BikerManiac
Contributor
I was on a LOB a few years ago where my dive buddy and I were the only Americans on board. The rest of the guests were from Italy, Australia, Singapore and Germany. When I went to settle my bill I gave my tip to the purser and she had a surprised look on her face. I asked what was the matter? Was the tip insufficient? It was 10% ( this was a high end LOB) She responded that I was the only guest on the boat to leave a tip. On a more recent trip I was told that they preferred that we did not leave a tip as Americans were getting the reputation of tipping and the staff were giving the Americans all of the attention. I think that most LOB's do expect tipping however. On a trip this year that was land based, I had an outstanding DM and although when in Indonesia I do not normally tip privately, I did give this DM a private tip. He looked at me with a shocked look on his face and said " is this for me?" I said yes and he got tears in his eyes. At any rate, I think that when traveling in Indo the best thing to do with tipping is give what your comfortable with and you will be fine.
When I began diving, I didn't know tipping was needed or expected. Over the years I have learned that tipping is expected in almost all the Caribbean. The 2 liveaboards I have done (Belize and Thailand), there was a speech about tipping at the end of the trip.
I will be on the Mermaid I soon and I already calculated I have to bring $300 USD for tips.
In Asia, tip may not be expected. But surely they are appreciated a lot more. I remember we hired a driver in Bali for the entire day and gave him a $20 USD tip at the end of the day. He was super happy. The look on his face was well worth the money.