We loved our tour guide, but the tour experience was disappointing. Basically, we kayaked in the bay, through channels looking at people's homes, and then a long paddle out to an island that didn't have much to experience or look at. At first our tour was to include a snorkel experience. But cool weather made us change to the "sunset kayak tour" which was supposed to include wine and snacks while enjoying the sunset. Well, there wasn't any wine or snacks. Basically, we just paddled and when we were done, left in soaking wet clothes. The tour guide was not aware of what the tour included. The tour takes place at the boat ramp of an RV resort, so I'm not sure how they would have facilitated the wine and sunset part of the tour... especially seeing that there was no office staff or other staff available, and any wine event would have had to happen with the tour guide who was busy cleaning up the kayaks. So the overall experience was very disappointing and not at all what was advertised (nature experience or wine experience). The next day I emailed the company to tell them I was disappointed and they never emailed me back. (We had been exchanging emails regularly up til then, so I know the email address was correct. My impression? They had my money and couldn't care less if we were happy.)
Réponse de l'hôte
Apr 2016
What a disappointing review- after a total of 17 emails back and forth with this guest over a period of a month, we advised him on the day of the trip that it was windy and we would do our best for him on the trip if he would like to try it. We always give the guest the option to change/cancel if the weather is iffy and he chose to continue. He told us in a follow up email that:
"We had a great time. Our guide was the best. But it appeared that he wasn't aware of the wine, snacks, and sunset portion of the tour. In fact, seeing that he was alone, I don't know how he could have pulled it off. So the tour was great, our guide was fantastic, but the tour package was not what we signed up for."
What occurred was that after paddling out to explore and look for manatee, dolphin etc (they opted out of the snorkeling portion, which is a big/fun part of this particular tour) the winds kicked up. The guide had to bring the trip in a bit early because of that- usually we sit on the water, have wine/cheese and crackers and enjoy the sunset but the winds would not cooperate with us. I don't know what "since he was alone I don't know how he would have accomplished this" means- we do this on every trip. We all sit next to each other on the kayaks, open a bottle of wine and pass out cups/snacks. It's not difficult to accomplish under normal circumstances at all but in the wind it simply isn't possible. The couple explored the canals (the part referred to as "looking at homes?") and saw manatee- we take people on this route for the express purpose of looking for manatee and to get out of the wind. The island is a beautiful mangrove island full of bird life- a rookery, in fact.
Upon receiving his complaint I emailed back expressing that I was so sorry he was dissatisfied and apologized for the delay in response as well as offered a refund and explanation for his experience (which, again, he described as "great"). He refused and instead berated us for not responding fast enough to his complaint and saying I ruined his whole trip to FL. At that point it was clear to us that further discussion would not be fruitful.
We truly do our best on each and every trip to make sure our guests have a 5 star experience. We did our best to make this guest happy and are sorry that this could not be resolved amicably.