Charlie Soto Tour

[Luvtotrav]

I will be taking a cruise on the Brilliance this Feb. I am booking an excursion for 14 of us. Most are 50 to 60 years old. I planned to take the Crocodile excursion but still unsure if this would be the right one for our group. Can any of you who have taken this let me know what you thought of it and what was exactly involved with the trip. Would one of Charlie's other excursions be better for us?

 

Thanks for your help.

[LadyDivot]

Thanks, all. I think DH and I will be contacting Charlie for a tour. We've got a thread going for our cruise, and I suspect some others might want to join us. The website gave good info. I'm not much for heights and the zipline would probably give me so much stress, the cruise would be for naught. DH might want to do that, but if not, we'll ask to skip that part. It also seems that takes a bunch of time, and I'd hate to miss something else. Also, since DH and I are good type A personalities, getting back to the ship with only a few minutes to spare might make my DH's cruise for naught. I know we'll never miss a ship with him around. :o

 

Thanks again...Pam

[chichi501]

Charlie Soto for Okey tours is fantastic. Not ony does he respond to every email, was at the exact spot where he said he would be holding your name on a sign (including in the pouring rain which we had that day) and takes you to the choice of tour that you chose. His guides are very knowledgelable about each point of interest and speak English well. Also his prices are very fair. And you do not pay until your tour is finished. Cash Only!!

We took the A-1 tour. We started by getting in a van and waited for another family from Detroit which we did not know but were very nice. We first went to the canals and got in a small boat and rode up the canal. Beacause of the heavy rain we did not see much wild life. Our next stop was to a small farm where we tasted different fresh fruits, drank coconut milk and had organic bananas and were able to hold a sloth. From there we rode to the banana plantation but because of rain did not get out in the fields, but watched them at their plant clean and inspect the bananas and bag them. And yes everything is own by Dole. Our next stop was to the beach and to have lunch. Interesting to say the least. Food was cheap. You can also purchase coffee to bring home while you are there which we did. Back on bus back to ship safe and sound... So much cheaper then ship excursion!!:cool:

[bajacruiser]

Just got back and we used charlie for the crocodile tour. He did a great job We took our 80 year old mom and dad and they had a great time Charlie was very attentive to there needs and he will ajust to what you want to do. I would highly recommend him.

[cruzzers]

Chichi....We are booked for the A1 tour with Charlie. Do you remember how many hours you were gone total? We don't want to even run close to the ship leaving. We like to allow for any problems along the way and would freak out if we had a flat tire.

[LFM]

We just booked this one and it sounds like a great way to spend the day.

Thanks to everyone for the inside scoop.

[zmatey]

We learned about Charlie on this thread and spent Saturday, Jan 13th with him and his son out of Puntarenas. There were nine clients in a very nice, late model airconditioned van. Five went zip lining, the four of us went on Crocodile boat ride. The zip liners said they had a great time. Our boat ride was a very good experience. Our driver actually waded into the water and fed an 18 foot crocodile some fish filets, it was quite an impressive photo opportunity! On the drive there, Charlie Spotted some macaws for us, great pics of that. Went to a neat little seaside restaurant for lunch, then he led us into some private property to see, feed(if you wanted) and photograph a troop of white faced monkeys which was a blast. Stopped at viewing area over river to see dozens of crocodiles. Amazingly, we witnessed a hapless large white egret taken by these not so slow moving crocodiles, wow it was real nature channel viewing. At end of day we shopped at local market store for coffee(very inexpensive and good, drinking it now at home).

In a nut shell, Charlie was very personable, informative and gave us a nice glimpse of a beautiful country and good people. It could not have worked out any better. It was the highlite of our 14 day cruise on the celebrity Summit.

[Diane F]

Glad to read your great post about Charlie.We have him booked for April.We will be a group of possibly 14.How many people does his van comfortably hold?How long was the Crocodile boat ride?Our group is doing Tour 4 in Puertenas.Looking forward to spending the day with Charlie.

[zmatey]

The van we rode was 11 pasenger, including charlie and his son but you should e-mail charlie and ask him as he may have other vehicles. The crocodile boat ride was about 2 hours. Have fun.

