hiring a driver for the day

Just returned from our cruise and we used creslopez41955@hotmail.com for a day tour of Cozumel. Very highly recommended,he takes you to local bars and on a local history tour about how Cozumel started etc, he will also take you where ever you want to go. We did Mayan ruins,Tequila tasting,local quiet beach,local shops not near the port,he will stay with you at the shops.

I paid $90 for 3 hours then $20 per extra hour for 4 of us.

Lovely guy very pleasant his vehicle holds about 8 people.

We have Cresencio booked for February 22. Really looking forward to it after so many great reviews. He answered my request very quickly and he was very fair. I will also post a review upon our return.

Hiring a native driver was the best value of our entire cruise. Our driver, Alberto, showed us his home like no ship excursion could ever do. In addition to the "tourist sites" we asked to see, he suggested several sites that would have been to "small" for a group excursion, but were fascinating to see. Alberto's explanation of these lesser publicized sites made these sites all the more special.

Alberto definitely had our best interests at heart...he took us to a small, out of the way convenience store to buy snacks and water at $1 per bottle instead of the $4 per bottle rip-off in the tourist traps; he took us to the north side of the island (no electricity there, except by generator) to eat at a true local restaurant where the prices were extremely reasonable and where we sat and ate 10 yards/meters from the surf splashing on the rocks; he negotiated prices for us from vendors...

The one shore excursion we were considering through the ship would have cost my wife and I $140 for the three hour round-trip excursion to and from a single site on the south end of the island. Alberto and Hiring a Driver for a Day provided 7 hours of personal service for FOUR people for just slightly less than TWO of us would have paid for a far inferior experience.

The reservation process was seamless. Communication via e-mail was quick and thorough. The meeting up arrangements were easy. I can offer nothing but compliments for Hiring a Driver for a Day, the owner, Eduardo, and our driver, Alberto. Quality service all the way.

If you want to see Cozumel from the point of view of a native, book Hiring a Driver for a Day. You won't be disappointed.

Hiring a native driver was the best value of our entire cruise. Our driver, Alberto, showed us his home like no ship excursion could ever do. In addition to the "tourist sites" we asked to see, he suggested several sites that would have been to "small" for a group excursion, but were fascinating to see. Alberto's explanation of these lesser publicized sites made these sites all the more special.

 

Alberto definitely had our best interests at heart...he took us to a small, out of the way convenience store to buy snacks and water at $1 per bottle instead of the $4 per bottle rip-off in the tourist traps; he took us to the north side of the island (no electricity there, except by generator) to eat at a true local restaurant where the prices were extremely reasonable and where we sat and ate 10 yards/meters from the surf splashing on the rocks; he negotiated prices for us from vendors...

 

The one shore excursion we were considering through the ship would have cost my wife and I $140 for the three hour round-trip excursion to and from a single site on the south end of the island. Alberto and Hiring a Driver for a Day provided 7 hours of personal service for FOUR people for just slightly less than TWO of us would have paid for a far inferior experience.

 

The reservation process was seamless. Communication via e-mail was quick and thorough. The meeting up arrangements were easy. I can offer nothing but compliments for Hiring a Driver for a Day, the owner, Eduardo, and our driver, Alberto. Quality service all the way.

 

If you want to see Cozumel from the point of view of a native, book Hiring a Driver for a Day. You won't be disappointed.

My daughter and I had Alberto as our driver last May and we had a great time. He also showed us some out of the way places such as the hospital, university, certain neighborhoods and we went to a small grocery store and he carried our stuff out for us. We went to San Gervasio Ruins and he made sure we had plenty of mosquito spray on before we went in. I can highly recommend this service. We will definitely use again when we return to Coz this June.

Just back from our stop in Cozumel last week. Used Eduardo's service to hire a driver for our group of 8. We were assigned Gerry. Everything in the instructions was accurate, his van was great, and he kept us moving on time to pack everything in we wanted. He was fun, flexible and kind. He had a great recommendation for lunch-it was so good!

