Soto's- the worst tour I have ever done!

[dsclark]

This was by far the worst tour I have ever booked. There are a lot of sting ray tours out there and I can't think of a worse tour than them. In fact, a ships' tour would have been better. I'll go into detail on why they are so bad.

 

We were promised a tour going from 9:30am to 12:30pm. The email I got from them urged that we get on the first tenders from the ship and try to get to the meeting place by 8:30am. Foolishly, we did exactly what they did, rushing off the ship.

We got to the meeting area and were taken to where the boat would leave. There we got around for almost an hour. We were told we would have to wait for some others from the ship. Yeah, I know it sounds selfish of me to not pay $100 (family of four) for a shorten tour so that some inconsiderate clods could eat breakfast while I waited, but hey, Soto would never think of leaving without taking on as many customers as possible. After all, the more people, the more $ they can glean from them (more later).

We spend about 25 minutes at each of the two snorkel areas. At the second area, there were already some huge dble decker ship tour boats there. Both stops were maybe 25 minutes. Then, we went to Sting Ray city..

By the time we got there the place was full of people. Again, we saw those same dbl decker boats there. We got into a cricle and they took groups of people (families) and put stingrays on their backs for massages, let them hold them, etc, while taking a zillion pics in the process. Oh the fun! When it came time for us, I gave my camera to my 12 year old daughter to take ONE frick'in pic. That really pissed off the woman who was the SOto photographer. She kept dodging to the left and to the right between my wife, younger daughter and my older one with the camera. My older daughter cried "She won't let me take the picture, daddy!". She really was going out of ther way to keep her from taking a picture. Our time with the rays, unlike others, was quite short, maybe a matter of seconds. They passed out squid to members of our tour, but they always seemed to walk away from us when he approach them. A woman from a nearby tour took pity on us and gave us some squid.

We were told that we would be there for 30 minutes, but we were told to return to the boat after 23 minutes. I'm sorry, but I think that is pathetic for the $ I spent.

On the way back, the woman went up to everyone on the boat to sell them pics. I think the going rate was $50 for ten pics, it was hard to tell.

We were the last ones to see the camera and the pics of us (no surprise) and she told us that she'd give us the bargain of 6 pics for $40. I told her that I could not buy pics if my daughter wasn't in them. SHe told a lie (gee, why am I not surprised?) that she looked for my daughter later on, but couldn't find her to get a family shot. I really don't like when people blantantly lie like that.

We got back to the dock at 12:15pm. So, rather than give us the 3 hour tour that was promised, we were cheated out of a half hour. I would have appreciated at least an extra 15 minutes at Sting Ray City, but they really shouldn't care.

There goal is to get you on the boat and sell you $50+ worth of pictures. Mutliply that times 15 groups and you're talking big bucks. Once that's done, they can't wait to get back to shore and get new group to harvest.

We would have been better off going with ANYONE else, even a ships tour. When we got there, those people were there, when we left, they were STILL there. I talked to people from other tours and they spent more time there than us.

For those going to GC, there are many Sting Ray tours. I am sure that if you are spending the $ on the cruise and the $ on the tour, you'll want more than 23 minutes with the stingrays, right? If that is the case, don't go with Sotos. Consider yourself warned. Prominently positioned on the boat is a tip cup. It remained empty, from start to finish. That says it all...

[cruisinqt]

I'm absolutely shocked that you had such a bad time with Soto's. :eek: We just used them in November, and had the best time ever. It was the best excursion we ever had and we've had a lot of excursions.

 

Like you, we got on the first tender and arrived at the pick up location an hour ahead of schedule. But we didn't expect them to go out of the way and come pick us up early just because we got there ahead of schedule. It wasn't their fault we got there an hour early. No one can predict how long it will take to get a tender and get ashore. Plus they are a small outfit and all of their boats have their assignments for the day, so they probably couldn't wrangle up a boat just for you. And there were a lot of shops open and ready for business so we just did a little souvenir shopping while we waited.;)

 

I've been on a lot of tours, and $100 for 4 people is fantastic! The ship charges twice what Soto's does and you're packed into a double decker boat waiting forever to get your turn with the rays. You probably had it better than you think. I talked to some of the people that were on the double decker boats and they got 5 to 10 minutes each with the stingrays. They said it was horrible with all of the crowds and no personalized service either.:(

 

I think you should e-mail Soto's and tell them how horrible the photo lady was. I think she was the one that really ruined your tour. Our photographer was a nice young man that was never in the way and very friendly. He even helped my 5 year old daughter hold up a stingray while we took a picture of her. If this woman was so terrible you should tell Soto's so they can correct the matter. You would be doing a valuable service not only for Soto's but for future cruisers that may encounter her.

