No Rush Tour operator Beau Robinson dies of a massive heart attack

[flagger]

We are in a lurch as we leave this Saturday and had a tour booked with No Rush for Tuesday. This really sucks. Anyone got suggestions? I guess talking to the taxi association at the port may be the way to go.

[royaloakie]

I emailed last night to cancel our tour, I have not heard back from the company. I guess we can consider the $20 deposit lost. Glad they do not have our charge card number as we paid through pay pal. I had booked last June. Everyone on these boards had highly recommended them. I think anyone with questions on Mr. Bodo Muth or Beau Robinson should do an Internet Search to satisfy any questions you might have. We have booked an Island tour through the cruise line. I think the private tours are all booked at this late date.

[Disneycruisers]

We are in a lurch as we leave this Saturday and had a tour booked with No Rush for Tuesday. This really sucks. Anyone got suggestions? I guess talking to the taxi association at the port may be the way to go.

 

Amberdaclown has the same problem maybe you can catch a ride with her.

[bradlkm]

I emailed Beau today to change our pickup time (I haven't been to the boards in a few weeks, so I hadn't heard the news about Beau). In response to the email, I received this reply (from Bodo Muth's email):

 

Office abandoned, for details please contact our Office at the

following address:

NoRushTours

Mrs. Alicia Claudette Chavanon

#119H Welfare Road, Simpson Bay

Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

Thank you!

 

And, when you go to their website, it says "Sorry. This website is no longer operational".

 

:confused:

 

It doesn't look good for those of us with tours already booked. And for a very sad reason. . . :(

[bradlkm]

Hmm. . . I decide to do a little more research, and found this:

 

http://sxmprivateeye.com/node/12135

 

Weird stuff. In the meantime, I got a second email from Bodo Muth confirming the time change.

 

I must go away somewhere and figure this thing out.

[flagger]

I went off and made other arrangements and will mostly be staying on the ship. No sense in getting involved in interisland politics or whatever it is. There were so many good reviews I had read about this company, it is just a shame, but now I don't feel comfortable.

 

I am glad it is only a $20 deposit we will lose.

[gtaylor]

Joyce Prince may have availability for your visit.

 

gary

[J_Sullivan]

I too had booked with No Rush tours for January and originaly would have had Beau. He sent us a link with pictures of how to find him at the port. Well I just looked at the link from the previous post and the picture of Bodo matched the guy who said he was Beau in the pictures. On November 29th I sent an e-mail to re-confirm. I received an e-mail back saying that I had been booked with Lynette Douglas and everything will be the same. Now I am also worried. :mad:

[2Canucks]

We too had Beau booked then changed to Lynette Douglas for our tour guide for our day in Jan/08.

 

Still hoping she'll show up...but just in case we're looking at other options. The following link has info on the taxis at the pier...

 

http://www.taxisxm.com/tours.htm

 

Hope this can help someone who is "closer" to their cruise date than us.... find another tour option.

 

 

FOR THOSE... who are booked BEFORE Jan/08... with Lynette or Bertrand (the other tour guides booked through No Rush Tours).....

 

Please share with us... on your return... what happened...whether they SHOWED UP or NOT when you arrived in St Maarten....

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer concerning tour options in St Maarten...due to this unfortunate circumstance.

 

Pat :)

[redtop101]

My family and I toured with Beau Robinson of NoRush Tours in May. I have been following this thread since the OP posted that Beau Robinson had died of a sudden heart attack while on his way to pick up a client.

 

Now the plot thickens! After reading all the posts on the following blog http://sxmprivateeye.com/node/12135#comment-17506 I'm convinced that Beau Robinson is now operating NoRush Tours as Bodo Muth and is still alive and well. Bodo or Beau, it appears, is accused of being many things, a white racist promoting **** views on his blog, being illegally on the island and operating his tour business without a valid licence or insurance on the Dutch side. I remember Beau making several racist comments during our tour that made me feel uncomfortable.

 

I took a photograph of him with my family on our tour and as you can see from the above link, Beau Robinson and Bodo Muth appear to be the same person.

[gtaylor]

Our friend Joyce Prince, of Joyce Prince Tours, often mentioned here, tells me that she will contact her current tour bookings to see if they would be willing to share a tour with new people to accomodate any of you that want to rebook your NoRush reservations. So if you had asked Joyce previously and she was booked, she might have room to accomodate you now.

 

gary

[JP46]

This is all very disturbing.:eek: I think we will stick with ship tours from now on!

 

Judy

[cusyl]

I went off and made other arrangements and will mostly be staying on the ship. No sense in getting involved in interisland politics or whatever it is. There were so many good reviews I had read about this company, it is just a shame, but now I don't feel comfortable.

 

I am glad it is only a $20 deposit we will lose.

You should be able to get your deposit back from paypal. If you go to their site there is a place where you can refute the charge.

[flagger]

What type of vehicle does she use. We are a family of three. I think she has room for another 3 or we might elect to go private. (more $$$ but an hour longer).

 

 

We are still deciding on just staying on the ship and walking/water taxing for shopping since this is not our first visit to SXM.

 

Thanks

[new2cru]

Usually a lurker, but had to reply to this one.

