Irie Tours question

I booked a tour with Irie's per recommendations on this board. My question is, since her buses are not air conditioned and I am going in 2 weeks, how hot are the buses going to be? Do you get a good breeze? I am just second guessing my choice of tours.

I booked a tour with Irie's per recommendations on this board. My question is, since her buses are not air conditioned and I am going in 2 weeks, how hot are the buses going to be? Do you get a good breeze? I am just second guessing my choice of tours.

We did this tour two weeks ago, and there is a very nice breeze.

Never felt hot or sweating.

Enjoy!:D

The buses are open, so you will always catch the breeze. Don't worry - just go and have a good time!

We are booked for the 8 hour tour with Irie Tours in October. Very excited!!!!

I just received this reply regarding the 5 hour tour for ships arriving late in the day:

We created this 5 hour, shorter version of the west beach especially for the cruise ships arriving in the afternoon. It gets dark between 6:30 - 7:00 pm. So you will have enough time to do this tour if you want.

The West Side Tour starts at 2:00 pm or if you can meet us before this time the tour will leave earlier.

First we drive straight to National Park Shete Boka, we stay here for approximately 40 minutes. After this stop we go to Playa Forti to enjoy the beautiful view and some picture taking. Now we drive to Knip Beach for a 1-hour swim stop with the option to cliff jump! After this beach stop we head to Porto Marie Beach for another hour of relaxation. After this stop we drive by the salt lake at St. Willibrodus to see the Flamingo's.

Duration: 5 hours

The price for this trip is $75 and includes:

*Beer, soft drinks & bottled water (no lunch)

*Entrance fee at Porto Marie beach & the National park

Aisha

Irie Tours

You can Google the tour name to get the website

Just went last week on Irie Tours. The 3 hour one. It is very hot but nice when it's moving. They let us stay an extra hour at the beach if we wanted no charge. I questioned the trip due to the heat as well but we enjoyed the tour and the price is great!

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We just back home and did the 3 hour tour with IRIE tours. It was very hot and even thugh they furnished water, beer, and soft drinks, breeze was still hot. Most of the tour seemed to be of housing developments - high end, middle class, and low income. We did do some of the downtown section and also went to the beach for 1 hour.

I cannot recommend this tour for a first time visitor - you should be able to see more interesting sites.

We weren't impressed with the beach stop. Too many people!

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Was this the East Coast tour?

The three hour tour. I believe it was the East tour.

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My husband and I recently took the “5” hour tour in Curacao on September 17th. We were very disappointed with this tour. First off, the website shows fun, converted school buses. We were ushered into a mini-van taxi with one other couple. No fun party bus as shown on their website.

We were met by a gentleman with an Irie tee-shirt at the arranged meeting site. I asked the man if we could pay by credit card, as I had not wanted to walk around with large amounts of cash. He assured me that we could pay by credit card at the end of the tour. We waited almost 20 minutes for others that did not show before he walked us across the street to a waiting taxi driver. We were shocked as this was not what the website represented at all. When I told the man from Irie that this was not what we expected, he said that they do not provide the bus for small groups. We had no idea based on the info on their website or in their email that we were considered a small group. As it was now too late to book an excursion with the cruise line, we had no choice but to get into the taxi as we did not know enough about Curacao to venture out on our own.

We went to the National park, where we were told we had 15 minutes to walk the trail, not the 40 minutes the website mentions. We never stopped at Playa Forti as the website mentions. We went to Knip beach and were told we had 45 minutes to swim, not the 1 hour their site mentions. And we were never told about an option to cliff jump. After 45 minutes we were ushered back into the van and taken to the next beach where we were told we had 1 hour. Back into the van, and we did a drive-by of a pond that had a flamingo in it.

We were returned to Willemstad in 4 hours, not the 5 hours we were promised in their ad or email, where the driver pulled over on the side of the busy road just before the pontoon bridge. The taxi driver asked for his $150, and I handed him my credit card. He informed me that he could not take the credit card as he had no machine to use. I explained to him that I was assured by the gentleman from Irie that I could charge and he again told me no. He insisted that my husband wait with him at the van while I walk to find an ATM to withdraw the cash to pay him!! (And this after he cautioned me not to walk with money in my hand.)

This was a very disappointing experience for my husband and I as first time visitors to the island. We feel like we did not get what was promised on the website, nor did we get a tour worth $150.

I emailed Aisha at Irie when I returned. I got no response back.

I received an email back from Aisha at Irie Tours. They were very gracious and have offered a partial refund. I wish I could now delete my negative post.

I'm glad you wrote about your experiences - good and bad. Even though they offered a partial refund, most would not want to have to go through that. I'm guessing that the refund didn't change the negative tour experience, just made it a bit more palatable.

I received an email back from Aisha at Irie Tours. They were very gracious and have offered a partial refund. I wish I could now delete my negative post.

Thanks for your review of the tour. The refund does not make up for the poor service or for not meeting their commitments.

I'm glad you can't delete as your review was factual and valuable to us all. ;)

This is making me second guess booking this for our Spring Break cruise. We booked the 3hr tour... hmm may need to look into a back up plan.

OP. I had a similar experience NOT with this tour company or this port. Some years ago we had a terrible tour. Like you missed stops, didn't stay at stops as long as advertised, different transportation.

The owner of the operation was not available when we returned back at port. So I contacted them when we got home. In not so many words they offered to reimburse partial cost, but was like have you done a review anywhere. This is my livelihood.

I'm glad your review stayed. Like others said, it is valuable. I understand things happen and hopefully this was a rare event for Irie. But this also gives readers the opportunity to see how a company handles adversity.

As unfortunate as this negative experience was/is for the OP, this seldom happens.

I'm not involved with Irie in no shape nor form, but if you read the reviews - the majority of them are very good.

We have actually been communicating with Irie about a tour when we are in Curacao this spring.

Given that we have 2 tours booked with Irie for March, I will post the experiences for information as well. My DH and I are going on the all day west side beach hopper, while my in-laws are doing the East Side tour. So we'll have a chance to compare notes on the level of service offered, as I'm guessing the second tour will be a much smaller crowd.

Will report back, as the level of service should be similar whether you have 2 or 20 taking the excursion. I do think honest reviews (and follow up posts) are helpful to everyone who books independent excursions, and appreciate the knowledge we can glean from them.

I was trying to either book the 3 hour east side or 5 hour cruise beach hopper tour with Irie. I wanted to know what times the tours started so I could decide which one to take. I have emailed them 1X over a week ago and 1X on Friday and I haven't heard back from them. Is that typical?? I'm leaving in 3 weeks, so 'I need to make a decision either with them or someone else.

I was trying to either book the 3 hour east side or 5 hour cruise beach hopper tour with Irie. I wanted to know what times the tours started so I could decide which one to take. I have emailed them 1X over a week ago and 1X on Friday and I haven't heard back from them. Is that typical?? I'm leaving in 3 weeks, so 'I need to make a decision either with them or someone else.

I had not had a reply to an email and found their Facebook page. Left a message there and got a response within the hour.