 

We actually stayed in the water with the rays for about 45 minutes and were offered squid so many times that we lost count. I can't believe that our experiences with Soto's were so vastlyl different. I really do think that the horrible photo lady really ruined it for you. I'm sorry you had such a bad time.

 

Oh, and the tip cup was full as we left the boat.;) I wouldn't judge Soto's solely on this one bad experience. I think this was not the norm for Soto's and that the photo lady was really the culprit here, not Soto's. There have just been too many glowing reviews of Soto's here at CC for them to be this bad. I think this was an isolated episode. I hope your next visit to GC is better. :)

[obosix]

WOW, sorry to hear about your experience, way different from the one my family and I had. We ( 6 of us) had the best time with Sotos. They were helpful and educational. My kids( age 23, 20 , 15 and 12) state it was the best part of the cruise. Yes we did have our pictures taken (only a few) but there was no pressure to buy at all. We had a varied age group on our tour( from real young to about 55) so the experience of each was as varied. The crew was so helpful. We had enough time at each spot and of course when you get to Sting Ray City it is packed (as all tours stop there ) Sotos found a spot where we could all get in the water with as little crowd as possible. Everyone got to pet the rays and the photographer did her best to get pics of all, my son was absent from the pics but so what, took some of my own anyway. Sorry you had a bad experience, but thats way out of the norm for anyone using Sotos. I has origionally picked them affter all the positive feed back from these boards, and buy the way they were so good the tip jar was overflowing..... now thats saying something

[dsclark]

"Like you, we got on the first tender and arrived at the pick up location an hour ahead of schedule. But we didn't expect them to go out of the way and come pick us up early just because we got there ahead of schedule. It wasn't their fault we got there an hour early. No one can predict how long it will take to get a tender and get ashore. Plus they are a small outfit and all of their boats have their assignments for the day, so they probably couldn't wrangle up a boat just for you."

 

You're missing my point. We were told that this would be a three hour tour. We paid for a three hour tour. We got a 2 1/2 hour tour. I didn't expect to be given my own personal tour. Rather, I simply expected what I paid for. I don't think that is asking for too much.

 

I didn't pity the people on those double decker boats one bit. WHy should I? When we got there, they were all in the water, having a great time with the rays. When we left, they were STILL there, having fun with the rays.

 

Now, you can say what you want about tour done last month, last year, etc. I was with them last week and this was my experience.

 

 

 

 

"I think you should e-mail Soto's and tell them how horrible the photo lady was. I think she was the one that really ruined your tour. Our photographer was a nice young man that was never in the way and very friendly. He even helped my 5 year old daughter hold up a stingray while we took a picture of her. If this woman was so terrible you should tell Soto's so they can correct the matter. You would be doing a valuable service not only for Soto's but for future cruisers that may encounter her."

 

Total waste of time. At best they'll say "Sorry" at worst, they'll lie. Hey, they lied about the duration of tour, they lied about given us the option of dropping us off at 7 mile beach (we were dumped off in town, far away from the pick up site), and we were lied to about the pics.

 

"We actually stayed in the water with the rays for about 45 minutes and were offered squid so many times that we lost count. I can't believe that our experiences with Soto's were so vastlyl different. I really do think that the horrible photo lady really ruined it for you. I'm sorry you had such a bad time."

 

I think you'd be upset if your time was cut in half, that's the amount of time we got. Also, it has been mentioned that are making changes (shortening) their tours, with no reduction in rates. We were told via email that we make two snorkel stops and then stingray city, a total of 3 hours. Well, it was 2 1/2 hours.

 

"Oh, and the tip cup was full as we left the boat.;) I wouldn't judge Soto's solely on this one bad experience. I think this was not the norm for Soto's and that the photo lady was really the culprit here, not Soto's. There have just been too many glowing reviews of Soto's here at CC for them to be this bad. I think this was an isolated episode. I hope your next visit to GC is better. :)

"

 

I am judging them on one experience- they are terrible! This was my first trip to Grand Cayman. I don't plan on going back there anytime soon. Should I return, I sure as he11 won't go back to Sotos' just to see if they can give me another tour as krappy as the one I just went on!

