hiring a driver for the day

[maldenmusic]

Just returned from Cozumel. We went out towards the taxis and hired Tony #5 Van with special tours. He said $25 for 2 1/2 hours but took us through local area,a resort and to other side of island for over 3 hours. He is a local and very nice. He will take you anywhere you want to go.

Was the $25 for each person or for the van? That seems awfully reasonable. did you have a reservation or just hire him when you got there? Which pier were you at? We are going in a couple of months and still can't decide what we want to do.

[Farmercity]

Was the $25 for each person or for the van? That seems awfully reasonable. did you have a reservation or just hire him when you got there? Which pier were you at? We are going in a couple of months and still can't decide what we want to do.

 

Try emailing Kelly he was our driver for the day in cozumel, spoke great english and works for the taxi people just like Gerry. He can give you personalized prices based on what you are looking for. Tell him Henry said hello!! berto_albornoz64@hotmail.com

[christiecruise]

Thanks so much to Annadrc and Leon Walter for your updated contact information for Gerry. I have been watching this thread for a few months and have been hoping to find a new contact for him as he is so highly recommended.

 

Before bed last night I emailed Eduardo thanks to your info., and the first email I saw this morning was the confirmation for our trip with Gerry!

 

Two questions: the quote was for $95 for the first three hours and $25 per hour after, I asked for 6 hours beginning at 9:30 am. That would be a total of $170 for the day. I assume that most people tip on top of that - but how much 15%, 20% ? ; also, NOLA is on Central time as is Cozumel, will ship time be the same? Is there a difference on July 8th with daylight saving time?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Tropiclady]

Christiecruise,

 

I would love to speak to you about a post you wrote on Guido in Florence. I asked to be your friend on CC but I am not even sure how that works. On tripadvisor you can send pm's (pesonal messages) but I do not see this feature here. I have a thread started on the Italy forum titled Livorno Port Tour Operator. If you see this could you post something there for me or let me know how I can get in touch with you. Thank you.

 

Tropiclady

 

I had this posted on the Norweigian site and someone was kind enough to let me know that you were posting on this thread.

[christiecruise]

Hi Tropiclady! I will post on your Livorno Tour Operator thread :p

[Leon Walter]

We have Gerry booked for a day in April and would like to get some suggestions on specific places to visit and see on our tour as we make our way around the island.(?)

 

We'd also like to stop and snorkel along the way if possible (we have our own equipment). Does anyone have a suggestion for a good snorkeling spot as well?

 

Any suggestions appreciated!

[crewsweeper]

We have Gerry booked for a day in April and would like to get some suggestions on specific places to visit and see on our tour as we make our way around the island.(?)

 

We'd also like to stop and snorkel along the way if possible (we have our own equipment). Does anyone have a suggestion for a good snorkeling spot as well?

 

Any suggestions appreciated!

 

For snorkeling you'll need to go to the Money Bar or Corona Beach club to be able to just snorkel without paying to enter Chankanaab. Depending on conditions it might be possible to snorkel at Sur EcoPark near the lighthouse, but dives in this area are advanced dives so caution is advised. Palancar might be another option.There is a $10 admission fee to the park. Gerry or Eduardo should be able to tell you if it's okay that day or what you need to do.

 

Have Gerry take you up the East side. He'll suggest stopping for lunch at Playa Bonita, which is very good, and Gerry knows them well and will make sur eyou have a great expereince. If the water isn't too rough the day you're there, you might talk him into going on up to Chen Rio. They have great food (try the seafood platters) and a swim beach sometimes with a lifeguard on duty. If swimming is open, you might try snorkeling there, but again may be a bit rough for inexperienced snorkelers. Then head for the Tequila Museum, if that interests you. And wind up your tour by stopping at the pottery place heading back into town, or just tell him what type of shopping you're interested in, if you are. He'll take you to better local places than the tourist shops in the Plaza.

Edited March 11, 2011 by crewsweeper

[annadrc]

Now that we have just completed our cruise, I wanted to share our experience in Cozumel. After being very frustrated with the reservation process in January through Mike, we learned in February that Gerry was now having a new person handle his reservations (Eduardo - see a previous post by me for contact information). It was like night and day - Eduardo was extremely responsive (often within minutes as he carries a Blackberry), helping me find another driver when we learned that Gerry was booked. We were placed with Cantaro, who I had not found many reviews about. But we went with it and I am glad we did! The rate is as posted on the website - $95 for first 3 hrs and $25/hr after that.

