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

[MonaCD]

No flaming here. We almost always book our excursions through the cruiseline, and usually we have a hard time deciding what to do. For some reason, though, the tours being offered on St. Maarten either didn't really seem to interest us or they were not well rated by others. But I agree, this is definitely more likely to make us second guess booking our own tours in the future.

 

For my cruise over the holidays, I've only booked one excursion so far and that's in St Thomas. I don't think I'll bother with Nassau and St Maarten. Like you say, there's nothing that really piques my interests. This cruise was not booked for the ports anyway.

 

I can certainly understand your feelings about non-cruiseline tours. But we still will continue to book private tours. We have had only positive experiences with the many private tours we have taken. The highlight of our cruise was the private sailing tour we took in St. Thomas on Wednesday.

 

We were fortunate that the No Rush tour we took last Thursday was not with Beau/Bodo. As I posted earlier, our tour was satisfactory. That's not meant to be an endorsement for others to book with them. There are still many things that need to be resolved before confidence in them can be restored.

 

I have learned from this that I need to do even more investgation of the tour operators than I have done in the past. Until now I usually booked after several good reviews from respected members on this board.

 

But even cruiseline tours have gone wrong. One even ended tragically last year.

 

I agree any excursion can go wrong, however, I'm certain the cruise line sponsored ones would have the proper papers and insurance at least. Yes, I could do all that research but sometimes I just don't have the time and feel a little more secure with cruise line excursions.

[love2vacation]

I have been following this with interest. I'm surprised nobody has said this already in this thread and I may be flamed for doing so, but this scenario is just one more reason why I like to book my excursions through the cruiseline.

 

I have been thinking this in the back of my mind as well! I have always liked to support local people when possible but this story does put another spin on things!

:eek:

[flvol77]

Flame away...

 

But, I put a lot of blame on the govt and the officials allowing him to run tours.

 

I went back and re-read his emails that he sent me and that should have sent up serious red flags with me.

 

He wanted us to meet somewhere past where everyone else meets because its easier and we had to come to him and he would be waiting for us. Yeah there was a reason for this and I should have thought about it. Every tour I have ever taken we had someone come find us and take us to their vechicle. The guy was shady from the start in his emails. I have learned a lesson and will do a little more research.

 

Does anyone know if he had a license to give tours?

[COLandlocked]

We have a tour booked for January 9th. I emailed and received a response from Alicia that is a link to YouTube. Guess we are out of luck. I am so dissapointed. Now I am not sure what to do.

[2Canucks]

COLandlocked...

 

We too had a tour first set up with Beau then changed to Lynette Douglas after the "death notice" rumor. We decided enough!

 

So we took fellow Cruise Critic member...gtaylor...Gary's advice and contacted Joyce Prince. She was able to fit us into her tour.... for our day in St Maarten... will the permission of the original group who had booked her. We are "thrilled" that someone was kind enough to include us!! :D

 

Here's the link to Joyce Prince...try her she might be able to do the same for you or suggest someone else trustworthy to be your guide.

 

http://www.princepersonal.com/

 

Pat :)

[COLandlocked]

Pat,

 

I have tried to contact Joyce but have not received a response. I am hoping she will get back to me. I may try to call tomorrow if I do not receive a return email.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. This is so disappointing. It was the only shore excursion we wanted to do. The other locations we were just going to hack around and see what we felt like.

 

Oh well...live and learn.

 

Thanks again,

 

Melissa

[dachshunddoglover]

This is all soooooo bizarre!!!! For monthes there was nothing but great, great reviews of this company and the prices were very good. Everyone thought this guy was legit and reputable. Now we find out he had a whole different life than we all thought. It is so crazy. Reminds me of the stories where a husband has a whole different family in another state or something. Thankfully our tour was in September before the Houdini act started and we actually had a nice tour. I am so sorry to those caught in the middle of this twisted tale.

 

E-Beth

[marti2282]

Just back -- did St Maarten on Thursday the 13 of Dec. We had booked with Beau and were cancelled by Bodo after the "death." We had mainly wanted to go to Maho Beach so DH could get photos of the airliners landing.

 

We walked straight out of the terminal area and went to the Taxi area. There were four of us and we got a cab to Maho for $8 per person. It was about a 30 minute drive over. Leave MORE time for your return trip tho. First because cabs are not always there (we were at the Sunset Beach Bar) and secondly--traffic was awful!! Had a fantastic time and DH got great shots of a 747 just feet over the beach!

[2Canucks]

Marti2282...

 

 

Glad to hear you made it to Maho Beach for the planes!! I've a couple of questions for you...

 

 

How's the food & drink at the Sunset Beach Bar??? Prices OK??

 

What time of day did your hubby get the pictures of the 747 landing???

 

Thanks in advance for any info you can share with us concerning Maho Beach and the planes.

