Every now and then we get a not so good review of one of our tours and myself and friends who follow the boards wonder what went wrong. By now most of the good operators follow all the various message boards keeping up to date on what goes on. Some have been guilty of tampering with the boards and even posting their own reviews. I know of one operator who got his messages eraced from two different boards. Anyway, one of my competitors and good friends, Glen (a.k.a. Glennie), from Creole Cruises called me last night to inform me of a "not so good" review about my Xtreme Tour. He was dumfounded and he's a competitor! I told him that we had been getting the best Xtreme reviews ever and that i was sure that this review was written by someone who just was a half empty person. I know that my Xtreme Tour isn't for everyone and market it very carefully to avoid bad experiences. All you have to do is read through the description on the site of on the brochure and you will see what its all about.
I posted a wonderful email review about the tour earlier this week and it had actually been the 4th email we had received in as many days going on about how much they enjoyed the tour. Not everyone will like the same things and this is as sure as the sun rishing in the East.
BUT the review that i read had some "facts" that were not so accurate and some rather misleading info. One of the things that we stress to people on the tour during the 15 minute ride up to Green ISland is that you should stay seated. We show people the correct way to sit in the front of the boat. We tell them not to try to stand because when the boat comes off a wave if you try to stand you will come down harder on your behind. Everytime someone stands up when we go over a wave despite us telling them not to, they come down harder on the seat. Its way way more bumpy this way even though these people think they are cushioning the ride.
Another thing that the person said which blew me away is that there were very few rays inside stingray city. Hmmm......personally i think that they are a few too many. I think they have over 65 rays inside there as well as many other fish. If the water is too cold for someone as it was for the person writing the review, and that person decides not to stay in for very long.........then how could they get a proper idea about what is inside?
Another thing the person mentioned was that there was no head or toilet on board. This isnt a fact at all. We do have a toilet inside the cabin. The cabin is 11 feet deep and 9 feet wide with just under a 6 foot standing room next to the head which is covered when not in use. Unless you knew it was stored there you wouldnt see it. When people ask, we open it up and show them how to use it. I even tell people sometimes when showing then how to use it "generally, if you wanna pee then do it in the sea like the fish do....otherwise the head is here with a holding tank for you to use". For a huge variety of reasons which i will not get into here, we do not advertise that we have a head on the boat during the tour, but its there.
Another thing to understand is that if you are going on a boat tour in Antigua during the winter you will come across water that is about 78 degrees at its coldest.....if that is too cold for you, then you will not enjoy the snorkeling. People who don't go in eager to see cool things rarely enjoy the snorkeling, and those that don't get in the water will surely not enjoy.
I still think that this tour is the best tour that i have been on in Antigua and i am happy to be running it. It is not for everyone and you have to read about it first in order to decide, but more importantly you need to listen to the skipper's instructions.
Here are links to a few of the reviews from this week including the not so good one which at the end of the day wan't really that bad....just a big misleading unfortunately..Anyway i am on the tour today and am late for work...see ya:
(the photo is of me and tony coming back from an xtreme charter after dropping off the guests. francis took the pic)
1 comment:
Hi Eli,
I've been on both the Eco and Xtreme Tours both are fabulous! The staff are very knowledgeable and helpful, not to mention the beauty of Antigua. There is no pleasing people that see the negative in everything. They are the ones that you find complaing about silly little things and let that be the main focus of their trip. Keep up the good work!!!
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