Halifax private tour

[skogler]

We have Johnathan giving our family a private tour. Any comments on the best places to see? Anyone used him before? Is it customary to tip in addition to the fee?

 

Thanks,

Scott

[musicmansmom]

i always tip the guide if they give me a good tour. i will be in halifax for the first time in sept. i am going to do a walking tour on my own through the town. i will also go up to the citadel and check it out. i want to take a whale tour but i will see what a vendor has too offer when i get off the ship. im sure you will have a great time. let us know how it went when you get back. :)

[cape.breton.island]

You picked a great person with your cab .ca hes a great rep for The Halifax area. you'll love him.. I would suggest a lunenberg with mahone bay tour over peggys cave believe me you'll love it ..

[cruzzza]

He subcontracted a taxi driver for our tour. He assured us that the tour would be excellent, even though it wouldn't be with him. He was right! Our guide was AWESOME and the taxi was very nice. I would not hesitate to recommend Jonathan, even if he doesn't do the tour himself. He obviously uses quality people.

[Dean]

How can I contact Jonathan for his Halfax tour? We are going in October

[skogler]

You can contact Johnathan at http://www.yourcab.ca. We leave Friday for New York City and boarding of the Victory on Saturday.

 

 

Scott

[CEV426]

We used Jonathan last Oct for our tour of Halifax and Peggys Cove. He was great....even though it poured the day we were there. He took us to a local lunch spot............nothing fancy, but the best chowder we ever had. There were 6 of us and we did give him an extra $20 per couple.

 

We corresponded on the phone and email....he is prompt, reliable and a gentleman.

[lomo]

Jonathan is awesome. I booked him last year to take my parents and I on a tour of Peggy's Cove, Lunnenberg, and Mahone Bay. He was excellent. I drove him a little crazy with all my emails, but he always replied and he did such a great job on the tour. He was the highlight of our stay in Nova Scotia and probably the best guide I have ever had. Do not hesitate to use him, you will not be sorry.

[pjudge]

We just returned from the Carnival Victory and had a great tour with Jonathan from yourcab tours in Halifax.. We were 14 in total and he took us to Peggy's Cove and a fabulous restaurant for lunch called Shaw's Landing on the water in West Dover. The meal was fabulous and the scenery fantastic. Jonathan stopped by to let us see the outside of the Citadel and we went into the Titanic Cemetary. he pointed out major sights along the way. By the time we arrived at Peggy's Cove, most of the tour busses were gone. He knows his information and is most pleasant. We gave him a gracious tip for a fabulous day and above all his prices are just right.

[Sheebah]

Hey everybody,

Can you squeeze Peggys Cove, Mahone Bay, Lunenburg and Titanic stuff into one day?

I just emailed Jonathan for a quote. I wonder if he will be able to accomodate just the two of us.

[pamkev]

I echo eveyone's posting about Jonthan. He is great to work with. We had a another guide other than Jonathan and he was GREAT! I would not hestiate to use him again!

 

Pam

[CEV426]

Hey everybody,

I just emailed Jonathan for a quote. I wonder if he will be able to accomodate just the two of us.

 

His tours are definitely more cost effective if you have a group, or can form one here on the boards. I was going to do Halifax area on our own since we were there last year ( Peggy's Cove) But now I am considering one of his trips to Lunenburg & Mahone Bay. There is just the 2 of us instead of six, so it may be cost prohibitive. I will mail him and see if we can join another prospective group.

[Sheebah]

His tours are definitely more cost effective if you have a group, or can form one here on the boards. I was going to do Halifax area on our own since we were there last year ( Peggy's Cove) But now I am considering one of his trips to Lunenburg & Mahone Bay. There is just the 2 of us instead of six, so it may be cost prohibitive. I will mail him and see if we can join another prospective group.

 

CEV,

We posted on our roll call that we were doing it and immediately made some friends to share our tour. I tried asking Jonathan to find us a group...he said he'd keep his eye out, then referred me to Cruise Critic! Too funny! We're doing Peggys Cove, Lunenburg, Chester and Mahone in 6 hours.

Best of luck to you on your upcoming trip.

[CEV426]

Sheebah,

 

I did email him yesterday about the exact tour you are doing. What date will you be there? We will be there on Oct. 3.

 

My roll call board does not have too much activity:( I have been with cruise critic for some time and some roll calls take off and others dont. Maybe we'll get some last minute interest. I find these boards invaluable. I wish there was a similar "general" travel related site out there.

 

You will be pleased with Jonanthan.

[Sheebah]

Sheebah,

 

I did email him yesterday about the exact tour you are doing. What date will you be there? We will be there on Oct. 3.

