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If I am planning on going on a day sail private which costs about 600.00. The trip does not include lunch only drinks & maybe snacks. I can snorkel anywhere in St. Thomas/St. John and even go to Jost if I want. Its up to me. What is the proper ettiquette to tip the captain? I have never done this so I don't know. 600.00 is steep but I guess we get the boat to ourselves and we got to choose what we want to do all day.
Normally, I tip anywhere between 18-20%. Sometimes more or less depending on service quality. I'm sure this may be the same but since I didn't know if the gratuity was included in the price and I really was embarassed to ask, I thought I would ask any of you folks who have done this before.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Along the same lines... do you tip taxi's the same 15-20%?
15-20 % should be the norm. That gets split with captain and crew. Less if they don't take good care of you. Just like a waitress, or bartender. They most likely don't own the boat, Don't make alot of money working on the boat, And work hard, making sure you have a great day. Hope you have a great trip.
I would hope that for your $600 price (with no food) you have at least 6 or 8 passengers.
If not ,you are paying a premium price for a simple day trip. The usual tip if your crew feeds you and or helps you snorkel and dive would be about 15/20%. If they just go and come I would consider less.
No that's just it - I wanted to do this and I had to reserve a day. If the Capt or myself found anyone then the cost would be much lower like 150-175pp for the entire day. But as of now, I have found no-one to join me and my trip is coming up.
I don't want to cancel this because I really want to try this since its my first trip the USVI. I didn't know whether the tip would then be included if I ended up paying for it all myself. If so, I think no matter what I'll just tip a 100.00 on the 600.00 - I think that's fair. Very expensive tho, but once in a life time opportunity for now so I'm kinda biting the bullet and eating at my villa a lot. 🙂
Hello,
When is your trip?
Barb - my trip is 1st week December.