Charlie Sota A1 tour and Sloth Farm anyone?

[Ohio-C-Luver]

Has anyone taken Charlie Soto's A1 tour with the Sloth Farm? :confused: How was it? Were the guides friendly? :) Would you recommend this tour? Trying to decide to take this tour vs. the ships tour, usually hate ships tours. Please we invite your comments! The restrauant that you ate lunch in, did they serve Lobster? Do you remember the cost?

Thanks so much for your replies!;)

[Ohio-C-Luver]

Has anyone taken Charlie Soto's A1 tour with the Sloth Farm? :confused: How was it? Were the guides friendly? :) Would you recommend this tour? Trying to decide to take this tour vs. the ships tour, usually hate ships tours. Please we invite your comments! The restrauant that you ate lunch in, did they serve Lobster? Do you remember the cost?

Thanks so much for your replies!;)

Has anyone been on Charlie Soto's tour for lunch? What do they serve? Is there any beach time? We're going in 3 weeks, can't wait!

[prescottbob]

from a 3/07 cruise aboard the Volendam. Lunch was included but I'm not sure if it still is (and yes they have lobster but was not part of the lunch deal,and yes you can spend some beach time-the restraunt is on the beach).

 

Just contact Charley by email and get detailed answers to your questions. He's very good about quick replies.

 

We enoyed the tour (much better then the "Big Bus Tour").

 

Also be sure to take a copy of Charley's reponse and confirmation with you.

 

Here was my take at the time:

 

 

COSTA RICA : I booked a Charley Soto A1 tour via the internet prior to the cruise for $50 pp and what a great tour it was. We had a private car with a driver that provided us a great day. We visited a private plantation and played with a sloth, hit a banana plantation, did a hour long float on the Tortugero Canal via private boat and then reached Bonita Beach for lunch. After lunch we made our way down to the local supermarket to pick up some coffee and Nivea. Great day.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Bon Voyage & Good Health!

Bob:)

[ExDean]

We didn't do the A1 but did the A2. Seems the big difference was the zip line but not the sloth farm on the A2. Our guide, Carlos, was excellent and treated us to all sorts of experiences including "meeting a sloth close up." The lunch was at a local restaurant on the beach but beach time wasn't in our schedule. We liked seeing things the "big tours" miss like stopping at the local fruit stands to get educated on the local foods. We'd recoimmenc Charlie hands down.

[Chelanllama]

We just returned from a Charlie Soto A-1 Tour at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica in Feb. 2009.

Our guide was Carlos and he was the best we've ever had, and the friendly driver was Marcos.

Here was the schedule:

8:00 AM getting together and ride in the van. Lots to see along the road.

9:00 Walking Jungle Tour. This was my favorite...lemon grass, many kinds of trees, very sweet wild bananas, ginger roots, paprika...(never had seen this before as a seed)...etc. Good restroom facilities.

10:15 Lots of Howler monkeys in trees along the road.(Their voices are very low, surprise.)

10:30 Del Monte Banana Plantation Tour and Processing

11:30 Tortuguero River Tour - sloths, egrets, Jesus Christ lizards, ok tour

12:45 Lunch at La Playa Bonita Rice/bean dish, coleslaw/cucumber salad, chicken, fried flattened plaintain (patacones) with beer or soda included. Really enjoyed it.

1:30 to a local supermarket for coffee at a good price...with advice and info on other products of Costa Rica. This was an especially unusual and useful idea to include in a tour. We highly recommend this A-1 Charlie Soto Tour.

[mdeane]

I would like to tell you what a great guy Charlie Soto is. We toured with him a couple of years ago and had a wonderful time. We are going back to Costa Rica to vacation there and he got us a great deal at a resort and also will meet us at the airport. He knows just what we want and will go to any length to make you happy. We love okeydokey tours.

[cd2]

How long of a walk thru the jungle? I have plantar fascitis and my foot won't last a long time walking.

[Winedogs]

Charlie Soto tours are great. Just did the A-1 tour in Puerto Limon a few weeks ago. Jorge was our guide. We had done a tour in Puentarenas when on the Pacific side and it was also great. The guide stopped along the road to show us the Howler Monkeys, birds, a fruit stand and then stopped to pick flowers for the 3 women in the bus. Nice extra touch. They stopped to pick up ice to add to the cooler on our way out of town, beer, water, soft drinks to have. Banana plantation was great as was the Tortuguero Canal. Ate lunch at a beach location and had choice of beef or chicken there. This was supposed to give you a taste of Costa Rican cuisine. Had beer there and though lunch was included, we paid extra for the beer we had consumed. A local man showed us a sloth which was hanging on a branch. Paid cash and a tip at the end of the tour. All around A+ operation and always recommend to friends. There was only 6 persons on our tour. We never go with the cruise line tours if possible as we don't care for the "cattle car" feel of traveling in mass.

Have a great time!!

[Prairie_Gal]

We did the A1 tour. If you click on the Miracle Review in my signature you can read my review, with pictures, of our tour. I highly recommend it.

[CruisingChick]

We just sailed Celebrity Constellation 4/6-17 and did the Charlie Soto A1 Tour. It was the highlight of our trip and the best tour we took that cruise. Carlos was our guide. The cost was $59 per person and there were only 4 of us so it was really personal. If I ever get back I would book one of his other tours.

 

Anne Maria

[gone_cruisin]

Thanks for the info everyone - definitely looking into booking with Charlie.

[unklez]

Sorry to throw a spanner in your works but make sure you take with you printed emails with Charlie. We did not such a good experience and it was mainly due to his misrepresentation of what we would get and what we actually got. I had my blackberry with me and had to remind him or his guide multiple times and show them the emails on what else they had promised. Most people seem to have a good time in Costa Rica. So did we.