Boats at turtle swim??

[SMN73]

I'm jealous! Unfortunately, despite my second, direct email, they still have not responded. Is the number that you gave considered a US number or is it international?

 

It's a US number. You can call it from the US

[amyj23]

Excellent. Thanks!

[amyj23]

I just got off the phone with Cliff. Unfortunately he said that he can't confirm anything this far out as he doesn't know which cruise ships will be in port that day (besides ours) among other factors. He said to call him around September. He gave me the low down on the turtles and the crowds. (Which I sort of knew from reading about him on this site...) He sort of implied that we should get a group together from our ship. I'll see what I can do on my roll call, but since I don't personally know the people on the roll call, I hesitate to "organize" something in case they are flake-y and don't show up or don't get off the boat first as he suggested. His philosophy about getting there before anyone else is spot on. So now I'm afraid to book through another company that may show up when hundreds of other people are also there! Sigh....

[luv2cruiseeverywhere]

I just got off the phone with Cliff. Unfortunately he said that he can't confirm anything this far out as he doesn't know which cruise ships will be in port that day (besides ours) among other factors. He said to call him around September. He gave me the low down on the turtles and the crowds. (Which I sort of knew from reading about him on this site...) He sort of implied that we should get a group together from our ship. I'll see what I can do on my roll call, but since I don't personally know the people on the roll call, I hesitate to "organize" something in case they are flake-y and don't show up or don't get off the boat first as he suggested. His philosophy about getting there before anyone else is spot on. So now I'm afraid to book through another company that may show up when hundreds of other people are also there! Sigh....

 

When we first started looking at this cruise, there was just the 5 off us. What he did say was we could book and pay the deposit for 6 people and it made it private. Then my cousin and her husband decided to join us which still made it private. Depending on how many you have in your party, this is an option. Hope it works out for you, it is a great tour.

[amyj23]

When we first started looking at this cruise, there was just the 5 off us. What he did say was we could book and pay the deposit for 6 people and it made it private. Then my cousin and her husband decided to join us which still made it private. Depending on how many you have in your party, this is an option. Hope it works out for you, it is a great tour.

 

 

There's only two of us otherwise I would have posed that question to him. I posted on my Roll Call yesterday and no one has responded. I'll have to make a decision soon because I'll be really upset if the good ones get booked because I waited on booking Cliff. [emoji17]

[Noblarneyimirish]

I just got off the phone with Cliff. Unfortunately he said that he can't confirm anything this far out as he doesn't know which cruise ships will be in port that day (besides ours) among other factors. He said to call him around September. He gave me the low down on the turtles and the crowds. (Which I sort of knew from reading about him on this site...) He sort of implied that we should get a group together from our ship. I'll see what I can do on my roll call, but since I don't personally know the people on the roll call, I hesitate to "organize" something in case they are flake-y and don't show up or don't get off the boat first as he suggested. His philosophy about getting there before anyone else is spot on. So now I'm afraid to book through another company that may show up when hundreds of other people are also there! Sigh....

 

This is what happened to us as well. I posted it on my roll call a couple times. We did have two other families eventually book and of worked out perfect. Charles emailed me about a month and a half before our cruise and said we were good to go. :)

[luv2cruiseeverywhere]

There's only two of us otherwise I would have posed that question to him. I posted on my Roll Call yesterday and no one has responded. I'll have to make a decision soon because I'll be really upset if the good ones get booked because I waited on booking Cliff. [emoji17]

 

 

it may take a few days for your roll call people to answer. not sure of the website, but you can check how many cruise ships will be in each port. we were the only ones in port at every port on our cruise in early june. and it was very nice. good luck, hope you get to book him. and by the way, we booked the 70.00 one and was about 4.5 hrs.

[amyj23]

it may take a few days for your roll call people to answer. not sure of the website, but you can check how many cruise ships will be in each port. we were the only ones in port at every port on our cruise in early june. and it was very nice. good luck, hope you get to book him. and by the way, we booked the 70.00 one and was about 4.5 hrs.[/

 

As Of today, there's only one other ship in port that day. But now that you say that, I should look up their roll call and see if anyone on there is interested!

[amyj23]

This is what happened to us as well. I posted it on my roll call a couple times. We did have two other families eventually book and of worked out perfect. Charles emailed me about a month and a half before our cruise and said we were good to go. :)[/

 

I'm going to hold out hope then!!! Hopefully he'll contact me via email if more want to book!

[amyj23]

You know, I've been ruminating on all this the last two days, and I have some thoughts. I may be talking to myself, but maybe I'll feel better if I say it on here. ;)

It sounds like Cliff does this the right way. He gets his passengers out there early so they can experience it without hundreds of others. But I'm sort of perplexed. He didn't specifically call out any one other company, but he did say "the other" companies would all go at the same time, and there would be a ton of people in the water kicking around and the turtles are scared, and you won't see many turtles because of that. Well, if it's such chaos, and there's hardly any turtles with these other outfits, how can there be such high ratings (on TripAdvisor) for "the other" companies -- ratings that are just as high as his? I'm just trying to be the devil's advocate here, because I may have to "settle" for another company. There are outfits that I've contacted that only take 8 people out at a time -- so very small groups like his. (But he DID tell me that if he did go out on the day we're there, he would only do the $35 tour and he would be taking 16 passengers out.) There are two other companies that have five out of five stars on TripAdvisor AND have more reviews than his... So I may bite the bullet and just get my confirmed booking with one of them. If I see ONE turtle I'd be excited. I've been on six Caribbean cruises and NEVER seen a turtle while snorkeling...

