SOS Manta Tour

[michigankate]

We are looking at booking a tour with SOS Manta in Manta, Ecuador. Concerned that they want money wired to them. Has this been your experience with SOS Manta?

[Noxequifans]

Tripadvisor has very good reviews for this provider ... check them.

[Shawnino]

Yes. They asked us for $50 via WU.

Furthermore, they wanted the rest of the tour fee at the start of the tour. They were up front about that in the e-mails.

I guess that's just the way they choose to do it. C'est la vie: it likely cost them tips from our group. I don't think anyone tipped at the end whereas it's been my experience that when guides take money at the end nearly everyone tips.

 

You can check out my review over at Trip Advisor (same user name). A couple quibbles but overall they were pretty good. We did the two-town tour on Manta and Montichristi with the Alfaro museum. Whole thing about four hours, about US $55/head as I recall.

[ORV]

We rode the Chicken bus to Monticristo using an Oceania tour, which I rarely do. Band played on top of the bus. It was great fun. Bought a Panama hat there that day. I would actually recommend it. Not much leg room on the bus though, and it's a pretty steep climb into it.

[Shawnino]

Went over and looked at my own review; operator had a response.

TL;DR version is that they don't want to impose the responsibility on their guides to collect the money at tour's end and get it back to the office: "...the guides cannot take the responsibility of collecting the money, they could be victims of theft or they can loose the money; so none of them are authorized to collect money from you "

 

Either that's bunk (my bet) or Manta's a very dangerous place to carry a few hundred bucks from point A to point B -- and you'd do better to stay aboard the ship!

 

@ORV: How much did you pay for your hat? Did you get a nice one? I bargained and bargained on one I really liked, paid $180, and got laughed at by all and sundry for the rest of the cruise! (No matter, I love it.)

[Floridiana]

Went over and looked at my own review; operator had a response.

TL;DR version is that they don't want to impose the responsibility on their guides to collect the money at tour's end and get it back to the office: "...the guides cannot take the responsibility of collecting the money, they could be victims of theft or they can loose the money; so none of them are authorized to collect money from you"

 

Either that's bunk (my bet) or Manta's a very dangerous place to carry a few hundred bucks from point A to point B -- and you'd do better to stay aboard the ship!

 

 

Maybe they could learn from our TJ Tour operator in St. Petersburg. They collected the money almost at the end of the tour before we left for the port. They had one of their office people sit in a corner of a souvenir shop where we conducted the money business.

[Shawnino]

Maybe they could learn from our TJ Tour operator in St. Petersburg. They collected the money almost at the end of the tour before we left for the port. They had one of their office people sit in a corner of a souvenir shop where we conducted the money business.

 

You're right--why not do it that way?

 

There are so many ways to do it (and if Manta SOS actually absorb the Trip Advisor comments, it's the one "negative" that just about everybody touches on).

 

I do think all it really does is cost their guides tips, because when the tour's over, people just stream off the minibus.

[Paulchili]

You're right--why not do it that way?

 

There are so many ways to do it (and if Manta SOS actually absorb the Trip Advisor comments, it's the one "negative" that just about everybody touches on).

 

I do think all it really does is cost their guides tips, because when the tour's over, people just stream off the minibus.

 

To play the devil’s advocate - maybe they’ve a bad experience with someone not paying at the end of the tour? What could they do at that point.

I think that people should tip the guides based on how good they were and not on when the final payment was made. Not paying a tip for that reason and “just stream off the minibus” is just an excuse or rationalization for not wanting to tip in the first place.

I know I would tip the guide - the amount may depend on how good they were. They rely on their tips and generally speaking, they need them more than the average cruiser needs those few bucks.

JMO.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Paulchili

[Shawnino]

To play the devil’s advocate - maybe they’ve a bad experience with someone not paying at the end of the tour? What could they do at that point.

I think that people should tip the guides based on how good they were and not on when the final payment was made. Not paying a tip for that reason and “just stream off the minibus” is just an excuse or rationalization for not wanting to tip in the first place.

I know I would tip the guide - the amount may depend on how good they were. They rely on their tips and generally speaking, they need them more than the average cruiser needs those few bucks.

JMO.

 

Certainly some fair comments in here.

[ORV]

Went over and looked at my own review; operator had a response.

TL;DR version is that they don't want to impose the responsibility on their guides to collect the money at tour's end and get it back to the office: "...the guides cannot take the responsibility of collecting the money, they could be victims of theft or they can loose the money; so none of them are authorized to collect money from you"

 

Either that's bunk (my bet) or Manta's a very dangerous place to carry a few hundred bucks from point A to point B -- and you'd do better to stay aboard the ship!

 

@ORV: How much did you pay for your hat? Did you get a nice one? I bargained and bargained on one I really liked, paid $180, and got laughed at by all and sundry for the rest of the cruise! (No matter, I love it.)

 

I think I paid around $150 for it. There was another I wanted more but they couldn't take a credit card, and the ATM wouldn't work for me to get money out of it. I bought from a place that could take a card. I really like my hat. The quality of the better ones is obvious compared to the off the rack ones. The weave is amazing.

[Mura]

In May 2015 we used Narwell Ecotours and had an excellent tour with them. Payment was due in U.S. dollars on the day of the tour and my recollection is that we paid at the end, not at the beginning.

 

Still, I agree with Paul about tipping. Also, it's not necessarily the guide's fault if money is collected in advance. If the boss says collect it before leaving, that's what they have to do. I wouldn't myself penalize the guide by not tipping, or tipping less, in such a case. Now, we DO calculate our tips on the basis of just how good a job was done on the tour. Some get more, some get less.

 

We did have a couple other South and Central American tours where payment was wanted in advance, although it was refundable. In one case money was sent by Western Union.

 

Mura