 

Upon exiting the cruise terminal, Cantaro (and Gerry who was waiting on another group) was exactly where Eduardo had said he would be. He had a sign with our name welcoming us to Cozumel. Upon getting to the van, he asked if we had specific places we wanted to go. After hearing how we wanted to spend the day, he came up with a gameplan and off we went.

 

First, he took us to do a little shopping that my wife wanted to accomplish. After that, we stopped at a couple of coastal areas around downtown and then headed inland to San Gervasio to see the Mayan Ruins. Along the way, Cantaro shared with us more about the island, answered all our questions, and even stopped at a roadside taco stand he was familiar with and kindly insisted on buying us tacos (we made sure he recouped this in the tip...and by the way the tacos really were awesome!).

 

After spending 30-45 minutes at San Gervasio, we headed to the east side of the island and stopped along the beach at several spots. Cantaro took us to the highest spot on the island and was a great photographer for us throughout the day, taking several pics of my wife and I together for us. We stopped in Cocunuts, a bar and grill with lots of character. There we ran into Gerry, as well as some couples from our ship.

 

Our last stop before heading back into downtown was at Playa Palancar, where we enjoyed a very nice lunch and margaritas. After lunch, we had Cantaro take us back to the shopping district where we ended our day on our own and took a cab back to the ship a couple of hours later for $7.

 

Overall, we felt very comfortable with Cantaro, he designed an itinerary based on our desires that was just perfect for us, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time on the island. I would highly recommend going through Eduardo to get reservations with Gerry or Cantaro if you are seeking a driver for a day in Cozumel. The service was outstanding!!!

[Leon Walter]

Annadrc,

Thanks for the great review/report on your visit to Cozumel. We have a tour scheduled with Gerry next month, so I was very interested in reading about the places that you stopped.

Did you think that San Gervasio Mayan Ruins was worth seeing? How long was your tour? Any other suggestions/

[annadrc]

Annadrc,

Thanks for the great review/report on your visit to Cozumel. We have a tour scheduled with Gerry next month, so I was very interested in reading about the places that you stopped.

Did you think that San Gervasio Mayan Ruins was worth seeing? How long was your tour? Any other suggestions/

 

If you have been to Mayan ruins before, I wouldn't necessarily feel the need to stop at San Gervasio. If you haven't, then I think it would be worth it. For us, we had never been before so wanted to take it in. We thought the admission was a little steep for what you get (there are two stations where you have to pay fees to get in, I don't recall what it totaled but think it was around $8/person).

 

We toured for a about 4 1/2 hours. It was longer than I anticipated, but the island was also a little bigger than I was expecting so I had underestimated the travel time to get from place to place. If you want to keep your time short and plan to do lots of shopping, I would recommend skipping the shopping with the driver and spending your time outside downtown, then being dropped off at the shops on the way back. You can then catch a cab for $7 back to the ships rather than paying $25/hr for your driver to wait for you.

 

The website Eduardo built has a nice listing of possible spots.

http://www.toursplaza.com/categorias/info/hiring_a_driver

 

If you email Eduardo the kinds of things you want to do (for example, snorkeling with your own equipment), I am sure he and Gerry can come up with some recommendations for an itinerary, including things not on the site.

[rjscott]

Annadrc,

Thanks for the great review/report on your visit to Cozumel. We have a tour scheduled with Gerry next month, so I was very interested in reading about the places that you stopped.

Did you think that San Gervasio Mayan Ruins was worth seeing? How long was your tour? Any other suggestions/

 

To just piggyback on what Annadrc has said, we toured with Gerry a year ago. We had not planned to go to San Gervasio, as we had been to Tulum and to Lamanai in Belize, both of which are wonderful Mayan ruins. But, the day we were in Cozumel, the weather for snorkeling was not good, and so Gerry suggested San Gervasio, and off we went. He suggested hiring a guide, and it was very worthwhile. Our guide was Mayan and he provided us with a lot of background on the ruins we would not have gotten on a self-guided tour. So, I do have to agree with Annadrc, if you've been to other ruins, and you're looking for something spectacular, you will be disappointed. But, if you are interested in the Mayan culture and the history of the Mayan ruins, San Gervasio is worth a visit.

Have a great time in Cozumel!

[Leon Walter]

Thanks Annadrc and rjscott. I appreciate the suggestions.

[judgemom]

We were fortunate enough to have Lazaro in 08 and would like to hire him again....Does anyone have his contact information?

