Tipping the boat crew - conventions around the world?

[simonds]

We tip $5.00 per tank for the DM and a little less for the boat captain. Usually dive in Roatan and we are always warmly received when we return to the same dive operation.

 

[ski&dive]

My buddy and I have been diving for over 20 years and have done over 100 different trips all over the world. We tip based on service. We are likely to give a hard working Thai, Filipino or Indonesian a bigger tip than we'd give an American on a Liveaboard. Service in Asia is much better than anywhere in Mexico and the Caribbean and a tip is an appropriate way to say "Thank You".

We don't ask much from the DM s or crew. We prefer to set up our own gear. We expect a good briefing and 60 minute (or more) bottom time and we don't want to be baby sat. We often go out on our own and get back to the boat in an hour. When we go to the Caribbean, we usually do a 7 day trip with 6 days of 2 tank boat diving and shore diving or a 3 boat dives a day when shore diving is not available. At the end of the week, we usually give the captain or DM $100-150. It may be a little more when we are the only divers on a small boat and will be less if we are crammed on a large boat. They usually have a formula where they divide the tips. If the boat is late or the trip is negatively affected because the crew has to ........, we reduce the tip accordingly. If we feel the captain and crew are doing as little as possible or the DM s are screwing up by leading dives into current or dropping us off in the wrong places, we reduce it appropriately. If we are forced to stay with a group and come up when the first person is running low on air, they will not see a penny. And we will rate the operation appropriately on TripAdvisor or ScubaBoard.

We have also done over a dozen liveaboards. Sometimes, one of the first things the Captain says during the initial briefing is 15-20% of the full price is the appropriate tip. Or on the few "escorted" trips we have done, the trip leader often recommends what we think is an excessive tip. This turns us off especially because of the high trip costs and surcharges. But we know the crew is underpaid because they are told to expect to split tips based on the 15-20% and no one ever tips that much. I think the average tip is about 5% and probably rarely over 10%. Also the split gives the biggest percentage to the captain, and the DM s and the working crew gets very little. We will usually not leave more than $100-150 pp for a 1 week liveaboard. On a recent trip to the Maldives where the boat never got more than 20NM from Male and the dives were short, we didn't tip at all. On another trip to Raja Ampat where we spent entire days at a single dive site and the DM s were just following us or looking for pygmy seahorses, we left very little in the general tip fund but did leave special gifts for a couple of the crew..

We usually book our trips directly with the resort/dive operator. When confirming the reservations, we always ask if they need any small items we can bring down for them. We have carried everything from mail to fuel pumps. Most recently we were told the crew would appreciate some sweets so we brought a couple of big bags of M&Ms which where appreciated even more than cash. We have also given pieces of equipment to DM s. We find "gifts" are more personal and most people appreciate them as much or more than cash.

 

[Ulsterkiwi]

I was brought up in the UK, tipping is only for exceptional service, I now live in NZ and tipping is virtually unheard of here. I dive most weeks with the local operator and I dont tip but I buy all my gear at his shop. My wife and I were on a 4 day liveaboard in Australia. It was (to us) an expensive trip but was for a special occasion. As mentioned here already Aussie does not have a tipping culture. We were settling up our final bill at the end of the trip for extras like Nitrox, drinks and some clothing we bought which added around 5% to what we had paid the travel agent. I had only $100 in cash which I gladly gave to the trip director to be shared amongst the crew who invited us to an evening in the bar onshore. We weren't able to join them because of our travel plans but at least I know there was a round of drinks from us to say thank you. They were VERY appreciative.
I guess the rule is, there are no rules, only other peoples ideas.

 

[SolarStorm]

I will usually tip $5/tank. There are 4 divers in the family now, so a twenty makes it easy. I tip after every dive, as I am never sure if the crew will be the same or on a day off and if the tip will get evenly split. I also like the crew to know that my family appreciates the service. I dont hide it, so as to remind the rest of the boat (although that is usually only 2 more people) that they might like to contribute as well.

I dont know about the dive industry buy my daughters are bartending their way through university and explained here in canada, that if someone doesnt leave a good tip, it actually costs them money because they have to "tip out" (share a flat percentage of the revenue) with the kitchen staff, hostesses, etc. So if someone comes in with a $100 bill, and leaves $102. They actually loose a buck to the "tip out".

Im not sure how the dive industry works, I am assuming the tip is always shared between everyone from the very helpful staff on shore as well as on the boat. After all, I want the guy filling my tanks to "like me".

 

[ScubaDubaDave]

On typical warm water day boat dives in Florida, Carribean, Hawaii with DM we usually tip $5.00 a tank for the two of us for the DM/crew. Captains are typically salary and say they don't get tips but the "crew" appreciates it.

