Tippingon excusrions

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mlzangel78

Guest
I have booked all our excursions through princess, i dont feel at the prices i should have to tip anyone for them, though i am reading that others do?? Any thoughts??
I could see if i booked independantly of the ship, but not through princess.
 
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DJA

Guest
Some do, some don't, aout half & half..or maybe a little more than half. Usually a couple of bucks for a tour guide and/or bus driver. Some tour guides are REALLY good, and when you get done with their tour you really feel like giving them something extra. Others just hold out the tip jar as a matter of course. We go on snorkling trips a lot, and sometimes those folks really work hard...much more than driving a bus or talking for a couple of hours...they can make or break a tour like that. My rule is if I really enjoyed it I tip them, if I didn't or it was just OK, I don't. If you feel you don't want to tip, you'll have plenty of company, so don't let it bother you. I'm sure you'll get the usual opinions about their company making all the money and them getting nothing...don't let that bother you either, the guides do quite well on most of these islands and ports.
 
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ron123

Guest
ML,
I felt bomb-barded to tip everywhere in Mexico that we took tours. Our tours were Princess booking too.
I started the 'ADDITIONAL TIPPING' thread so you can kinda figure where i'm coming from....
I would strickly use the guidelines above.. tip if you felt it was exceptional tour or service, not because you feel sorry for anyone.

The best tour we had, I did tip well, "the snorkel and kyak adventure" in Puerta Viarta-excellent, entertaining staff, the "MC" as it was, was also a natualist and gave an unplanned walking tour on the beach on marine life during our beach stop. He went way outta his way. as did all of the staff....

The worst was "Matzatlan Pamplonian flyers and city tour." Just a borring drive around very poor Mexician city , we saw Burger King and Sams club and then... on to our first chance to tip.. (they announced that we would have the chance to tip them to not rush off)...the kids we stopped to see dive off the cliff, and buy more junk. Secondly, of course the bus driver wanted a tip at the end of the tour. Finally the 'flyers' show passed around the tip hat.... None of it was worth tipping for! It was so bad, we waited a whole day ( to cool off from our anger) and filed a complaint with Princess Cruises!

I didnot know about Cruise@ddicts. I am much more informed now and know where to look for information. I am enlightened!
Happy Cruising Ron--
 
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BurBunny

Guest
The tour operators are not paid any more when the excursion is booked through Princes than when booked independently. Usually less, in fact. They are not Princess employees, they are independent contractors. If they do a good job, they deserve a tip, just like other people who serve you (at least in this part of the world).
 
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KarolnDick

Guest
We went on 3 shore excursions on our wonderful recent cruise on the Grand. On one of them (Cozumel) our snorkel guide walked around the boat with a container, asking each passenger for a tip. I think that was tacky. On the 2 other excursions, the guides were very professional. Some people may have tipped them, but they certainly didn't come asking for it.

Given that cruise-booked excursions cost about twice as much as shore-booked ones, I was hesitant to give much extra money (only if someone was truly exceptional). This might not be fair to the employees involved, but I found the constant cash grab a downside of the cruising experience (soda card, icecream, exhorbitant spa treatments, etc.).and hands out for a tip added to that. I sure was pleased to see that gratuities are added to the bill, don't have to be doled out individually.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
We almost always tip per the guidelines for shore excursions. I think it's $1 per person for a half-day tour and $5 per person for a full day tour. Since there's 4 of us, we'll usually tip $5-$10 on a half-day tour because that's what we like to do. A lot depends on how much the tour costs initially. When we booked the Winifred in St. Thomas ($400) for a daysail, we tipped $40.

For our Dolphin Encounter in Coz., I didn't tip anything at all and no one else did. The dolphin handler was grouchy, mean and downright rude. He didn't deserve a penny. It just depends on what YOU want to do. No one can push you to do otherwise. Tipping is a very personal decision. :)
 
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