Deposit for whale watching?

[coasterjan]

I've booked 2 of us for whale watching with IslandStyle fishing, and they want a 20% deposit to hold our place. Has anyone else had to pay a deposit? There doesn't seem to be a secure place to make payments on their website, and I'm really leary about just emailing my credit card info. Can anyone help me?

Thank you!

Janis

[Snerd]

Jan,

Emailing a credit card number is never a good idea. It is not secure and you should not submit personal information such as credit card numbers through email. But there are a surprising number of people who do it anway. I would ask to give it to them over the phone or I think fax is even safer than email. I don't know anything about the company, but a deposit seems customary and 20% seems reasonable to me. Most credit card companies will be on your side if for some reason the company doesn't fulfil their end of the deal. Best of luck with it.

[2PinaColadas]

coasterjan -- I am having this same worries. I really want to reserve a spot, but don't want to send my credit card number over e-mail. Did you do it? I have read good review about them, but I am concerned.

[trish1c]

I went whale watching through the cruise line in March of 2004. It was a nice boat ride. We saw lots of dolphins but no whales. If you have your heart set on whlaes this may not be the place to see them.

[63galaxie]

I went whale watching through the cruise line in March of 2004. It was a nice boat ride. We saw lots of dolphins but no whales. If you have your heart set on whlaes this may not be the place to see them.

We went with Anchorage last time and we saw whales. No guarantees, but they are there.

Island Style just got a supposedly secure website up today.

But, their rates went up by $15 pp.

[tkilrainrn]

coasterjan -- I am having this same worries. I really want to reserve a spot, but don't want to send my credit card number over e-mail. Did you do it? I have read good review about them, but I am concerned.

 

I just asked them for their phone # and called and within 1 minute gave her my CC number. She sent me an email confirming the deposit.

[OVgirl]

I've had to give a credit card number to pay for an excursion in advance. I split the CC# , expiry date in 3 different emails. That way it is harder for hackers to intercept all 3 and put them together. I just added a note to explain what I was doing.

Enjoy your excursion!

[tkilrainrn]

I've had to give a credit card number to pay for an excursion in advance. I split the CC# , expiry date in 3 different emails. That way it is harder for hackers to intercept all 3 and put them together. I just added a note to explain what I was doing.

Enjoy your excursion!

 

Great idea!

[katbat2]

Thanks for the great idea as I am in the process of booking w/ IslandStyle and was hesitant about giving them my CC#.

[milokitty]

Sheinel at IslandStyle said that I could either call her with the credit card number (for me that would have been $1.59/min) or mail them a check, so I just mailed them a personal check. She emailed me their addresss.

[tkilrainrn]

I just got home from our cruise and whale watching with Island Style fishing. We did see whales! No dolphins or porpoises. Go figure! The seas were a little rough that day so if you can take something for motion sickness before, that may be a good idea. We went out about 7 miles and saw a few whales. Pictures were hard to get because of the rocking of the ship but it was a great experience.

[coffeegirl23]

Thanks for the update!!

[thecruisers723]

I wish i could put down a deposit. We are on the Jan. 3rd sailing of the Carnival Victory out of San Juan and will be in Dominica on Jan. 5th. We've been trying to book the whale watching with Island Style Fishing. But they have a minimum of 4 people booked before they'll do the tour. So since we're only 2, we can't reserve it and put down out deposit until they have at least 4 (they can hold up to 12). And so far, there's been no luck getting 2 more people on that day.

 

I was wondering if others have been on this tour recently and if there were people on their tour from the resorts. I'm wondering if they book after they arrive in Dominica. We could agree to pay for 4 if no others show up. And if they do, then we will only have to pay for 2. But I'm wondering if they get many bookings from resort guests or if it's mainly from cruise ship passengers.

[weliketocruise86]

I wish i could put down a deposit. We are on the Jan. 3rd sailing of the Carnival Victory out of San Juan and will be in Dominica on Jan. 5th. We've been trying to book the whale watching with Island Style Fishing. But they have a minimum of 4 people booked before they'll do the tour. So since we're only 2, we can't reserve it and put down out deposit until they have at least 4 (they can hold up to 12). And so far, there's been no luck getting 2 more people on that day.

