Bruno's tour from Raiatea

Thread: Tahitian May 29, 2006

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Quilting Queen vbmenu_register("postmenu_6279777", true);

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Join Date: May 2005

Location: Northern California

Posts: 89

Bruno's tour from Raiatea

I sent Bruno an email and he is aware of the negative comment. The following was his reply to my email. We will not be canceling our tour with Bruno.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Norine Long"

To: <tpt@mail.pf>

Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 10:04 AM

Subject: May 31, 2006 excursion

We will be on the Tahitian Princess and we are booked for your May 31

all day excursion. There is a group of 12 that are all on the cruise critic

roll call signed up for your tour.

Are you aware that there are a few bad reviews of your tour on the roll call

boards.

Some reviews say the lunch is at the fish park. I thought it was at a motu.

Please clarify the schedule for the tour.

Thank you

Norine Long

Norine,

A person have sent this, here is under my answer to this person, you can publish it on internet.

“Now a few of us did different things from Charlotte on some of the islands. For example on Raiatea we did Bruno's tour for the third time (we did his tour in 2003 & 2004 and loved it.) This time I would say "save your money" and do what Charlotte did. Bruno seems to have a new "love" interest and is so smitten he forgets that he has paying customers that he should be looking after. He especially forgot that when the drift snorkel in the coral gardens was being done and left everyone to fend for themselves and find their own way around and out. He has also replaced the picnic on the beautiful motu with a lunch at the Lagoonaquarium which has no atmosphere at all. No one was even shown any of the fish at the Lagoonaquarium so there was no point in even stopping there except for the lunch which we waited for 45 min to be ready. Apparently his camera broke the day before (?) so there were no underwater pictures of our group at the coral garden. For $130/pp you can do better booking off the docks, and I really hate to say that because I am one of those who raved how great this tour was back in 2003 & 2004.”

We do not await 45 minutes our meal prepared with fresh products, I always use this time to present the marine animal-life of lagonarium and to guide

the snorkelling, but you were so busy by your group commentaries that you have not listened and followed me rather well than debate in a corner about

"your big problem of motu".

We changed motu because of a theft risk and owing to the fact that the service had become dubious. I assume my choices because it is my responsibility, not the yours !.

Now this motu have been rent to "Vaipoe tour" and "Motu pearl farm tour " for a "beach tour" and the visit of their factitious pearl- farm.

I indeed drowned my last camera, and have just received the new one after your tour by DHL. If you had ordered a photo report it will have quite simply refunded. You could check before lying.

I made hundreds of drift snorkeling to the coral garden, alone or with my wife I ask for each time to people to remain with me so that I can show you the best places, I cannot run after everyone , I always follow the way adapted best to my customers. Is it to much difficult to follow a guide ? or may be the

guide have to follow you ?.

Our price was never 130 $ but 120$, it is today 110$ and we have offered since few weeks a reduction of 10$ to people who pay totality (100$) by

paypal, you could check before lying.

Drowned in your ocean of self importance, you missed your excursion and decided to hurt us, I can nothing there.

I will check back tomorrow for more chatter.

Norine

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Bruno is the one who is lying. We were quoted and paid $130...no camera or photos...no refund given. If you want one more opinion look at my post on "Is Bruno dependable". Interesting that 8 of the twelve were return customers with rave reviews for the tour in '03 & '04...why would we lie about this one? We were not a group of 12 hard to please people...just disappointed. Maybe our honest opionions will help to improve the tour for future customers.

I wont' even bother responding to Bruno's allegation we were lying. He did not live up to our previous tours, expectations were not met. Period!

Just thought I'd post Bruno's e-mail to me indicating what the tour entailed and the pricing which I received on Feb. 5, 2005 (yes, I booked this cruise more than a year out since we enjoyed it so much the previous TWO times we did it).

"Jackie,

great to read you !

The tour change like every thing and you can think that is for jackie don't do the same 2 times!