[carolinagirl 70]

We did the Charlie Soto tour Jan 19,2007. we did not want to do zip line so Carlos and driver marcos took us to the bannana plantation and did a great job showing and explaining the process.We saw sloths, monkeys, birds,bats, the boy with a small aligator. We saw growing and tasted some fruits-sweet lemon, papiya(sp?),bananas , sugar cane and some other things. We went to the beach and it was lovely. We rode a boat thru a canal. We chose not to stay at the beach very long but we could have had lunch there at our own expense. Carlos showed us around some of Limon. We very much enjoyed our day and felt it was well worth our money. We ( My husband and I) were the only ones on this tour.Non alcoholic Beverages were provider by Carlos. We bought 5 lbs of store brand coffee, 5 small bags of chocolate, and a pair of socks for $21.80 as was posted on our credit card since we have arrived home. Carlos said the store brand was as good as the more expensive brands. I wish we had bought more.My husband says the coffee may be a little more mellow than regular coffee we buy at home. We were on Holland America and Carlos commented that they were more dependable to arrive and leave on schedule.We were back by 1:30 and the ship left at 4pm with all aboard

time posted as 3:30.

Hint: On mornings of tours I pick up a few small boxes of cereal from the breakfast buffet cereal for snacks. I do not know if this is suppose to be allowed but it worked well for us when we have had small children with us and we have continued the habit even for the 2 of us. The dry cereal works well for a snack in a bind.

[carolinagirl 70]

had to many words in above email address

[paddy Anne]

Charlie good or not? I want a tour for my partner and 2 kids. NO swimming or zipping. Charlie seemed good until I am reading about all the waiting while others Zip. Anyway you can get a trip and not go Zipping at all?

thanks for any info,

PA

[gwydiana]

Charlie good or not? I want a tour for my partner and 2 kids. NO swimming or zipping. Charlie seemed good until I am reading about all the waiting while others Zip. Anyway you can get a trip and not go Zipping at all?

thanks for any info,

PA

 

 

 

Anne, Charlie is awesome!! That story about people waiting while others were ziplining has got to be a total fabrication!!!

 

There are separate excursions for the ziplining/swimming tours as opposed to all others. Charlie is organized and his tour operators are smart, knowledgable and hospital. I cannot recommend Carlos highly enough

 

Have a blast! I wish I was going back there soon!

[PaulMedik]

Charlie good or not? I want a tour for my partner and 2 kids. NO swimming or zipping. Charlie seemed good until I am reading about all the waiting while others Zip. Anyway you can get a trip and not go Zipping at all?

thanks for any info,

PA

 

Paddy Anne,

 

We never did the zip line and we didn't wait at all for those who did. Charlie runs several tours and each one is tailored to what you want to do.

[Packedready]

We were in Costa Rica on New Years eve and did a tour with Charlie Soto because of the recommendations of this board. We were more than pleased with the tour. Charlie delivered exactly as he had promised in our email correspondence. We were in a group of 8 in his air conditioned van. He took us to a sea side restaurant and we all ordered a whole grouper that was $10.00 US, beer was $1.00 a bottle. Try the Costa Rican beer, its great. He also had a cooler with, water, soft drinks and Costa Rican beer. We went on the Alligator man river trip, it was great, we saw many alligators. We also saw parrots, many other bird species and monkey's.

 

Charlie took us to a local market where we bought vanilla and other items. He made sure the we paid the correct prices. He was very caring about us and made sure we had a good time and saw what we came to see.

 

I would recommend Charlie Soto, as it was the best tour of our 16 day cruise.

[rucruizin]

Anne, Charlie is awesome!! That story about people waiting while others were ziplining has got to be a total fabrication!!!

 

There are separate excursions for the ziplining/swimming tours as opposed to all others. Charlie is organized and his tour operators are smart, knowledgable and hospital. I cannot recommend Carlos highly enough

 

Have a blast! I wish I was going back there soon!

 

What, when I first read this I thought you were saying you could not recommend him because he took you to the hospital. I guess it's true you really only read every other word:D

[DonMar]

We just got back from a cruise that took us to Costa Rica. We booked with Charlie Soto and LOVED every minute of it. He was very prompt with his e-mails and helpful in answering questions. He was at the pier bright and early with capable tour guides - we had Rae and thought he was really wonderful.

 

I really hate large cruise shore excursions. So, I loved being in a smaller van with six people, making stops where we wanted, being able to see and do what we wanted.

 

If you tell Charlie or your tour guide what time you need to be back they will get you back on time. They are very aware of this issue. Note; Some cruise ships use "ship-time" (for us Eastern Time) and others use the time of the country (for Costa Rica - Central Time) you are in. Make sure you are all speaking about the same time.

 

While the cruise ships like to scare you into their tours, I would recommend Charlie Soto. A number of people from our cruise dealt with him and we all made it back even if we did different things.

[tarps]

Just back from our Summit cruise through the Panama Canal. We spent the day with Charlie Soto and had an absolutely wonderful experience. There were only 4 of us for this tour. Good for us, but not for Charlie, as I'm sure he'd like his van full, but you'd never have known it. He was a delight ---- very informative and happy to share his love of his country with us. He met us on the pier as planned at 8:00 am and had us back to the ship by 4:30. Our departure wasn't until 7:00 pm, so we had plenty of time for shopping on the pier as well.

