Tortola Charters

[Mrs.C05]

We just got back from our cruise and used Tortola Charters for the JVD trip. At first we thought we were meeting them right where the ship lets off (and other tour guides were standing there with their signs) but we wanted to look around before we left, so we walked up the sidewalk, passed the security checkpoint and looked around. Then it dawned on me that he said the cruise security point so I asked the lady standing there. She said yes Tortola charters stand right there. **Make sure when you arrive in Tortola, go past all the taxi's parked right in front of the ships, walk up the sidewalk along the empty field and you'll see a gate with a security person standing there. That's where the little huts/canopy's are of people selling stuff. That's where Tortola Charters will be standing!!!! He was there on time, marked our name off and told us where to go. We had a fabulous time at JVD!!!! I will warn you though, the ride there and back was 1.5hrs each way! We didn't have any time to shop around if you wanted to walk further past the bank. We got back to the marina, got off, grabbed our shoes, and quickly walked to the ship. We had 10 minutes to spare from the time they told us to be back on the ship (3pm, for 3:30 departure).

We heard them calling 4 people from our excursion. I guess they made it on, because they quit calling them. Then it was down to two people and they literally made it in the knick of time! Once they boarded, they immediately pulled up the ramps to leave. Sheesh!! I'd be a nervous wreck!

 

Anyways, all in all the tour was very nice, the beach was beautiful, the food and drinks at The Soggy Dollar were yummy and "Oldtimer" (the bartender) was hilarious!

[JerseyGirlJen]

we walked up the sidewalk, passed the security checkpoint and looked around. Then it dawned on me that he said the cruise security point so I asked the lady standing there. She said yes Tortola charters stand right there. **Make sure when you arrive in Tortola, go past all the taxi's parked right in front of the ships, walk up the sidewalk along the empty field and you'll see a gate with a security person standing there. That's where the little huts/canopy's are of people selling stuff. That's where Tortola Charters will be standing!!!!

 

Thanks for the tip. We're going with them on April 28th to JVD....can't wait!

[martyap]

We had a large Cruise Critic tour planned with Tortola Charters on March 19th. Captain Bill had promptly and professionally responded to all of our emails and promised to use his power catamaran for our group of 50+.

 

Imagine our surprise when we boarded and Shane, his first mate, told us that Captain Bill was off the island on vacation. In addition Shane told us that Captain Bill had booked two tours to Jost Van Dyke but only one of the boats was in service. Shane said that "The Plan" was to use the single boat, make two trips, shorten the tours, possibly use buses or taxis............several of us heard enough, got our money back and decided to take the ferry to the baths

(which turned out to be a wise choice.)

 

Those who remained in Group One spent 1.5 hours EACH way to JVD, had a shortened trip and had no snorkeling. In addition the catamaran had some mechanical problem and they just made it back to the ship.

 

Those in Group Two did not fare even as well as those in Group One and they ended up on a bus at the other end of Tortola.

 

My original post this morning disappeared along with the comments of Dawn in Group One and Terri in Group Two........WHERE OH WHERE DID MY POST GO!!!! Why would Cruise Critic remove an honest review for other members to read.

 

Captain Bill was neither professional or honest in providing the tours he promised. In addition, many questioned the experience of the crew that took his place.

We booked with Captain Bill.....not with young Shane!

 

Only you can decide if you want to take your chances with Tortola Charters.

Good luck in your decision.

 

Marty

Celebrity Millennium 3/18/11

[Mrs.C05]

How or why would they put you on a bus on the other side of Tortola? You can only get to JVD by boat.....

[martyap]

How or why would they put you on a bus on the other side of Tortola? You can only get to JVD by boat.....

 

Captain Bill was not present as he was "on vacation." The PLAN for the return to the ship was to go by catamaran to the west end of Tortola from JVD and then bus the group back to the ship. That would save them time to go back to JVD to pick up Group Two.......The plan sucked as did the fact Captain Bill was absent and seems not to care once he books his tours.......My suggestion.........Do not use Tortola Charters!

 

PS......Still no response from Captain Bill!

[Mrs.C05]

I'm not sure who our ship mate was but he was kind, courteous and knowledgable. We had a fabulous time, both the boat ride there and back and especially on the island.

 

I'm sorry your experience wasn't good with Tortola Charters.

