Oscar Brown

[djddjd]

We docked at 7 AM on Feb. 20th and went to the pier at 9 because we had not been given a specific time to meet. The tour driver had left and the personel at the pier tried to reach Oscar Brown but no answer. After waiting almost an hour, we arrange the same tour with people at the pier. Oscar Brown never shower up!!!!

[hdawson]

Having used Oscar just three weeks ago, I cannot recommend him highly enough. We had a great tour and at a very reasonable price. He was very accomodating to what our group wanted. Ended up at a restaurant high on the hill overlooking the port for a great lunch.

[Driftwoodgal]

djddjd,

 

I believe that you are posting incorrect information about Oscar Brown. I know from first hand knowledge that he does wait for people, as he did so for me for over one and a half hours last year.

 

Just curious why you only have two posts. What type of tour did you have set up with Oscar? Maybe I am judging you incorrectly, but IMHO you are a TROLL trying to tear down a good man's reputation.

 

If you are in the tour business maybe you should give as good a product as Oscar does and you will have honest to goodness cruisers posting your praises. Shame on you for slander.... but that is MHO. Since you have only posted TWO times to cruise critic I will tell you what that means MY HUMBLE OPINION.

 

I have alerted the moderators about your posts. Haven't you already tried this last year? Put a good product out and customers will come to your business, or tour, but don't be nasty or under handed about it.

 

Oscar plays fair and doesn't use these boards to promote himself. He tells people to contact him by email or call him, as it is against the rules for him to post here about his tours.

[tutzig]

Why is it if someone has a bad experince, you are going to report them?

 

Is it not ok for someone to report a bad experience?or is it ok to do so, unless it is someone that you happen to like?

 

You know people have to start out, so a one time you only had 2 posts...

 

IF this person does get banned, than what does that say about honesty on this site?

 

Both times the person replied, it was because they were answering a question about has anyone used Oscar. You had and you gave your review. This person gives theirs and you are reporting them to the moderators.

 

Heck people were mentioning that they were not getting replys from Oscar, someone mentioned to sign up at Yahoo and email him that way. I answered that I have a Yahoo account and had NOT recieved a reply, and than you chimed in with some smart remark... Didnt want someone to waste their time going to signup at Yahoo whn they would get the same response..

 

Wow.. Well who knows maybe I'll get reported also....

 

(Seeing you posted the same reply to both topics... Ill reply to both, its only fair.....)

[Driftwoodgal]

Tutzig,

 

No, I am not going to report a post that someone is not getting emails from Oscar at all. I patiently explain to people so they can get in touch with him that he and others, Almonds and Corals, have trouble getting emails at times. Aurora should me five emails that she had printed out that I had sent to her directly. She told me that she had send several emails to my direct email account and I didn't receive any of them. If my post seemed to be scarcastic, I am sorry for that. I was just trying to convey the easiest way to get in touch with Oscar, just as someone did for me over two years ago.

 

I too have had trouble getting posts from Oscar and think some of it could be the spam filters as well as virus features that we have on our computers that keep emails from reaching us.

 

As to the post by djddjd, yes I reported it to the moderators and will do so again. I have followed the Costa Rica board for a very long time now and have seen how individuals can come and post incorrect information about innocent people. Doesn't it seem odd to you that this poster only has TWO posts to their name and no other posts? Even if you post on other parts of the CC Board you will have posts to you name. You mean this person had a bad expierence with Oscar and couldn't wait to get back home and sign up with Cruise Critice so they can post on the message board. I will be interesting to see what future posts this person has. I wonder what cruise they will be going on? I also would think that since the poster wanta to inform other cruisers they will be posting about their other ports of call. I will be looking for other posts.

 

I too will post this both places in case you miss this one.

[booboo4031]

Driftwood ~

 

I find it interesting that this same post has appeared on another cruise site!

