CoastalCounseling Posted November 24, 2008 #1 Share Posted November 24, 2008 We are looking at the Sea Safari snorkle trip on "Fantasia" or Captn Tonys "Sand Dollar" catamaran for our Grand Bahama Island port. "Fantasia" looks to be a two level catamaran with a rock wall and water slide. The trip is 2 hours and Im not sure if it includes any drinks/snacks. Has anyone done this tour? Was the boat crowded? What can you tell us about it? Our other choice is a catamaran "Sand Dollar" with Captain Tony. Has anyone sailed on this one? What would be a better choice? I think he has drinks included and a 3 hour trip. Any input? We have small kids and are looking for a fun family day. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joellypie Posted November 24, 2008 #2 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I booked with Sand Dollar Tour's snorkeling tour in Freeport while we were on the Glory last week. I booked this in June, and have kept up contact with him since then. We were looking forward to this tour more then any other one after so many good reviews. After 30 min of trying to find where he docks (he didn't give us the best directions), we didn't see his boat. The lady at the hotel said he left at about 12 with a bunch of people. Now on his website it says 1, and that is what all his emails said. She even mentioned that he had said he had 2 people scheduled for 1 but he decided to take the other people out because there were more people and it was more cost efficient. He did not call us, email us, or even think to wait for us so we could join that group. We called him many times and he did not answer his cell phone either. To me this is bad business. I understand why he did it, I just don't think it was right. :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna - dsw Posted November 24, 2008 #3 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I agree - sorry you missed your trip - so what did you do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joellypie Posted November 24, 2008 #4 Share Posted November 24, 2008 Well we walked down in front of the Westin and there was this little blue shack that was offering snorkeling for $35 a person for an unlimited amount of time. Then we just laid out of the beach and went to a Greek restaurant that I forgot the name of. It was a nice day, but we spent a good hour of it trying to find his dock and then trying to get a hold of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelntreats Posted November 25, 2008 #5 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Thanks for the Heads Up and that sure was poor business practices on their part. I hope you had not paid for the tour in advance ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idjaffe Posted November 25, 2008 #6 Share Posted November 25, 2008 We had a great trip with Sandollar....BUT, there is no excuse for this. Sorry for your runaround. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idjaffe Posted November 25, 2008 #7 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Fantasia tends to be more crowds, and more of a party atmosphere. - but they have the big slide. Sandollar is a sail/snorkel and more personal. Will your kids do the slide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3poes Posted November 25, 2008 #8 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Sorry for your bad experience. Glad you made the best of a bad situation. Some people may not have recovered so well, "good on you!!" Have you contacted Capt Tony to see what went wrong? I don't know if "the lady at the hotel" would be the best person to get the scoop from. It may be nice to get the story from Capt Tony. There are plenty of posts about him going above and beyond what is called for. Leaving 2 people behind and saying it was "more cost efficient" does not sound like Capt Tony. It may have been an honest mistake, but at least knowing for sure what happened would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3poes Posted November 25, 2008 #9 Share Posted November 25, 2008 that sure was poor business practices on their part. Ouch!! poor business practice, maybe, or maybe honest mistake? sure would be nice to know before we set fire to the Sand Dollar and keel haul Capt Tony.:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joellypie Posted November 25, 2008 #10 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Well, I emailed him Saturday night to both of his email addresses and have not heard anything back from him yet. We also left him a message that Friday and asked him to call us back and he has not done that either. The reason I booked with him was because of his great reviews, and that is why I am so upset about all of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalCounseling Posted November 26, 2008 Author #11 Share Posted November 26, 2008 My child would definately do the slide! Read an unhappy camper on a post today that just said SandDollar left them high and dry, took out a larger group even though he prebooked. Not sure but the slide boat may be the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathynorth Posted January 10, 2009 #12 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I booked with Sand Dollar Tour's snorkeling tour in Freeport while we were on the Glory last week. I booked this in June, and have kept up contact with him since then. We were looking forward to this tour more then any other one after so many good reviews. After 30 min of trying to find where he docks (he didn't give us the best directions), we didn't see his boat. The lady at the hotel said he left at about 12 with a bunch of people. Now on his website it says 1, and that is what all his emails said. She even mentioned that he had said he had 2 people scheduled for 1 but he decided to take the other people out because there were more people and it was more cost efficient. He did not call us, email us, or even think to wait for us so we could join that group. We called him many times and he did not