 

[ChrisSG]

As an European working for an American company and living in Asia: It is really a cultural difference and tipping is mainly an American tradition. In the US are people not more generous, but tipping is an expected part of the process when you buy any service. It is therefore calculated into the business case: A coffee in a restaurant is cheaper than in Europe as it hardly needs to pay for a salary - the waiter lives off the tips that are not in the price... everyone knows it and agrees to behave accordingly. The upside is that service in the US is therefore usually better than in Europe - all staff relies on the tips and is therefore more motivated to deliver a good service. As long as you are in an area you are familiar with is it easy - I know how much to tip in the US when in a restaurant and I know that I'll only round it up to the next Euro when in Europe.

So, from personal experience in Asia:

Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand - local divers hardly ever tip the DMs. They are paid from the fees you pay for your dives. These fees might be cheaper than in the US but are having a decent profit margins. The crews as well as anyone working in tourism are far from the bottom of the food chain of the economy. What you consider a low income might be a multiple of what the boat crew made in other jobs before. I recognized that when I dive with groups of local divers, there is some tip jar and people might or might not drop some bucks for good service. When I am in an expat group does the operator usually give some sort of speech on "and here is our tip box, you can really make a difference for our crew and their entire families"... I find this a bit bizarre.

In the end do I not tip per default, but only for excellent service - but nowhere near the sums mentioned here. For example did we tip 50 USD at the end of 11 dives over Christmas (since we are two does this make just over 2 USD a tank). Not into the hand of the DM, but in a tip box for the entire dive center - because it is not just the DM that makes your trip a success but everyone from the boat crew to the staff you probably never met, but filled your tank or made sure your bill is correct. And I do not need to make a fuzz about that tip - I usually make sure the DM as well as the rest know far earlier if I am happy with a service or not.

 

[ebenburger]

I dont tip boat crews. I appreciate their work and efforts but that is there job to ensure they have clients. They are paid a market related salary and the same applies to me. I dont really see why they should be tipped. I will thank them but will not give them money. I am not stingy but fail to see why somebody should be tipped for doing a job they choose and are paid to do. If we tip the dive drew, the waiter, the porter and everybody else we are inflating the cost of our vacation and might not afford to go on vacation. Do you also tip the air hostess?

Ontario. We usually tip the captain - no DMs - 10% of the boat cost. But we never openly display it. Either pay more for the boat or just approach the cap and tip him hands closed

This is probably why you do not see it happening . Some people tip but do not show it.

And no matter where in world you dive no one has ever refused to accept the tips - even in Europe where service fee is usually included

 

[MSDT476614]

didjaallseethethreadSoncheapdiving?

 

[Storker]

Why should a Divemaster show you things - like that hard-to-find Spendid Toadfish in Cozumel - if he has no incentive; he could just do his job and guide you on the dive ... IMO ....

Um, I dunno? Perhaps out of enthusiasm and satisfaction for a dream job that pays enough to make a half-decent living from? If you're not working in the US, that is...

THis is an advanced scuba topic?

Perhaps not, but being rather new here & not knowing where to put the thread, I put up a notice to that effect. I expected a mod to move the thread if it was misplaced.

PS: If this post is in the wrong subforum, I apologize in advance

If it bothers you, why don't you just report the OP and have a mod move it to the correct subforum?

didjaallseethethreadSoncheapdiving?

 

[lv2dive]

I live and work in Thailand, and despite what Jam Jam said above, it's not nice to tip only the local dive staff and buy a beer for the foreign ones. There's no real difference in wages for foreign versus local dive staff, and the foreign ones have more expenses when visa, work permit, and income tax costs are factored in (minimum tax is calculated by nationality, believe it or not). What happens here is that there's typically a tip box for the boat crew, and they divide up whatever is put in there equally. This means that workers you might not see or be able to tip directly, like the galley assistant, get a share. This tip box is only for the boat crew--captain, engineer, deck hands, galley hands--and not for the dive staff. Typically, you would have the same dive staff member working with you throughout your trip, and should you wish to offer a tip, you would hand it to him/her directly and individually.

In practical terms what we see here in regard to tipping is that it depends on the customer's nationality. Some nationalities tip, and others don't. Australians, for example, are famous non-tippers, and the most common justification is the one ferris gives above. Other nationalities do tip, so there's almost always something in the tip jar to divide up. As a result, nobody in Thailand expects a tip from any given diver, and the system of tipping by putting whatever you like in the tip box as you walk past and handing a tip discretely to your dive leader makes it easy for whoever wants not to tip to avoid showing themselves as tight-fisted. On the other hand, everyone appreciates getting tips, and if there are no tips at all in the tip box, they wonder what they did wrong to deserve such a put-down...

Thanks for that detailed explanation. I've done liveaboards where I know the tips are split up by the captain (and def. include the dive staff) but haven't been in the specific situation you describe and I am glad to know how it works in that scenario.