I want only authentics visits and untouched places, if you remember the landscape of north side of Taha'a, i project a great step in this place.

In a month, if nothing wrong fall to there, the tour will be :

Visits of producing pearl farm.

History, grafting, pearl classification, sale .

( Bernard and Monique Champon Farm, Apu bay, Taha'a south side)

- Visit of a producing vanilla farm.

History, plantation, pollinisation, harvest, drying .

( Lo sam kiou farm, Faaaha bay, Taha'a East side )

- A discovery and meal, on a wild islet lost in the splendid panorama of

the north of Taha'a (untouched Beach and direct access to the reef).

( Islet "god 's flower" Taha'a north East side )

Lunch : Marined fish, grilled fish, fruits

- Guided snorkeling at the coral garden west side of Taha'a.

( Taha'a West side )

Come back 04.45 pm

Included :

Beer and wine.

Wired commentaries aboard.

Pictures in option.

It's nothing to read that, its only words, i think it's a beautifull program and if you want more informations, i am ready !

The price Pacific francs and Euros is the same in 2005 but the $ is so low that i have to change to 130 USD / Person.

Jackie, your day March 16 Is booked and i dont ask you a deposit as usual now ( because too much missings customers in 2004 ), but let me some liberality to experiment first my next program as a first step for ... 2005 ;-)).

Your Friend

Bruno FABRE / l'excursion bleue.

E mail tpt@mail.pf

Site www.tahaa.net"

By the way we are not hard to please, nor are we self absorbed. We do however, not appreciate being called nay-sayers, liars nor anything else. That is totally uncalled for. If you check my previous posts I have always tried to help out others with the information I have learned on my cruises but now I feel I can no longer offer an honest opinion.

Wow, it looks to me like the reply was posted by Norine, not Bruno. Might be interesting to see what HE says. I am quite shocked by the tone from a tour operator who makes their living in tourism. These boards have a tremendous impact on their business.

I would think twice about booking with a reply that venomous _ not sure I would want to spend my day with them. Things happen, people like some tours more than other, I would have expected an explanation of what happened (like the change in lunch location), but in much more professional terms.

Hmmmmm....

Ok gals, you've made your points.

Back off of Norine, I was the one who started this conversation about Brunos, not her.

We are moving on now. We'll let you know how much we enjoyed it when we get back.

Best wishes

We have just returned from Tahiti, and took Bruno's tour on Sunday March 26th - it was very good. Meal was excellent, snorkelling in coral garden amazing! He gave us an up close and personal visit with a stone fish, puffer fish at lagoonarium. We had a wonderful day.

Heather & George

OregonDuck...you need to back off!

I never said a word about Norine!!! I only commented on Bruno's rude comments and false accusations. My opinions are for the sole purpose of providing information to future cruisers who might be considering his tour. Take them or leave them but keep your urde comments to yourself.

Dear Duck,

I truly hope you enjoy your day with Bruno but unless you are a moderator on this board you are the one who should back off. What gives you the right to tell us what to post. No one was picking on Norine (is this Quilting Queen?), just replying to comments made that were directed against us. Being called a liar, or self-serving or nay-sayers is something that must be addressed. We know how much we paid for this tour and how it has deteriorated from the last two times we went. If this is your first time with Bruno you may very well think he is the best thing since sliced bread. That is your perogative, posting our experience is ours. This board is for exchange of information and we posted our experience and how the tour has changed since the first & second time we did it and we hope that information is helpful to others.

Well, this seems to have become a rather vigorous chat about Bruno's tour. We are also booking him again in October. Our first tour was the highlight of our 2003 cruise . It is a shame that some people's expectations were not met when they did this tour. Could it be that Bruno, like all of us, has occasional bad days on the job? Anyway, I want to thank NY lady for the Teiva tours recommendation in Bora Bora. That sounds like a real hoot and we have contacted him about doing that one too. When all is said and done, no matter what you do in Raitea/Tahaa, it is just another day in Paradise!!