[luv2cruiseeverywhere]

You know, I've been ruminating on all this the last two days, and I have some thoughts. I may be talking to myself, but maybe I'll feel better if I say it on here. ;)

It sounds like Cliff does this the right way. He gets his passengers out there early so they can experience it without hundreds of others. But I'm sort of perplexed. He didn't specifically call out any one other company, but he did say "the other" companies would all go at the same time, and there would be a ton of people in the water kicking around and the turtles are scared, and you won't see many turtles because of that. Well, if it's such chaos, and there's hardly any turtles with these other outfits, how can there be such high ratings (on TripAdvisor) for "the other" companies -- ratings that are just as high as his? I'm just trying to be the devil's advocate here, because I may have to "settle" for another company. There are outfits that I've contacted that only take 8 people out at a time -- so very small groups like his. (But he DID tell me that if he did go out on the day we're there, he would only do the $35 tour and he would be taking 16 passengers out.) There are two other companies that have five out of five stars on TripAdvisor AND have more reviews than his... So I may bite the bullet and just get my confirmed booking with one of them. If I see ONE turtle I'd be excited. I've been on six Caribbean cruises and NEVER seen a turtle while snorkeling...

There were other tours that came while we were there and they left before we did. Charles feeds the turtles to keep them near his people, and we had 5 swimming near us the whole time. It is very awesome to see these turtles. Whoever you book with, make sure to take an underwater camera. We bought one on the boat for 10 bucks and it has a water proof case to reuse. The pictures were pretty good. Good luck.

[SMN73]

I was pretty much invisible on our roll call. Haha I bit the bullet and splurged for the private tour with Charles. It's basically between $350-375 split between however many are in your group. Sounds like a lot but people pay $200+ to swim with dolphins all the time and this is a much longer and interesting day. I do think the other boats see a couple turtles. I don't believe they get 5+ on a regular basis. Nor do I believe they have the super close interaction we had with Charles feeding them. When I hear people talk about the catamaran cruises, it's mostly about the food and drink. I would pay $$ again in a heartbeat for the experience we had.

[jacksfriday]

Barbadosskuppervancetours.com

[jacksfriday]

http://Www.barbadosskippervancetours.com

[jacksfriday]

sovance is cheaper usd$75 pp out of season and Charles is $120usdAnd private for maximum 6 guests Charles Cliff Sharker Boat is not good for sightseeing as it is a Perog and high in the bow and basically you are on a pew facing foreword yes I see he has a lot of reviews on trip adviser but I heard that is his wife in Canada and all their family and friend On the other hand Skipper Bance little Boston whaler is low clean and great for viewing seats with visions and a big top for shade Vance was Captain on the famous Bahamas queen when Charles was a jet ski boy he also has great reviews on TA ck him out he is much cheaper and better than cliff sharker Charles http://www.barbadosskippervanvetours.com. I been on both Vance is much better and nicer gentleman

[SMN73]

sovance is cheaper usd$75 pp out of season and Charles is $120usdAnd private for maximum 6 guests Charles Cliff Sharker Boat is not good for sightseeing as it is a Perog and high in the bow and basically you are on a pew facing foreword yes I see he has a lot of reviews on trip adviser but I heard that is his wife in Canada and all their family and friend On the other hand Skipper Bance little Boston whaler is low clean and great for viewing seats with visions and a big top for shade Vance was Captain on the famous Bahamas queen when Charles was a jet ski boy he also has great reviews on TA ck him out he is much cheaper and better than cliff sharker Charles http://www.barbadosskippervanvetours.com. I been on both Vance is much better and nicer gentleman

 

Seeing at I wrote one of Cliff Shakers 5 start reviews, I can assure you they aren't all friends and family. You know an awful lot about both parties to be just a casual tourist. Sounds to me like you are a competitor that feels the need to run another company down just to get business for yourself.

[amyj23]

Seeing at I wrote one of Cliff Shakers 5 start reviews, I can assure you they aren't all friends and family. You know an awful lot about both parties to be just a casual tourist. Sounds to me like you are a competitor that feels the need to run another company down just to get business for yourself.

 

 

The lack of punctuation in the post made it unreadable anyway. Anyone with grammar that atrocious doesn't make me want to use their product. [emoji16]

[jacksfriday]

Sounds like you are the biased one ,I am just stating my opinion on my experiences ,deal with it whoever you are

[jacksfriday]

And Charles only goes for 21/2 hours and only to Carlisle bay and $40usd extra for photos Vance goes all the way down west coast and gives you at least 4hours and will take your underwater photos and videos for Free

[amyj23]

And Charles only goes for 21/2 hours and only to Carlisle bay and $40usd extra for photos Vance goes all the way down west coast and gives you at least 4hours and will take your underwater photos and videos for Free

 

 

You don't have to sell me. I've already booked with Shasa Catamarans.

[jacksfriday]

boring

[amyj23]

boring

 

 

Well good thing you're not coming with us, troll! [emoji38]