Okey Dokey Tours in Costa Rica recent experience?

I too will never book with them again or will I recommend them!!!!

My mom and I used Charlie's services two weeks ago when we were docked in Costa Rica. We had a wonderful tour with our driver, Dexter. Charlie and Dexter met us at the pier, holding a sign with my name on it.

We booked tour A1, which was a tour of the Tortugero Canal, the banana plantation (with a stop at a local stand by the road), lunch and drive through the countryside. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant, that happened to be closed but our driver contacted Charlie and he took us to a different beach side restaurant within minutes. The food was very good as was the location of the restaurant. Dexter was a knowledgeable and friendly driver. He answered all of our questions and was a great ambassador for his country.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Charlie answered all of my emails very quickly. I highly recommend him and would love to take another tour with him next time I'm in Costa Rica.

Teri

Whatever you do, DO NOT BOOK OkeyDokeyTours. (Not a Celebrity tour but I'm posting this for any and all to see because of our experience.) it is so hit or miss, I would not be willing to take the chance. I read the reviews, (some bad) but decided to try it anyway since many reviews were good. I thought, "Some people always complain, so I'll take a chance." Basically our day was totally ruined, we didn't get to see the things we were supposed to, and were taken on another tour without our knowledge. When we asked about it, we were told, "Just ten minutes more and we'll be continuing on." We were basically being held hostage on the wrong tour bus and forced to wait while others zip-lined -something that wasn't even part of our tour! Charlie didn't even acknowledge our concerns for quite sometime, (other than first suggesting that we hike down a mountain in the pouring rain and mud to pass the time-we were all dressed in beach attire for OUR tour!) When we refused and we were obviously not falling for HIS unplanned and new itinerary, he tried to placate us by buying us a beer and having us sit, waiting, wasting our ONE day in Costa Rica. He doesn't have good business sense, and never even apologized for totally ruining our day. After wasting the whole morning, one of the members in our group finally told him we were done, and to take us back to the ship. He finally did, but not before a huge loop (about another 30 minutes) to drop off the zip-liners at the lunch place we had paid for! Total waste of a day! PS, the banana plantation is closed on Sundays, so if you plan to see it and it's a Sunday, he won't tell you that. He told us that he had special arrangements with a certain plantation that was open on Sunday. 30+, split between 2 vans. The other half of our group on the other bus who actually did our tour, said they went there, but it was not open. He obviously did not bother to check! If you do book, make sure everyone on your van is doing the same thing.

I second this....we were on the bus that was held "hostage" so to say to accommodate 4 people out of 15 to zip line. This WAS NOT part of the A-1 tour the rest of us signed up for. When I confronted Charlie that this is not what A-1 tour was, he told me he wasn't charging us for this and we will walk thru a 1/4 mile rainforest while waiting for the zip liners to finish. Like I would pay for it anyway!

Nobody was dressed to hike...no proper shoes or ponchos as it was downpouring.....when I said we didn't want to hike, he said we had to. I proceeded to ask where the other bus was and he advised me they were coming soon. Guess what?... They never showed as they were doing the tour we all signed up for ( as a group).

We all protested and said we were not hiking, that we were getting back in the bus. We then went to the bottom of the hill to wait for the zippers to finish. That was another 2 hours!

Needless to say, we ordered Charlie to take us back to the ship.....bad day overall in Costa Rica....very disappointed, because we would of liked to see the island as we were looking to maybe come back for a week vacation in the near future.

In my opinion, book Charlie if you feel comfortable and don't mind your tour being changed up to accommodate his close friends....

We will not book with him again if we ever do go back.

Fitters and Wallie5446 -- please consider filing a complaint with the Department of Tourist Services -- the name of the woman with whom I corresponded and her contact information follow. While it is likely that you will not receive any sort of recompense, you may find some satisfaction in a "formal" complaint which may ultimately help good and reputable tour operators.

Laura Chacón Herrera

Departamento de Servicio al Turista

E-mail: lchacon@ict.go.cr

Tel: 2299 5811 Fax 2291 4739

http://www.visitecostarica.com

Fitters and Wallie5446 -- please consider filing a complaint with the Department of Tourist Services -- the name of the woman with whom I corresponded and her contact information follow. While it is likely that you will not receive any sort of recompense, you may find some satisfaction in a "formal" complaint which may ultimately help good and reputable tour operators.

 

Laura Chacón Herrera

Departamento de Servicio al Turista

E-mail: lchacon@ict.go.cr

Tel: 2299 5811 Fax 2291 4739

http://www.visitecostarica.com

Thanks.

The thing that makes this totally upsetting is the 20 friends on the other bus said they had a most wonderful tour. One has posted pics of the meal that was set up that we missed, and said it too was original and authentic. Makes us even sader we were not there with them.:(

Looks like the updates were from 2011. Has anyone used this tour guide since then. Maybe in 2014?

Looks like the updates were from 2011. Has anyone used this tour guide since then. Maybe in 2014?

Fitters and us were on the same failed tour with then last Nov 2014.

Just keeping any who check in here, informed to do a tour with someone else.

Fitters and us were on the same failed tour with then last Nov 2014.

Glad I found this! Will NOT be booking with them.

Glad I found this! Will NOT be booking with them.

The country is wonderful! Well, what we got to see of it. Book thru the cruise line, or anyone but Okie Dokie.

So glad I found this. Not going to go with them for sure. Thank you!

just keeping any who check in here, informed to do a tour with someone else.

fyi!

Thanks to all for keeping us cruisers informed.

I will not be booking with Okey Dokey.:mad:

Thanks to all for keeping us cruisers informed.

I will not be booking with Okey Dokey.:mad:

Good decision!

Thank you for the informatiion...

Thank you for the informatiion...

You are welcome!

We were back from the Equinox for the second Nov, 2014/15! You are in for a wonderful cruise! Great ship and crew.

EW

Just a friendly reminder to stay away from Okey Dokey Tours.

many years ago we took their tour and it was very good, then in '15 we took it again and it was not good at all, our tour organizer actually asked for some of the group's money back and received it - they didn't have enough vehicles, we didn't go where we thought we were going, never again, it's a shame...

Our family has used this tour group twice and had a wonderful tours. We had Ray both times. Will be taking another tour with them.