Charlie Soto Tour - Outstanding

[Weliketogo]

We just finished a cruise to Panama on the Galaxy 11-24 thru 12-5. Our stop in Costa Rica was the highlight of our cruise. I cannot say enough about the wonderful tour Charlie Soto provided for all of us. He was waiting on the dock with our air conditioned bus when our ship docked. He was such a nice gentleman and was constantly exceeding our expectations on the tour. The zipline experience was something that I will never forget. My wife and I are 63 & 64 years old and I weigh 230 lbs, so you can see why I was a little concerned about zipping through the jungle like Tarzan. Charlie assured me that we would like it and be safe. So we did it and WOW what a geat experience we shared. We took pictures because our kids will never believe that we did it. The rest of the tour was just icing on the cake. The quaint little local restuarant on Bonita Beach, Tortugero Canal Boat ride, Banana Plantation and the local scenery was fantastic. Charlie constantly gave us information about the sights and local traditions. He was especially knowledgeable about Bananas and the workings of the processing plant which was very interesting. All I can say is THANKS Charlie for the great tour, you are terrific. I would recommend Charlie to anyone with the opportunity to visit Costa Rica.

[KaC-Cruiser]

Cliff ... all I have to say is a big 'DITTO' :D :D Although our tour was slightly different then your bus group, we had the BEST time .... and we owe it all to you for starting the excursion group, and handling all the set-up with Charlie .... I would do it again in a second!! Being an absolute coward when it comes to heights, I wasn't sure if I'd keep my nerve to zip ... but we made it thru all the platforms, and had a BLAST!! I was actually surprised and sad when I hit the last platform .... I wanted to keep going!! Our guide, Carlos, was also very informative, and very accomodating. The bus appeared to be new, was very clean, great air-conditioning, and comfortable with large windows. Harlan, our guide on the canals was also wonderful.

 

All in all, it made for a fantasic day in Costa Rica ....

[grabbit97]

We were on Charlie SOTO's tour on Dec 7, 2005. We just returned from a cruise on the Carnival Legend. Here is what happened...

 

Charlie met us at the pier, as he said he would, with a card with our name on it as well as 4 other couples. 10 total. He had ONE couple doing the ZIPLINE tour, and then picked up another couple on the dock. Now he has 8 of us NOT doing the ZIPLINE, who had signed up with him via email, and 4 doing the ZIPLINE, only ONE of which did sign up with him, and a couple that he picked up at the pier.

1. FIRST was a tour of a banana plantation, which was very good.

2. SECOND was when the horror story started. He told us he was going to take the ZIPLINE folks to the place where they do that.. and we would then come back and pick them up.............we dropped them off, and the WAITING began. First we waited until they were fitted with the gear.. then we waited until they were instructed on HOW to do it, then Charlie said he would have to wait with them, so he put us back on his bus, with another fellow names CARLOS and took us on an HOUR ride down a very bad bumpy dirt road. That is all we did, ride on this horrid road for an hour... there was nothing to see or do. We then told CARLOS that we wanted to turn around, and go back to the ZIPLINE place, and go back to the ship... We went back to the ZIPLINE place, and there we waited another HOUR for them to return from their experience, so a TOTAL of THREE HOURS was wasted, out of the FIVE and 1/2 that her promised us.

3. THIRD.. we did do the CANAL tour of Tortega.. it was OK.

4. He stopped at a store so we could buy coffee.. (we did not)

5. Returned us to the ship with no time for shopping, very little time remained before the ship would sail.

 

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS MAN FOR ANY TOUR WHAT SO EVER. WASTING OUR TIME FOR THREE HOURS WHILE 4 PEOPLE HAD A GREAT TIME DOING THEIR THING.. WAS NOT A GOOD WAY OF CONDUCTING A TOUR. I WISH WE HAD GONE WITH CHARLES BROWN...

[Thorben-Hendrik]

I guess we were the ones having ALL THE FUN on the very same tour while I can not commend on what was happening while we were doing the ziplining I can only say that Chalie and Oscar were WONDERFUL in the way they did the tour !!! The ZIP-Line took about 1,5 hours at THE MOST so you are lying about your wait and since you also mention the ather things that were done everybody can see that you are not telling the thruth because with the timeline you are painting all that would have to be done within 2 hours !!!:eek:

Please be honest!!! By the way Charklie is NOT responsible for the condition of the roads in Costa Rica !!!!:rolleyes:

[Thorben-Hendrik]

I would SURE recommend Charlie !!!

[luckymbt]

Just did the tour 12-2-05 sailing on the Brilliance. Charlie met us at the pier as promised. He had one van for those going zip lining and another for us who were not. Victor was our van driver and he was very careful and made the bumpy roads tolerable. Carlos was our guide and was excellent. We saw tons of wildlife in the canal...sloths several times, howler monkeys, bats, iguana, and a multitude of birds. All of those critters in only 1hour!! the guides were terriffic at spotting the animals. As a previous poster mentioned the guides are very knowledgeable about the banana plantations. The stop at Bonita Beach was great for the view and souviners and we definately bought the local coffee and vanilla at the super market Carlos took us to. My girls 4 and 10 were totally entertained. Oh and the cooler of drinks they provided sure went down nice after the sun and heat in the banana fields !!

This was a great value and also a great experience.

[Ms. B]

I have emailed Charlie on several occasiions. He ALWAYS responds to my questions in a prompt manner. I asked him about what happened on the tour mentioned above and he told me. I am very much looking forward to our tour with Charlie in a couple of weeks. I'll let you all know how it goes.