 

Pat :)

[nolenurse999]

We just got back from our cruise on Dec. 2nd and used Victor of SXMtours.com. He was recommended by Sunny Liston from St. Thomas. Victor was a super tour guide and in fact we consider him as a friend from the island of St. Martin now. We were a group of 7 and we just told him what we would like to do and he rearranged his usual tour to fit our needs. We knew we wanted to go to Maho beach to watch the planes, go to a beach for some r&r and see both sides of the island. Well, let me tell you that he surpassed anything we could have hoped for. We covered the entire island with narration and stops at breathtaking sites to take pics. He knows just where to stop along the way to get the best pics. In fact, some of the landscape pics I took (at his suggestion) turned out sooo good that I have blown them up into 11x14 and plan to frame them. I have even entered them into some amateur digital photo competitions. He made sure that we were at Maho beach for the busiest time of day and we have some awesome video footage of jumbo jets landing and taking off. My point is, he listened to what we wanted to do and was knowledgeable enough to provide an itinerary that surpassed anything we could have done on our own. We were also back to the ship in plenty of time (My biggest pet peeve). I hope you have as much fun as we did. Sincerely, Cindy

[ppfqp]

Since I'm not getting an answer to my other thread, I'll ask here -- do you tip your tour drivers? What's customary?

[nsbee]

yes, you have all been duped. Please read this web site about Beau Robinson alias Bodo.

 

http://sxmprivateeye.com/node/12135

[marti2282]

Marti2282...

 

 

Glad to hear you made it to Maho Beach for the planes!! I've a couple of questions for you...

 

 

How's the food & drink at the Sunset Beach Bar??? Prices OK??

 

What time of day did your hubby get the pictures of the 747 landing???

 

Thanks in advance for any info you can share with us concerning Maho Beach and the planes.

 

Pat :)

 

Hi Pat

Didn't eat at Sunset Beach Bar--only drank--but the hamburgers looked GREAT! DH did the beer runs, so I don't know how much, but he would have mentioned it if prices were out of line. By the way, topless ladies drink for free. There was only one topless--but she didn't seem to feel out of place. Had very nice posture. (tee hee)

 

Here is the flight schedule (courtesy of Kal) http://www.bywindkal.com/Files/AircraftHigh.pdf

 

They post the day's schedule at the bar also. The 747 that we saw was the Corsair from Paris. It got in a few minutes before its scheduled time of 2:05 (we were there last Thursday). Let me know if you need more info and I will ask DH about beer prices.

[royaloakie]

yes, you have all been duped. Please read this web site about Beau Robinson alias Bodo.

 

http://sxmprivateeye.com/node/12135

 

I think most of us read that site weeks ago, that is how we found out about Mr. Bodo Muth, however Cruise Critic was not happy to have the links posted. I believe Norush is now out of business.

[bradlkm]

As a warning, Sunset Beach Bar has, IMHO, very expensive drinks. It was $4-5 per beer, $3 for a soda, $7 for a guavaberry colada. I was not very happy with their prices, and I got back to the $1.50 beers in Philipsburg as soon as possible!

 

Check out the posts on the board for Guy's Driftwood Bar. It is a better bet!

[bradlkm]

Whoops. . . double post. Got into the cheap beer again. :-P

[VIKINGCRUISER]

We just got back from our cruise on Dec. 2nd and used Victor of SXMtours.com. He was recommended by Sunny Liston from St. Thomas. Victor was a super tour guide and in fact we consider him as a friend from the island of St. Martin now. We were a group of 7 and we just told him what we would like to do and he rearranged his usual tour to fit our needs. We knew we wanted to go to Maho beach to watch the planes, go to a beach for some r&r and see both sides of the island. Well, let me tell you that he surpassed anything we could have hoped for. We covered the entire island with narration and stops at breathtaking sites to take pics. He knows just where to stop along the way to get the best pics. In fact, some of the landscape pics I took (at his suggestion) turned out sooo good that I have blown them up into 11x14 and plan to frame them. I have even entered them into some amateur digital photo competitions. He made sure that we were at Maho beach for the busiest time of day and we have some awesome video footage of jumbo jets landing and taking off. My point is, he listened to what we wanted to do and was knowledgeable enough to provide an itinerary that surpassed anything we could have done on our own. We were also back to the ship in plenty of time (My biggest pet peeve). I hope you have as much fun as we did. Sincerely, Cindy

 

 

Cindy,

Sounds like you were very happy with Victor.I do have two questions though.

 

1) I know you said you were a group of seven, but how many total people does the tour itself accomodate?

 

2) I noticed on the SXM website it (along with most other tours) stops at Orient Beach. We have a 10 year old son, and I am concerned ab out the Nudity I read about at that beach. Is there a kids area of the beach, or is the nudity all around.

