Prince Edward Island - Private Tours

[Nymue]

Can anyone recomend a Private Tour Comp. on PEI that goes to Green Gables?

 

Thanks,

Anne

[BOTHWELLPJ]

We are going on the Massadam in a couple of weeks, and came across this company, goodtaxi@EastLink.ca

 

 

They have been very helpful with answering any and all questions that I have been asking them.

 

Give them and e-mail, they answer really quickly.

 

Judy

[MarriedACanadian]

We were in PEI last Tuesday on board the Maasdam and used Horizon Tours (www.horizontours.ca). Our driver was Gus and he did an excellent job at pricing well below that of the cruise ship. How the weather is warmer for you that it was for us.

[comptom952]

When you get to Prince Eward Island I recommend Chris from Fair Island Tours, they are at the dock when you get off the cruise ship. He does a wonderful tour of Charlottetown, beaches, countryside, fishing village and Anne Of Green Gables. Also friends of ours have taking a tour with Chris and loved it. http://www.fairislandtours.com

[tbears]

We were in PEI last Tuesday on board the Maasdam and used Horizon Tours (www.horizontours.ca). Our driver was Gus and he did an excellent job at pricing well below that of the cruise ship. How the weather is warmer for you that it was for us.

 

Be careful with using Horizon Tours. We booked with Gus and he did a bait & switch with us. He was supposed to be our tour guide and when we arrived he dumped us with a guy named Peter who didn't know our itinerary or anything. He said he had been in the area for 9 yrs yet didn't know any of the history of it. He just drove us from place to place without telling us where we were going. It was a waste of time & money! We were very disappointed!

[Seabreeze8]

I was with Janice on the same tour with Horizon Tour. When I book the tour with Gus, he agreed to be our tour guide. A few days before the tour, I sent an e-mail to Gus to confirm us coming. He did not mention anything about Peter. Peter could not tell us anything about the place, history, people or the culture. I was very disappointed with Horizon Tour and definitely would not use Horizon tour again.

[travelbig]

I was with Janice on the same tour with Horizon Tour. When I book the tour with Gus, he agreed to be our tour guide. A few days before the tour, I sent an e-mail to Gus to confirm us coming. He did not mention anything about Peter. Peter could not tell us anything about the place, history, people or the culture. I was very disappointed with Horizon Tour and definitely would not use Horizon tour again.

 

Thank you for letting us know. I will contact the other two companies mentioned.

[npmommy]

Try posting on your roll call also. We looked into private tours when we were there in 2009 off the Eurodam, but we found the best value (atleast for us) was to rent a car. They picked us up at the dock and it was very easy driving around PEI. We were able to see stuff that would have taken multiple tours through the ship and we could decide how much time we wanted to stay at each place. Just an idea.

 

I know this is an old post, but would you please tell me which rental car company picked you up at the dock?

[maryann ns]

It could have been Enterprise as they advertise that they will do this.

[cruisingsfun]

Today my husband and I were on a 4 hour tour with Chris with Fair Island Tours for $40 per person. He took us to a soap making place and a cheese making place so that we could make purchases. These were not on our itinerary. Naturally, our tour lasted longer than the 4 hours. So, at the end of the tour, which lasted 5 1/2 hours, he charged $55 each. At no time during the tour did he say anything about charging extra for extra time. A member of our group even paid for his lunch. The tour was nice, to the countryside, Anne of Green Gables, and a fishing village. But was very disappointed in the big price jump. I told him that I was unhappy, but he wasn't willing to reduce the tour to the agreed upon price.:(

[operabob]

Did you ask to be taken to the soap making place and a cheese making place?

 

If not I'd have given him the $40, no tip and walked away telling him, "Them's the breaks! If you don't like it call the cops".

 

Our cops are polite BTW. It's the law!

[maryann ns]

I agree. If you had the price and tour itinerary in writing, then you should have made him stick to that.

 

A couple times on private tours I organized they wanted to change the plan. All I had to do was firmly say "No".

[Nitemare]

That sucks. Did you pay with a credit card? I'd consider a dispute if you have the rate in writing.

 

This is reason #9 why you should ask here about tours before hiring someone. There are only 2 prior posts about this company on the board, both by the same poster . . . who has only ever made those two posts, which would make them suspect in my eyes.

[eandj]

. But was very disappointed in the big price jump. I told him that I was unhappy, but he wasn't willing to reduce the tour to the agreed upon price.:(

 

 

Did you prebook the tour with the agreed upon cost? I don't understand why you would pay more? I would send off an email to them letting them know what happened and where you are reporting the incident ( and do so on Trip advisor too)...and the amount of cruisers that are reading the review. Maybe the owner doesn't know what the guide is doing.

[canadarocks]

We just came back from a New England/Canada cruise and in Charlottetown PEI we used Duncan of: http://www.duncansislandtours.ca/

 

We had a great time and I can thoroughly recommend him! :)

[Shawnino]

That's disgraceful cruisingsfun. I would report this to PEI's Department of Tourism. They won't be able to shut him down pr anything but they can curtail his advertising opportunities.

 

Here's the e-mail address:

tpswitch@gov.pe.ca

 

And yes, if you paid by credit card, get your money back!

[maryann ns]

Very interesting. We seem to have a communication breakdown somewhere between the operator, the cruiser-organizer, and the people who went on the tour.

[cruisingsfun]

Thanks for all your comments. It was a really strange experience. There were several vans that one of our cruisers arranged. We thought they were all Fair Island Tours, but it turned out that they were several separate companies. So the tours all varied tremendously - from 3 1/2 hours to 6 hours. However no one was impressed or would recommend this tour. Won't go into all the details of why, don't want to make the organizer feel bad for arranging this.

 

On another note, I will post in another place that we had the best tour ever in Halifax with Halifax taxi tours. Al was our driver and went out of his way to show us everything and lots of history. Gail

[GigiAnn]

I was responsible for recommending Fair Island Tours to our CC roll call. After I booked the first van I put the information on the CC roll call for others to make contact on their own.

 

Chris, the owner of the company, quoted a price of $60 per hour. I posted a price for a 4-hour tour. The van I was in with my DH ran over the four hours. All aboard the van agreed to a stop for lunch, which ran about an hour. We ran into another van with a group of our roll call folks and they recommended that we stop at a place that makes cheese. I asked Chris if he would do that. I suppose that ran us over about 30 minutes. I do not believe that Chris charged us any more that what his usual $60 per hour charge is. One of the people in our van was not happy with the additional charge. I will be willing to re-imburse her for the extra half hour charge, as I believe it was my fault that we ran over.

 

My DH and I enjoyed the tour given by Chris at Fair Island Tours. I highly recommend that you book with him. He will be waiting at the dock for you and deliver you back to the ship on time.

 

Just be sure to tell him how many hours you want to book and what you would like to see. He will be very happy to accommodate any requests.

 

 

[Poohb]

Another vote for goodtaxi@eastlink.ca . They were on time, we had Kenny (the DH). FYI, their last name is 'Good'. IT WAS FABULOUS ! We went to Gables & walked around the outside; didn't go in. It was the end of the season and their snacks were 'on sale'. PEI is a beautiful place, we saw the Federation Bridge and so much more. We would highly rate this tour.

[alwalaska]

I know this is an old post, but would you please tell me which rental car company picked you up at the dock?

I haven't read the whole thread yet, so I hope I am not duplicating, but other threads reported that Budget picks you up and brings you back to the port and it is only 1/2 mile away or so. Several happy customers posted.