[martyap]

I'm not sure who our ship mate was but he was kind, courteous and knowledgable. We had a fabulous time, both the boat ride there and back and especially on the island.

 

I'm sorry your experience wasn't good with Tortola Charters.

 

And still no response from Captain Bill.....shows his degree of customer service. You were lucky.....other may not be. My recommendation would be to NOT consider Tortola Charters.

[Mrs.C05]

To each their own. I heard you loud and clear.

[terri23]

Our experience with Tortola Charters was quite poor. Of 14 cruises and countless private excursions, this was our first "dud". Disorganized and disappointing, and we never even got to JVD.

[curlyd]

Mrs CO5,

 

As Marty and Terri mentioned our experience was not what yours was. I am glad yours was good.

 

But while I was in group one and did get to JVD, by boat and back by boat, the whole process was very disorganized, with many who did not get to make the trip, and wasted 2 hours on the West End waiting and waiting. We were not able to go to the snorkle spot due to the boat having to go back and pick up group 2. I paid to snorkle!

 

For me I would not repeat the trip via Tortola Charters as I felt it was unprofessionally run, and have concerns about them not having a back up plan. The boat did stop running on the way back, but thank goodness they were able to take their tools and fix it.

 

Shane, the young man in charge turned out to be very nice, and his assistant was a pleasure to talk to and very informative on the way back. But that doesn't solve my concerns about the way this adventure was handled.

 

A business owner doesn't book a boat load of people, say he will see us there, and then take off for a vacation. JMO

[martyap]

As the record keeper on the 3/18 Millennium, I encouraged fellow CC members to join us with Tortola Charters. Along with curlyd and terri23 we had over 50 sign up........we planned for months.......we looked forward to visiting JVD......it is easy to deal with disappointments due to weather or conditions beyond our control........it is intolerable to deal with a greedy tour operator who books tours without any regard for delivering the services he has promised.....And still, no response from Captain Bill.........in all my years of cruising and in all the private excursions I have booked all over the world....this was my worst experience and I strongly urge people reconsider using Tortola Charters

[martyap]

Captain Bill has contacted me with an explanation that caused his emergency absence from our 3/19 JVD tour. I am sure he had every intention of providing a great day for our group as he has in the past for many satisfied Cruise Critic members. Although I cannot retract my previous remarks, I am hopeful that future clients will be provided with the excellent services Tortola Charters has offered to many clients in the past........

[Dave08]

Captain Bill has contacted me with an explanation that caused his emergency absence from our 3/19 JVD tour. I am sure he had every intention of providing a great day for our group as he has in the past for many satisfied Cruise Critic members. Although I cannot retract my previous remarks, I am hopeful that future clients will be provided with the excellent services Tortola Charters has offered to many clients in the past........

 

From your previous postings, you were totally against Tortola Charters and now it seems as those you are apologetic about your previous statements. What did Captain Bill say in his response that made you change your opinion? The only reason I ask is because we have an excursion booked with them for JVD on April 10th and after reading some of the current reviews, I am second guessing my decision. Would you still recommend NOT using them?

[martyap]

From your previous postings, you were totally against Tortola Charters and now it seems as those you are apologetic about your previous statements. What did Captain Bill say in his response that made you change your opinion? The only reason I ask is because we have an excursion booked with them for JVD on April 10th and after reading some of the current reviews, I am second guessing my decision. Would you still recommend NOT using them?

Bill had a personal emergency that caused him to be off the island and unfortunately that was not clearly explained to us before we boarded. I don't believe this was intentional on the part of the first mate, Shane. There are many positive reviews of Tortola Charters and I am only suggesting you consider those as well in making your plans. We did not have the best experience but others have been positive.......that's the reason we selected Tortola Charters in the first place.

[Dave08]

Bill had a personal emergency that caused him to be off the island and unfortunately that was not clearly explained to us before we boarded. I don't believe this was intentional on the part of the first mate, Shane. There are many positive reviews of Tortola Charters and I am only suggesting you consider those as well in making your plans. We did not have the best experience but others have been positive.......that's the reason we selected Tortola Charters in the first place.

