Tour director tips on River Cruise
I read where tips for the Tour Director on ship are included in our fare. Is it customary to tip them on top of that per person/per day?
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I read where tips for the Tour Director on ship are included in our fare. Is it customary to tip them on top of that per person/per day?
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No. There are typically three Tour Directors and 1 Cruise Director on river cruises. You'll also have multiple coach drivers. That's why tipping is already included in your fare. On Tauck land tours you only have 1 TD and coach driver and will receive recommended tip amounts.
In addition to tipping already being paid for, excursions and drinks don't cost extra either. Part of why Tauck costs more than Viking.
I find the included tips to be a huge convenience. However, I recently learned that cabin stewards and hotel housekeepers are not tipped.
Really! That’d weird, who told you?
I've never heard of the Scylla crew getting tips. One TD did say it was good to mention them in comments as that got passed on to them. I assume Syclla pays them well as part of the contract with Tauck. For Tauck tour hotels I've been under the impression hotel staff were tipped by Tauck.
I was under the impression that all hotel staff was tipped by Tauck. But, a few tours ago, our TD said housekeeping was not included.
Regarding hotels, I have always left a gratuity for housekeeping and for the concierge if she/he helped us more than just handing out maps.
On riverboats, I always extend a gratuity tucked inside a ‘thank you’ note for the room steward who always greets us by our surname. Same for the bartender who always has our favorite wine poured and waiting for us. Same for the wait staff who is always assigned to our favorite table. My choice.
We are taking a River Cruise in 2 weeks and I am going to find out exactly who is tipped with this all-inclusive price for river cruises.
I was 'under the impression' that it was just the transfer driver (PreCruise from airport to hotel/or boat and PostCruise from boat to hotel/or airport) and the bellmen at the hotels who handle our bags. And of course the tour guides and motor-coach drivers during the cruise.
We have always left tips for housekeepers in the hotels, and the staff on the boat such as our room keepers, bar staff, restaurant servers - they are always so amazing & kind and work so hard and they are away from their families for so long. Tipping the river cruise staff is certainly a personal preference and not mandatory or even suggested by Tauck. We do tip in their local currency.
We have beaten this to death on this venue. On river cruises all ‘normal’ tips are covered by Tauck. If you get room service, or other services like spa treatments, you need to consider tipping. We tip for service above the ‘expected’, and for that we carry around a hundred U.S. one dollar bills for that purpose. The people receiving those tips have always been appreciative. I tend to tip the attentive wait staff at the beginning of the cruise, and the rest of the cruise seems to go very smoothly. That being said, if you don’t require any special services, all tips are included.
I guess for some people, it's not "normal" to tip housekeeping staff. Like AZCreeker, I learned about the exception for housekeeping from a tour director (Don't remember which one). The tips for porters and diningroom staff (for included meals) in hotels and on the riverboats are included.
On a few occasions I have also tipped a local guide, as well as the individual who transports us to and from airports. It is very much a personal choice and one based on the level of service.
Tauck says all inclusive but it is getting a bit crazy. Tauck must have changed what is included because we were always told specifically that housekeeping was included. I’m going to call Tauck when I get home from my current tour about this.
If my memory serves me correctly, it has been years since Tauck has tipped hotel housekeeping. Yes, at one time it was included.
So how are we supposed to know this. Ridiculous!
We have also been told by tour directors that concierges are tipped but we rarely make use of them on tours because we do our own research.
We were advised. I’m merely reporting my experience.
I'll be interested in what Tauck tells British. Especially since different countries have different norms on whether a tip is expected and how much.
This is the language used in the final travel documents received from Tauck right after the section where they list a suggested daily gratuity for the tour director:
"All other service gratuities, including those for your motorcoach driver(s), local guides, hotel bellmen and restaurant staff, have been included in the price of your journey."
While it does not explicitly list housekeeping, it does say "All other service gratuities...."
I agree that the language is confusing. There's a saying in contract law that "the inclusion of one thing is the exclusion of others."
So the word ‘including’ means not all those who get tips are listed there.
That's how I'd read it.
I'm getting ready for our Scandinavia tour this summer. Each of the three countries doesn't use the euro and all have their own currencies. Most of what I read indicates cash isn't widely used and tipping isn't common therefore I may not bother getting any cash from an ATM. So if I was going to tip it would be in $ or any leftover euros.
Claudia I don't remember carrying any local cash during the Scandinavian trip, and I have also heard that housekeeping is not included in Tauck's tips.
I have not seen this much activity on a 'topic' since the days of 'how many masks should we be wearing'!!
In reference to tipping housekeeping on the river ships, this is copied from the Tauck web site "All gratuities to SHIP STAFF, drivers, local guides, Tauck Directors and Tauck Cruise Director". It is under the heading Tauck Value Includes that is listed for each river cruise. This question may have been resolved on this thread so forgive me if I am repeating.
Birder49 - I was speaking about the housekeepers in the PRE & POST hotels Tauck uses.
Confusing because the original poster was talking about tips for tour directors on the ship. As often occurs, the subject deviated. 😀
Thanks to Terrilynn and British who have set me straight. Guess my reading comprehension has gone downhill. Has anyone found the answer to the question about housekeeping tips for pre and post hotel stays?
I’m going to call Tauck next week. I’m not home from vaccine yet. Does anyone else care to call?
Of course it’s not normal to tip these people in other countries as they get better pay than in the US.
We have a Rhine and Moselle coming up in a few weeks so I bit the bullet and called. All of the housekeeping is covered. The only thing that is not covered is for land tours - the tour directors and bus drivers ( ie if you have a dedicated driver the whole tour).
Thanks Mother of Poodles