It was $20/hr per person, which I thought was a little steep. But the cab was clean, we had him for 2.5 hours, he took us anywhere we wanted to go, saw some beautiful beaches! Picked him up in front of the El Cid hotel. Shopping was great on the per, didn't need to wander for that.

So happy to see these great reviews. We have Gerry booked for April. Can't wait -- it's our first time to Cozumel.

Hiring a native driver was the best value of our entire cruise. Our driver, Alberto, showed us his home like no ship excursion could ever do. In addition to the "tourist sites" we asked to see, he suggested several sites that would have been to "small" for a group excursion, but were fascinating to see. Alberto's explanation of these lesser publicized sites made these sites all the more special.

 

Alberto definitely had our best interests at heart...he took us to a small, out of the way convenience store to buy snacks and water at $1 per bottle instead of the $4 per bottle rip-off in the tourist traps; he took us to the north side of the island (no electricity there, except by generator) to eat at a true local restaurant where the prices were extremely reasonable and where we sat and ate 10 yards/meters from the surf splashing on the rocks; he negotiated prices for us from vendors...

 

The one shore excursion we were considering through the ship would have cost my wife and I $140 for the three hour round-trip excursion to and from a single site on the south end of the island. Alberto and Hiring a Driver for a Day provided 7 hours of personal service for FOUR people for just slightly less than TWO of us would have paid for a far inferior experience.

 

The reservation process was seamless. Communication via e-mail was quick and thorough. The meeting up arrangements were easy. I can offer nothing but compliments for Hiring a Driver for a Day, the owner, Eduardo, and our driver, Alberto. Quality service all the way.

 

If you want to see Cozumel from the point of view of a native, book Hiring a Driver for a Day. You won't be disappointed.

How much is alberto? And how do you book him?

Has anyone had Miguel Burgos as a driver? Eduardo has booked him for my party of 12.

We had Crescencio give us a tour last year and he was wonderful. I had booked Gerry's group but he was a substitute and we liked him so much we came back and shared his email on this thread for others. I see he is getting popular. We wanted to see a LOT and he helped us squeeze it all in!

One of my favorite things, we asked him to take us somewhere to eat that the locals eat at and he took us to a place where we were the only tourists and the food was not beautifully plated but it was cheap and delicious!

Has anyone had Alfredo as a driver? We just found out he will be our driver in February.

We had Crescencio give us a tour last year and he was wonderful. I had booked Gerry's group but he was a substitute and we liked him so much we came back and shared his email on this thread for others. I see he is getting popular. We wanted to see a LOT and he helped us squeeze it all in!

 

One of my favorite things, we asked him to take us somewhere to eat that the locals eat at and he took us to a place where we were the only tourists and the food was not beautifully plated but it was cheap and delicious!

We have Crescencio booked for Mar 1. Do you remember the name of the restaurant you went to? We want to eat somewhere cheap and delicious too! Did Crescencio join you for lunch? Did the waiters speak English? And did they accept USD? I'm worried about not understanding the menu and ordering something crazy!

Thanks!

We have Crescencio booked for Mar 1. Do you remember the name of the restaurant you went to? We want to eat somewhere cheap and delicious too! Did Crescencio join you for lunch? Did the waiters speak English? And did they accept USD? I'm worried about not understanding the menu and ordering something crazy!

 

Thanks!

We had Alberto, he was great.

We ate at Playa Bonita, great meal, and great service, lot of fun.

Has anyone had Miguel Burgos as a driver? Eduardo has booked him for my party of 12.

We have him too for our group of 13. I have not seen his name mentioned before.

ETA: I found a recent review on trip advisor of a group who had Miguel for their driver -- they had a great time!!

We have Crescencio booked for Mar 1. Do you remember the name of the restaurant you went to? We want to eat somewhere cheap and delicious too! Did Crescencio join you for lunch? Did the waiters speak English? And did they accept USD? I'm worried about not understanding the menu and ordering something crazy!

 

Thanks!

