A good independent tour in Dominica

[blong2200]

BENO! BENO! BENO!

 

Can't say enough about his tours, or him. I guarantee you will have a great time and he will see to your every need.

 

We have been with him twice and when you go back we will go with him again. Each time we had a large group and had so much fun. Do not miss Mr. Nicey's fruit stand!

 

 

Beth in Georgia

[MrsFitz]

We were in Dominica just before Christmas and ended up booking with Reyno Tours. It was going to be $40 per person, but we decided to book him as a private hire ($250 total for the whole day). There were 5 of us, so for $10 more per person we could do what we wanted to and leave off what we didn't care to see. We met Reyno that morning, but he was not our guide, as he was already booked with the other ship in port. We went with his driver Desmond and guide Rosalind. Rosalind was funny - always telling us "humors" and very, very knowledgable about the island.

 

Entrance fees to Trafalgar falls ($5 per person) and somewhere else ($2 ea) were not included. We added the aerial tram on to their normal stops and just paid at the tram.

 

Their van is air conditioned but very limited in the area of leg room. We were good because it was just the 5 of us and we could each take a seat and sit sideways.

 

It's a lovely island and overall we did enjoy the tour and had a great driver and guide!

[moorefunn]

we just got back and had a great trip with reyno toursreynold alcendor <reynotours@hotmail.com>

Had the best time ever

[rjscott]

Another recommendation for Reyno Tours! We have used Reyno in the past and will be using him again in just a couple of weeks for a tour on Dominica. On our first visit to Dominica, we saw Trafalgar Falls, the Emerald Pool and Mr Nice Fruit Stand, and had a wonderful time. When we booked our upcoming cruise and Dominica was on our itinerary, I contacted Reyno for suggestions for another tour. He came through with a tour to include Middleham Falls, Titou Gorge, a sulphur springs/mineral bath, and snorkeling at Champagne Reef. We are very excited about our return visit to Dominica!

[Xoe]

We were anchored at Cabritz, on the north end of Dominica, on our Jan. 11-18 Wind Surf cruise (round trip out of Barbados). By good luck we met Wayne McLawrence, a taxi driver who works out of either Roseau or Portsmouth; that day he was providing transport from Wind Surf into the small town of Portsmouth. He provided an excellent and interesting private tour of the agricultural north areas of Dominica, including explanations of their history, culture, and agricultural methods. He grew up in that area and knows it intimately and loves to share his knowledge with visitors. He also knows places for good snorkeling; some people were dropped off for snorkeling, then picked up later for a tour.

 

Email: navris165@hotmail.com

 

Cell phone (1767)235-3316. Land line (1767)445-3316.

[skibyrd]

Would also recommend Bumping Tours Levi BARON. Just do a Google search on Dominica and Bumping Tours and you will come up with his web site.

All day tour costs around 45 dollars per person and you tailor make it to suit you.

 

We are just off the Summit and did the Bumpiing Tour - best tour we have ever done!! We signed up fhort e 3.5 hour tour and it lasted almost 6 hours (for $40). The most similar tour through the cruise was no where near what this was and was $78. Gary was our guide and he was FANTASTIC!!:) I would do this again in a heart beat. Dominca was beautiful!

[joycefnp]

we booked with Pepper several weeks prior to our cruise, had email confirmation and he stood us up. After waiting for over 30 minutes, I called him and he said he was on his way. Then................nothing. No call, no anything. Luckily for us, the other couple we were sharing our tour with had toured Dominca before with Reyno, and the guide that had given their tour was actually at the port and available. Her name is Roseline, and she was great! Very knowledgeable, and really nice. I would recommend her highly.

 

Pepper emailed me later, apologized, and then offered me compensation. However, apparently he was insincere, when I took him up on his offer, he stopped emailing. If it was me, I wouldn't take the chance on ruining my day on this beautiful island with someone who can't even be bothered to call if he's not going to show up.

[rjscott]

Joyce, how awful about your experience with Pepper, but luck was with you to find Rosalyn! Yes, Rosalyn is a wonderful guide for Reyno Tours. We were fortunate to have her as our guide on our first tour with Reyno and we have requested her again for our upcoming tour in just a couple of weeks. She is very knowledgeable and lots of fun, and both she and Reyno want to make sure their passengers have the best day possible on Dominica.

[marylyn]

Good morning: Just wanted to know if it was safe to eat the fruit and food off the cruise ship? When on a tour many guides will stop at fruit stands and also bring food along with them for their tour. Would that be safe to eat? If anyone has any knowledge of this, would love to know. :)Lois

[swimmer_steph]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice re: tours. After reading numerous suggestions, we're booked w/Beno for our day on Dominica.

 

I have to say, he is fabulous re: communicating via email. We've exchanged several emails and his are always informative, pleasant & timely! We are REALLY looking forward to seeing the island w/him.

