Independent tours

[Driftwoodgal]

Els,

 

Thanks for you reply. I didn't respond to the first post by PuertoLimonTourGuide as I can understand that everyone wants business. When he or she started attacking Oscar and Charlie I thought enough is enough. Yes, Oscar has worked very hard to obtain the reputation that he has. He does not post at all on the boards. What is sad is he had a client that was going to help him with his website and she has left it unfinished. I would finish it if I had the smarts to do something like that, but alas my computer skills stop at posting. I can't even quote someone on these boards LOL.

 

Have a great time on your tour Costa Rica is one of my favorite ports. Make sure you come back with some of their coffee it's the best.

 

On our next stop I want to see if Oscar has a tour to the volcano. I am not sure how far it is from port so I don't know if it is even possible because of the time element.

 

What do you have planned in Puntarenas?

[elsje]

Els,

 

Thanks for you reply. I didn't respond to the first post by PuertoLimonTourGuide as I can understand that everyone wants business. When he or she started attacking Oscar and Charlie I thought enough is enough. Yes, Oscar has worked very hard to obtain the reputation that he has. He does not post at all on the boards. What is sad is he had a client that was going to help him with his website and she has left it unfinished. I would finish it if I had the smarts to do something like that, but alas my computer skills stop at posting. I can't even quote someone on these boards LOL.

 

Have a great time on your tour Costa Rica is one of my favorite ports. Make sure you come back with some of their coffee it's the best.

 

On our next stop I want to see if Oscar has a tour to the volcano. I am not sure how far it is from port so I don't know if it is even possible because of the time element.

 

What do you have planned in Puntarenas?

 

Hi Colleen ~ Last December we did the Canopy Tour, Skywalk and Manuel Antonio State park. I am traveling with my MIL (82) on this Panama Canal cruise and she does not walk as well anymore, so Charlie is taking us to Turubari, an ecological park, that is suppose to be wonderful. Check it out on www.turubari.com. Afterwards he will take us to Cuacimal, a small village, to animal place and a view point. It is in the Jaco town area. I have been there and it is beautiful so I think this itinerary will be wonderful for MIL. I also heard if she gets tired they have carts she can use.

 

I love the people of Costa Rica. Their forrests are unbelievable. My DH and I would like to return for a week and rent a lodge to go and hike in the Monteverde forrest and the volcano area. Hopefully Oscar will be able to offer that for you, if time permits. His sister, Carol, emailed me earlier on ans she seems very nice. I understand they are still trying to get their web-site up and running. Sure wish someone from these boards could help them out. I am not a whiz at such things either;)

 

Nice chatting with you, Colleen ~ today I am finishing up the last packing things ~ clean house and celebrate my DH husband's birthday with him before his mom and I fly off to Seattle. Have a great day ~ Els

 

BTW ~ DH can not take 19 day vacations and he thinks it is wonderful his mom and I are cruising together. In May she and I did the Transatlantic on the Galaxy ended up in Rome and stayed there 3 days. We had a wonderful time.

[lazygal]

Hi! Colleen, remember me? I'm returning to beautiful Costa Rica in 2 weeks.

 

I also have stayed out of this thread as I know personally how ugly the need for business dollars can get. I turned my back on Almonds and Corals for that very reason after sending a ton of business their way. I would like everyone to get their fair share but greed can rear an ugly head.

 

I very well remember the red tent. When I appraoched it about a ziplining tour I was told over and over that no tour existed. I marched my group off the pier and into the welcome arms of a wonderful man willing to take me anywhere I wanted to go and of course, ziplining took place that day.

 

and that is how you get the business $$ - giving the customer what they want

 

A good word here can make you but a bad one can break you, so keep it honest and fair.

[Driftwoodgal]

Lazygal,

 

I couldn't have said it any better! I was sold on Oscar when he took Basketlady and her husband for a tour. Its to bad that the old archive posts can't be read anymore.

 

I hope you have a great visit in Costa Rica. If you think about it, come back and post what you did, if there are additional tours that might be available to cruisers.

[breenw]

Elsje - do you mind me asking approximately what your tour is costing you with Oscar? We are trying to figure out what to do when we get to Costa Rica and I would love some suggestions. We were there 2 years ago in Puntarentas with a full transit Panama Canal cruise and we loved our private tour guide. Since we are going into Puerto Limon, we don't know what to plan.

[Driftwoodgal]

breenw,

 

If you go to Oscar's website you can get a price of his companies standard tours. Go to the top of this thread and you will see a link to his website.

 

He has done a combination of tours when someone asked him, and if you email him, you will be given a price for your requested tour. That is what I have loved about dealing with Oscar. He tailors the tour around what you want to do. His business has grown, but I haven't heard any negative reports about his associates that are helping handle tours.

 

I just wish I had another cruise going back to Costa Rica. I have lots of other places I want to visit on our next trip. Guess I will have to wait until my next PC cruise.

