What’s An Appropriate Tip For…

Ask the cruise director. They are your best source and will know all of the answers.

I observed few people doing this. If some did, it was minimal.

A firm handshake and a warm thank you; or what ever your heart dictates.

Generally for most service providers I do 10% if they were merely competent, maybe 20% if they led a singalong while they drove.

Thank you Jo and Mister E.

Most tour and river cruise companies will provide advice for how much to tip your tour guide for a river cruise, or even a tour guide for a single port.

We did a great Gate 1 two week tour of Egypt in January that included two river cruises (3 days each) as well as land tours. We had a fantastic guide for the entire trip and based on the advice from Gate 1 a tip of $160 would have been sufficient. We gave her $200.

Some recommended 10 or 20%, assuming it was a port day tour. I have done a lot of cruises and river cruises and discussed with others and never known anyone to give 20%. If your port day tour was a full day tour and the guide was excellent and the cost of the tour was $150 for two persons, then $10-$15 would be what I recommend.

Thanks geo.

I tip the guide the equivalent of $2-$10 in local currency. On one occasion I gave $20 to a young guide in Narvik, Norway. She was hilarious and reminded me of my niece.

They should tip me if they did a singalong!

100% agree Dick… 😂

Nice tip Donna! Some people deserve above and beyond tips.

I do not know if asking the tour company about advice on tips for their drivers and guides. That is wholly biased. They will tell you a figure that pleases their people. It is to their advantage to get you to tip adequately because they are not paying people enough overall. Just like restaurants skating on our tips while they manage to only pay a meager wage.
Basically most tipping overall to the guides and drivers is 10% of the cost of the overall trip. Do your math. Multiply the number of passengers on the tour and take 10% of that.

RS tour Italy, $3895pp @ 10% tip pp = $389 x 24 people on tour. That makes it $9336 total tips divided by 11 days equals $848 a day in tips to be split up for guide and driver.
In essence most tour drivers and guides are making waaaay more than many many people not only in their country, but in the US.
Let’s say they only work 6 months a year. And, that they only do two tours a month. That is 22 days a month x 6.
That is $848 day x 22 days x 6 months equals $111,936 a year divided however between guide and driver.
Plus whatever the tour company actually pays them.

to be clear, on our Viking cruise, there were buses & drivers and local guides at each excursion you went on. So if you're going to tip, that could be around 2X at day, for each day of the cruise, not a tip to cover the whole cruise. SO I think the OP was referring to that situation. Maybe not.

Each bus (some stops had 60-80 people going the excursion) has their own. With a bus full of people, that would be a whole crowd of people trying to reach the driver and guide to hand them something. As I said most people just walked right by, without feeling an obligation to tip.

stan, you’re right, i’m asking about tipping the day excursion bus driver and tour guide. I’m asking this question for a friend who’s leaving May 7th on a Viking Danube river cruise. She believes in tipping in this situation, and so do i. Thank you everyone for your responses!