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island Marketing Ltd... anyone book with them?


hog_wild
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We used Island Marketing in Cozumel to go to Nachi Cocom. In fact, all the reviews of people going to Nachi used Island Marketing. We also used them to book our waverunners out to Stingray City and Rum Point in Grand Cayman. Everything was exactly as they said it would be for both places. Our friends are heading to Cozumel in May and they just booked Nachi. We would use them again in a heartbeat.

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Hi guys, I am actually looking at 2 different excursions with them. Has anyone booked with them? Do they have a good rep? any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

Karen

 

March sailing:

Me, DH, 2 kids... 5 and 7

 

I used Island Marketing for our day at Nachi Cocom as well and they were very professional. Everything went off without a hitch. I had to change the number of guests on two occasions, and Island Marketing was prompt in replying to my e-mails and got everything just right. I will use them again in the future...as soon as I can get back to Cozumel!

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we were just in cozumel one week ago. i had booked online with island marketing several months ago for the ATV adventure. we were very disappointed. their representative was 30 minuits late meeting us, took 45 minuits to get to the site, waited another 30 minuits to start the ride and was done 1 1/2 hrs later. their site on line states a 5 hr adventure complete with riding on the beach ( and they show pictures). we never got near the beach. rode the whole time through the jungle and then were told that we had to take a van to the beach. by this time, we were running so late that we just went back to the pier and shopped for an hr before getting on the tenders. there website is very misleading as far as this adventure is concerned.:(

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We booked with them for the Waverunner excursion including Stingray City and Rum Point Beach on Grand Cayman and the excursion was excellent. There were 10 of us (all family and friends who I booked the excursion for) wtih two guides. The site says the tour is about 2 hours long. We did begin about 30 minutes late bc the guides kept the previous group out late - but we were out for almost 3 hours, so who can really complain?? Excellent excursion and well worth it.

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Just last week, took three tours with Island Marketing:

 

Dunn's River Falls/White River tubing trip in Ocho Rios; Jet ski to stingray city in Grand Cayman; and the all-inclusive day at the beach in Cozumel.

 

All were outstanding and a great value.

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we were just in cozumel one week ago. i had booked online with island marketing several months ago for the ATV adventure. we were very disappointed. their representative was 30 minuits late meeting us, took 45 minuits to get to the site, waited another 30 minuits to start the ride and was done 1 1/2 hrs later. their site on line states a 5 hr adventure complete with riding on the beach ( and they show pictures). we never got near the beach. rode the whole time through the jungle and then were told that we had to take a van to the beach. by this time, we were running so late that we just went back to the pier and shopped for an hr before getting on the tenders. there website is very misleading as far as this adventure is concerned.:(

 

Sorry you had a bad experience. My guess is, though, the company running the ATVs were late, not Island Marketing. IM is just the middle man. I would let IM know about your experience. If they have other complaints about this tour, maybe they will reevaluate whether or not to use them anymore. Again, sorry you had a bad experience. Not fun when you're on vacation!

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It is actually a rep from the Island Marketing that met us at Carlos and Charlies, they then handed us off to a van to bring us to the site. I have actually been in contact with IM and they are trying to resolve the issue. They have been very prompt with their emails so hopefully it will be taken care of soon. I am not the type to complaine just because...but do expect to get what we paid for especially since i was doing this excursion with 12 other people and i was the one that did the research months ago and booked it for our group.

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  • 1 year later...

We just returned from our first ever cruise to Cozumel. We booked the Dune Buggy excursion with Island Marketing, and we were pleased with them overall. The rep met us early at the Diver's Memorial and then escorted us one block to their lot. From there our guide took us to the snorkel area (BRING REEF SHOES...ROCKS AND CORAL WERE HARSH ON OUR FEET) where we saw lots of reef fish coming out of their planted underwater structure! lol This I was a little disappointed with...but I guess the reefs are only so good close to shore.

 

They cooked a great meal for us on the beach, under their lashed together hut with old shredded blue tarp roof! lol I was disappointed with the ruin we went to (El Cathel?) as it was very small (I was expecting some big temple site) and surrounded by people trying to sell us stuff. I think next time I would just rent a jeep and do my own thing.

 

Anyway, the buggy was a great way to tour the island...and the guide was really good. (Outgoing and knowledgeable)

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  • 3 years later...
  • 11 months later...