I don't know the name of the place but they did take USD. I don't think the menu was in english that they gave us but we knew what we were ordering. I know what enchiladas, tacos, etc. are and I know pollo is chicken, carne is meat, frijoles are beans. We didn't get anything strange. It was not the kind of set up the health dept. in the US would have gone for- kitchen was right behind the counter and a fresh breeze was blowing through the place the whole time with big stacks of dishes just sitting out. My friends said the guacamole was awesome- I'm not much of an avocado person so I wouldn't know. I don't think they spoke much english but we had no problem ordering or understanding how much the bill was.

Crescencio didn't join us for lunch. I assume most drivers for the day are able to do this but he would always take us to a spot stick around and talk to us long enough for us to know what we were doing and then all the sudden he'd just disappear. But then as soon as you were ready to go on to the next spot you didn't have to look for him he would be right there.

We took a Western Carribean Cruise aboard the Carnival Legend recently and on January 22nd, we visited Cozumel and had a wonderful island tour with our driver Cantaro. After disembarking, we found Cantaro with the provided instructions without any issues. He was very easily identified with his yellow cap. Our tour was amazing! We had three passengers to split the $100 charge and were picked up in a comfortable, spacious, and clean van. We requested a driver who spoke good English, had great history knowledge of Cozumel & had a friendly personality. Cantaro was perfect for us. We visited the cacao factory and the mayan ruins at San Gervasio. He found a great place to buy vanilla at a great price for my island souvenirs. I would highly recommend Cantaro when you're booking with Driver for a Day in Cozumel. :D

We had Crescencio give us a tour last year and he was wonderful. I had booked Gerry's group but he was a substitute and we liked him so much we came back and shared his email on this thread for others. I see he is getting popular. We wanted to see a LOT and he helped us squeeze it all in!

 

One of my favorite things, we asked him to take us somewhere to eat that the locals eat at and he took us to a place where we were the only tourists and the food was not beautifully plated but it was cheap and delicious!

How did you contact the drivers ? Thank you. Judy

We took a Western Carribean Cruise aboard the Carnival Legend recently and on January 22nd, we visited Cozumel and had a wonderful island tour with our driver Cantaro. After disembarking, we found Cantaro with the provided instructions without any issues. He was very easily identified with his yellow cap. Our tour was amazing! We had three passengers to split the $100 charge and were picked up in a comfortable, spacious, and clean van. We requested a driver who spoke good English, had great history knowledge of Cozumel & had a friendly personality. Cantaro was perfect for us. We visited the cacao factory and the mayan ruins at San Gervasio. He found a great place to buy vanilla at a great price for my island souvenirs. I would highly recommend Cantaro when you're booking with Driver for a Day in Cozumel. :D

How do you contact the drivers ? Thanks Judy

creslopez41955@hotmail.com is the email of the person we used and are using next month. The group with Gerry has a website and it is listed somewhere in this thread too. Either one should give you a response back very quickly when you contact them.

We used "Hire a Driver in Cozumel" owned by Eduardo ________. He has several drivers (we had Alberto). I think you will find that all of Eduardo's drivers speak pretty good English. They are a licensed service.

The drivers were easy to find. Instructions were very clear. We simply walked up the dock, through the tourist rip-off strip mall shops to the taxi stand. All of Eduardo's drivers wore yellow hats and were standing in a group just off to the right - just as the instructions stated. When I approached the group, Alberto was quick to recognize us by name.

This is the confirmation message to us:

You are confirmed for a tour of Cozumel by taxi (station wagon) on Monday January 7th, 2013 starting at 10:30 AM ship eastern time / 9:30 AM local Cozumel central time

You are (MOST LIKELY!) docking at Carnival’s PUERTA MAYA PIER, Alex is not allowed a sign there, so look for a man with a yellow cap , He’ll be at the head of the taxi line as you leave the pier shopping area.

You are 99% for sure docking at the aforementioned PUERTA MAYA PIER, but stuff happens So…

If you dock at PUNTA LANGOSTA PIER (downtown), Alex will be waiting for you at the head of the taxi line in front of the Carlos ‘N Charlies bar/restaurant, which is directly across the street from the pier.