[johnlcruise]

breenw,

 

If you go to Oscar's website you can get a price of his companies standard tours. Go to the top of this thread and you will see a link to his website.

 

He has done a combination of tours when someone asked him, and if you email him, you will be given a price for your requested tour. That is what I have loved about dealing with Oscar. He tailors the tour around what you want to do. His business has grown, but I haven't heard any negative reports about his associates that are helping handle tours.

 

I just wish I had another cruise going back to Costa Rica. I have lots of other places I want to visit on our next trip. Guess I will have to wait until my next PC cruise.

 

I agree.

We will be doing a combination tour with Oscar's this Nov.6th.

Carol was very helpful, because I'm travling with two people in there 80's and I still wanted to do the zipline and they where able to make it happen.

They are really fast when e-mailing them. Usually you get a reply with-in one day. Now that what I call GREAT service.:)

6 weeks togo. Cant wait

[Driftwoodgal]

Johnlcruise,

 

If you have the time when you get back, it would be helpful to others to post what the non zipliners did when you did the zipline. When we were there in January it was raining so hard that we decided not to zipline. We stood around waiting for them to finish. It looked like the place Oscar is now using to zipline was putting in some wonderful nature trails.

 

Since we had already ziplined we chose not to do it again in the rain. Two brave souls did and they had a blast. The rain stopped right after they started and didn't start again until they were almost through. I liked using the closer zipline as we were able to do so much more because the travel time getting from place to place was shorter.

 

I hope you have a great cruise. Tell Oscar Colleen said Howdy.

[johnlcruise]

Johnlcruise,

 

If you have the time when you get back, it would be helpful to others to post what the non zipliners did when you did the zipline. When we were there in January it was raining so hard that we decided not to zipline. We stood around waiting for them to finish. It looked like the place Oscar is now using to zipline was putting in some wonderful nature trails.

 

Tell Oscar Colleen said Howdy.

 

No worries. I do plan on doing a post when I get back.

So far, I have been told that the non zipliners will be taken to a local village for a vist with the locals.

Will let you know. :)

[CruisinFools]

Wow! The response to my original post has been fantastic! Thanks so much to all you wonderful CC'rs for the invaluable info.

[Driftwoodgal]

originally posted by CRUSINFOOLS

Wow! The response to my original post has been fantastic! Thanks so much to all you wonderful CC'rs for the invaluable info.

 

That is what makes the boards so valuable. You can get information from someone that has already taken a tour and has been to a port. You get the good the bad and the ugly. There isn't a perfect tour, but you can have a great guide that shows you their country at its finest.

 

It is important that when you have a great time with any tour operator to come back to these boards and pass it forward to someone else that is looking for information.

[LuAnn]

Everyone has their own expectations and ideas of what to expect on a vacation. We have planned our own excursions for the last several years based on the helpful and informative feed-back from our "fellow" CC'ers. I think that a tour operator that you choose, after reviewing these boards, will be an excellent choice..based on my past experiences in Costa Rica (Charlie) and others in Tahiti, Alaska and Mexico. For us, the chance to experience the "smaller" venue/group etc. is very important! LuAnn

[Ontario Cruiser]

Does the association mentioned on this thread have tours from Puntarenas and is there a website

[threejs]

Last time that you visited do you remember that there is a red tent in front of the ship??

 

Well that tent is dedicated to sell shore excursions; it is the transporters association from Limon. They have nothing to do with the official shore excursions. They have the best prices. They have around 100 members that all own vans for 14 passengers and taxis. If you are a member you need to subscribe yourself in a list and wait for your turn, because there are not enough costumers for the 100 of them to have job in the same day. So every morning very early they show up to the port read the list and see what position they have for that day. If they are in the first 40 they might get some work. Oscar and Charlie used to belong to that list. Nowadays they pick up 8, 10, 20 or 40 passengers per day. While others in the list dream with getting a couple. The association would probably have a lot more of work if the first person that bought the tour would have mentioned on this website how good buying the tour in the “red tent” instead of only mentioning how good the tour with that specific tour guide was.

 

I think there are many tour guides that work in the association that deserve a shot. And most of them still dont know is because of this website, most dont even understand what a website is.

 

Sorry for my grammar... as a tour guide am only use to speak not to write.

 

Just back from our cruise. This was the best day of our cruise. Private van for the six of us. Great prices, where we wanted to go, lots of information, great guide (Richard) and driver (Reynaldo). We learned so much about the area and the people and had a wonderful adventure at Brisas de la Jungla on the zip line. Shared a great lunch by the beach with them, learned about their families and how they lived, very interesting, made my daughter appreciate how she lives. Bit of shopping by the port. Give them a chance to show you their country personally. Overall the price was much better than what the ship offered and this was more personal. Highly recommend the Red Tent.