Smooth sailing,

Andy

I ended up booking Stephan in Raiatea instead of Bruno. I guess I choose Stephan over Bruno because of pricing and reputation. To me it seems that Bruno isn't consistent.

I am hopeful that all of you that have booked Bruno for your upcoming cruises will have a good time and hopefully his tour will improve.

I have to say that Bruno's trip was decent but certainly not worth the money.

He is not telling the truth however in that email. He is not very personable and asked for more money (not very nicely-really pissing my wife off) as he said he made a mistake when emailing me about my balance owed after sending him a deposit through paypal. The pearl farm and vanilla farm were mediocre and the prices at the pearl farm were triple the one we went to on Huahine. The CRAPPY lagoonarium had a decent lunch but the highlight was the trip to the coral garden despite the fact that my wife and a couple of others had to watch Bruno's son(?) while he went off snorkeling with a few people. However, I did have a good time so people should check it out for themselves. Next trip I will not use him.

LB

I'm beginning to have serious doubts here. We are to go with Bruno's in August.. Maybe I should rethink my plans.

Twin, I did not mention Bruno's son (Actually he is Bruno's new love's son) but we too, wound up watching him while he called for his mother the whole time. He was about 4/5 years old and as a grandmother of a 5 yr old I couldn't in good conscience leave him unattended on the boat. We stayed by the boat and kept an eye on him. Figure I got in enough trouble for telling people this tour was not worth the expense without mentioning their leaving a child alone with virtual strangers. Of course they were more interested in their own "pursuits" in the water than leaving the child. A little "afternoon delight" seems to be what they were interested in. Not something I particularly want to witness on my tours.

I just booked a tour with Bruno for August, the full day tour with a drift snorkel, vanilla/pearl tour, lunch with wine was $100 per person, if you use PayPal. He was very prompt and courteous with his emails. I too have been reading alot about Bruno and have asked if anyone else does the drift snorkel, not to be confused with the coral garden snorkel, but I could never get a definite answer to that specific question. The only other tour that I could find, that does the drift snorkel, was through Princess Cruise, at $95 per person for only 2 1/2 hours, no lunch. So I figured for $5 more, full day excursion, lunch with wine, why not go with Bruno! Besides, for the people who have taken his tour 2 and 3 times, in my traveling experiences, the first time for visiting new places, is always the best, it kind of loses something the next few times around. Of course that is just my opinion.

twin123185...thank you for your post. That is just what I said on another post. The tour was ok, the pearl farm was interesting, lunch was good and the snorkel spot was nice. But other issues made the day less than perfect. It just was not worth $130 to spend on a guide that really wasn't very interested in his customers or their safety. The slap in the face was his distorted recollection of the day.

fishman620...it was our first time with Bruno. The tour was ok...the man is not.

I do hope that anyone who is booked or will book with Bruno has a wonderful day, honest....we just reported what our day was like.

Kathy

twin123185, what did he charge?

It seems that his prices have become somewhat elastic! I have read anywhere from $100, $ 110 up to $130 US $ per person. :confused:

And how many people were on your tour?

We had a full boat of 12 people. I paid 95000 CFP I think total - about $95

That is the cheapest way - cash in CFP at the dock. I had paid a deposit through paypal and while I thought it was for 2 - he explained he charged me a deposit for one. This was correct and I realized this at the dock, HOWEVER, it was the way he asked which really turned me and my wife off - I paid it and had a decent time but...................

Like I said before - it is a decent trip - people should check it out for themselves. EVERYONE however should do the day on Huahine with Marc.

That is the best experience I have ever had off a ship.

Larry

Greetings All,

My wife and I took Bruno's tour on April 7th (4 days ago) and had a wounderful time. We paid 9500 cfp (about $100) each at the dock. We had used paypal to sent the $15 ea deposit before hand. Used the deposit for the CD of pictures. Yes, we were on the tour that he "lost his camera" he offered refunds for CD, but we wanted the collection of his other pictures. He delivered it to the ship at 8pm that same night.