answer his cell phone either. To me this is bad business. I understand why he did it, I just don't think it was right. :mad: I just wanted to let you know that this happened to a family that was supposed to snorkel with us this past week. We thought we were to meet the boat at 9am, but were told there must have been a mistake because Tony had us booked at 1pm. We detoured to the beach and then meandered around the market, then arrived early so as not to miss our rebooked 1pm trip. The transfer boat arrived at around 12:45. It was a small motorboat with 3 life preservers for 5 passengers that brought us out to the catamaran. We told the driver that there was a second family from the 9am trip rebooked to 1pm and he said they were already out at the catamaran. Much to our surprise they were not there when we arrived. We felt badly when we ran into them back on the ship and found out they were never picked up at the dock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobsfamily Posted January 10, 2009 #13 Share Posted January 10, 2009 WOW - I have read nothing but good about him til now. We have an email from him stating he will wait for us knowing that the ship does not dock until noon. Hope we do not have these problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excalwop Posted January 10, 2009 #14 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Well we walked down in front of the Westin and there was this little blue shack that was offering snorkeling for $35 a person for an unlimited amount of time. Then we just laid out of the beach and went to a Greek restaurant that I forgot the name of. It was a nice day, but we spent a good hour of it trying to find his dock and then trying to get a hold of him. What was the name of snorkel Co. in that blue shack? Will be using Cpt'n tony tour on the 20 of Jan. and after reading about your tour? We want a back up Also have tried over the last week to contact him with no luck. paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottago2mexico Posted January 10, 2009 #15 Share Posted January 10, 2009 The snorkel company in the blue shack is Reef Tours, who operate a glass bottom boat, fishing, and a catamaran tour similar to Capt Tony's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobsfamily Posted January 11, 2009 #16 Share Posted January 11, 2009 From Capt. Tony himself. i do recall that day with 2 paxs who didn't make it to the boat on time .unfortunatly we have had a few people who were having a hard time finding the boat . also there have been some miscommunication with time of the trips , 9am & 1pm . we have taken steps to correct this . there have been better direction posted on the website. Hopefully what has happen in the past will not happen again . BTW on that trip i had 4 paxs , hardlt a big group . all 4 paxs was from the ship also . I have gotten several emails from him recently. Not sure why he has not email some. As you see he had 4 people from the same ship that made it there. I think he thought they were not coming as 4 had already gotten there. Not making excuses... just wanted to show his side. We will be on his boat this Friday - will post a review. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdhnd Posted January 12, 2009 #17 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Is there any difference between ship time and local time there? I kind of worry about that on excursions. Karen/IceTea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottago2mexico Posted January 12, 2009 #18 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Is there any difference between ship time and local time there?I kind of worry about that on excursions. Karen/IceTea Shouldn't be - Freeport is on Eastern Time, same as the East Coast of the USA, including Florida. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joellypie Posted January 16, 2009 #19 Share Posted January 16, 2009 From Capt. Tony himself. i do recall that day with 2 paxs who didn't make it to the boat on time .unfortunatly we have had a few people who were having a hard time finding the boat . also there have been some miscommunication with time of the trips , 9am & 1pm . we have taken steps to correct this . there have been better direction posted on the website. Hopefully what has happen in the past will not happen again . BTW on that trip i had 4 paxs , hardlt a big group . all 4 paxs was from the ship also . I have gotten several emails from him recently. Not sure why he has not email some. As you see he had 4 people from the same ship that made it there. I think he thought they were not coming as 4 had already gotten there. Not making excuses... just wanted to show his side. We will be on his boat this Friday - will post a review. Bob I find it funny that he told you the excuse, but I have emailed him 3 times asking for an explanation of some sort and have not heard a single word. I have emailed his personal and his email address on his website. I also, was able to find his exact position of where he picks up, it even matches up with travel mom's pictures here: http://www.travel-mom.com/2008/sand-dollar-cruises-freeport-bahamas/. We were standing right there, that is where the people at the hotel told us to go, and we were there at 12:30. We were on the same time is him, so there shouldn't have been an issue. He left at 12, which he shouldn't have. Also, I am not sure what the blue shack was called but when you step on to the beach you just walk in front of the Westin and its right there. They rent out jetskis and do the banana boat rides too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottago2mexico Posted January 17, 2009 #20 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Oh, THAT blue shack. That is Ocean Motion Watersports. They're located at the Our Lucaya Resort. Reef Tours is in the blue building at the Marketplace next to Le Med, it's right by Capt Tony so I thought that's what you meant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobsfamily Posted January 20, 2009 #21 Share