Has anyone booked a tour by arrival ?

I will be there with my parents this time and I like to go with them to the same places I visited with a bord tour but I like to save money this time.

Has anyone booked a tour right on the pier by arrival which brought you

to the Trafalgar Falls and Emerald Pool (maybe even with the little detour to Mount Mourne Lookout and the Botanical Garden)?

Was it easy and safe and how much did you pay for it ? (so I might compare it to the price we would pay by booking on bord)

Nobody ?

Hey, we arrived at port and walked up the street. You can see the vendors behind a gate. We used "My Sisters Tours" you can find them on line as well. We paid cash. Either US or Euros is fine. We had an excellent tour. We mainly wanted to go to a BLACK sand beach (Mero) but also did a tour on the way there. We had lunch on the beach and our tour guide waited for us til we were ready to go back to the ship!!! It was nice...such an unspoiled country. Good luck

Thanks, for your answer. In this case no need to book a tour on board.

(or maybe having a closer look because I think the more ships are in port the fewer tours will be available)

We do this all the time. We go up to a taxi driver, tell him where we want to go, ask for additional suggestions, settle on a price, and off we go!

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We do this all the time. We go up to a taxi driver, tell him where we want to go, ask for additional suggestions, settle on a price, and off we go!

 

 

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That might be OK in places where they speak your languages but in other places, when the driver is only able to negotiate the price but nothing else then it might be a problem....

We do this all the time. We go up to a taxi driver, tell him where we want to go, ask for additional suggestions, settle on a price, and off we go!

 

 

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Viv, when you found a taxi driver, how did you know if the driver was someone who knew where you wanted to go and was a certified taxi driver?

Cabs usually line up at the port. Many times there even is a dispatcher. We ask for a driver who speaks at least a little English and we tell him what we want to see. Since we geocache we frequently print out a map with sights and caches on it so that makes it even easier.

One time somewhere in Mexico we told a cab driver to take us to some waterfalls (cataractas) we had read about. Apparently he misunderstood and took us to a brand new excavation site. It was one of our most fabulous excursions ever!

We have never had a problem or felt ripped off. We always negotiate a price in advance. A few cab drivers have not been real friendly but I have heard that about tour guides as well.

Enjoy!

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Cabs usually line up at the port. Many times there even is a dispatcher. We ask for a driver who speaks at least a little English and we tell him what we want to see. Since we geocache we frequently print out a map with sights and caches on it so that makes it even easier.

One time somewhere in Mexico we told a cab driver to take us to some waterfalls (cataractas) we had read about. Apparently he misunderstood and took us to a brand new excavation site. It was one of our most fabulous excursions ever!

We have never had a problem or felt ripped off. We always negotiate a price in advance. A few cab drivers have not been real friendly but I have heard that about tour guides as well.

Enjoy!

 

 

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Viv, we're cruising in 33 days, and I failed to book with some of the best known cruise companies, so I'm thinking of 'winging it', and hiring a taxi when we get to port. We only want to go to 3-4 places, that aren't too far out of the way. I just don't want to get into someone's car, who may be up to no good or want to rip us off. I read that their taxis have an H or HA in their licence plate number. It's good to know there's a taxi dispatcher we can go to. How do you print out a map with caches? Thanks for the info.

We print out a map from geocaching.com but you can go to google, put in the name of the port, a map will usually pop up and you can enlarge or shrink it and move it around till it shows what you want to see and then you can print it.

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There are two places where your ship can be docked in Dominica -- the town dock and the other which is basically an industrial dock which requires a shuttle to town.

In town there are always lots of taxis offering tours.

LuLu

We print out a map from geocaching.com but you can go to google, put in the name of the port, a map will usually pop up and you can enlarge or shrink it and move it around till it shows what you want to see and then you can print it.

 

 

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I was looking on the geocaching.com website. For the first time, I think we'll just go there and see what someone wants to charge to take us where we'd like to go. I'll have a Plan B if the rates are too high. Thank you

There are two places where your ship can be docked in Dominica -- the town dock and the other which is basically an industrial dock which requires a shuttle to town.

In town there are always lots of taxis offering tours.

LuLu

That's good to know. At least I know there are others who hire taxis once they get to the dock.

Many people on cruisecritic are on here to form groups to share taxis at the docks in ports all over the world. In Dominica, there will be many taxis at the pier and they will take you on their standard tours or where you want to go. You can bargain with them, but they try to stick together to all have the same price, and there is now a head person/dispatcher that tries to control who is going where and for how much. The locals are very honest, sincere, and to me, some of the friendliest people in the world. They love their island and like to tell you about it. I have never found a place in the world where there weren't local taxis to take advantage of the cruise ship business. Dominica has changed a lot in the last five years, as back then there weren't a lot of local taxis offering tours, but with the increasing number of ships arriving there, it has evolved.

Marilyn

Was just there last week. Just walk off the pier and go straight up the road. Plenty of tour operators available.

enjoy