We booked the Big Island Volcano National Park and Rainbow Falls excursion while in Hilo, HI on April 28, 2012, from Radiance of the Seas.

This was similar to a tour offered by the ship although the ship tour included lunch and was $40 more for 2 of us.

 

My problem with this excursion is that we were loaded onto a mid sized bus at first and then transferred to a 12 passenger van because they said "we can't afford to use a larger bus for a small group." We sat at the pier for about 10-15 minutes, no air conditioning and very cramped. The van had poor visibility and the passengers in back had to crawl over the rear wheel well just to get seated. After I got out of the van to find the driver, we got air conditioning and the tour proceeded.

 

It was not the drivers fault and he was a good tour guide. But we were not treated well by Island Marketing, and will probably not use them again.

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we were just in cozumel one week ago. i had booked online with island marketing several months ago for the ATV adventure. we were very disappointed. their representative was 30 minuits late meeting us, took 45 minuits to get to the site, waited another 30 minuits to start the ride and was done 1 1/2 hrs later. their site on line states a 5 hr adventure complete with riding on the beach ( and they show pictures). we never got near the beach. rode the whole time through the jungle and then were told that we had to take a van to the beach. by this time, we were running so late that we just went back to the pier and shopped for an hr before getting on the tenders. there website is very misleading as far as this adventure is concerned.:(

 

We had about the same experience. We had to take a taxi to a meeting place and wait for the representative (he was on time but was waiting on another couple who never did show up). What was really annoying was that the van that drove us to where the atv's were drove past our cruise terminal. It would have saved us the cost of the taxi if they could have picked up up at our pier.

 

Because, we were delayed we only had less than an hour to enjoy the beach. A little disappointed.

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  • 1 year later...

I am using Island Marketing during my 9/28/13 cruise to Roatan and Belize. They took a small deposit, however we wanted to pay for the excursions in full now via credit card They said they could take the deposit via credit card now

but that the remaining balance would have to be paid in cash or travelers checks at the time we are met by our Tour Guide.

Is this the way any of you have had to pay?

Thank you

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Used them five times for our excursions to Nachi...

 

Once the stop was cancelled due to hurricane hitting just to the south and got our refund quickly.

 

Had to move our reservation once when Carnival decided to completely reverse the itinerary and had no problem changing days.

 

Every other time, everything went without a hitch. (knock on wood for our next booking for April. ;) )

 

Definitely a well respected excursion company.

 

Bill

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I am using Island Marketing during my 9/28/13 cruise to Roatan and Belize. They took a small deposit, however we wanted to pay for the excursions in full now via credit card They said they could take the deposit via credit card now

but that the remaining balance would have to be paid in cash or travelers checks at the time we are met by our Tour Guide.

Is this the way any of you have had to pay?

Thank you

 

Island marketing are a third party broker. They do not actually run tours themselves. I have used them several times in various places but as has been said their role is purely administrative.

 

I have never had a trouble with the booking although some tours have been better than others depending on the actual tour operator.

 

The balance has always been paid on the day. I have always assumed the deposit was the fee to Island Marketing and the balance was to the tour operator, not sure if this is in fact a valid assumption.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I am using Island Marketing during my 9/28/13 cruise to Roatan and Belize. They took a small deposit, however we wanted to pay for the excursions in full now via credit card They said they could take the deposit via credit card now

but that the remaining balance would have to be paid in cash or travelers checks at the time we are met by our Tour Guide.

Is this the way any of you have had to pay?

Thank you

Yes, this is the payment scheme - a percentage down, cash on arrival.

 

We have had a mostly positive experience with Island Marketing, but I found their operation on Roatan to be less organized. They did not have enough cars to transport everyone initially and had to call for backup. But we eventually got where we were going and had a good time!

 

On the plus side, when I had to cancel an excursion, they credited me for it and I used the balance on another cruise six months later. Their info all indicates a non-refundable deposit, so this was a pleasant surprise.

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we have used them many time during our past 5 cruises and have been very happy with every tour. We missed Grand Cayman one time due to weather and they refunded us as they said they would.

 

We made the mistake of booking with the cruise line our first cruise, newbies....live and learn as they were crowded tours where we spent more times lining up or being herded like cattle...thanks but no thanks... Booking with Independents like Island Marketing is the way to go. More personalized and more bang for your buck

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  • 3 months later...

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