Tours By Locals feedback

[jagi]

Has anyone ever used Tours By Locals in any port? Have you any feedback of this Agency?

[orchestrapal]

Has anyone ever used Tours By Locals in any port? Have you any feedback of this Agency?

 

They are exactly what they claim. We have had some very good experiences with their guides as well as some just OK ones. If you have any specific interests they will try to match a guide with more information in that area of interest.

It is certainly worth a try.

[pacheco18]

Crap shoot

I would only use a guide from Tours By Locals on recommendation from another cruiser. They are not all created equal.

 

The other issue is that you really have no company backing them up if there is a problem.

 

Tours by locals is my last resort.

[Pearl64]

Yes, we were part of a group who used them in Akaora. We had some major issues with our guide a couple of weeks before we left to head to New Zealand, but the corporate office in Vancouver went to work for us and solved the problem. This tour was outstanding and reasonable. My only complaint about them is they usually require payment before taking the tour or at least a deposit. We were part of another group who used Tours by Locals in Recife, Brazil. Our only complaint was it more or less ended up being transportation as there was little commentary. Some of the group wanted to see the oldest synagogue but it was closed and our guide did not know that. It was published in tour hooks that it would be closed. The tour was okay, just not outstanding.

 

They are just like any other company: you can have good guides and some not so good. If the tour is what you want and the price is right, I'd give them a try.

 

Pearl

[Fetchpeople]

The bad news:

We were part of a Tours By Locals group in Grenada, Spain. It was a total disaster: the guide did not show, the driver spoke only Spanish, they failed to follow the planned intinerary, a substitute guide came for a while and then handed us off to another substitute, and much more.

 

The so so news:

The home office agreed to a partial refund, a token amount only.

 

The good news:

After a courteous and professional conversation, every one received a full refund in casn (not a credit slip).

 

And to top it off the office also sent everyone a $100 coupon towards a future tour.

 

In short, the company's heart is in the right place, but they are dependent on non-employees a continent or 2 away.

[Ka Honu]

We had good experiences on our TA last November-December with their vendors in Barcelona (a day trip to Montserrat) and Rio (a full day ending at the airport). In both cases the guides were knowledgeable, spoke good English, and adapted to our requests.

 

Ours may not be a totally representative experience but we'll use them again. I'd recommend contacting your assigned guide after booking and, if he/she doesn't seem to be what you're looking for, go back to the company for a substitute.

[hawkeye3d]

We’ve used them a few times with only good experiences. They promptly refunded when a port was cancelled. This contrasts with our bad experience with a guide from another company where the guide found the pier and couldn’t find the ship. (hint it’s big and white and FLOATS)

[burm]

We’ve used them a few times with only good experiences. They promptly refunded when a port was cancelled. This contrasts with our bad experience with a guide from another company where the guide found the pier and couldn’t find the ship. (hint it’s big and white and FLOATS)

 

 

LOL. I don't think you are being fair to the guide. Were there perhaps two big floaty things in port that day? That could get really confusing.

 

We recently had a Tours by Locals outing cancelled, and the money was refunded that same day to Pay Pal.

[pacheco18]

Other than a referral from a fellow cruiser who has used a particular Tours By Locals guide, I would look carefully at comments. If there are none, or very few, I would not use the guide.

 

I have organized ALL the private tours for our upcoming Cape Town to Singapore 30 night cruise. I have not used Tours by Locals once (although I did contact one well reviewed guide from TbyL who wanted money upfront). I won't do that.

 

Again, I think here and there you can get lucky, but it is and would be my choice of last resort.

[jagi]

Thank you all for your feedback. I will steer clear of them unless I have no choice.

[JimandStan]

Thank you all for your feedback. I will steer clear of them unless I have no choice.

 

One small caveat, just to make your life a little more confusing, we've had extraordinary luck with Tours by Locals in ports like Kotor and Crete, where almost every Guide works through several Tour Companies, and TBL is more a less a convenient method of plugging the proper credentials into a Tour that one is Assembling.

 

For a person like myself, who prefers to insure the Guides' educational background, linguistic fluidity and expertise with transportation, their service worked out to be exactly what I was looking for.

 

And, on the day of our Tours, the Guides and Drivers were punctual, polite, and reasonably kempt. All in all, a bargain well struck :D

[ptrpanpens]

Thank you all for your feedback. I will steer clear of them unless I have no choice.

 

I have used them several times and they have always been outstanding. Last year I used Fabrizio in Naples and it was the best tour I have ever had in almost 30 years of cruising. Also had other excellent guides in Italy and France from this group.

 

I think it is just a matter of doing your research beforehand and checking comments.

[Ka Honu]

Thank you all for your feedback. I will steer clear of them unless I have no choice.

 

I must have been reading different posts. I saw two disparaging comments (one from someone who had never used the service) and the rest seemed neutral to positive.

 

I read the overall tone (with those two exceptions) as "Do your homework and you'll have a good experience." I don't know how much more you can expect.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Ka Honu

[pacheco18]

Neutral is not good enough when you are booking private tours

 

If someone is neutral about a guide or tour operator that's a negative

 

Only rave reviews will do

 

 

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