Komodo

[Thebtboy]

Has anyone traveled to Komodo Island :) with HAL and were they allowed off the ship to organize their own excursion to see the Dragons? or is it as I suspect that they have a captive audience and intend to make you pay. :mad:

[paul929207]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

We visited Komodo Island with Princess in October. We were told you had to be on an organized tour to get off the ship. The person who planned our private tour got a letter from the guide with all of our names on it and we were allowed to get off. As far as I know we were the only private tour that operated that day.

[Thebtboy]

Thanks Paul,

Do you know the name of your guide and would you recommend them?

[paul929207]

I don't know his name, but I will contact the passenger who planned it. Tour was very good.

[paul929207]

Here is the guide info:

 

Jeffry Buana, at mykomoda@yahoo.com

[BruceMuzz]

Most of Komodo Island is an Indonesian national park.

Before the Indonesian government required any visitors from cruise ships to be on an organized tour, a surprising number of cruisers were bitten and/or killed by the dragons.

 

Nobody is required to purchase a tour from the cruise line in order to go ashore, but for safety reasons, you MUST have purchased a tour from somebody BEFORE going ashore.

 

2 months ago a group of Cruisecritics purchased their own Komodo tour and saved a bundle of money.The tour operator met them at the pier and took them by boat to a remote beach. The tour operator dropped them off and promised to return to pick them up in a few hours. One of the passengers had a heart attack a few minutes after the tour operator left.

None of the passengers on the tour was able to help him. He died on the beach.

Then the Cruisecritic group had to sit on the beach with the corpse, hoping that somebody would pass by to help them.

2 hours later they flagged down a fishing boat, that transported them back to the ship.

They never heard from nor saw the tour operator again.

 

No dragons were involved in the incident - but these people obviously were not prepared to go on an unescorted tour. But they did get a great deal...........................

[paul929207]

Our private tour (on October 24, 2013) took us on a tour of the area with the Komodo Dragons. We saw 10 or 15 of them. We were then taken to a beach area. Some were taken to the beach to swim. Some swam off the boat. The rest stayed on board. We were always within sight of those who chose to swim.

[Thebtboy]

Hi Paul,

Just sent an email to Jeffry at mykomoda@yahoo.com which failed and bounced back. Is the email address you gave me correct?

Read BruceMuzz's post, a bit of a horror story or what?

[paul929207]

I asked my friend to re-confirm the email addy. I will let you know if I hear anything

[paul929207]

Apologies from my friend. She mis-typed the email addy. Should be:

 

Jeffry Buana and the email is mykomodo@yahoo.com

[Thebtboy]

I anticipated it was that and sent an email, still waiting for a reply.

Many thanks.

[paul929207]

I wondered about that "A" when I first saw it, but figured my friend knew what she was doing.