I too had a tour booked with Beau from Norushtours for Dec12th. Booked wayback in March.I read about the death of Beau here on the boards and sent my condolences via e mail inquiring about our upcoming tour. I received an email back saying sorry no tour guide available for that day will refund your deposit. I looked into another tour with another company and booked that right away. After reading the latest on these boards and doing a little research myself, I decided to email Bodo Muth back yesterday and find out what was going on. My first reply was office abandoned. This morning I had an e mail from Bodo Muth's e mail address. This is what it said. "Quote"

" Dear ******

Our one tour guide Bertrand Thomas is a subcontractor. He had a tour with a client and the client asked him abouth the death of Mr Robinson.

he knew nothing and told the client that he is still alive! I wonder what his interests are? Maybe he is listening to much rap music? I don't know. he did not even know what a freeze pack is. He complained to me that he have to buy ice for $1.50 to keep drinks cold. He did not know anything about that product!

That shows you his mindset. Believe me we are not joking about a death person! He is dead!

Your tour is on schedule and the tour guide will be there waiting for you on time!

Kind regards

Bodo Muth

Admin. NoRushTours" end of Quote.

 

This is after he had told me that No tour guide was available for us that day, because of Mr. Robinson's death. Now he tells me the tour is on schedule????? What do I believe? After reading everything on here, I'm a little confused!!!! Who is Beau Robinson? Who is Bodo Muth? Are they the same person? Did a PERSON actually die of a massive heart attack or did the name Beau Robinson "die"?? Would like some answers from somewhere.

[corinnv]

This is a very bizzare story! I asked for a quote from no rush back in October. I read many reviews..there was an odd comment made in a review, so I decided to go with Bernard. I am very glad we toured with Bernard. :eek: Very strange!

[angelkisses]

I am so thankful for Cruise Critic for bringing some light and knowledge to what is going on ... although I am very curious about where this will all go and how it will end. We booked our group with Beau for January 23rd. Bodo replied after I inquired about the alleged death of Beau that Beau had passed away and that our tour would still go as planned but not sure at that time which person would be our tour operator. I received the emails this morning like the others posted before me... the reply that the office was abandoned and then a 2nd reply a couple minutes later to say we were still scheduled but they were not taking any new reservations. Even if the tour was to go as scheduled if this person has created so many enemies in SXM ... do I really want to be on his bus in a foreign country. I have booked for a group of 14 who are first time cruisers and have emailed them this morning the links to the sites about Beau / Bodo. We were very much looking forward to touring SXM and just hope that we can find another tour guide this late who can accomadate a group our size.

 

As far as getting a PayPal refund that may be highly unlikely because they were non-verified in the US according to PayPal and there is no link to dispute the payment. Fortunatly, we only paid the $20 and I have no problem scratching that off as a loss although this all kinda scrambles my brain.

 

Please keep posting any updates on this situation.

[marti2282]

We were scheduled to tour with Beau next week and got the e-mail from Bodo saying they would have to cancel. He DID refund our $20 deposit thru PayPal.

 

This is really scary... And as the previous poster said, I would NOT want to insert my family into any island dispute. SXM is a small island, and I am sure that after all the talk here and on SXM Private Eye, Beau/Bodo is a know quantity.

[gtaylor]

Joyce matches the vehicle to the tour group. I think she has up to an 11 passenger van.

 

gary

[st.maartener]

It's unfortunate that Cruise critic removed all the post from the island residents about Bobo Muth and Beau Robinson from the site. We, the islanders though that we were doing a service to explain the situation with this particular tour company on the island. We have always try to made our visitors aware if there any negatives they should look out for.

St.Maarten receives more than 1 million cruise tourist every year.

 

St.Maarten is still the friendley island and we're only trying to protect the island and our guests and that's the honest truth.

The case with both Bodo and Beau is now being investigated by the prosecutor on St.Maarten. We'll will leave it up to his office.

I can tell you that this operator has no license to conduct tours. He has no insurance which is required of tour operators. He has no resident permit or directors documents.

[flagger]

I have a question about Joyce:

 

On her website: http://princepersonal.com/tour_example.htm she says she is fully licensed and will pick up inside the cruise facility. However, in an email I have from her from earlier this year says to meet outside the gates under a statue?

 

Should I be concerned about this? Has her license lapsed? I know she get great reviews, but so did Beau and No Rush and you know how things are going there.

 

Thanks for your answers.

[gtaylor]

I understand that this information about no license and lack of legal status on the island made the local news on the radio this morning. Can you confirm that?

 

gary

[bob4uall]

...Anyway, we would recommend this tour...

 

It seems like I have been left hanging by Cruise Critic with a recommendation of No Rush Tours on this thread. Either they removed my retraction or I didn't save properly.

 

Anyway, in view of the present facts and/or rumors about the tour company, we wouldn't now recommend taking a risk with them. In fact their website says as of right now:

"Sorry, this website is no longer operational."

[angelkisses]

Fortunatly, I was able to ge Bernard for our Tour that we originally had scheduled with Beau - Boho or Bozo or whover is running No Rush Tours. I am very excited to get Bernard since our trip is next month. We even saved a little money with Bernard.

[bob4uall]

It's unfortunate that Cruise critic removed all the post from the island residents about Bobo Muth and Beau Robinson from the site. We, the islanders though that we were doing a service to explain the situation with this particular tour company on the island. We have always try to made our visitors aware if there any negatives they should look out for...

 

I believe I had a post removed, and I think I remember reading a different post from St.Maartener in this thread as well that is now gone.

 

This is to request what guideline or rule violation may have caused these posts to be pulled, because I enjoy this service and am attempting to play by the rules here.

 

I also want to commend Cruise Critic for keeping their boards as honest as possible. I'm glad the threads are monitored, and I realize that unfounded rumors that may damage businesses or individuals should be discouraged. On the other hand, if they delete information that would serve to alert the unwary of possible real dangers, this could actually cause harm that might have been avoided.

 

I don't have an answer for them on this, but I appeciate Cruise Critic's efforts to make good judgments on difficult issues.