 

Thanks for the update. We had made our plans based on previous reviews as well and for the most part they have all been very positive. Here lately on CC and Tripadvisor it seems as there have been more negative then positive so that is why I became concerned. I think we will stick with our current plans and take our chances with Tortola Charters. Hopefully when we return from our trip I will be able to write a glowing recommendation!!

[Elcruzer]

Thanks for the update. We had made our plans based on previous reviews as well and for the most part they have all been very positive. Here lately on CC and Tripadvisor it seems as there have been more negative then positive so that is why I became concerned. I think we will stick with our current plans and take our chances with Tortola Charters. Hopefully when we return from our trip I will be able to write a glowing recommendation!!

Have a wonderful cruise and please post here your experience with Tortola Tours, positive or negative. Thanks

[OhioCruiser3]

Our group of 13 were booked on this charter and yes it was disorganized in the very begining trying to figure out how one boat would work for 2 groups and we also thought about not going but decided to go along with the flow and we could not of had a better tour. JVD was fantastic and the crew asked us all if we wanted to go snorkeling our 13 decided not to because the beach was great. As far as the boat breaking down that is nonsense they stopped the boat for 45 seconds to tighten a bolt on the drive that never put us in any danger. The crew was curteous and the Rum punch was great. We would book again next time in Tortola..:)

[fillmore]

I was among the March 19 group that WASTED 3 hours of my day on this Company. I unlike the first group was not told of only one boat and the plan for the day. If I had been told I also could have gone to the Baths as that was my original plan, but heard great things about this company and JVD. I was most excited for this tour of all tours planned.

 

I had post that very day about the bad experience and some how just as Marty stated it has dissappeared. And no apology from the owner.:mad: That would be appreciated.

 

I did look into doing this on my own and should have as the way we went was the way I would have had to go. On Own- cab from Roadtown to West End (Also know as Pusser's Landing) to Ferry over to JVD, then cab to White Beach. Would be interesting to know how long this would have taken me. Surely not 3 hours one way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

 

Again I have to thank BOBO Bob for not letting that cab driver leave us then we would have been paying a cab back to Roadtown and god knows how much that would have been. ;)

 

We were told every 10-15 min four times the boat was coming by 11am enough was enough and 25 of the 30 from that taxi van returned to port. My calculations are that just there they lost 1625.00 in revenue tour fee and if people drank 2 drinks each. Not to mention those that knew the plan and still walked away from the first boat.

 

All I can say is go LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

Lisa

[SchenectadyTraveler]

My party of seven was in group 2 on 3/19. We arrived at the meeting point on time and stood around waiting for about 15 minutes. Then they loaded us on a open tram/taxi where we sat for another 15 or so minutes before driving to the West end to meet the boat. At NO TIME were we told anything about what was going on. If Tortola Charters had just been honest and told us what was happening, we could have made a choice to do something else instead of wasting so much of our day waiting around. It wasn't until almost 11 that we found out what was really going on. By the time we got back to the ship, it was approaching noon. Most of my party just stayed on the ship as we hadn't really researched alternative places to go, except the Baths which wouldn't work that late in the day.

Lack of communication, lack of trust. Made me nervous of all the other tours I had planned through Cruise Critic. Luckily, the rest turned out to be great. There are other choices on Tortola, and I advise you to check them out.

[dst]

WOW - We used Tortola Charters last month (we were on the Jan 29th Freedom Sailing) I will admit that I was very cautious in my booking due to some of the negative posts here and on TripAdvisor however, I emailed Bill several times (he'll tell you I was a pain in the neck) and was ready to think about booking some place else - our entire group decided to stay with him; it was the best decision we could have ever made.

 

Bill was there with Derek (his helper) took us out for the day and was more than hospitable. He was friendly had the boat stocked with items (drinks/snacks) and made us feel more than welcomed! This was truly the highlight of our trip.

 

I think that in every growing business finding good reliable people to work for you is always a challenge, more so on an Island where the employment pool and work ethic is much different than we are accustom to in the States. Bill is trying to grow his business but also understands his challenges, he is not a bad person, just has unfortunate situations from time to time. I also know for a fact that there is a local company that is trying to put him out of business; mainly because he is not a local (Bill is an American living a dream in the BVI's) so understand that not everything you hear is credible - people may have alterer motives.

 

I hope that you give Tortola Charters a try and I wish you the same wonderful fun filled experience we had!

