Vigo - Brendan Lowe

[Off2China]

Has anyone had any recent contact with guide Brendan Lowe? In July 2012 (over a year ago!) we contacted him and booked a tour to Santiago de Compostela for when we're in Vigo in late October 2013. Recently we've been trying to reconfirm our plans via email (several times) and have gotten no replies at all. Just wondering if anyone knows where he is. It's disappointing to not hear back from him, especially given all the great reviews he's gotten in the past.

 

Thanks!

[patl95]

I was wondering if you ever got a response from him? I've tried sending him several messages but never received a response. We're actually trying to book him for a tour for August of next year since he's gotten such great reviews in the past. Has anyone heard from him recently?

 

Thanks

 

Patty

[Off2China]

No, we didn't hear anything from him and have made other arrangements. I asked the same question on TripAdvisor and someone there commented that Brendan isn't a licensed tour guide and that perhaps he's been banned (or whatever) from doing tours.

 

Very disappointing.

[patl95]

That's too bad...he had gotten such great reviews in here. Do you mind me asking - did you go with another tour? I did contact another tour operator recommended in here who did get back to me with a quote and it was way more than we wanted to spend...

 

Looks like I have to go back to the drawing board for this stop...

 

Thanks

 

Patty

[Off2China]

Hi - Several people on our roll call are going to Santiago de Compostela with Top Day Tours. The description starts about half-way down this page:

http://www.spaindaytours.com/vigo-shore-excursion.html

 

For a group of 10-18 the price is 69 Euros per person.

[rkr]

Has anyone had any recent contact with guide Brendan Lowe? In July 2012 (over a year ago!) we contacted him and booked a tour to Santiago de Compostela for when we're in Vigo in late October 2013. Recently we've been trying to reconfirm our plans via email (several times) and have gotten no replies at all. Just wondering if anyone knows where he is. It's disappointing to not hear back from him, especially given all the great reviews he's gotten in the past.

 

Thanks!

 

He is an amazing tour guide! He is reliable and is an transplanted American, so his English is great. Keep trying to contact him. We found him difficult at first to get a reply, but once he answered everything went smoothly. When we toured with him, he told us that the tour company is ONLY him and that he was over-whelmed with requests. He was thinking of expanding to add some friends to help with this.

Good Luck!

Kathy

[campolady]

There has been a crack down on unlicensed guides and people offering unregistered holiday accommodation etc. here in Spain recently so this may be the reason he is no longer contactable or in business.

[Off2China]

Well, it doesn't really matter now. The cruise is over and the ship missed Vigo (and Le Havre, and Ponta Delgada) anyway. :(

[Turtles06]

Well, it doesn't really matter now. The cruise is over and the ship missed Vigo (and Le Havre, and Ponta Delgada) anyway. :(

 

You didn't miss much in Vigo (unless you were heading off to see Santiago de Compostela, in which case, that's a shame). As I said on another thread, I hope you'll be able to do that Normandy tour one day, and I'm glad you were able to enjoy the cruise, notwithstanding the missed ports.

[patl95]

Well, it doesn't really matter now. The cruise is over and the ship missed Vigo (and Le Havre, and Ponta Delgada) anyway. :(

 

Do you mind me asking why you had to miss Vigo and where you stopped instead? I had tried contacting Brendan last year and never heard back.

 

That is the last of our stops on our cruise this summer... We've decided to "do nothing" at this stop since the only private tours I could find were way more $ than we wanted to spend.... and we really don't like doing ship tours. We're sailing on the Independence of the Seas.

 

Thanks

 

Patty

[Turtles06]

Do you mind me asking why you had to miss Vigo and where you stopped instead? I had tried contacting Brendan last year and never heard back.

 

That is the last of our stops on our cruise this summer... We've decided to "do nothing" at this stop since the only private tours I could find were way more $ than we wanted to spend.... and we really don't like doing ship tours. We're sailing on the Independence of the Seas.

 

Thanks

 

Patty

 

I'm not Off2China, but they posted elsewhere that their ship's departure from Southampton in late Oct. was delayed by three days because of that massive storm that hit the UK and some of northern Europe. (We had left England a couple of days prior and sailed south into the storm as we approached the Bay of Biscay.)

 

Vigo is very do-able on your own in terms of walking around, and the ship docks right in front of the old quarter of the city. You can find a number of walking tour maps and other info here:

 

http://www.turismodevigo.org/en

 

However, imho, Vigo is not the most interesting of places. If you haven't been to Santiago de Compostela, I would strongly recommend taking a tour there, even a ship's tour, rather than spending the day in Vigo.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Turtles06

[Pet Nit Noy]

There has been a crack down on unlicensed guides and people offering unregistered holiday accommodation etc. here in Spain recently so this may be the reason he is no longer contactable or in business.

 

Brendan had a pattern of taking off for warmer locations during Europe's slower touring season. During that time, he wouldn't answer emails, but he used to surface just in time to honor commitments and add new bookings. That changed with last year's summer cruising season. For whatever reason, he has simply disappeared. People who are advising you to hang tight and wait for him to resurface are well-meaning but are working on outdated information.

[patl95]

I'm not Off2China, but they posted elsewhere that their ship's departure from Southampton in late Oct. was delayed by three days because of that massive storm that hit the UK and some of northern Europe. (We had left England a couple of days prior and sailed south into the storm as we approached the Bay of Biscay.)

 

Vigo is very do-able on your own in terms of walking around, and the ship docks right in front of the old quarter of the city. You can find a number of walking tour maps and other info here:

 

http://www.turismodevigo.org/en

 

However, imho, Vigo is not the most interesting of places. If you haven't been to Santiago de Compostela, I would strongly recommend taking a tour there, even a ship's tour, rather than spending the day in Vigo.

 

We have heard lots of great things about Santiago de Compostela, but unfortunately this is going to be the last stop on our trip...and based on all the other things we're doing I think we're hoping to keep this day as less $ as we can get it... especially since we're planning on spending 3 days in London after the cruise... So I think we've decided to just spend the day walking around Vigo. Thanks for the link!

 

Patty