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My husband and I are going on an 18-day cruise and land tour to the following countries later this month:
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Russia (St. Petersburg)
Estonia
Latvia
Germany
Denmark
I've been to Europe four times previously, but still, I'm confused. Speaking of restaurants specifically, here in the U.S., we pretty consistently tip 20%. I've always been told that tipping is not only unnecessary in most parts of Europe, but is even sometimes considered insulting (as if it were charity given to people we consider to be our inferiors). I definitely don't want to come off as a cheapskate, though. Please advise. Thanks!
I haven't been to those countries, but in Italy and Greece, you had to ask if it was included (or see it on the menu). We were told if we were pleased, to just leave a couple euros, since they ARE paid a fair wage. So that was a good compromise, since we didn't want to appear cheapskates, nor overdo it.
Once the wait person (who we found out later was the owner, so...) said "Oh no, that's too much" when we tried to hand him a 5 euro.
My husband and I are going on an 18-day cruise and land tour to the following countries later this month:
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Russia (St. Petersburg)
Estonia
Latvia
Germany
Denmark
I've been to Europe four times previously, but still, I'm confused. Speaking of restaurants specifically, here in the U.S., we pretty consistently tip 20%. I've always been told that tipping is not only unnecessary in most parts of Europe, but is even sometimes considered insulting (as if it were charity given to people we consider to be our inferiors). I definitely don't want to come off as a cheapskate, though. Please advise. Thanks!
Its not essential you tip.
If you do tip, an amount of 5% to 10% is appropriate. Cab drivers are happy if you simply round up the amount. For example, a fare of 19.00 euro might be rounded up to 20 euro.
My info is outdated, I went almost every year from 2000-09. In 2000 it was considered an insult to tip. By 2009 i was seeing tip jars all over the place.
You have to research every individual country on that list, because it varies from country to country. I think people mistakenly think that Europeans don't tip at all.
The U.S. is one of the few countries with a tipping culture. There may be some isolated locations where this doesnt apply but, in the rest of the world the workers are paid a living wage thereby making tipping unnecessary. The general rule of thumb is no tipping required and as indicated, may be considered a insult or strange. Rounding up the bill is routinely done to eliminate receiving back more coins and certainly could be considered a tip.
In many locations you'll also see a "service charge" on a bill for service, it's a tip. No need to double pay.
As in the U. S. you may see the prompt on the credit card scanner " Would you like to leave a tip". There is no need to fall for it or feel guilty, again, it's not necessary.
My Polish friend admonished me for tipping and said don't do it. We just got back from France and I only tipped Uber drivers and my husband tipped one waiter before I reminded him of what she said. I have to say, the service was usually great and we didn't get any negative reactions for not tipping. I wish we did it that way here but we won't because they waitstaff is paid low and it is expected. Also, when people work those jobs in Europe, they do it for a lifetime career and take pride in doing good job for the sake of doing a good job, not because they expect a tip. It's kind of awesome.
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