Recent tubing excursions?

We are debating doing the river tubing and emerald pool excursion in Dominica vs a more complete tour of the islands and skipping the tubing. We've read some good and bad reviews, wondering if anyone has been recently on either a ship tour or a private tour? I understand there's two rivers for tubing, anyone done both? Which is better? How far of a ride is it to the river? And do you get to go down at your own pace or do you have to stop often and wait for people to catch up?

Would love to see your pics and hear your stories. Thanks so much

Jen

I'm still in the process of doing a photo review, but did the Emerald Pool and river tubing tour through AnTours - on the link below this starts around post #76.

I would recommend a tour that includes the Emerald Pool for sure - if you haven't been there before. I'm not sure which river we did our river tubing (they didn't tell us and there wasn't indication of the name of the river anywhere), but I will say it was way more adventurous than I had anticipated - not even close to a lazy float down the river as I had expected and hoped. Let me know if you have any specific questions about my tour.

Here's the link...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41632069#post41632069

Wow THANK YOU for the detailed review. We were concerned about the stopping and waiting for the rest of the group, that might sway us. We've done tubing here in CT with some crazy rapids so I'm not sure if it would be the same or worse there, its all perspective, but you definetly get the point across that its not a lazy river! I'm also a little concerned about Antours, it seems they don't always make good on the original plan, and you even mentioned it that he didn't really want to make the beach stop.

I actually have one question, could you have stayed at the beach longer and taken a cab back or did they insist you leave with them? An hour seems too short for me, I'd rather just spend the rest of the afternoon there.

Thanks again!

Wow THANK YOU for the detailed review. We were concerned about the stopping and waiting for the rest of the group, that might sway us. We've done tubing here in CT with some crazy rapids so I'm not sure if it would be the same or worse there, its all perspective, but you definetly get the point across that its not a lazy river! I'm also a little concerned about Antours, it seems they don't always make good on the original plan, and you even mentioned it that he didn't really want to make the beach stop.

 

I actually have one question, could you have stayed at the beach longer and taken a cab back or did they insist you leave with them? An hour seems too short for me, I'd rather just spend the rest of the afternoon there.

 

Thanks again!

You're quite welcome. That stopping and waiting for the rest of the group was the only part of the whole tour that I didn't like. I realize it was sort of a necessary for the workers to ensure that they had people in the water with us and able to help you the whole way down, I just think this part should be made clear in the description of the tour well in advance (as well as the fact that it's not a lazy float). I will say that AnTours was the only local tour that we booked that was EARLY and at their designated meeting time (before us!), which if you read the rest of my review seemed to be an ongoing issue of them not being at the designated stop in advance.

The strange part about him giving the other couple grief about their tour not including the beach stop is that he didn't seemed concerned about US having to go to the beach, it was more the fact that he was telling them they would owe more if THEY wanted to go to the beach too. After they showed the driver their paperwork that clearly said beach stop, he didn't have much else to say. I will say that it was a pretty busy day, so even the short time we spent at the beach, was plenty for us. We took a quick swim in the water, had a beer or two, dried off & were ready to go. The couple that went with us didn't even get in the water (just stayed under and umbrella and drank their drinks). I do believe we cut it short when we were ready to go but he was willing to stay longer than we did. I'm sure if you wanted, they could leave you there and you find your own ride back to the port too. They seemed willing to work with you on how long you wanted to stay. I'm not sure how easy or difficult it would be to get a taxi back from that place. We parked on a side street behind the snack bar and I don't recall seeing taxi's ready to go (other than the ones that were waiting for others), but then again, I could have just not noticed any?

Let me know if there's anything else...

We are debating doing the river tubing and emerald pool excursion in Dominica vs a more complete tour of the islands and skipping the tubing. We've read some good and bad reviews, wondering if anyone has been recently on either a ship tour or a private tour? I understand there's two rivers for tubing, anyone done both? Which is better? How far of a ride is it to the river? And do you get to go down at your own pace or do you have to stop often and wait for people to catch up?

 

Would love to see your pics and hear your stories. Thanks so much

 

Jen

Hi,

We actually did the same tour last week and we loved it...there were 6 of us in the group but they don't let anyone get to far ahead of the group, so at some points we were all together just floating.......but more rapids than floating....it was great and we would do it again !!! We also went into the pool and the water was not as cold as I expected...that was beautiful also...the whole tour for both places took 5hrs....it was a good 1/2 hour ride into the mountains for the pool which we did first. I also don't know the name of the river as we were not told and we didn't know there was more than one tubing site.

where in CT due you go tubing??? I am next door in RI....:)

Wish I had gotten your review sooner...we ended up booking a different tour all together. Hopefully we can try it on a future trip!

We go tubing on the Farmington river. The place is called "Satan's Kingdom" I think it's in new Hartford or canton. :)