[curlyd]

Our group of 13 were booked on this charter and yes it was disorganized in the very begining trying to figure out how one boat would work for 2 groups and we also thought about not going but decided to go along with the flow and we could not of had a better tour. JVD was fantastic and the crew asked us all if we wanted to go snorkeling our 13 decided not to because the beach was great. As far as the boat breaking down that is nonsense they stopped the boat for 45 seconds to tighten a bolt on the drive that never put us in any danger. The crew was curteous and the Rum punch was great. We would book again next time in Tortola..:)

 

I said at the very beginnning that I wanted to snorkle and was told that as soon as they picked up the second group we could go. I was never asked again, and I wanted to snorkle.

 

And while it might have been just a bolt that needed tightening, my point was that it doesn't appear to me that there is a back up plan should something worse happen. I didn't feel in danger but the thought of the boat not starting again made me think what would Shane do? He was disorganized handling so many people. I don't consider this his fault, he is a very nice young man.

 

This of course is only my opinion and these boards will give everyone the chance to give their opinion of private tours they have taken.

[allentownahoy]

I am not going to rehash the negative experience my son had in January. If interested just search previous threads. My sense from his experience and others posted is that when you do in fact sail with Bill the excursion is great. When Bill is not involved, for whatever reason, things can get dicey. The problem is that you will never know for sure who you end up with, even if you think you will be getting Bill and by then it is too late. Whereas I am a big fan of independent tours I think next time I am in Tortola I will stick to the ship excursion. Doing it on your own by ferry is also a good option for most though since I have some mobility limits it is not a good option for me.

[martyap]

I am not going to rehash the negative experience my son had in January. If interested just search previous threads. My sense from his experience and others posted is that when you do in fact sail with Bill the excursion is great. When Bill is not involved, for whatever reason, things can get dicey. The problem is that you will never know for sure who you end up with, even if you think you will be getting Bill and by then it is too late. Whereas I am a big fan of independent tours I think next time I am in Tortola I will stick to the ship excursion. Doing it on your own by ferry is also a good option for most though since I have some mobility limits it is not a good option for me.

Our group on 3/19 certainly learned that lesson first hand!

[dst]

I am not going to rehash the negative experience my son had in January. If interested just search previous threads. My sense from his experience and others posted is that when you do in fact sail with Bill the excursion is great. When Bill is not involved, for whatever reason, things can get dicey. The problem is that you will never know for sure who you end up with, even if you think you will be getting Bill and by then it is too late. Whereas I am a big fan of independent tours I think next time I am in Tortola I will stick to the ship excursion. Doing it on your own by ferry is also a good option for most though since I have some mobility limits it is not a good option for me.

 

 

Ship is excursion may be best - BVI's make it very difficult for independent operators to exist - you must be a British Citizen in order to operate a company (there is a little way around that) so it makes it difficult to operate; they do this in order to keep it less touristy - which on one hand is nice (unless you are looking for a tour guide)

 

Tortola is a beautiful island, just not very many companies to chose from

[Dave08]

We just returned from our cruise to the Southern Caribbean with RCCL. We booked our Tortola excursion with Tortola Charters to go to Jost Van Dyke. From meeting the guy at the Exit gate of the port until the time we returned to our ship, everything ran very smoothly. We boarded Bill's catamaran and it took about an hour to get over to Jost Van Dyke. We were able to back right up to the beach in about 6' of water. From there we grabbed a couple of chairs at the Soggy Dollar Bar and then went out to snorkel with Bill for about an hour. You can go longer if you want to but we decided that an hour was good for us.

 

After the snorkeling we ate at the Soggy Dollar Bar and it was probably the best Tuna Melt I have ever had. Food is a little pricey but that is to be expected at a popular tourist spot. After lunch we drank a few beers and relaxed in the sun. The beach is beautiful and the snorkeling was great as well. The snorkeling is quite a ways off the beach but if you are not comfortable with the swim, Bill has the floats to go around your waist to help you out.

 

The ride back to Road Town was fun as well with Bill opening up the bar for drinks. We had 6 free drinks because of the people we had referred from Cruise Critic. We had an amazing trip with Bill and Tortola Charters and I would not hesitate to recommend this excursion to others. It was probably one of the top excursions that we had on the entire cruise!