 

I was wondering if others have been on this tour recently and if there were people on their tour from the resorts. I'm wondering if they book after they arrive in Dominica. We could agree to pay for 4 if no others show up. And if they do, then we will only have to pay for 2. But I'm wondering if they get many bookings from resort guests or if it's mainly from cruise ship passengers.

 

Have you tried asking people on the roll call for your cruise ? We are doing this 12/27 and have booked with 2 others on our cruise which we have 'met' on CC.:D

[thecruisers723]

Yeah, I did post it on our roll call forum as well as the one for Caribbean Princess who will be in port on the same day as the Victory. But no luck so far unfortunately. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that someone else will end up booking soon. If not, we'll have to either decide that it's worth it to pay the fee for 4 people or find something else to so. We leave 4 weeks from today and we like to have our plans in place well ahead of time.

[Tracefan]

I wish i could put down a deposit. We are on the Jan. 3rd sailing of the Carnival Victory out of San Juan and will be in Dominica on Jan. 5th. We've been trying to book the whale watching with Island Style Fishing. But they have a minimum of 4 people booked before they'll do the tour. So since we're only 2, we can't reserve it and put down out deposit until they have at least 4 (they can hold up to 12). And so far, there's been no luck getting 2 more people on that day.

 

Have you tried other companies like Anchorage? I received the following email from them:

We do organize whale watch for cruise ship client as well. We depart at 10:00am in the Morning and return 12:30pm. Our minimum amount of person is two (2).

Try contacting them. I've been on whale watching tours with them thru HAL 3 times and seen whales every time. I questioned the return time as that's only 2 1/2 hours but have not heard back from them. Nancy

[thecruisers723]

I looked at their website. But it said their tours only go out 2 days a week and neither of them was the day we would be in port. I could check to see if they'll be doing a tour that day by chance. Our ship doesn't get in until 10:00. So if they do leave then, we wouldn't be able to make it in time.

[thecruisers723]

I ended up emailing Anchorage last week to see if they would be doing a whale watching tour while we're in port by chance even though it's not one of the regularly scheduled days on their website. Turns out they did have a tour on Jan. 5th, but it was already booked up. I don't understand why their tour is fully booked and Island Style Fishing has no bookings. They did ask if I'd like them to try to find me a spot with another vendor in the area and took us down as a tentative booking in the event that they do. I'm not sure who else they could arrange for us to go with other than Island Style Fishing since there doesn't seem to be a ton of whale watching vendors in Dominica. But I'm starting to lose hope since we leave in 19 days. Seems some of the cruise lines offer a whale watching tour. But for some reason, the Carnival Victory doesn't list it as an available tour on their list of shore excursions.

[golfer1966]

I ended up emailing Anchorage last week to see if they would be doing a whale watching tour while we're in port by chance even though it's not one of the regularly scheduled days on their website. Turns out they did have a tour on Jan. 5th, but it was already booked up. I don't understand why their tour is fully booked and Island Style Fishing has no bookings. They did ask if I'd like them to try to find me a spot with another vendor in the area and took us down as a tentative booking in the event that they do. I'm not sure who else they could arrange for us to go with other than Island Style Fishing since there doesn't seem to be a ton of whale watching vendors in Dominica. But I'm starting to lose hope since we leave in 19 days. Seems some of the cruise lines offer a whale watching tour. But for some reason, the Carnival Victory doesn't list it as an available tour on their list of shore excursions.

 

 

We were just in Dominca on Dec 16th and we used Island Style Fishing and we are SOOOO glad we did. The price was 50 bux pp and worth every cent. His boat can accomodate 10 people and its so much better than the cruise lines tour. We had a group of 6 and we had the boat to ourselves. We saw a very large pod of Spotted Dolphins swimming next to teh boat and jumping all around us. Then we saw 6 sperm whales ( various times ) including the one they call Scar...he was rolling and playing next to our boat ......very cool. Save yourself some money and space and book with Island Style. Capt Jerry was very friendly and knew allot about the sea and whales in the area. I would use him again in a minute.