As you leave the pier, you will be obliged to take an escalator up to the 2nd floor of the mall (so the store owners get foot traffic). You have to make your way back to the ground floor again, but it’s a small mall, you won’t get lost. There is another taxi line at the back of the mall, but just ignore it. Alex’s waiting for you in front of Carlos ‘n Charlies!

If your ships docks at Royal Caribbean´s INTERNATIONAL PIER or tenders to any other pier, there is only one taxi line and finding it is easy and straightforward.

Payment is due in cash at the end of your tour, Alex accepts cash only as he has no way of verifying a credit card

REMINDER: There is a usd$95.00, 3 hour minimum charge for the tour + usd$25.00 per each additional hour for the Tour……….on December/11/12 we received by paypal the amount of usd$50.00 as an advance deposit and will be deducted from the balance at the end of the tour

Thanks…Alex and Eduardo / my cel in Cozumel 987-103-5504

IMPORTANT

For our tour services, we request a permit for your pick up at the pier from the Taxi union authority, so we cannot allow any more people in the vehicle than the ones the tour was reserved for (even if there's room in the vehicle for more). We cannot add more people in the vehicle without previous 48 hrs approval, as it is very possible that taxi union delegate at the pier will not allow them to board the vehicle for the tour.

We can refund the deposit in full with a written request by email, with at least two week notice. Within two weeks - 48 hours, a 50% refund will be given. No refunds will be given if you cancel within 48 hours or for no-shows. Full refunds will be given in the event that your cruise ship does not make port.

Someone might have mentioned this already, but if you are interested in hiring a driver for the day, don't wait as late as I did to contact the one you are interested in using. I emailed them about 2 wks. in advance and they were already booked for the day I needed one. However, I was lucky to find something else that will work for us... :)

we recently used hire a driver for a day and Jan 2013. After reading the reports from cruise critic, we decided to give them a try. Before we made our reservations, our questions were answered in a prompt manner. I never felt pressured to make a reservation.

The instructions for finding our driver were clear. No problems there.

We reserved the van because we had 8 people. Our driver was Leo. He was very friendly, answered all questions politely, made suggestions of what to see etc. Our group was late meeting him and he wasn't at all upset. Our tour started when all 8 of us were together. We switched up where to go at the last minute and the change was no problem to Leo.

The van was comfortable, air conditioned. The only thing I suggested was to have a microphone system in the van so All the Passengers could hear the driver talk. That was not too much of a issue, as I suggested to Eduardo that might be a good idea for future tours.

All in all, I would recommend this tour company and would use them again.

By the way, we had our driver drop us off at Playa Palancar beach, (very pretty, nice beach, good food)

Our driver asked if we wanted him to drive us back to the pier at our suggested time. (he said he would come back for us)

I thought that was so nice as we wouldn't be charged the hourly rate that we were at the beach.

However, upon checking in with the Tour Co. he was unable to help us.

There were loads of taxis however waiting at the beach to take us back to the pier, so that was no problem.

sklja

Just sent a email for our 4/9 date to Coz.

Hope they have a driver :)

We had Gerry as our driver. He met us where we were directed to meet after our ship arrived at a different pier. Gerry greeted us and made us feel very comfortable. Our group of 7 ranged from 50 to 80 years. Gerry asked what we wanted to do and we said we wanted an overview of the island. Gerry drove us all over the island and told us all about the island. He tried to teach a few words of Spanish. He was very kind and listened and answered my mom's questions (even when she asked the same one over again). This was our first trip to Cozumel and it was a good trip. Making the reservation was easy. Good communication by email. We got to see the eastern side of the island and the ruins. We had a van.

If you want an overview of the island, this is a great way to do it. Good price, especially when a large group splits the price.

So, how many hours is a normal length of time for Island touring and lunch at a local restaurant? We are thinking 3-4 hours. How much would this cost with tip?

Thank you