Leo..Rent-A-Guide...Questions?

[2Canucks]

If you have taken a day tour with Leo...Rent-A-Guide...Please share your experience with us. What did you do or see during your tour?

 

Pat :)

[carbon]

We sailed with you on the Mercury. Barb & Don Carbon. Where and when are you going on your next cruise? We will be on the AOS March 23,2008.

[2Canucks]

Hi Barb!

 

We are going on a B2B cruise on Celebrity's "Summit". Jan 5/08...14 night Panama Canal then continuing on the Summit for a Jan 19/08...7 night Southern Caribbean cruise.

 

I've been busy trying to book excursions. I have 3 private tours lined up for St Maarten, Dominica and Grenada. We are going to do the "Aruba Sea & See Island Tour" (ship excursion) in Aruba. (Seaworld Explorer/semi-submarine) and bus tour combined. We have never snorkeled so thought this would work out great for us! Haven't figured out what to do in Bonaire and San Juan yet? We were in San Juan years ago so will probably just walk around the Old part etc. on the day between cruises and then we are staying at the Courtyard by Marriott San Juan Isla Verde for an extra night post cruise before flying home. We'll just shake(casino) & bake (beach) that day and night!! ;)

 

I haven't booked any excursions for the Panama Canal cruise yet... narrowing down the options but we will have to decide soon! We have a longer day in Aruba during this portion of the cruise and I'm having trouble deciding between the Mi Dushi tour or just go to Palm Beach and camp out close to the Radisson for a beach day?? I've read that this area has food/drink service to your lounge chair, if you pick a umbrella spot close to the Radisson beach area and it is suppose to be great for swimming with a soft white sand beach...no sharp coral pieces in the sand. ( I guess there aren't too many beach areas here, that cater to your chair??)

 

Have you been to Aruba before? If so...what did you do for the day?

 

Where are you going on your March 23/08 cruise? I'm sure you'll have a great time!

 

Pat :)

[carbon]

We are on the AOS leaving from San Juan, doing Aruba, Curacao, St Martin and St Thomas. We have been to all these islands before, so we will do a little shopping and head to the beach. Our youngest son is going as it is his spring break. I got a great deal a DI corner aft cabin, just couldn't resist. Got pretty decent airfire too from Chicago to San Juan. We are staying 2 extra nights after the cruise and going over to Vieques, a small island on the east coast of Puerto Rico to do the bioluminesant bay. Need a very little moon for this experience which is supposed to be awesome. Last time we were in Aruba we rented a jeep and toured the island on our own and went to Baby beach to swim. The ship didn't leave till almost midnight so we went to Hyatt and gambled and had a couple of drinks at their pool bar (very expensive). This time we will take the public bus to the resort area and swim. Shopping is right by the ship, last time I got a pair of white gold earrings for $120 I have seen them here and even on sale they are over $350 us dollars. In Curacao we rented a car and toured the island and stopped at a couple of beaches (topless beaches that my husband and sons enjoyed) This time we will spent some time in town ( quaint European style) and head to a beach for a few hours. You enjoy the Panama Canal, we hope to do that some day. Our oldest son is getting married Dec 19, 2008 so maybe after that.

Barb

[2Canucks]

Barb...Good job... a "corner aft" how great is that!!:D We booked our B2B while we were on the Mercury and never thought to go for an "aft"...silly us!!! It would have been great for the PC portion of our upcoming B2B cruise!!

 

I'll now be looking at the jewelery in Aruba too! "St Thomas" is a great port for jewelery too. I bought a "turkey link" bracelet...Cliff said I was probably getting a "turkey" (fake) but I had it appraised when I got home... about the same pricing as your errings!!:D We decided on the "Jolly Pirates" tour in Aruba during the PC portion so now have 2 great tours booked for our 2 Aruba stops. (There was way more info on Jolly Pirates compared to Mi Dushi on cruise critic!)

 

Anyone...

 

Still looking for some information on Leo...Rent-A-Guide. If you have done a tour with him... please share your experience with us!

 

Pat :)

[OHCruisinDad]

Hello Carbon - I saw your posts when searching for things to do on Curacao. I noticed that you will be on the Adventure next March 23rd. Just wanted to let you know there is a very active Roll Call for that cruise and that we already have over 50 signed up for the M & M. You and anyone else sailing the AOS next March 23rd are invited to join the Roll Call and the fun. Only 20 weeks to go!

[jkloni]

We rented a van from Avis and rented a guide from Leo a couple of weeks ago.

 

The Avis rental was fine and they are the only ones at the pier. Ida (pronounced 'E da') was in the office waiting for us. She was a petite young lady with a pleasant personality. She knew alot about her country. We were glad she was with us vs. driving aimlessly around trying to find stuff. She didn't tell us where to go, she asked what we wanted to see and do. Our tour was up to us. We told her we wanted to go to the Curacao distillery, maybe a cave and a beach. We also decided on shopping so she guided our van to downtown and we parked. She walked with me and another friend (there were 11 of us) while we shopped for 45 min (we could have stayed 3 hrs, she didn't care, it was our day.) We then drove to the distillery and toured the gift shop which is where they let you sample the liquor. We thought it tasted like cough syrup. Sorry.

Then we started driving to the other end of the island. Stopped for lunch which was excellent and then proceeded to a park that had a cave where water came in and out of it. It was beautiful.

 

Then we went to a beach. It was small and beautiful. Then drove back to port after getting gas.

 

Very enjoyable experience. $11/hr for up to 4 people than $2 per hr for each person after that. Making it $21 hr for Ida. for the 9 of us...times 7 hrs was $147. Plus our rental and gas.

 

Ida was friendly and we enjoyed having her with us. We even bought her lunch when we ate (she was going to see outside while we ate - NOT.)

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

Kathy

[jst4fun715]

Don't hesitate to book with Leo. We had a group of 8 in Nov and had a fabulous time. He will pretty much tailor the tour to what you want to do. He took us pretty much all over the island and then we wanted a little time to shop. He even waited for us to take us back to the ship even though it was within walking distance. If we go back (I mean "when" we go back) we'll definitely contact him again.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

[Wasasalad]

Hi

Do you have a link for me to contact Leo. interested in booking with him

Thank you

 

Don't hesitate to book with Leo. We had a group of 8 in Nov and had a fabulous time. He will pretty much tailor the tour to what you want to do. He took us pretty much all over the island and then we wanted a little time to shop. He even waited for us to take us back to the ship even though it was within walking distance. If we go back (I mean "when" we go back) we'll definitely contact him again.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

[2Canucks]

arldicmcki....

 

I just recieved a wonderful Christmas email greeting from Leo and his email address is as follows...

 

leo@interneeds.net

 

Hope this helps!

 

Pat :)

[daryleann]

Does Leo just rent the guide or does he actually have a van/tour?

Thanks for info.

[daryleann]

sorry

[jkloni]

Does Leo just rent the guide or does he actually have a van/tour?

Thanks for info.

 

Yes, he does tours, but has just recently (last few months) ventured into the rent-a-guide option.

 

We used the Rent-a-guide (rented a van on our own) in November and were happy with Ida (E da).

 

So you can book a full fledged tour or just a guide.

 

Kathy

[daryleann]

Thanks for your prompt response! Looking forward to visiting that part of the world.