Your Lucky Torus vs Oscar Brown Tours

[Darcys mom]

I have contacted both Your Lucky Tours and Oscar Brown Tours about doing an excursion with them in April, 2013. We want to do the zip lines, visit the Jaguar Rescue Center and do some snorkeling. One of them told me we could do everything because our ship will be in port from 7 am until 6 pm, and our tour would last 8 hours. The other one said there isn't enough time to do all 3. Now I'm torn about which one to go with. I have never been to Costa Rica, so I don't know distances between the sites.

Can anyone with personal experince give me some advice?

 

We will be on the Island Princess doing a partial of the Panama Canal, stopping in Limon on Sunday April 21. That brings up another point. One said the Banana Plantation is closed on Sundays, so why would we have a stop there?

[pilotdane]

Personally I'm not a fan of all day tours. I'm on vacation to relax, not run around like the Griswolds trying to check things off the list. And don't forget that the ship may leave without you. So if you do decide to go for broke and fill the full time in port make sure you have a plan B like carry your passports and credit cards ashore in case you need to catch the ship in the next port.

 

Keep in mind that your admittance to some attractions may have to wait if there is a crowd. If the cruise sponsored tours are visiting the same places you may find yourself waiting in line behind a buss load or two of other cruisers which can throw you off schedule. Much of this will be out of the control of your independent guide so be open to their suggestions to make sure you get back to the ship in time.

[sjmbruce]

I have contacted both Your Lucky Tours and Oscar Brown Tours about doing an excursion with them in April, 2013. We want to do the zip lines, visit the Jaguar Rescue Center and do some snorkeling. One of them told me we could do everything because our ship will be in port from 7 am until 6 pm, and our tour would last 8 hours. The other one said there isn't enough time to do all 3. Now I'm torn about which one to go with. I have never been to Costa Rica, so I don't know distances between the sites.

Can anyone with personal experince give me some advice?

 

We will be on the Island Princess doing a partial of the Panama Canal, stopping in Limon on Sunday April 21. That brings up another point. One said the Banana Plantation is closed on Sundays, so why would we have a stop there?

 

I was on the Dec 10-20 partial transit of the Panama Canal on the Island Princess. We used Oscar Brown Tours. We went to the Jaguar Rescue Center, a banana plantation, took a quick canal ride and stopped at a beach for lunch. this took us from 8am-3pm. you must be on the ship by 530.

The Jaguar Rescue Center is amazing! I loved it. It is almost an hour drive from the port to the rescue center. We passed two or three beaches on the way, perhaps you could snorkel at one of those.

However, not only are the banana plantations closed on sundays, so is the rescue center. oscar brown tours neglected to let us know that the banana plantation was closed, so we just looked at the machinery and stood by the field. (please read another thread regarding a recent robbery at a plantation). You are still able to go to the rescue center on sundays, but there needs to be at least 8 people in your group and the tour guide needs to contact the rescue center in advance. you also need to go here first thing in the morning or youll miss a lot of the animals, such as the monkeys as they are allowed to go into the jungle everyday.

 

going back to time constraints: we felt very rushed at the rescue center, it was a short canal ride, and the guide was very surprised that we wanted time at lunch to go onto the beach. i dont know how far away the ziplining is and how long it takes so i dont know if youd be able to do that in addition to the rescue center and the beach/snorkeling.

 

hope this helps, please feel free to ask any questions

[Darcys mom]

I was on the Dec 10-20 partial transit of the Panama Canal on the Island Princess. We used Oscar Brown Tours. We went to the Jaguar Rescue Center, a banana plantation, took a quick canal ride and stopped at a beach for lunch. this took us from 8am-3pm. you must be on the ship by 530.

The Jaguar Rescue Center is amazing! I loved it. It is almost an hour drive from the port to the rescue center. We passed two or three beaches on the way, perhaps you could snorkel at one of those.

However, not only are the banana plantations closed on sundays, so is the rescue center. oscar brown tours neglected to let us know that the banana plantation was closed, so we just looked at the machinery and stood by the field. (please read another thread regarding a recent robbery at a plantation). You are still able to go to the rescue center on sundays, but there needs to be at least 8 people in your group and the tour guide needs to contact the rescue center in advance. you also need to go here first thing in the morning or youll miss a lot of the animals, such as the monkeys as they are allowed to go into the jungle everyday.

 

going back to time constraints: we felt very rushed at the rescue center, it was a short canal ride, and the guide was very surprised that we wanted time at lunch to go onto the beach. i dont know how far away the ziplining is and how long it takes so i dont know if youd be able to do that in addition to the rescue center and the beach/snorkeling.

 

hope this helps, please feel free to ask any questions

 

Thank you for your help. I did a little more research and learned that the Jaguar Rescue Center is closed on Sundays. Since we will be in Costa Rica on a Sunday, my dilema is solved. But I appreciate the time you took to answer my question!

 

By the way, I decided to go with Your Lucky Tours because Carol from Oscar Brown tours did not respond to my last email with more questions.

[irvington]

We used Oscar today and had a great tour, but we didn't go to the Jaguar Center (which sounds cool). Our tour was 55 including lunch, about 4 hours.

[whitecap]

Oscar Brown Tour Limon, Costa Rica WARNING

Reviewed on CC about this tour company and decided based on good reviews to book; arrived at designated place 15 minutes early, checked in, met others; at meeting time were missing two people but the rest of us were placed in van, older model, engine running but air conditioning not hitting on much; waited 35 minutes for missing two people but left without them. Drove from dock to just outside dock, parked and told we were switching vans; switch made and off we went now about 45 minutes late. Drove about 15 minutes, at high speed trying to make up time, when driver pulled to side of road after heated discussion on cell phone (knew it was heated because of his yelling, banging on steering wheel and then throwing his phone on the dash); driver explained that we could not make it to destination on time so we were going to second stop first, he turned around and headed back in the direction we had just come from. Suddenly we were back at cruise terminal and picking up the two people who hadn't shown up on time, another 15 minutes behind.