Looks like we got "slammed" with $130 USD by booking a year in advance with him.

Wait a minute...Bruno said he lost his camera just before our tour on 3/16. And then his e-mail above (4/03) said he just got a new one delivered by DHL...but no camera on the 4/07 tour...hmmmm???

Wait a minute...Bruno said he lost his camera just before our tour on 3/16. And then his e-mail above (4/03) said he just got a new one delivered by DHL...but no camera on the 4/07 tour...hmmmm???

Oh you... non-believers:rolleyes:

He had a new small digital camera when he started our tour on 4/7/06. He took several pictures of my wife and I at the pearl farm. He showed them to us as he took them.. (on the display screen). When we went to the Motu for the lunch... Becky & I went to deeper water to snorkel - as we are both divers. Bruno followed with his camera in it's water tight case. He swam under us at about 15 feet and was taking pictures of us feeding the fish (from below). We continued to snorkel and returned for lunch --about one half of an hour later. He had his camera, camera case, camera batteries & memory card on a towel on the table drying them off with some paper napkins. He said that the case had leaked and he feared that his camera had drowned! He tried to reassemble everything about an hour later, but nothing... Dead. Salt water is nasty on electronics!

Oh-- by the way I had my [sea & Sea MX-10 35mm/ divers] camera with me and took pictures of him taking pictures of us. However, my camer is rated for 100 meters (300 feet) underwater. No problems with mine leaking!

I paid him and everone else that we used in (cfp) as I went to the "Bank of Tahiti" and got a very good exchange rate before we went on the ship.

Bruno and his wife Odile were wonderful hosts. My wife speaks french and enjoyed Odile's interaction with Bruno during our adverture. I think that somtimes people expect too much and are disapointed (for whatever reason). Both Becky and I expected a safe and enjoyable tour... and we were taken by the personable and caring nature of both Bruno & Odile. We would take his tour again.. if we are ever lucky enough to return to Tahaa.

Who wants to get sun-burned eating food on plastic seats in two feet of water anyway? I'll take Bruno's day long tour - to that anyday!

Tip: Speak their language and use their money... don't we expect travelers to the USA to do that?

Enough said-

Bruno & Odile are providing a wonderful service in a spactacular place -- charging a fair price. I highly recommend them!

Why don't you guys talk about the "sun sets" -- they are worth talking about! Unblieveable!!!!:D

Truly:)

Mike

In Bruno's defense -- We were on Bruno's tour with Seadoers and agree with both their and Heddy's favorable comments regarding this excursion. We had a wonderful day on his independent tour. I don't mean to get anyone upset, but I paid the total cost in advance in Euro's and it came to $90/pp USD at the time of conversion. A great value compared to the ship's 1/2 day tours elsewhere, for approximately the same price! Bruno delivered as promised. We were even able to drift-snorkel through the coral gardens twice! I felt badly about his new camera getting ruined. I would have gladly paid for a CD of the day's excursion.

We did Bruno's tour a couple of weeks ago, and while we enjoyed it very much, especially snorkelling in the coral garden at the end of the day, we have to agree with comments from others that both Bruno and his wife were extremely distant and did absolutely nothing to try to inject any fun or personality into the tour. And considering it was our most expensive tour, at $110 pp, I think it would have been nice to be able to have more than 1 rum punch (which we drank on arrival at the lagoonarium) for a whole day of touring (rose wine was available at lunch but there was nothing else offered - no beer at all). The lagoonarium definitely lacked atmosphere for a lunch stop.

Despite the fact that Bruno didn't seem interested in anyone, never assisted anyone out of the boat, and more than one person commented that it looked like it was the first time he'd done this excursion, we still enjoyed the day - gorgeous water, nice group of people from the ship, good lunch - it just could have been so much better with a little effort on Bruno's part.

Just a word to the wise when we got to Bruno tour He cancel on us because it was raining. I felt we had been dump! more in my reveiw to follow.

andra