 

id be glad to answer any questions about this tour....

[thecruisers723]

We were just in Dominca on Dec 16th and we used Island Style Fishing and we are SOOOO glad we did. The price was 50 bux pp and worth every cent. His boat can accomodate 10 people and its so much better than the cruise lines tour. We had a group of 6 and we had the boat to ourselves. We saw a very large pod of Spotted Dolphins swimming next to teh boat and jumping all around us. Then we saw 6 sperm whales ( various times ) including the one they call Scar...he was rolling and playing next to our boat ......very cool. Save yourself some money and space and book with Island Style. Capt Jerry was very friendly and knew allot about the sea and whales in the area. I would use him again in a minute.

 

id be glad to answer any questions about this tour....

 

We still want to do this tour with Island Style Fishing so bad. Were the people that were on their boat with you from the cruise ship as well? Or were any of them from local hotels? Last we heard from Island Style Fishing, we were the only 2 interested in booking for this date, so they wouldn't take our reservation until there were 4. I emailed a couple of days ago to check back in to see if they had any more interest and I haven't heard back yet. So my husband called today (have no idea how much that will cost) and they told him they didn't have their schedule with them at the time and to email them and they'd get back to us. So he did earlier today and we're waiting to hear back. They will take 2 people. But you have to pay for 4 people. I was just wondering if we agreed to do that, whether or not there is a chance others from a local hotel could end up joining us and then we wouldn't end up having to pay it all. That's why I asked you about whether any of the guests on your tour were from hotels or not. Wish me luck. We'll be in Dominica on Jan. 5, 2010. So time is ticking away and we're going to have to plan something very soon.

[golfer1966]

We still want to do this tour with Island Style Fishing so bad. Were the people that were on their boat with you from the cruise ship as well? Or were any of them from local hotels? Last we heard from Island Style Fishing, we were the only 2 interested in booking for this date, so they wouldn't take our reservation until there were 4. I emailed a couple of days ago to check back in to see if they had any more interest and I haven't heard back yet. So my husband called today (have no idea how much that will cost) and they told him they didn't have their schedule with them at the time and to email them and they'd get back to us. So he did earlier today and we're waiting to hear back. They will take 2 people. But you have to pay for 4 people. I was just wondering if we agreed to do that, whether or not there is a chance others from a local hotel could end up joining us and then we wouldn't end up having to pay it all. That's why I asked you about whether any of the guests on your tour were from hotels or not. Wish me luck. We'll be in Dominica on Jan. 5, 2010. So time is ticking away and we're going to have to plan something very soon.

 

Hi,

We had a group of 6. We are all friends and did the cruise together, so no outsiders per se'...lol. I really hope you get to go with at least two others to save you money, but you will see the cruise line tour and the boat is packed and I can imagine everyone pushing to get a pix of the whale and then they see you on your boat with all the room you want and paid less !!! You wont be dissapointed...!! Good luck and let me know how you make out !! Have fun !!

[thecruisers723]

Hi,

We had a group of 6. We are all friends and did the cruise together, so no outsiders per se'...lol. I really hope you get to go with at least two others to save you money, but you will see the cruise line tour and the boat is packed and I can imagine everyone pushing to get a pix of the whale and then they see you on your boat with all the room you want and paid less !!! You wont be dissapointed...!! Good luck and let me know how you make out !! Have fun !!

 

Well, as I sat down today to type my final email to Island Style Fishing today and was half way through it, I heard the notification that an email had just came through. I stopped typing and clicked over to see who it was from and to my surprise, it was an email from Sheinel of Island Style Fishing telling me that another couple had booked the tour for the same date as us and that we were good to go. I was so excited. We had basically given up and were going to settle for another tour. I really hope we get lucky and can see as many whales as your group did. It will make our day for sure. And dolphins would be a nice bonus too!