[LoveRoadTrips]

It's taken me a month to get back to cruise critic, but I did want to let you all know that we very much enjoyed our day with Adiel In fact, while I am sure that Gerry is wonderful, I am now glad that we were not able to make arrangements with him because Adiel was so great.

 

Adiel promptly answered e-mails and was in contact with me a number of times before leaving for our cruise. He was able to answer many of my pre-cruise questions. He also made sure that I would know where and when to meet him after we docked in Cozumel.

 

Adiel met my husband, son, and I at the pier with a sign with our name, drove us around the island stopping at many scenic spots and gave us a private walking tour of the Mayan ruins. He was extremely knowledgeable about the island and it's history and the culture of the Mayan people. He would normally have taken us to the beach for a snorkeling experience, but since we are not water people, he took us back into town and gave us a tour of the city. We were interested in a light lunch, so he dropped us at a local restaurant and suggested dishes for us to try. He also included a tequila tasting experience.

 

Adiel's van was clean and comfortable. He spoke excellent English. He provided water, sodas, and beer He has a pre-planned tour if you are unsure about what you want to do, but he is more than willing to follow your itinerary.

 

In our opinion, using Adiel was far better than renting a car - we were able to follow our own itinerary at our own pace without fears about possible rental mishaps. We could ALL enjoy the scenery and had the benefit of a knowledgeable guide who shared wonderful information with us and could answer all our questions. We left Cozumel feeling like we had really seen island. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND ADIEL

 

Thanks Adiel for making our day extra special!!! Sally

[dluvsd]

We have had Gerry drive for us on many occasions. He is the greatest!! When in Cozumel, we like going to the far side of the island to Mescalito's. All we do is beachcomb and lay in the hammocks and it is always the best day of our cruise. Since it is on the far side of the island, we don't want to risk depending on a taxi to happen by, so we always hire Gerry. He never complains that all he does all day is sit there and wait for us to play on the beach and then return to the cruise ship. He understands how much we love going to the far side of the island and how having him with us helps us feel secure in knowing we won't miss our ship. You can make a reservation with him thru his scheduler, Eduardo. His email address is: eduardoczm@gmail.com

[me00930]

While in cozumel we hired Gerry for the day. There were 8 of us and afterwards we all agreed that was the best day of our whole trip. He listened to what we wanted to do then we were off. He gave us a guided tour of Cozumel including their churches, best shopping area, local shopping, pick up vanilla, churches, golf course, schools. Then we did the whole island, ruins, then ocean side with the wonderfully large waves and lunch on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Lunch was authentic and they had live music. Continued around island and went snorkeling. Brought us back to the ship with plenty ofntime to spare. This was deffinately our best day thanks to Gerry. Thank you!

[CruizCuz]

While in cozumel we hired Gerry for the day. There were 8 of us and afterwards we all agreed that was the best day of our whole trip. He listened to what we wanted to do then we were off. He gave us a guided tour of Cozumel including their churches, best shopping area, local shopping, pick up vanilla, churches, golf course, schools. Then we did the whole island, ruins, then ocean side with the wonderfully large waves and lunch on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Lunch was authentic and they had live music. Continued around island and went snorkeling. Brought us back to the ship with plenty ofntime to spare. This was deffinately our best day thanks to Gerry. Thank you!

I have to agree with the above poster! We just returned from Cozumel, and our entire family agreed this was the highlight of our trip! There were 5 of us, including dh, dd (24) and ds's (15), (11). Gerry took us to the ruins, sightseeing wonderful lunch at the same restaurant, overlooking a cliff, Coconuts Bar, pictures with large iguana (my 11 y/o's request) and a visit to the most beautiful church! Along the way, we sipped our beers and various drinks, were in an air conditioned van, and listened as Gerry sang to the music. He has a most beautiful voice! GREAT way to see Cozumel!

[me00930]

Ye Gerry sang for us also. Being he had choir members (4 of 8 of us) with him, we all try to sing along. The church he took us to was beautiful also. We all got out and took pictures.

[njmomof2]

We returned from Navigator on May 2nd and hired Gerry to take us around Cozumel. We only wanted the 3 hours, and hoped to see a bit of the island, do a tour of the tequila factory and go to lunch. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and never got lunch, so I either would do a longer tour or cut the island scenic tour down, heading to the tequila factory right away and then going right to lunch.

 

It was just me and my mom so we didn't want a lot of walking as that is a bit hard for her. Gerry is a delightful man, prompt and courteous. He gave us lots of history about the island and we saw many areas. I would definitely book him again when we are there.

 

We emailed Eduardo and got a very quick response.