Hmmmmmm.... I'm booked with Oscar in April and will make my own decisions... but something sounds fishy.... <IMO>

[Pudgesmom]

I think we should just dump the Costa Rica title for this board and call it the Osacar Brown tour site. I'm sure he gives great tours, but my goodness, hasn't anyone visited another city, or done anything else in Costa Rica besides hook up with Oscar here?

 

Beth :mad:

[Driftwoodgal]

Booboo,

 

I hope you have as good a time with him as we did. I typed the earlier post and didn't have time to edit it.... :eek: Sorry for the typos and grammer. This has happened before, and actually not to long ago.

 

Pudgesmom,

 

I think you will find numerous other posts about other tour guides and other cities, just keep scrolling. It would be great for you to post a review when you get back from your cruise. That is really how the CC board works to the benefit of all cruisers. People taking excursions and coming back to post about them. I will look for your post about your day in Costa Rica. Oh by the way if you like coffee Puerto Limon has some great coffee and great prices.

[PMac]

We just returned from cruising on the Brilliance of the Seas and booked Oscar for 3/3/05. He met us on the pier prior to the scheduled time. Costa Rica time was 8:00 a.m. Ship time was 9:00 a.m. We had one guest who did not show but we waited for more than 15 minutes before we left the pier. I have to say Oscar's tour was the highlight of my cruise. There were four of us in our group and four others in the van with Oscar and an assistant Karla who gave us the tour. Oscar is the most accommodating person and very laid back he will take you anywhere you want. Our tour consisted of driving in an area on a main road where howlers monkeys are known to gather. We got out of the van and saw a family of 5 howler monkeys in the tree. We then stopped at a beach. Oscar stopped at a produce stand and bought a bag of Costa Rican apples for us to try. They were a cross between an apple and a pear. He also had a second van in the tour that he also supplied apples for their tasting. We then drove to the banana plantation and on the way on the road to the plantation he stopped at a friends and we got to hold a baby howler monkey, as well as a sloth. We also got to taste a coconut they cut down and the cocoa bean plant. At this stop we tried some baby bananas that were growing and saw some beautiful plants and flowers. We then proceeded to the banana plantation and onto a one hour boat ride through the canals where we saw howler monkeys, a crocodile and some birds. The boat ride was a blast. After the boat ride Oscar took us to a restaurant for lunch with the most beautiful view of Costa Rica and the ships docked at the pier. The Restaurant was very very nice and clean. We had a wonderful lunch. Service was a little slow due to the fact that a numbe of other vans also stopped at this Restaurant for lunch at the same time we did but it was wonderful. We then headed back to the ship and Oscar stopped in town where we could purchase 2 lbs of coffee for $3. A woman on the van wanted to purchase Vanilla Extract so he stopped at a market place where she purchased two large bottles for $3. Oscar will do whatever you want to as your tour you just need to e-mail him and let him know what your interests are. We really got to experience what Costa Rica is like and for that experience we couldn't thank Oscar enough. Our entire group was more than pleased with the tour and for $45 pp you cannot get a better deal. The second van did not want to go to lunch as they had something scheduled on the ship so they were dropped off. I cannot praise Oscar enough. I have to say I was somewhat skeptical to book Oscar as with all the posts it sounded too good to be true but whoever uses Oscar will enjoy the tour.

[Driftwoodgal]

PMac,

 

Glad that you had the same magical day that we had with Oscar. I looked at your posts and I am wondering what you did in Aruba. We will be aboard the Brilliance in Jan 06. This will be our first time to Aruba. Did you stop at Curacoa?

[bechi]

I agree with Pudgesmom. For each non-Oscar related *thread* there must be at least ten others about Oscar. Obviously he offers a very nice tour for a reasonable price and has many satisfied customers, therefore, information regarding his services definitely has value on this board. HOWEVER, a majority of the posts are just repeats of the same information over and over again; descriptions of each tour offered, prices, how to reach Oscar, etc. As all of this information is readily available in the archives or by private email, perhaps we could try to limit the majority of "Oscar" posts to reviews of excursions and refer requests for his business details back to the archives (which I suggest everyone use to research excursions prior to booking them) or private email.