 

Thanks again! :)

[rjscott]

Lois, when we stopped at Mr. Nice Fruit Stand, we ate the fruit there and had no problem whatsoever. It is a nice, refreshing stop on Reyno's Tour. As far as fruit brought along by the guides, it would normally be cut fresh on the spot, and so should pose no problem either. Of course, that is just my opinion based on my experiences, but these people who do these tours depend on positive word of mouth for business and do not want to do anything to put a blemish on their record, so will keep that in mind when offering local food to their passengers.

[floatinrocks]

We just took Reynos' Tour in Dominica. It was to be a private tour but he asked if it was okay if "others joined us" and we agreed. We shouldn't have. They took all the front seats and we got the very back seat with no leg room whatsoever. I am sure the van had no shocks and it was not clean either.

We enjoyed Mr. Nice Fruit stand and tried different things there. When we started on the second half of the tour I requested they let me off at the ship. I just could not take the bumpy roads anymore and I was going to throw up from motion sickness.

We had to pay for the full tour anyway and they were not happy to not receive a tip.

I wouldn't recommend a road trip in Dominica unless you love being bounced around and jarred for 3 - 4 hours.

We were very disappointed.

[Marmarjudy]

Everyone talks so highly about Reyno and Bumping and I emailed both of them and got no reply!

 

I emailed Owen as recommended (owentours.com or ************************) and he immediately responded, we booked with him for a tour for just the two of us, it is $200 for the day! and he will take us wherever we want.

 

I am optimistic (that is me :-) and will post after we return from the Caribbean Princess Feb 9th sailing.

 

Judy

[jugalava]

PrivateEye, I think it was us who joined you on Reyno's Tour in Dominica last week. Like you, we booked what we thought was to be a "private" tour, agreeing to pay more to ensure it would be just our family of four. (We booked the tour in November, reconfirming it was a private tour just before we left for the cruise).

Sounds like you got the same "request" we did when we met him at the pier, asking if it was okay for others to join us. We said it really wasn't okay with us, but we didn't feel we had much choice, and accepted his "offer." Thumbs down on that part of the tour.

The thumbs up part for us would be the tour guide, who I believe was named Rosaline. She was very knowledgeable and entertained us with her jokes.

 

Sorry for taking the front seats. We didn't know you weren't feeling well until you were getting out of the van to go back the ship.

 

Based on this experience, we were a bit concerned about the "private tour" we booked for St. Lucia. However, that tour turned out to be fantastic, and was indeed "private" -- a definite highlight of our cruise!

[joycefnp]

The whole reason we booked with Pepper was to have a private tour. We wanted less driving and more snorkeling. We were so lucky to run into Roselyn.........she was great. And the driver did a great job of avoiding potholes etc. I liked the way having a driver and a tour guide. I don't think it's a great idea for anyone to try and drive those roads, and give a tour at the same time!

[cantstayhome]

marmarjudy, we toured with Owen back in November and enjoyed our day with him, but there are a couple of things to be aware of.

 

Our price per person did not include any entrance fees, and when we did purchase our ticket, Owen had us purchase a 10.00 or 12.00 ticket that was actually a week pass, and we only needed it for Trafalgar falls, which is I believe is 5.00 to enter. No fee at the sulphur pools. (sorry can't remember name) Then there is a fee for Champagne snorkling....a couple bucks. Owen knows the prices of each spot, and we weren't quite sure the motivation of having us pay twice the money necessary.

 

Owen is a great guy, and we really did enjoy our day with him.

[rjscott]

Yes, whomever you tour with, you should always ask about entrance fees and whether they are in addition to your tour costs, so that there are no unpleasant surprises/conversations as you tour. As for Champagne Reef, there is an entrance fee to the Marine Reserve of $3, but additional fees for equipment rental if you do not have your own equipment to use. Just an FYI.

And yes, Joyce, I agree, I think it is a wonderful idea to have a guide along to note points of interest for the passengers so that the driver can do the job of driving on those narrow, winding roads. We have used private drivers on many islands in the Caribbean and in Mexico and Reyno Tours is the only one I've experienced having provided a guide.

[Stepilyn]

I have tried the gmail account, the yahoo account, bentours, and filled in the request boxes. So far the e-mails did not go through and after submitting a request twice so far, still he has not responded.

 

Anyone suggest a reason why I have not heard. Would like to set this port tour up now and know I have it.

 

Any suggestions on how to get him to respond? I know he can't tell I have body odor!!!!

[southeast]

Please try his Gmail account bnpascal@gmail.com

[Marmarjudy]

marmarjudy, we toured with Owen back in November and enjoyed our day with him, but there are a couple of things to be aware of.

