Visiting without a plan

[somedude_5205]

So I tend to be a planner with a pretty solid itinerary for ports usually booked with a non-ship excursion or planning to just taxi to a beach.  Dominica has proved a bit vexing to plan for two reasons.  First, Titou Gorge looks like a great choice UNLESS it rains near when we get there.  So I'm hesitant to book something that isn't refundable.  Second, there's not a lot of information and I'm not finding a lot of tour operators with websites and even most of the people mentioned on the threads seem to not be around anymore.

As such, I'm thinking the best plan might be; decide the morning of to either go to Champagne reef on our own OR get off the boat and try to find a reasonable excursion to the Gorge.  I'm wondering how realistic that second part is.  Is this the kind of port where there will be dozens of folks trying to hustle people to fill up their buses?

[PORT ROYAL]

On 6/5/2024 at 10:18 PM, somedude_5205 said:

So I tend to be a planner with a pretty solid itinerary for ports usually booked with a non-ship excursion or planning to just taxi to a beach.  Dominica has proved a bit vexing to plan for two reasons.  First, Titou Gorge looks like a great choice UNLESS it rains near when we get there.  So I'm hesitant to book something that isn't refundable.  Second, there's not a lot of information and I'm not finding a lot of tour operators with websites and even most of the people mentioned on the threads seem to not be around anymore.

As such, I'm thinking the best plan might be; decide the morning of to either go to Champagne reef on our own OR get off the boat and try to find a reasonable excursion to the Gorge.  I'm wondering how realistic that second part is.  Is this the kind of port where there will be dozens of folks trying to hustle people to fill up their buses?

Note one is loathed to book a non-refundable tour (cancel up to date of arrival etc). 

Think the reason why a 50% deposit exists and is reasonable, because it is in response to those in the past who booked without paying a deposit, then they cancel, on a whim, just before arrival, leaving very little or no chance for the driver to obtain a fare.  Thereby letting them to suffer the total loss of a whole day’s revenue.  

 

If one is reticent to commit to a deposit, then decide one’s schedule in advance, on arrival go to the cab rank, discuss one’s itinerary with a driver, agree the day’s fare (armed with the prior knowledge of a previous quotation from Antours etc., etc..).
 

Edited June 13 by PORT ROYAL
Typo

[jeanandmark]

We have never done a ship excursion, but this port is hard to find info or tours. So we decided to do a ship tour this time. Hope it's worth it.