Posted January 20, 2009 The ship was late getting and we hired a personal cab... price $30 with tip to get to Capt. Tony's boat quickly. We got off the boat around 1 and were on Tony's 15 min. later... guy was doing 70... kinda scary but we made it. Capt. Tony waited for us and we started out from the marina which is HUGE. It took 15-20 min. to get to the entrance and then the wind started HOWLING. We were sailing in minutes and with the help of the motors we were at the reef shortly - only for the Capt. to say we were going to another reef. It seems just as he was to drop anchor he saw another boat - dive boat - pull up and he stated "they are going shark diving" and he decided we really did not want to be on top snorkeling. GOOD IDEA!!! So we went down a bit and then he anchored. My wife and I have snorkeled many time and one look at the choppy water and one hand (brrrrr) into the water was enough. We elected to stay on and sip some bahama mama's... and the best show began. There were 5 18-22 yo's on and most had never snorkeled. Watching them get into the water... hanging onto the back for dear life - finally letting go and then actually putting their face in the water was FUNNY. Tony ended up getting in because they were kinda floundering around. They did have a good time but man was it COLD. As each got out it was shiver city. We sailed back in and he did not turn on the motors until we were right at the mouth of the marina and we still sailed for a bit.. he just wanted to have more power if needed. Great time by all and I would personally recommend his tour. Remember that Capt. Tony does not go after cruise ship traffic as he does many personalized tours and cannot be tied down. He welcomes people from CC and will do all within reason to accommodate you getting to the boat and back to the ship. He does have a cab he can call to return you as soon as you get off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurrSusan Posted January 23, 2009 #22 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Bobsfamily: Thanks for the update on this situation. We're thinking about taking this excursion & I was wondering about the time frame. We will dock in Freeport @ 7:00am so we would sign up for the 9:00am tour but our ship leaves at 2:00pm. Do you think we would have enough time to do this tour & be back at the ship by 1:00pm? Thanks for your help :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobsfamily Posted January 24, 2009 #23 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Bobsfamily: Thanks for the update on this situation. We're thinking about taking this excursion & I was wondering about the time frame. We will dock in Freeport @ 7:00am so we would sign up for the 9:00am tour but our ship leaves at 2:00pm. Do you think we would have enough time to do this tour & be back at the ship by 1:00pm? Thanks for your help :) Yes you will have enough time. He should be back at the dock around noon. If you email him: anthonyconyers@hotmail.com He will respond and provide you with times. This is his website: http://www.sanddollarcruise.com/ Nice man, easy to speak with, has worked for many years with the other tour operators. He lived and worked in the US for many years. I posted a review in the Bahamas section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gottago2mexico Posted January 24, 2009 #24 Share Posted January 24, 2009 The ship was late getting and we hired a personal cab... price $30 with tip to get to Capt. Tony's boat quickly. We got off the boat around 1 and were on Tony's 15 min. later... guy was doing 70... kinda scary but we made it. Capt. Tony waited for us and we started out from the marina which is HUGE. It took 15-20 min. to get to the entrance and then the wind started HOWLING. We were sailing in minutes and with the help of the motors we were at the reef shortly - only for the Capt. to say we were going to another reef. It seems just as he was to drop anchor he saw another boat - dive boat - pull up and he stated "they are going shark diving" and he decided we really did not want to be on top snorkeling. GOOD IDEA!!! So we went down a bit and then he anchored. My wife and I have snorkeled many time and one look at the choppy water and one hand (brrrrr) into the water was enough. We elected to stay on and sip some bahama mama's... and the best show began. There were 5 18-22 yo's on and most had never snorkeled. Watching them get into the water... hanging onto the back for dear life - finally letting go and then actually putting their face in the water was FUNNY. Tony ended up getting in because they were kinda floundering around. They did have a good time but man was it COLD. As each got out it was shiver city. We sailed back in and he did not turn on the motors until we were right at the mouth of the marina and we still sailed for a bit.. he just wanted to have more power if needed. Great time by all and I would personally recommend his tour. Remember that Capt. Tony does not go after cruise ship traffic as he does many personalized tours and cannot be tied down. He welcomes people from CC and will do all within reason to accommodate you getting to the boat and back to the ship. He does have a cab he can call to return you as soon as you get off. Thanks for the review! Bummer the weather didn't cooperate that day. You should see it today....nothing but sunshine, 75°F, water like glass. Lots of people out swimming already this morning. Hopefully you'll have better luck next time with the weather, but great that you still had fun! Anyone making port this weekend, find a way to get out on the water! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merilyn123 Posted January 24, 2009 #25 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Did you end up taking either the Fantasia or Sandollar charter? We will be there in March and are looking into them both. I would love to hear about your experience. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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