A highlight was feeding bananas to the wild monkeys --- you don't get to do things like this with a large bus tour.

The other couple weren't going zip-lining, so they did the Crocodile man tour, while my husband and I zip lined. Again, it was only the two of us and the 2 wonderful guides. After our zip-lining, Charlie brought the two couples together again, and we went to a local beachfront restaurant for lunch.

Charlie is very reliable, speaks very good English and really takes care of his clients. I would highly recommend him. Check out his website at www.okeydokeytours.com

[shofer]

The four of us were on the Coral Princess 2/7-2/17 for the Panama Canal cruise. We signed up at least 4 mos in advance w/Charlie for the A-1 tour and there was a person waiting at the end of the pier with a sign w/our names on it.

 

Our driver was Reynaldo and our guide was Ed, a very nice college student w/excellent English skills.

The van was very clean and had a cooler w/water, soft drinks or beer. Our first stop was a farm for a tour of native flora. We chewed sugar cane, tried several fruits and saw many interesting plants and flowers Reynaldo found a baby sloth and we all got to hold him. What a cuddly little guy. I'm sure he was scared to death.

 

Next stop was the banana plantation which was an education in itself in third world economics. All hand labor done by Nicuraguans imported to do the work.

 

Then was a tour of the rain forest on a small covered boat to look at different animals. That was not too interesting as there wasn't much to see. We stopped at the beach and restaurant but we were not in our bathing suits and had no desire to eat anything.

 

We had told Ed we wanted to buy coffee at a supermarket and he got us to one in downtown Limon. Being a man, he took us to the one display in the front of the store. I was particularly looking for 1820 coffee which I had read about on this site. Well supermarkets are the same everywhere, so I went dashing off looking down the aisles until I saw the sign for "cafe". There was my 1820 coffee and what a bargain it was too. We bought 4 pkgs of 500 gms ground coffee for $10.49 US. They also had smaller pkgs but we had to be aware of luggage weight for the trip home or I would have bought a dozen smaller bags for my work collegues.

 

A short trip back to the ship and our tour was over. This cost us $49/pp for all of our adventures. I talked to another passenger who said they took the ship tour for $69 for a train ride to the banana plantation.

 

We did not try the zipline as my cousin has a bad back and was afraid of the strain it would put on her.

I would definitely recommend Charlie's tours. Any questions? Just email me @ shofer1019@yahoo.com.

[cruzzers]

Thanks so much for letting us know about your tour. We have Charlie booked for next Sunday when we are on the Coral Princess. We have been reading about some recent violence and just hope things are ok there. That is a concern for us who like to book tours away from what the ship has to offer.

[dzcruisers]

Amazing tour!

13th cruise for us so I am a bit jaded about most tours and we do know that on all tours you may drive through some not so picturesque spots - any island, anywhere - for first time cruisers.

Now to okeydokeydot com and Charlie.

Charlie responded to all of my e mails promptly and I had lots of questions.

Charlie met us and another couple at the end of the ramp off the boat. He held a quite profesionally made sign with our names spelled correctly.

He escorted us to his van where he had a driver and another escort.

Then we drove through the countryside and stopped to see the monkeys playing in the trees. He gave us bananas for the monkeys. It was fun and interesting to watch them and feed them. We took a little ride down some beautiful roads with lots of blooming flowers. Charlie constantly was concerned with our being comfortable and not thirsty. He had a cooler filled with drinks, bottled water, soda, etc. We headed for the boat tour which we were not real excited about (we have alligators in our pond behind our house)but found ourselves quite surprised! I think I saw the Loch Ness monster. I've never seen crocodiles so big and such beautiful birds and interesting forests. Charlie had one of the escorts chaperone us while we were there. He kept his distance but I knew he was there to look out for us. We paid $37. each for the boat ride. Charlie went in with my husband to buy the tickets. They took American money. We saw the group from the Summit going out as we were heading back up the river. The other couple went zipping. Charlie accompanied them to buy their own tickets. After our boat ride, Charlie's van reappeared within 5 minutes and we left to go pick up the zippers. Seeing some beautiful Macaws in the trees on the way to the hotel to pick up the others, Charlie stopped and let us get pictures and observe for a while.

