Jump to content

Timmys_mom

Members
  • Posts

    5,229
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Minnesota

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Timmys_mom's Achievements

5,000+ Club

5,000+ Club (4/15)

  • Great Review Rare

Recent Badges

  1. I wrote this review for TripAdvisor, but I wanted to share it here also because of my concerns about cruisers getting back to the ship on time. I've been a member of CC for a long time and have depended upon reviews on this forum to make good excursion choices. This is not the review I wanted to write. I wanted to write about spending a fantastic morning riding through the countryside in Bonaire with my son. Instead, I’m writing this. We were staying on-island and this was our final day. I don’t have many pictures because we were using a GoPro for the first half of the trip. I do have a lot of pictures of the last part because we were going slowly enough for still shots. There were so many red flags we should have heeded. The website that was impossible to navigate, the emails with no response, etc. But we figured a poor web designer isn’t their fault. So, we called and made reservations for a morning, 2-hour dune buggy ride. We arrived at the appointed hour and signed the requisite releases. Our guide brought us out to our ride for the day and told us to not shut it off during the trip because the battery would die. Okay, no problem. My son sat down in the driver’s seat and tried to buckle in, but the shoulder strap would not retract. We were told an obese woman was the last person to use the buggy and now the seat belt was broke. She tried WD-40, but that didn’t help. She then tried to tie a knot in the strap, but that didn’t work either. Sam and I figured something out. This was another point where we should have given up. We took off through the local streets and about ½ mile into the journey, the guide buggy hit a dog. Of course, this was not her fault, but it was a bit traumatizing. The dog ran off and hid, so we spent some time looking for it and the owner. We finally left after about a 20 minute delay. Perhaps we should have turned around then, too. The next hour was fun. We zipped through the back roads and saw a few things. We did notice that our guide was using a large rock for a parking brake because hers did not work and our buggy made sharper right turns than left turns (or vice versa, I don’t remember exactly). We finally reached the furthest point on our journey, a remote area near the start of the mangroves, and we were about to start heading back when her buggy shut down. She tried for several minutes to restart it, to no avail. It was our good fortune that a man was fishing nearby, and he offered to tow her back to a main road where she could be met by Patrick with a buggy that worked. The next 45 minutes were spent puttering behind her and making bad jokes about the exciting tour we were on and waiting for Patrick on the side of the road. I was asked to front $10 for the gentleman who towed her, which I did. The man deserved it for saving us. Patrick did arrive and unloaded the new buggy, jumped into the disabled buggy, turned the key and started it up. Given how crabby we were by this point, he probably should have waited until we were out of earshot before starting it up. He did offer a “Sorry” as we drove away, which we acknowledged with a shrug. At this point, where more is there to say? Given the delays, we were now running behind schedule. At the first stop we told our guide we needed to get back and no further stops were necessary. So, we drove non-stop back to the shop. I should add that I have been on 15 cruises and have always booked my excursions directly with vendors. I have had good luck the vast majority of excursion vendors and bad luck with a couple. The two that did not meet expectations offered to refund my money before I even asked. They knew when they screwed up. Apparently, that morning was not considered a disaster by Bon Bini standards. When we reached the shop, she returned the $10 she had borrowed and then asked if we were paying by cash or card. No discussion about a full or partial discount, just the bill of $190 for the two of us. We attempted to reach out to Bon Bini after we returned home to discuss the issues and obtain at least a partial refund of our payment. Not only was it difficult to get a response, the one we did get was “I’ll discuss it with the “manager” and get back to you.” Perhaps the manager is on vacation, because we have yet to hear back and no refund has appeared in my account. In summary, if you are okay with poorly maintained equipment and don’t have a ship to catch – go ahead and roll the dice with this outfit. Otherwise, I would steer clear of them.
×
×
  • Create New...