipped the same. i think there is a message that 10% isn't an insult.

I'm still keen to learn standard DM's salaries though so I can target liveaboards who compensate DM's well and remove argument that DMs need tips to live....especially if female DMs are paid less etc.etc.

I'm not exactly sure why it appears to be a taboo subject..

 

[Shasta_man]

<<so I can target liveaboards who compensate DM's well>> You will never get enough data to be able to make that judgement. I think the investment of the owner tends to show in the quality of the boat itself and the happiness of the crew which translates to how you are treated. Any of those things can be neglected for only so long before it starts showing. You'll have to judge boat by boat and not by the company i.e. not all Aggressors are the same (luckily!).

You're really tipping based on the efforts of the crew rather than the quality of the product they have to work with. For instance, I would give a crew on a substandard boat a good tip if they busted their humps on everything they had to do.

Lastly, consider that the difference between the tips you are considering is probably not double digit so it's worth only so much effort.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

You will never get enough data to be able to make that judgement. .

Don’t bet on it

But seriously...as the market gets more saturated, there needs to be more transparency of how Divemasters/crews etc are compensated so that local crews can negotiate effectively and not be taken advantage of. I’m not saying there is any chance of anything being enshrined in law as @Jcp2 incorrectly alluded to above and I am not saying that people shouldn’t tip. I am saying that there is a solid argument that the tipping culture is to the detriment of the recipients. Be it because operations are underpaying their staff as a result and hiding under the banner of ‘service industry’, or because people are falsely suggesting that it’s needed to supplement their income to survive, and thereby hijacking a system to the detriment of those on minimum wage in the service industry who actually do need it to survive..

I disagree with the argument that you eradicate tips, pay staff properly and the operation goes under..there are multiple examples of this being adopted in the US restaurant industry and it being a successful transition for staff/business etc. Granted, there are examples of some places reversing it because customers complained that they didn’t want to pay more and leaving negative reviews etc. but in those instances there is a consensus that it would have worked if more restaurants had adopted it.

But I also don’t really understand the argument to support tips but not support the removal of tip by paying staff/divemaster etc properly.... and I’m not talking about a couple of bucks here, I’m talking about a generally accepted principle of hundreds to thousands of dollars at a time as a proposed ‘standard’

Although.....tipping is mandatory in much of the service industry in Bermuda, you can only hire locals and in lots of places the service is comically abysmal as a result... so I suppose there is that...