[ladycaveat]

I do think you should send a note to Soto and request they they reimburse you $16.67 for the 30 minutes they cut your tour short by. I think that's right . . . I'm not very good at math (thus the reason I'm an attorney) . . . but it seems that $100.00 divided by 6 (3 hours = 6 thirty minute segments) comes to about $16.67 ($4.17 per person) for each thirty minute segment. And maybe a couple more dollars for that aggressive photo lady who wouldn't let your twelve-year-old daughter take any pictures.

[Izzy Bee]

dsclark:

I am sorry you guys didn't enjoy Soto's. Our experience with them was the best highlight of our cruise. Our group consisted of 24 ccer's in November of this year. Like your family, we were on the first tenders from the ship to get to the meeting place by 8:30am. We waited less than 1 minute before the Soto's vans pulled up to pick us up. We too, had to wait for another group from another ship in port but the time passed by so fast as we all we laughing and talking to each other. We also used this time to take photos of the damage to those beautiful houses that Ivan destroyed. I was wishing for a coke machine but that was my only compliant!

Our tour was wonderful. That day, the ship's tours were cancelled because of a storm at sea. The sea was rough and Soto's staff took extra time with those of us who weren't strong swimmers. They even had one staff member stay/assist with a person from our group who could not swim.

Our photos are excellent. I paid, I think, 25 bucks for 2 photos. They were mailed to me on a disk. I didn't know to bring cash to purchase the photos or I would have bought the whole 50 bucks worth. We only had 25 bucks on us. The photo lady took extra time to photo me and DH and also get a group shot with my cc buddy, BAB15316 and her DD. I downloaded my photos I rec'd and made tee shirts and magnets out of them.

I took a photo of my hubby holding a stingray with the Soto crewmember. I just got to the side of the photographer. My photo wasn’t to good as I couldn't hold my camera still and jump waves too!

I thought our tours were plenty long enough. I snorkeled till I was worn out and ready to rest. I don’t wear a watch on vacation but think we were at each stop the amount of time advertised.

I would say our tour with Soto’s rated a 10! I am sorry yours did not.

[KaC-Cruiser]

I am judging them on one experience- they are terrible! This was my first trip to Grand Cayman. I don't plan on going back there anytime soon. Should I return, I sure as he11 won't go back to Sotos' just to see if they can give me another tour as krappy as the one I just went on!

Please don't judge all of Grand Cayman on one bad experience - it's a wonderful island. If you get the opportunity, give the island another shot.

 

And e-mailing your complaint to Soto's is a good idea ... if they blow you off, you'll be further vindicated in your opinion, but you might actually get a sincere apology or even a refund. It never hurts to try .....

[roddee]

I am sorry that you had such a bad experience. Having been on both a ship's tour AND Soto's tour, I definitely would recommend Soto's any day. Our first experience was a few years ago, when we took our son and daughter, who were at that time teenagers. It was, as usual, the kindergarten mentality. We did not get any personal time with a stingray, since they were too quick for us to catch, and there were so many on the tour, there was no one to make sure we had a good experience. In May of this year, my husband and I took all of our children and their spouses. This time we went with Sotos. There were only 20 total on the boat, many were children (they were from a different ship). We ALL got personal attention from the crew, and everyone on our tour had plenty of one-on-one experience with the rays. We had plenty of time for photos, and the photographer on board didn't bother us at all. We had plenty of time to snorkel, our crew member drew out a shark and an eel at the reef, and we got fabulous photos from there. We were always parked away from the other boats to avoid the crowds. All in all we were more than pleased at our experience this trip than on the prior tour. I am sorry you weren't able to experience and appreciate the personal attention we received, but compared to the ship tour, this one was far better.

Dee.

[cruisinqt]

Dsclark, I didn't mean to upset or offend you. I was only trying to point out that your experience was not normal and maybe you should let Soto's know how bad your experience was. I truly believe they will do something about it.

 

As you can see by all of the responses to your thread, Soto's is highly regarded as a fantastic tour company by a great number of people, including me. They have a reputation for being very attentive, and giving people a very personalized tour with lots of one on one attention. They have such a sterling reputation that I think you should give them the benefit of the doubt and e-mail them with your story. As the other CCers mentioned, you could get a partial or even a full refund. And they may even ban the rude photo lady. From what I understand, she is not under their employ. The camera people are a separate outfit that pays a fee to go along and photograph people. Soto's is under no obligation to keep that rude photo lady around and if they find out how bad she is they may not let her on board again.;) You could at least get the satisfaction of knowing that you got her banned from Soto's.