[Driftwoodgal]

Bechi,

 

How would one go about emailing someone when the email function doesn't work on the boards? Are you suggesting that we post are regular emails on the CC Board?

 

If people did more research on their own by viewing the archives there wouldn't be a need to post any questions. IMHO I think most people just post a question in hopes that they don't have to do all of the research. And yes there is a lot of duplicate information about Oscar, but if you don't want to read it just skip over it. I don't look at half of the information on the main board as it doesn't interest me, if it does then I read it.

 

Off the subject... How do you like cruising on the smaller ships instead of the larger ones? Are the cabins very big?

 

What ever cruise you take in the future I hope it is a good one.

[beagle lover]

Going on Tour #1 with Oscar Brown on March 31 off Coral Princess at 8AM. Anyone interested in joiningg us? We go to the canals, watch monkeys, sloths, etc. , the same tour everyone has liked so much. Cost: $45 per person

[bechi]

Hi Driftwoodgal,

 

I confess to not being a very active member of the board and wasn't aware the the email option here is non-functional. My only thought was that there really is a wealth of information in the archives and that anyone looking to do research should check there first and then come back to the board with any questions. I know no one really wants to, but it would be nice to encourage it. It isn't fair to the regular posters here to have to answer the same generic questions repeatedly (although if they don't mind, who am I to say?) and also because once they've acquired the "basics" from the archive, more specific questions can be asked here, possibly sparking some interesting threads.

 

In any event, not being or planning to be that active on this board, I never thought it my place to voice my opinions and have just skimmed over the "Oscar" posts as you suggest. However, since Pudgesmom did bring up the exact sentiments I've been thinking for some time now, I wanted to reply and make it clear that others do agree who, for whatever reason have been or continue to be silent about it. I have no agenda against Oscar, I just feel the same way I do about any good product that is over-advertised to the point where you begin to lose interest (like some movies today?) I also don't want to turn this into the "Oscar Debate" board, so I'll let this be my final post on this.

 

Off the subject... Well, I've never cruised on any of the larger ships (The Silver Shadow and Whisper and "big" to me!), in fact I still haven't tried any other cruiselines, so I really can't compare. I can say though that I really like Silversea for the all-inclusiveness and atmosphere. Since everything is included, you really feel like a guest instead of a passenger, and I really prefer the low-key atmosphere. The suites are wonderful (especially when I cruise solo and have the whole place to myself) and even "steerage" is quite roomy. I'm sure my next cruise will be great (want to take mom on a cruise through the Amazon - let's hope she doesn't find this board!), I just don't know when.

 

I hope your next cruise is a good one too.

[oledave]

We had a Tortuguera Canal Tour w/Oscar Brown on 3/1 from the Coral Princess. He and his associate, Carla, did an excellent job. The type of tour you get w/Oscar is far superior to any other I've had. He really takes a personal interest in showing you his wonderful country. He goes the extra mile to make sure your experience is better than you expect and first class. Our group of 6 was very impressed.

 

FYI,

 

Ole Dave

[rivercityal]

duddjd.........when I was waiting for our canopy tour driver to pick us up I started talking to a man with a sign on the pier found out he was Oscar Brown and I was really surprized to see him. He was a super nice guy and he had been waiting over an hour for the people going with him. Now this was in Puntaranus so if you are talking about this port .....I saw him and also talked to him for about 30 minutes

[smgleb]

I apologize if this is asking for information I should be able to find elsewhere - but I am looking for the information on how to contact Oscar Brown. I took a tour with him earlier this year and it was FANTASTIC. I did not book the tour directly, but hooked up with another cruiser who had already made the arrangements with Oscar. Now we are taking our whole family on the Galaxy - Dec. 29th cruise and I want to arrnage for the tour with Oscar. I know that he has always had some difficulties with email, but I thought his cell phone was another possibility? Thanks for any assistance you can provide.