 

Our price per person did not include any entrance fees, and when we did purchase our ticket, Owen had us purchase a 10.00 or 12.00 ticket that was actually a week pass, and we only needed it for Trafalgar falls, which is I believe is 5.00 to enter. No fee at the sulphur pools. (sorry can't remember name) Then there is a fee for Champagne snorkling....a couple bucks. Owen knows the prices of each spot, and we weren't quite sure the motivation of having us pay twice the money necessary.

 

Owen is a great guy, and we really did enjoy our day with him.

 

Thanks for the info, and I was prepared for the entrance fees, probably from your prior post..not a big deal.

 

I still am waiting on a reply to a prior post whether we can safely eat any of the food and where else we should have him take us besides Trafalgar Falls, the rain forest, and Emerald something. We don't do any water stuff.

 

I was just very happy to have a recommended person respond for the day we need. I'll post when we return.

 

Thanks,

Judy

[nasha1229]

Returned about a week ago and toured with Levi from Bumpiing tours. I have to give him two thumbs up for his tour. He took us to Emerald Pool, Trafalgar Falls, Sulphur Pool, etc. (All entry fees paid by Levi.) The thing that makes me give him two thumbs up are the fact that he has real concern for the people in his care. Two people in our van were a little limited in mobility and he took great care of them assisting them as needed without holding the whole group back. He also has nice newer vans. The roads in Dominica are a bit wild and he drove carefully and made us all comfortable. It was a great day with plenty of beverages available. Yes, bathrooms are a dollar...but they had attendants that tried to keep them clean. Mr. Nice's fruit stand was a hoot and I'm still chuckling about Mr. Nice rap. It is "nice to be nice". Next time I'm in Dominica, I'll definitely use Levi again. It was a great day.

[kareng1]

My family (7 of us in total) spent a day in Dominica with Levi on Jan. 15. We had a great day doing the Rousseau Valley Treasures Tour. It didn't include the long hike to Middleham Falls as we wanted more time to snorkel at Champagne Reef. The whole day was wonderful. We got to Dominica early (7am) and Levi was right there waiting when we got off the ship. The early start was worth it when we got to Titou Gorge first and it was just us there (it's a pretty small area, it would not be nearly so enjoyable to get there later whe all the cruise ship groups are there). Levi gets right in the water with you at all the stops, and makes sure everyone gets what they want out of the day.

 

I can't recommend Levi's tour highly enough. He kept us supplied with bottled water, soda and local beer all day. All the site passes were included in the total cost which was $47 per person, and was absolutely a steal at that rate. We've been in touch with Levi since our tour, and would definitely spend another day with him if we get the chance to go back to Dominica.

[Mgetta1]

Had a bad experience with Owens Tours. There was a misunderstanding and he said he thought the tour was for 2 instead of 4. But he wasn't at the ship to meet us, was at a different pier. A taxi driver called him for us and he got there late, but didn't have room for 4. He collected our money and got us a taxi driver who took us on a tour and left out nearly everything that was on the trip and got us back to the ship an 1 1/2 hour early but said there wasn't time to do anything else on the tour. Spent a lot of the day at craft vendors. We were very disappointed. Owen wouldn't refund any of our money, but said he'd give us another tour. Like I'll be visiting Dominica again anytime soon?

[rjscott]

We are just back from the Emerald Princess and we had a wonderful tour with Reyno Tours! We had a group of 14, and Reyno provided 2 airconditioned vans, so we were very comfortable and had room to spread out. We went to Middleham Falls first. This is a strenous hike, but everyone loved it. We came back to a cooler of local soft drinks and beer, and had time to quench our thirst and rest a bit before reboarding the vans for our trip to Titou Gorge. Titou Gorge is a beautiful spot and many went into the water and had a blast. Our guide, Rosaline, took some of us up a path to take some photos of those in the water. From Titou Gorge, some of us went to Champagne Reef and others wanted to return to the ship. It was great to have that flexibility with our two vans. Champagne Reef was a wonderful end to the day. The bubbles are expected, as they are a novelty, but there are also a good variety of fish and coral, so the snorkeling is really quite good. It is a bit rough on the feet getting in and out of the water, as it is a rocky, not sandy shore, but there are some larger rocks to use as stepping stones, so try to map out your entry before getting into the water and you'll be fine.

This was our second time using Reyno Tours and I was just as pleased this time as the first. Reyno is very accommodating and wants to make sure his passengers have the best experience possible on Dominica, and if you want to customize a tour he will work with you on that.

[PintSizedMommy]

My husband and I used Reyno Tours when we visited Dominica. They came recommended by several people on TripAdvisor. We had two tour guides who were extremely courteous and knowledgeable of Dominica's history. Everyone on the tour had an absolute blast. You can email them at Reynotours at hotmail dot com.