Hi Nibblette,
you say:
"the guide & driver worked very hard during the trip"

Isn't that what they are supposed to do and what you paid for in the first place...
If they had not I would have asked for a refund..
Muck

Some cruise companies have now started to add the tip automatically onto your credit card. I believe it's $15 per day per person which does not include tips for the wine/drink waiter. I understand many people find this quite objectionable as they want to tip on a one to one basis. Anyone heard of that?

Pipsil, the tipping on cruises has been going on for at least the past couple of years. You may want to look at the Cruise forum and search on tipping for more info specifically on tipping on cruises. What applies to a tour and what applies to a cruise are not necessarily the same thing.

(As a quick check, I went to the Carnival web site, FAQs, selected on board ship life, and one of the questions is about tipping on board which clearly spells out how it is handled.)

It's been a decade since we went on a cruise so I'm surprised to learn that tips are now automatically charged. I do recall well that on the last cruise the server was not that great and we could tell that he was just after getting a tip at the cruise's end. He didn't go out of the way to do anything special for our table. The cruise line did require the tips to be given the night before departure. So the server got his tip and his demeanor changed for the worse on the final day: he clearly wasn't happy with what he received. We gave what the guidelines suggested also so he was the one that had a problem.
I still think it should be an option for the passengers to give what they feel and not have tips automatically charged however because some staff members deserve more than others.

Most tour companies include information (back page of brochure or on website or package received from them after booking) re tipping along with other general information, terms and conditions (type of payments, insurance, final payment due dates, room types, cancellation & penalties, etc).

Also, most (but not all, so do check) inclusive tours cover tips for bellmen and porters, waiters, maids. It is rare that the tips for guide and/or driver are included and so the tour operator indicates payment be done direct to these individuals, based on quality of service. However, it is not obligatory.

Tour guides and/or drivers, regardless the country, depend on tips and most go out of their way for their clients. Generally, it is suggested for drivers $2 to $3/day - even though driving is their job, be thankful you have no accidents on trecherous and narrow roads and you arrive safely at your destinations daily; drivers also should be keeping the vehicle clean and often replenished with water, juices, etc. (depending on type/place of tour).

As to guides - here it is suggested tips between $5 to $7 (up to $10)/day, again depending on service and type of guiding. And don't forget those guides that go out of their way with restaurant suggestions/reservations, even negotiating prices when you're shopping.

All suggested tips are per person, per day.

I've seen and heard of guides who have gotten clients out of trouble with local police, when documents have been stolen, if accidents occur and clients need medical care, etc.

This is not to say that all guides are deserving as the time a guide for Abercrombie & Kent (on a walking tour of northern Italy) actually ran after a client when he felt the tip wasn't sufficient. The nerve of this person. Personally, I would have asked for my initial tip back and returned an empty palm to this guide and, of course, reported it to A&K.

Hope this helps.

carrolldf,
Thanks!

As long as you did remember to tip the pilot you should be just fine :)

Frank,

Sandi is correct. Tauck will send you info on the suggested amounts. Recently it was $4-$7 per person per day (although some do give up to $10) It is a personal decision and not a group tip. I think for the driver it was suggested at $2-5 pppd.

I don't know about the drivers, but the gratuity is the bulk of the Tour directors compensation, right or wrong. They get a minimal daily pay as well. However Tauck does not sell any optionals so there is no commission for them to earn, and they are not allowed to accept kickbacks from shops.

All other tips, local guides, bellstaff etc is covered in the price of the tour.

Hope this helps.

I still don't get it. If I owned a company like Tauck, I could not face myself in the mirror - - to fail to do the job of charging fairly, compensating fairly the employees that are the lifeblood of what the company does... and evaluate, and adjust the compensation of the ones doing the best job?

How does the management not die of self-shame?

"Message: I still don't get it. If I owned a company like Tauck, I could not face myself in the mirror - - to fail to do the job of charging fairly, compensating fairly the employees that are the lifeblood of what the company does... and evaluate, and adjust the compensation of the ones doing the best job?

How does the management not die of self-shame?"

Sort of like every restaurant and every other service industry in the US!!!

<<Sort of like every restaurant and every other service industry in the US!!!>>

Are airlines not a service industry? FedEx? Your optometrist? Your accountant? Wedding photographers? Getting your oil changed? Those are not service industries?

The entire system of refusing to do compensation research, pay an appropriate wage, and do employee evaluations - - is morally bankrupt, leaving it to customers to do all these jobs so that management can waltz away from the responsiblity.

I would die of embarrassment to run a business that runs on "tips".

The notion of a vendor suggesting to the consumer of what a tip should consist sounds to me a little like the MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price).

There's a reason it's 'suggested' - namely because if it were appropriate, the vendor would be able to command it, not just suggest it. In other words, the vendor would be able to factor the guide's full compensation into their overall pricing policy. (Whatever else one might think of Rick Steves' tours, his policy of paying his guides enough so as to be able to attract employees without asking his clients to tip them seems to be winning him marketshare in a very competitive industry. )