[KaC-Cruiser]

Just did the tour 12-2-05 sailing on the Brilliance. Charlie met us at the pier as promised. He had one van for those going zip lining and another for us who were not. Victor was our van driver and he was very careful and made the bumpy roads tolerable. Carlos was our guide and was excellent. We saw tons of wildlife in the canal...sloths several times, howler monkeys, bats, iguana, and a multitude of birds. All of those critters in only 1hour!! the guides were terriffic at spotting the animals. As a previous poster mentioned the guides are very knowledgeable about the banana plantations. The stop at Bonita Beach was great for the view and souviners and we definately bought the local coffee and vanilla at the super market Carlos took us to. My girls 4 and 10 were totally entertained. Oh and the cooler of drinks they provided sure went down nice after the sun and heat in the banana fields !!

This was a great value and also a great experience.

Glad to see that others also enjoyed their tour with Charlie .... I would book with him again, no question!!

[tsj]

Wondering if someone can give me Charlie Soto's email. Thanks Teri

[KaC-Cruiser]

Wondering if someone can give me Charlie Soto's email. Thanks Teri

Teri - You can find info on Charlie at this site, or his e-mail is also listed below ....

 

http://www.nanada.com/tours/

 

okeydokeytours@hotmail.com

[MandynJim]

You may wat to ask Charlie if he still does the animal sanctuary stop, he told us it was no longer open on 12/7/05.

 

 

BTW we were on the tour with the zip line issues and we did not wait 3 hours for the zip liners they are definately exagerrating quite a bit. Charlie gave a pretty good tour but needs a system for zip liners and non zip liners as we did not get to do some of the stuff we were expecting because of the zip line delay(ie beach, and restaurant). Charlie never could have forseen a group of 13 going before the 4 he brought. We watched the group of 13 at the last platform and they kept getting stuck, which slowed the 4 with Charlie down quite a bit. Another big problem was the bus driver drove so slow and that made most of the driving seem like a never ending journey.

[Weliketogo]

Hi everyone,

 

Here is a link to my review of our cruise including our tour with Charlie Soto in Costa Rica 11-29-05. http://www.nanada.com/panamaniacs/cruise.htm

 

Just wanted to let you all know that Charlie Soto has a website that can be used to contact him and get some information about his tours, it is http://www.okeydokeytours.com .

[Weliketogo]

Hi everyone,

 

I just got finished posting some pictures of our adventures ziplining on the Charlie Soto tour. There were 42 of us on 2 comfortable buses with about 30+ total doing the zipline. The 2 buses reversed the tour to prevent long delays at any sight.

 

Sorry, that I don't have the pictures from the Banana Plantation, Tortugero Canal, Playa Bonita or the Animal Sanctuary on-line yet but I am still collecting them. Maybe you will enjoy a few pictures of our group ziplining. We all had a terrific time. Here is the link www.nanada.com/panamaniacs/cruisepix.htm

[grabbit97]

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND CHARLIE SOTO AGAIN. WE WERE TOLD THAT WE WERE NOT GOING TO THE ZIP LINE TOUR, AND THEN WOUND UP WITH FOUR PEOPLE OUT OF 12 THAT WANTED TO DO THE ZIPLINE, AND THE 8 OF US WERE STUCK FOR THREE HOURS... MIND YOU THREE HOURS, WHILE THE OTHERS WERE ZIPLINING. CHARLIE STAYED WITH THE ZIP LINERS, AND STUCK US WITH SOME GUY NAMES CARLOS, WHO TOOK US DOWN THIS DIRT BUMPY ROAD TO SEE SOME WATERFALL. THE ROAD WAS SO BAD, THAT WE TOLD HIM TO TURN AROUND, TAKE US BACK TO THE ZIPLINE PLACE, AND THERE WE SAT FOR ANOTHER HOUR WAITING FOR THEM TO FINSIH. WHAT A BUMMER TOUR. WE SAW THE BANANA PLANTATION, AND HAD TO CUT OUR TOUR OF THE TORTUGGA CANAL (SPELLING???) SHORT BECAUSE OF FARTING AROUND WITH THE ZIPLINE TOUR FOR THREE HOURS. NEVER DID GET TO SEE THE BEACH, AND THEY STOPPED AT SOME STORE FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES SO PEOPLE COULD BUY COFFEE, ALL WE WANTED TO DO WAS GET BACK TO THE SHIP.. WHAT A HORRID DAY IN COSTA RICA.. YUK

 

 

 

Hi everyone,

 

I just got finished posting some pictures of our adventures ziplining on the Charlie Soto tour. There were 42 of us on 2 comfortable buses with about 30+ total doing the zipline. The 2 buses reversed the tour to prevent long delays at any sight.

 

Sorry, that I don't have the pictures from the Banana Plantation, Tortugero Canal, Playa Bonita or the Animal Sanctuary on-line yet but I am still collecting them. Maybe you will enjoy a few pictures of our group ziplining. We all had a terrific time. Here is the link www.nanada.com/panamaniacs/cruisepix.htm

[KaC-Cruiser]

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND CHARLIE SOTO AGAIN. .. WHAT A HORRID DAY IN COSTA RICA.. YUK

Luckily for Charlie, it seems that most of his customers return entirely happy with their tours. Sorry you had such a miserable time, but I think you got your point across by copying your exact post into all the recent Charlie threads. Don't know that it's against the rules, but it seems a bit rude - especially since typing in Caps is considered yelling.