 

My roll call board does not have too much activity:( I have been with cruise critic for some time and some roll calls take off and others dont. Maybe we'll get some last minute interest. I find these boards invaluable. I wish there was a similar "general" travel related site out there.

 

You will be pleased with Jonanthan.

 

Hey CEV,

We are going tomorrow, so we'll see Jonathan on 8/31. Maybe when your cruise is a little closer the roll call will pick up. I'll post photos when I get back. Have a good weekend.

[CEV426]

Have a great cruise. Tell Jonathan I said hi (Cindy Vaughan....LOL) He seemed to remember me from last year when I mailed him the other day. he should remember us.....he ended up escorting us on his holiday.....Canada's Thanksgiving Day! If interested, he will probably take you to www.shawslanding.ca for lunch. Get the chowder! We were 3 couple traveling together and we bought him his lunch.

[Sheebah]

Cindy

Thank you! I'll tell him you said hello. Wish you could join us. Looking forward to that Chowdah!

[cruise.baby]

I've heard Jonathon's tours are great. We couldn't get an answer from him, but someone directed us to Greg of Kiwi Kaboodle (http://www.novascotiatoursandtravel.com). He gives you the option of teaming up with others on the cruise, and then divides the prices of the tour between all of you, so it works out cheaper. We loved his tour - just did Halifax & Peggy's Cove, but we have friends who stayed in Nova Scotia for a week and did many tours with him, and they say his tours were the highlight of their stay in Nova Scotia. And tipping is generally the thing to do if you enjoyed your tour.

[tazlina3]

We just returned from our cruise which included Halifax, and a tour with Jonathan.

 

While I agree he is an excellent tour guide -- very knowledgeable, and entertaining as well -- he did something to us which I found a little bit "bait and switch"-y.

 

I had booked him for a 3-hour tour to Peggy's Cove (from 9-12) not knowing if we'd come up with 2 more to fill out the van. I did find another couple interested in going with us, and quoted them the price he'd quoted us, $36.25 each (US). But when the tour was over, he had spent longer than the agreed-on three hours, and thus demanded more money. It was really no big deal to us, since we had, in fact, received a longer tour, but I was quite embarrassed when it came time to pay. Of course I offered to make up the difference and let the other couple pay the agreed-on price, but they wouldn't hear of it and ponied up the extra $25.50 (per couple) to pay their half.

 

I felt simply awful. If Jonathan had told us what he was planning to do (go more places and charge more) we could have made a decision from the start and decided whether or not to take it. But just throwing it at us like that, as we were exiting the car, was, in my opinion, unprofessional.

 

Just a word of warning if you use him -- be sure to negotiate the EXACT cost BEFORE you drive off with him!

[ocean.queen]

I too just had a problem with Mr Duru. I booked him a year in advance and even spoke to him in person on the phone. He assured me he would be our guide for the day and quoted me '05 rates for the 6 hr tour. When I e-mailed to reconfirm he responded with a confirmation for the wrong tour and a pick-up at the wrong ship. We went back and forth and I could never get a solid response. He just kept saying look at the web site for pricing. Unfortunately, the first quote was on the phone and I had no record of it to print and take with me. But I did have my repeated request for a 6hr tour and his response for a discount on the '06 pricing. I thought it was very strange that he would never quote a price thru e-mail.

 

When we arrived we were not met by Mr Duru but a taxi driver!! He drove us to the places we chose but got lost 3 times and had to stop for directions. He never talked to us once we left Halifax except to ask us about OUR city. We never saw Chester...he missed the center of the village. He drove right thru Mahone Bay (didn't see too much). He stopped once in Lunenburg at an awful place for lunch.

 

We spoke at lunch and decided to just not let the problems ruin our day with dissappointment but then when we got back in 6 hrs exactly we were charged for a 7.5 hr tour. The security guard heard the argument and called the supervisor of the dock. I guess this has happened before!! We ended up paying the full '06 rate for a 6 hr tour because of my copies of e-mails but the day was sort of ruined at this point.

 

My advice...make sure Mr Duru is your guide for the day and get an exact quote IN WRITING and take it with you!

[pmnb29]

We just had a tour with Jonathan the first week of October this year, and I have to say he was great! We had booked him for 4 hours, and he went way over that, but did not charge us extra at all! When we were on the tour, we asked him about the time and he kept telling us not to worry about it. We specifically told him we were concerned that it was going to cost us more, and he told us he would not charge us any extra. He was true to his word. He was a great tour guide, very informative and has a great sense of humor. I would highly recommend him to anyone going to Halifax.

[ocean.queen]

I'm glad you were fortunate enough to get Jonathan as your guide.