JJ tours and the route of his Tour?

[inkblot1]

My apologies for this repost- i am new to this, and realize I put it in wrong place yesterday.:confused:

My husband, 6 year old son, and I will be on the Zuiderdam Feb 7 and really want to take our son to the rain forest. Following the great advice I gleaned on this site, I have contacted JJ tours and he has space for us, but i have a few concerns.

 

Following a terrifying drive to Megan's Bay in St Thomas once, I now always need to ask before I book: Can any of you veterans tell me if the route he takes goes along any snaking single lane roads with hair pin along the side of cliffs? My husband and I are both totally height phobic, and cannot bear those types of drives. Needless to say, the canopy tram tour and zip lining are NOT on our agenda!!!

 

thanks so much!!!

[roddee]

I can post an answer to your question when my husband and I return from our cruise. We leave next Saturday and will be in Costa Rica on the 21st, returning home on the 26th.

 

dee

[inkblot1]

Have a fabulous trip!!! I can't wait to hear all about the excursion and the rest of the trip.

 

wendy.

[roddee]

Thanks, Inkblot1, will touch base when we return.

 

6 more days...................

 

Dee

[IGGY63]

Following a terrifying drive to Megan's Bay in St Thomas once, I now always need to ask before I book: Can any of you veterans tell me if the route he takes goes along any snaking single lane roads with hair pin along the side of cliffs? My husband and I are both totally height phobic, and cannot bear those types of drives. thanks so much!!!

 

Don't go to St. Lucia.....lol

[roddee]

I had promised a review of JJ's tour, but our ship was unable to stop in Costa Rica due to a medical emergency onboard, and we had to make an unscheduled stop in Roata, Honduras to get the guest to land so that he could be airlifted to Miami. The stop put us behind in our schedule, so we had to bypass Costa Rica. I wish you all well with your tours, and maybe you can let us know how things went.

 

Dee

[hottiehottie]

Here is my summary of our tour with JJ the end of January:

 

We arranged our tour ahead of time, and when we met him outside the dock, he had picked up 6 other cruise passengers, which was fine with us. We went to the fruit stand, he pointed out a lot of the vegetation, and we went to the banana plantation. He is very informative. The only issue we had was that we had planned to go zip-lining at Jungle Breezes (which is a blast) and he got us set up there, even got us to the head of the line in front of a big cruise excursion, but then left us and took the other passengers back to the cruise dock because they were only doing part of the tour. We thought he would be waiting for us since he went to all the hassle of getting us to the front of the line. It took us about an hour to do the zip line, and then he was no where to be found. We waited for almost an hour and a half and he finally showed up. He said there was a garbage strike that was backing traffic up and that he called the owner of the zip line place to tell us that he was on his way, but we never got any message. We ended up skipping lunch and went to the Canals. He got us on a private boat and we saw a good bit of wildlife (crocodile, sloths, lots of birds). We thought that he'd be on the boat with us since he has the Tourism degree and knows about all the plants and animals, but he left us with the boat driver, who did a pretty good job (we also ran into another cruise excursion on the canals but they were crammed onto a bigger boat). Afterwards, we went to Bonita Beach, but didn't stay since it was getting late, went to a high look out point to take pictures of the boat, and then to the supermarket to buy coffee.

 

Overall, we had a great time and got to see a lot. I'd recommend JJ, just make sure you don't get stranded at the zip line place while he takes other passengers back to the cruise port.

[inkblot1]

We did end up meeting JJ and had a fabulous day! It was only my husband, 6 year old son, and myself on the tour. We did all the same things as others have written about except the ziplining. (fruit stand, banana plantation, beach, canal tour) He stayed with us the entire time, and came onto the little private boat in the canals along with the driver. He is incredibly knowledgable, and friendly. We felt very safe with him. And we too went right to the front of the line at the banana plantation -

 

My one suggestion for anyone doing this trip is to be sure to have a lot of small bills with you - we didnt think of it, and as a result didnt have as many as we would have liked, so once we used them to tip the fruit stand,we did not have small bills to have our pics taken with the child and pet sloth, etc.

 

Wendy.

PS the roads were not snakey or scarey except one bit at the 'lookout point'.

[PACURN]

Thanks for the review. I'll be using JJ next month. What beach did you go to. I want to go to Jaco beach.

[Bruins14]

does JJ have a website?

[lrtjs5]

I would like to contact JJ. Can anyone give me a link?

[shorties]

I would like to contact JJ. Can anyone give me a link?

Here is his e-mail address. joiner72@hotmail.com

Say hello to JJ and his cousins for me.

Here's a picture of him.

 

derl

[4spring09]

Inkblot1,

 

You mentioned your tour with JJ & something about the "child & the pet sloth"? did you go to the Sloth sanctuary or was that part of the other things you mentioned? My husband & I are trying to figure out our excursion & there is a group on our ship that is doing JJ & it sounds like a similiar tour. No mention of sloth sanctuary. Also, how many $1 bills would you recommend having on hand (we'll be going to the bank sbefore we leave, so am just curious) Thanks!

[travelite]

My apologies for this repost- i am new to this, and realize I put it in wrong place yesterday.:confused:

My husband, 6 year old son, and I will be on the Zuiderdam Feb 7 and really want to take our son to the rain forest. Following the great advice I gleaned on this site, I have contacted JJ tours and he has space for us, but i have a few concerns.

 

 

 

Give the canopy tour another thought. I have a height issue also and have done the canopy tram several times. It is very slow and gentle. Your son would love it. It is also a great experience. I'm on your side with the zip line; I gave it a try (one on one with a very patient guide, not with a group) and froze on the platform. My husband had no problem with the zip line. He was happy to have experienced it, but he is not rushing to do again.

The roads in Costa Rica are not nearly as good as St.Thomas. I've spent a lot of time in Costa Rica and need to take something for motion sickness every time unless the drive is very short. The roads in the interior are very hilly and twisty and parts of the Pacific coast also. I have little experience with the east coast roads of Costa Rica. I don't know anything about JJ or his tours so I can't comment on those routes. Costa Rica is a wonderful country. Enjoy what ever you selec

[unclekritz]

Please do not book with JJ tours unless you are booking as a large group. We booked in advance to do a tour in Costa Rica.....and they got a better deal and put us in a cab. We weren't too worried because we thought they would make it right.....BIG mistake....we didn't get any thing close to what we paid for ($90) and were just happy to get back to the ship and out of the cab. Needless to say we didn't tip the driver even though he strongerly advised us too.....BEWARE....we were in Costa Rica on Jan 18, 2012 and JJ tours was a huge mistake

[smallworldtraveller]

i booked J J tours and would not recommend him... we were sent in a private taxi and did not get what we were told on our tour, we booked tour one which was to include a boat tour ... did not happen ,,, we were told that was an extra cost ,,, but i showed our paper work to taxi driver and was told very differently that was not a tour of JJ. Our guy that was sent was could speak some english, but very fluent spanish.... we were only gone 2 hours. The beach you are taken to is to rough to even swim in, there was a near drowning (adult) surf was 8 feet and had a huge under tow. I was asked for a tip at end of tour and no reduction of price.