Then we went to the hotel to pick up the other couple - they loved the zipping. We toured a beautiful small shopping area at the hotel. Bought some souvenirs. The buses from other cruise ships were arriving at the hotel with lots of people to eat lunch. We elected to try Charlie's recommendation of a place on the beach for lunch. On the way to the restaurant Charlie found different Macaws in the wild for the other couple to see. It was a different spot and we enjoyed it too. Lunch was great, Charlie reminded us that water should be from a bottle and no ice. We had beer, soda lots of sea food and a great view. The beaches are not pristine but are the way beaches look in the natural, a palm branch or two scattered about.

A trip to an unfinshed resort after a nice ride to see the beaches from one of the highest spots, gorgeous, a break with the best fresh watermelon I've ever had furnished by Charlie.

Then a ride to the crocodile bridge for a nice walk and lots of pictures of the crocs!!!

A very pleasant ride to the grocery store where we got 10 bags of 1820 coffee and 2 nice sized bottles of vanilla for $13. Wish we had gotten more of both!!!:(

We rode back to the docksides and Charlie went shopping with the other couple.

We elected to walk back to the ship. We started out at 8 am. It was 5 pm. Since we had paid for our own boat ride, our day was $45. each for Charlie. We gave him $100. for the 2 of us.

 

After many tours and cruises, we felt we got way more than our moneys worth. Charlie was prompt caring and concerned that we all enjoy, be safe and healthy.

I'd book with him again in a minute if we went back to Costa Rica.

Met a lady at the show that night and she was telling us about a lady that had raved about her Costa Rican tour at dinner and said how much fun she had zipping. Turned out it was the other couple that had been with us.

Leave questions her and I'll do my best to answer.

[sexyaznboy]

Thanks Dianne, is this the B4 tour (Crocodile tour?) I have booked this one with Charlie, it doesn't include ziplining, so are there two separate tours going on at the same time?

 

Thank you so much for the review. I have been concerned given the recent events in Costa Rica about safety and going to unsafe areas on the tour. At any point did you feel unsafe or feel like you were being taken to areas that were too secluded? I've heard nothing but good things about Charlie, I intend to keep my reservations but it is nice to hear about other's experiences.

[dzcruisers]

There were only 4 of us that day so we went in one air conditioned van. The two attractions begin only minutes apart and it was fun to get to see where the zipping ended and the others got to see where the boat tour began. As on any of the islands or Central American Countrysides there are areas not as sophisticated as we are used to. We felt quite safe with Charlie.

Our lunch for the two of us including beer and tip was $25. We may have tipped twice because we couldn't determine if the tip was included. We ordered some of the most expensive fish dishes. It was really good. Lots of food.

It seemed we did as much as on three ship's tours. Ran into different groups from the Summit three times.

Don't worry about the time.

If Charlie knows which ship you are on, he is very careful to get you back in plenty of time.:)

Enjoy!

[motherchic]

We just toured with Charlie last week, two years ago we toured with Oscar Brown in Limon. Could not help but compare.

Charlies tour was good, if i had not experienced Oscars, I would have probably been more impressed.

We saw and fed monkies, saw allot of wild life, had great fruit that Charlie brought for us. the tastiest mangoes, and watermelon I have ever had.

I felt that Charlie really wanted to please us.

My only complaint and a serious one. While driving us Charlie drove over the yellow line, passing a truck on a blind. IT WAS NOT SAFE. Luckily we were all fine BUT< it should NEVER have happened.

When with Oscar, when he stopped at different points, he told us ALLOT about his country ( about schools, local government, the people ).

Charlie when asked would answer questions, but from Oscar we learned allot.

If you use Charlie, and I would recommend him, just be sure that he knows that you NEVER EVER want him to take any chances, with his driving and your safety.

[sexyaznboy]

We just toured with Charlie last week, two years ago we toured with Oscar Brown in Limon. Could not help but compare.

Charlies tour was good, if i had not experienced Oscars, I would have probably been more impressed.

We saw and fed monkies, saw allot of wild life, had great fruit that Charlie brought for us. the tastiest mangoes, and watermelon I have ever had.

I felt that Charlie really wanted to please us.

My only complaint and a serious one. While driving us Charlie drove over the yellow line, passing a truck on a blind. IT WAS NOT SAFE. Luckily we were all fine BUT< it should NEVER have happened.

When with Oscar, when he stopped at different points, he told us ALLOT about his country ( about schools, local government, the people ).

Charlie when asked would answer questions, but from Oscar we learned allot.

If you use Charlie, and I would recommend him, just be sure that he knows that you NEVER EVER want him to take any chances, with his driving and your safety.

 

Thanks for the review, I'm going on his B4 tour on my Summit cruise March 31st. That is indeed quite worrisome, was there almost an accident? It'll be awkward to mention to him to drive more carefully, but hopefully he will. Do you still recommend his tour though given the comparison?