(I wish I did this tour one when I was single, LOL!;) )

 

 

Thankss for your help!

[burrma]

I'm grateful for the information, too, Pat. We had a reservation with Beau for January, but we got an email from Bodo saying they'd have to cancel 'cause they didn't have enough drivers on that day.

 

The reason we booked with Beau was because he would personalize each tour based on the needs/desires of his customers. We're looking for a brief (2 - 2 1/2 hour) narrated sight seeing tour with no stops at beaches or for shopping. Not as easy to find as I'd hoped. I'll email Joyce Prince and see if she can accomodate us.

 

 

Have been looking for the same type of tour in St. Thomas but with little luck. Of the 5 tour operators I've contacted by email or voice mail message, the only one to get back to us was our first choice, Air Force 1, who let us know they were totally booked for the day. Been at this for a couple of months but can't get anyone else to reply. AARGH!!!!

 

Contact Sunny Liston and tell him Marilyn from Sarnia recommended him; great deal and tour

Who did you decide to use in St. Martin?

[kml2000]

We took this tour back in April with Beau. I found him to be very odd and posted it here on Cruise Critic. At one point we were joking about our professions and he made a crack and asked if there were any police officers in the van. We said no and he said "good". One of the issues I had with the tour was that he pointed out all the bad things about the island. I didn't expect to hear all the good and no bad...but I certainly heard mostly bad. He didn't seem to really like the island. In fact, he told us about getting kicked out of the US and would go back in a heartbeat. I didn't get the full story........but I was concerned the whole tour. I just thought it was me being overly paranoid, but apparently not. I am just going to praise God that we stayed safe....all of this is just so odd.

[kml2000]

We took this tour back in April with Beau. I found him to be very odd and posted it here on Cruise Critic. At one point we were joking about our professions and he made a crack and asked if there were any police officers in the van. We said no and he said "good". One of the issues I had with the tour was that he pointed out all the bad things about the island. I didn't expect to hear all the good and no bad...but I certainly heard mostly bad. He didn't seem to really like the island. In fact, he told us about getting kicked out of the US and would go back in a heartbeat. I didn't get the full story........but I was concerned the whole tour. I just thought it was me being overly paranoid, but apparently not. I am just going to praise God that we stayed safe....all of this is just so odd.

[shakespeare]

This is all really bizarre. We had booked a tour with him for 11/10....we were waiting at the meeting place for quite a while. One of our group walked back towards the ship to try to call...but the phones were for international calls only. A woman who was trying to organize a tour was kind enough to let us use her cell phone. We were told he had passed away suddenly and there was no time to email clients...we were told to wait by the booth at the exit and if no one showed up to take another tour. When we arrived at the booth...the tour guide was waiting for us...had a sign with our name on it and all the paperwork and information. I forgot the guide's name, but we had an excellent tour. When we asked him about Beau's death....he seemed to think that was really funny...so we figured it was some kind of private joke and let it go at that.

 

Just stumbled on this thread and the story seems to get weirder and weirder:eek:

[preacher]

Cindy,

Sounds like you were very happy with Victor.I do have two questions though.

 

1) I know you said you were a group of seven, but how many total people does the tour itself accomodate?

 

2) I noticed on the SXM website it (along with most other tours) stops at Orient Beach. We have a 10 year old son, and I am concerned ab out the Nudity I read about at that beach. Is there a kids area of the beach, or is the nudity all around.

(I wish I did this tour one when I was single, LOL!;) )

 

 

Thankss for your help!

 

 

Hi,

We toured with him in October. Victor had a 15 passenger bus when we were there. the AC was nice.

 

We had 2 younger girls and so he dropped us off in the middle of the beach. (I don't remember the name of the food shack he dropped us off at.) In that area there wasn't any topless women, however, you don't have to walk too far before you notice them. We were there for 2 hours and the girls never noticed anyone.

[mustcruisemore]

I AM SHOCKED!!!! My DH and I were in St. Maarten on Friday, October 12th and had booked with "Beau" and specifically asked for Lynette because I wanted to go shopping in the morning (as DH was fishing) and then we would pick up DH and finish the island tour in the afternoon.

 

I don't know what happened between then and now, but Lynette was fabulous. No, I wouldn't go again because of all the info I have just read, but did want to verify that Lynette was great tour guide on October 12th.

 

The whole thing is just sad :(

[redtop101]

Just an intriguing thought! In light of all the double agents here, could Lynette be Beau's or Bodo's girlfriend Annette? See her photo at http://sxmprivateeye.com/node/12135#comment-17506

[mustcruisemore]

Just an intriguing thought! In light of all the double agents here, could Lynette be Beau's or Bodo's girlfriend Annette? See her photo at http://sxmprivateeye.com/node/12135#comment-17506

 

This is a picture of Lynette.