Canadian or American dollars for tips?

The currency of the country you are in is always best.

Correct -- always use local currency. The idea that people "love" American dollars is an urban myth.

And again correct --or to put it another way, you have yard sale and a Canadien comes by and wants you to their Loonies. Will you?

And as an aside--the guide and tour have already been paid for their services in some fashion by you. Why any additional payment?

Jphbucks, we prefer our own currency just like Europeans do and likely Americans do. We have to go to a bank to exchange currency and thus the time spent doing that takes away from the ‘bonus’ you think you are giving us.

Thank you for your prompt responses. I will have Loonies in hand.

You probably don’t want to bring a lot of Canadian “loonies” with you.
Loonies are our one dollar coins, so your bag might be a bit heavy if you bring those.
We don’t have one or two dollar bills anymore, they start at fives.

As a Canadian, if I got tipped in US dollars, I'd first think, "what the hell am I going to do with THAT". Second, I would think, "what an imperialistic Yankee jerk". Please use Canadian money in Canada. No one wants to schlep to the bank, stand in line, pay the conversion rate, and change their tip into something they can actually spend.

I agree with SJ and darrenblois. Sometimes a shop will have a sign at the cash register saying “US dollars at par”. It’s not to make extra money. It’s to encourage using money that can be deposited, and to avoid having to go into a bank to exchange the US dollars to Canadian. Just pick up some 5 and 10 dollar bills to use as tips if you must. If you can’t get the smaller bills, buy something locally with a 20 or 50 to get change.
That sounds like a lovely cruise. Enjoy!

Well jph, as a Vancouver resident surrounded by cruise ship tourists but also likely more Canadians than however many friends you have, I stand by my point. Many of my local friends here rarely travel to the US in spite of being in a border city so your point about your friends doesn’t necessarily apply universally. Tipping is a loaded enough topic here and elsewhere without adding in the debate of which currency. When in Canada, kindly use a credit card or Canadian currency, the latter being a sign of respect accorded to people in many countries including the US.

You said it's a cruise, and so the guides could be residents of either country regardless of where the excursion happens to be.

Sorry, but that makes no sense. It doesn't matter if it's a cruise or not, if you take an excursion, or hire your own guide, the guides will be local. They will be living and working in that area. What gave you the idea that people living in Halifax or Charlottetown are popping over to the US on anything like a frequent basis?

If the guides for your excursions are not already traveling on the ship with you, but coming from land to take your tour, then in Canadian ports you can assume they live in Canada so will appreciate Canadian dollars.
The same applies if any excursions are in US ports….then give them US dollars.
Perhaps take some bills in each currency, then you’re covered.

As we have said, lots of us don’t travel over the border any more, so have no use for US dollars these days.
Hope your cruise is great! (And welcome to Canada!)

jph, none of the comments have been impolite. The difficulty has been an unwillingness to accept the perspective of a number of us who live here, including in border and cruise ship cities, as having a broader awareness of the best currency to use in our country. I thought this forum was particularly interested in and appreciative of the ‘local’ knowledge.