Gratuity on a Bareboat Charter

[Peeew]

I work as a charter boat captain in the Bahamas. Smaller personal company. Pretty much anyone that qualifies by our rules as a bareboat renter but is not known to us gets a short “sail check” to make sure that can operate the boat and understand its quirks. Usually this is about an hour and if the skipper seems qualified I spend my time mainly with his/her crew on teamwork, anchoring hand signals etc along with some local destination suggestions. Our company does not charge for this sail check. Some tip for this when they appreciate my effort to help their charter go well. Some don’t. And there are some full week captained charters that go very well but some people simply don’t believe in tipping. Whether we like the system or not, these tips make up a large portion of the captains income. Just like the company should tell you that tipping is normally expected on a captained charter I think if a customer does not believe in tipping they should be clear about that from the beginning. It often seems that those that request and receive the most service tip the least. I agree that the company should pay what the work is worth and forget about tips. But right now it doesn’t work that way.

[NaClyDog]

Originally Posted by Peeew

I work as a charter boat captain in the Bahamas. Smaller personal company. Pretty much anyone that qualifies by our rules as a bareboat renter but is not known to us gets a short “sail check” to make sure that can operate the boat and understand its quirks. Usually this is about an hour and if the skipper seems qualified I spend my time mainly with his/her crew on teamwork, anchoring hand signals etc along with some local destination suggestions. Our company does not charge for this sail check. Some tip for this when they appreciate my effort to help their charter go well. Some don’t. And there are some full week captained charters that go very well but some people simply don’t believe in tipping. Whether we like the system or not, these tips make up a large portion of the captains income. Just like the company should tell you that tipping is normally expected on a captained charter I think if a customer does not believe in tipping they should be clear about that from the beginning. It often seems that those that request and receive the most service tip the least. I agree that the company should pay what the work is worth and forget about tips. But right now it doesn’t work that way.

If employees didn't agree to work for tips (instead of a salary) the industry wouldn't be so messed up in this sense. The owners / charter companies need employees to do the work...

[RIglehart]

Tip... "Never pet a burning dog."

[Paul Rogers]

Originally Posted by DavidJH

Hey Everyone,
I was attempting to book our second bareboat charter ever, and this time I was trying to get a boat in the USVI. I was talking to a company "Virgin Islands Yacht Charters", and I was surprised when I was booking they said "We do follow the industry standard of 20% gratuity on the charter fee". They then clarified that they meant on the whole charter fee, not a checkout captain or any other single fee. This seemed very strange to me. Are they trying to rip me off? The info I saw was you might pay 10-20% to a captain, but why on a charter fee?

Thanks!
David

David
If it’s as you say a bareboat, with no Captain or Crew, there’s no way you should pay a gratuity.
I don’t know why the earlier comments say otherwise. They’re trying to have you pants down.

[Paul Rogers]

Originally Posted by Paul Rogers

David
If it’s as you say a bareboat, with no Captain or Crew, there’s no way you should pay a gratuity.
I don’t know why the earlier comments say otherwise. They’re trying to have you pants down.

David
If it’s as you say a bareboat, with no Captain or Crew, there’s no way you should pay a gratuity.
They’re trying to have your pants down.
I don’t know why the earlier comments say otherwise.

[SaylorMade]

Originally Posted by aqfishing

Imagine if you bought a new iphone and Apple charged you a 20% gratuity fee over and above the cost of the phone!

Well, they do... it's just not specified on the bill

[dhenline]

I once had to have a check out "sail" when I started using TMM instead of the moorings, I did not tip the person doing the check out sail. Why would I?
I tip well when I go to restaurants etc. But if the Charter company insists on a check out sail, I dont feel any obligation.

don

[dblk65]

Have bareboated all over the world and never before seen a gratuity added on to a charter fee.