Oscar Brown Tour 1 or 2 or OkeyDokey Tours A-1

[deriam2000]

Need help deciding which tour to go on. We will be cruising with Carnival in April and have never been to Costa Rica.

 

Any suggestions or feedback from your experience would be greatly appreciated.

[celticd1]

I can't comment on Oscar Brown's tour but I can recommmend Okey Dokey and the A1 tour. We booked this tour online several months before the cruise (sailed in mid January 2010) and we did everything that is described on his website. There was however one glitch in the reservation. We were traveling as part of a CC group and we all wanted to stay together. Some people had booked the A1 tour and some had booked the A2 tour (same tour with added zipline). We understood that we were a large group and that we would probably be in seperate vans but we had planned on meeting up at each stop on the tour. During the zipline portion some of us were going to take a walk in the rainforest instead. For whatever reason we did not do this. Each van was divided up into those doing the A1 and those doing the A2 and we all went on seperate tours.

 

Keep in mind that this didn't ruin the excursion and it would not affect my recommendation of the tour at all but it was something that we should have addressed sooner with our driver. Just a heads up.

 

We saw the banana plantation, monkeys, a sloth and other wildlife. We ate lunch (included) at a nice open air restaurant. Choices were chicken or fish, coleslaw, fried plantains and rice and beans. It was very good. Beautiful views. We did a short cruise on the canal and saw lots of birds, a few monkeys and iguanas. We also stopped at Bonita beach. We didn't spend much time there, maybe 20 minutes. We just walked up and down the beach, took a few pictures and headed back to the van. It isn't your typical white, powdery sand caribbean beach. The sand is dark and a little rocky and the surf seemed pretty strong. It looked like a popular beach though. Many local families were there.

 

It was an interesting excursion and I'm glad we did it.

[mrspaper]

We used Okey Dokey tours and had a great time. We were a large group and Christian was our guide. The bosse's daughter came with us on our tour, for her 17th birthday. Her dad met up with us at every stop.

 

We fed the capuchin monkeys, stopped at the side of the road to watch how the sugar cane is made into a drink. We got to assist in the process and taste it. We made a stop over the river to see the crocodiles, they were plentiful.

 

Our tour split up-some took the river cruise and the rest of us went zip lining. The ones on the river cruise had to wait for the driver to come back and pick them up, but they didn't seem to mind too much. When they got to where we were ziplining, they were able to walk through the forest. There were so many people in our group (not just from our tour, but people who walked in from the public as well), that it took alot of time to do the ziplining.

 

The day was topped off with a good lunch in a cafe close to the beach. We didn't wind up with any time for swimming.

 

The driver made a stop at the supermarket on the way back to the ship. If you plan to purchase coffee, it was half the price at the market, than it was in the shops along the way. There is also a small flea market close to the ship.

[Bela]

I'm torn between these 2 tour companies as well.

Have done canopy tours several times so not interested in that tour but the onew without the zip line.

 

Top priorities for tour are: Torteguro canal with history, Banana plantation and then sloths. Up-close or petting one would be a highlight for me! DH could care less.

 

Any other specifics would help us decide like sugar cane processing and tasting, number of wildlife encounters, animal reserve (specifics about for Okey DOkey), includes traditional lunch??

 

Thanks for your help.

[mrspaper]

I'm torn between these 2 tour companies as well.

Have done canopy tours several times so not interested in that tour but the onew without the zip line. Charlie offered the zip line for those that wanted, and a river cruise to see wildlife and crocs, for those who didn't want to zip line.

 

Top priorities for tour are: Torteguro canal with history, Banana plantation and then sloths. Up-close or petting one would be a highlight for me! DH could care less. These were not things we did on our tour, but I'm sure Charlie Soto can arrange whatever you are interested in. My favorite part of the tour was feeding the Capuchin monkeys. When we were in Costa Rica, people warned us against touching the sloths, saying we'd get bugs all over us, I'm not sure if it's true or not.

 

Any other specifics would help us decide like sugar cane processing and tasting, number of wildlife encounters, animal reserve (specifics about for Okey DOkey), includes traditional lunch??On the side of the road, we stopped to watch a guy process sugar cane, and we all got taste it. We got to help out in small ways, like holding the sugar cane as it went through the machine. We didn't go to a plantation or anything. The traditional lunch was good. It was in Jaco, at an outdoor restaurant.

Thanks for your help.

If I can be of further help, let me know

[Crazy4Koko]

You can't go wrong with Charlie Soto and the A-1 tour. The Tortugero canal was FANTASTIC..and if you can get Rupert for a guide..all the better. The tour was just absolutely beyond phenomenal.

 

 

If you click on the link in my signature, you can see lots of pictures in my review.

 

 

As for the sloths..they actually do have bugs in them in the wild..ants. They are a defense mechanism. When predators attack the sloths, the ants swarm and bite the attacker.

[travelfourever]

We just got back on the Carnival Miracle yesterday and we used Oscar Brown tours. It was not quite the experience we were expecting, but he was a nice guy.

 

First of all, ship time is 7 am when you arrive (which is 5 am local time) and you have to be back on the ship 2:30 pm (12:30 local). We had booked the combined 1 and 2 tour which included: Ziplining, Tortuguero Canals, banana plantation, cocoa bean plantation,beach break, lunch and a city tour. THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO DO THIS!

 

We met Oscar at 7 am local time (confusion on the whole daylight savings time thing there when the confirmation said 8 am...we went out early just in case), and off we went. We had a tour of the city, which is very dirty and Oscar told us there is a garbage strike going on. We stopped at a friends house who opened fresh coconuts and had a sloth. My kids thought it was pretty cool. A 20 minute stop at a Del Monte banana plantation and off again. We then went to the zipline and it took us a little over two hours since there were not enough workers. We then had a fresh tilapia lunch and it was 11:10 am local.

 

We told Oscar that we needed to get back to the ship since we made sure to let him know we wanted at least 45 minutes to shop in Limon. He did not want to cut out the canals and wanted to do a brief tour, but we had to INSIST in the end. He was not that friendly after that. He asked for money for the boat tour at half the rate it would have been. We paid that, but we were disappointed. If we had taken the boat ride, we would have had maybe 20 minutes on the boat and no shopping.

 

Maybe Oscar was having a bad day. I don't know! My advice: do not book both ziplining and the Canals. It was hectic for my family of 4 and my parents! We did not have a beach break or visit the cocoa bean plantation either.

 

Lots of others rave about Oscar Brown tours and I wish I could as well. We ended up paying $320 to go ziplining, see a banana plantation (this is no cost), the sloth visit and have lunch.

 

This was just my experience, but I thought it could be helpful to others. Have a great time on your cruise!

[Bela]

Looks like Okey Dokey is the favorite. Thanks again for such detail in ;your opinions. That's just what I was hoping for.

Less than 40 days til cruise.........Whiiippeee!

[michelle1836]

here is a good thread about oscar brown

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=867606

[Bela]

Thanks Michelle.

I was considering either Oscar Brown or Okey Dokey (with Charlie Soto). That link really gave me a good review of Oscar Brown's offerings. My biggest hangup is that I am NOT doing the ziplines this trip so I really don't want to spend my time waiting for others who are zipping. (Don't get me wrong. I love zip lining. I've just done it before in CR) The T Canals, banana plantation and sloths are my main goal here. Trying to hone in on what I really want to get for my tour :)

[michelle1836]

Bela- dont forget to post a review when you get back! we aren't sailing until July, have a great time