Started out for stop #2 which had become #1 but then changed again back to original plan. 20 minutes into drive and in the hills the van began to act up, driver on phone in yet another heated call. Van breaks down. Thirty minutes go by while driver and a good citizen try to make repair; seems to be done and off we go yet another 30 minutes behind. 20 minutes and more heated phone calls and we are broke down again! This time we are told a replace van is 10 minutes away. 45 minutes later and with the help of a neighbor who apparently knew about engines, a repair is made however we now have NO air conditioning. Now another 45 minutes behind (by the way no replacement van ever showed up) on the way again. It is obvious that driver is guessing at his turns and directions but we finally make it to our first stop. A canal ride through the rain forrest which was suppose to last more than an hour but our driver tells the boat operator he has 40 minutes. Nice but short.

We signed up for the Jaguar Rescue, turned out to be nothing more than a little zoo and by the way, no Jaguar. Next stop, lunch, however driver couldn't figure out where we were suppose to be so after pulling into a restaurant and more cell phone conversations, we drove back the way we had just come, 100 yards, to a little one room cafe.

Next a stop at a beach, little walk, back to van and on the way to a banana plantation where we parked along the road, walked into banana trees, talked about bananas, then back to the ship.

Our 6 hour tour has now lasted 9 hours and was to put it mildly, horrible! The company uses old vans, inexperienced drivers, no coordination and was more concerned about the extra money from the two late comers than the inconvenience to the 10 already in the van. I would stay away from this tour company!!!!!

 

[2 cruzen]

We used Your Lucky Tour in 2010 and had a great time! Ziplined, toured the country, and short canal ride (that boat was a little old and I'm guessing sub-contracted out), but our driver for the day was a VERY nice young man and Eduardo from YLT, stopped by the zip line place to make sure we were having a good time. Have fun.

[PrincessNancy]

We just got off our 10 day Panama Canal cruise last Saturday (April 6th). I had booked a private tour for 14 people from our CC roll call with Oscar Brown Tours. The excellent service began with my emails to set up the specific itinerary we wanted. Carol Brown always responded promptly and courteously.

 

Here was our tour itinerary:

Details of the combine #1 & #3-1. Tortuguero Canal & Vergua

►Take up at 8:00 am local time at the pier

►Brief City tour

►Tortuguero Canal tour

►Transportation to Veragua Park resort

►Veragua Exhibit of the higher level (Excellent)

►Aerial Tram ride down to the rain forest walk

►From the Aerial Tram, to the lower level section of the Park. Excellent!

►Trail of the Giants (One of the rain forest trail)

►Puma Waterfall

►Back to the Aerial Tram, and get to the upper level of the Park.

►Lunch (Lunch at the resort, local restaurant, or at the beach, it’s your choice)

►On the way coming from Veragua, you have a stop to see a banana plantation for a short look.

►Going back to the ship. Last stop, super market, if you are interested.

 

Before we got off the Coral Princess it was announced that there was a taxi strike happening in Costa Rica and that some of the tours would be cancelled (more on that later). We gathered our group on board and then went outside of the port to meet Oscar Brown tours.

 

We were in a newer van for 18 people, the AC worked great. We were met by Oscar Brown outside the gate where we were introduced to our tour guide, Toni. She is a fantastic tour guide who loves to share her knowledge and love of her country. The driver was excellent as well. We had to change the order of our tour due to the taxi strike--we needed to avoid certain roads.

-Along the way Toni pointed out the local information--hotels, schools, plants, flowers, animals, etc. We stopped at the side of the road and Toni opened up a paprika plant and showed us how it was used for face paint and lipstick. We also stopped at a fruit market and got to taste mango & sugar cane. Another stop we saw a sloth and tasted cocoa beans fresh from the fruit.

-Stopped at the Del Monte banana plantation and got to see a banana crossing where the guys dragged 60 bunches of bananas on a track to the processing area, there was a crossing gate that we had to wait at while the bananas traveled by (just like a railroad crossing). Then we went to the processing plant area where they washed, weighed (the ones going to the U.S.), sorted and packed the bananas.

-The Veraqua Park is gorgeous--and yes it rained in the rain forest! We had a wonderful guide (research student from the local university)for our tour in the park.

-We had lunch at a great little local restaurant on Bonita Beach (included in our tour price). We ate local food, enjoyed good conversation, a local beer and had a fantastic view of the waves crashing on the beach. It was gorgeous and sunny.

-After lunch we went to the Tortuguera Canals--another great experience. We saw a multitude of birds, a caiman, alligator, Jesus Lizard (runs on the top of the water), howler monkeys, etc, etc. Our tour was about an hour.

-We then went back towards the port and stopped at a local supermarket because a few of us wanted to purchase some Costa Rican coffee.

Toni was in constant contact with the home office to make sure we wouldn't run into the taxi strike. We had no problems.

When we got back on board we heard from many passengers that their tours were either canceled or they only got to go on 1/2 the tour.

We were very glad to be in the experienced hands of Oscar Brown Tours.

I highly recommend them!

[Omaha Traveler]

We are taking a partial transit cruise in October - stopping in Puerto Limon on Saturday. Have read the reviews and would like to use Your Lucky Tours - there are 8 people in our group. Can anyone tell me how payment is made - do they accept credit cards or would we need to pay in cash?

 

Thanks!