[TMWOOD1012]

Go to the Eastern Shore , it's amazingly beautiful. Have your own professional and kind driver for the day to go wherever you'd like. Great English with a love for his island!

Use Adiel King.. he was a joy!! adielrenan@hotmail.com

$35/day per person air-conditioned clean van

[LHP]

I think the new thread was removed since it wasn't in reply to an inquiry. So here is the info again that I had posted earlier.

 

Many of us have been frustrated recently trying to make reservations with the highly regarded driver Gerry in Cozumel. I learned from another poster today that Mike is no longer handling his reservations. I reached out this morning to the new contact Eduardo (eduardoczm@gmail.com). Eduardo is handling reservations primarily for Gerry, but also has access to other drivers (as I had feared, I confirmed that Mike had double booked Gerry for the day of my visit in March, but Eduardo has placed me with Cantaro for our trip so we will have a driver). Eduardo has created an online form for making reservations. See information from Eduardo below....

~~~~~~~~~

email From Eduardo:

 

I do handle reservations not only for Gerry, there is another taxi guide same quality service and price as Gerry, his name is Cantaro...

 

in this link you can find the online format we made to make the reservations easier and faster, take a look and just fill up your info and I will reply with your confirmation code same day

 

http://www.toursplaza.com/categorias...iring_a_driver

~~~~~~~~~

 

Hope this is helpful for everyone in getting back in touch with Gerry.

 

thanks for the new contact information.....my brother-in-law will be getting in touch with them!!!

[moya]

We wanted to book Geri for our up coming trip and filled out the on line reservation form.

We have gotten an invoice from Pay Pal requesting a $50.00 deposit for the tour.

Is this the normal practice?

We really do not want to pre- pay in case we do not make port and loose our money.

 

Moya

[rjscott]

A lot of independent tour operators have started to request either a deposit or even full payment in advance. This is because, with no financial commitment on the passengers side, the operators have many no-shows, and are then left with no income for their day. However, most reputable ones will refund your deposit if you do not make port. I would email and ask about this.

 

Good luck and come back and let us know what you find out.

[Fisherbob]

As a result of reading this board, I booked with Eduardo at the eduardoczm email address and had a great experience this past Friday while on Freedom OTS. He responded very quickly several weeks ago to say that Gerry wasn't available but Jose Luis was able to take us around the island for the $95 for 3 hours. We didn't have to do any Pay Pal then--don't know if that's changed. Jose Luis has lived on the island his whole life and made us feel welcomed and confident we were being taken for a GOOD ride. I told them to pick us up at noon which gave us too much time to kill at the dock, and as if he could read our mind Jose Luis was waiting for us just as described, but a half hour early! We went around town for a bit, and he made a point to point out some of the schools in the area, which I thougt was a nice touch for the kids. We went to Playa Bonita for lunch and stopped at a couple other beaches to play on the rocks and do some beach combing. We also stopped at a beach on the west side where the kids could do some snorkeling. Even though the three hours were quickly coming to an end, Jose Luis told us to relax and not worry about the clock. It was a great deal and a great time for the four of us.

[LHP]

As a result of reading this board, I booked with Eduardo at the eduardoczm email address and had a great experience this past Friday while on Freedom OTS. He responded very quickly several weeks ago to say that Gerry wasn't available but Jose Luis was able to take us around the island for the $95 for 3 hours. We didn't have to do any Pay Pal then--don't know if that's changed. Jose Luis has lived on the island his whole life and made us feel welcomed and confident we were being taken for a GOOD ride. I told them to pick us up at noon which gave us too much time to kill at the dock, and as if he could read our mind Jose Luis was waiting for us just as described, but a half hour early! We went around town for a bit, and he made a point to point out some of the schools in the area, which I thougt was a nice touch for the kids. We went to Playa Bonita for lunch and stopped at a couple other beaches to play on the rocks and do some beach combing. We also stopped at a beach on the west side where the kids could do some snorkeling. Even though the three hours were quickly coming to an end, Jose Luis told us to relax and not worry about the clock. It was a great deal and a great time for the four of us.

 

 

I believe this is the same Eduardo....

 

 

 

http://www.toursplaza.com/home

 

 

They may have started requiring a deposit. I know Gerry very well and you would be amazed at the number of times he has been "stood up". One of the people even came back and posted pictures on Cruise Critic of their "good time in port" (pictures of the ship from the Cozumel dock) etc.....

 

at the time, I did not realize they were the ones who stood Gerry up or I would have called them on it.