Half-day City tour cultural from punta cana for small group

Please do better.

The experience had nice destinations but the organization could have been better. Tire blew, no rules, people left behind, and there wasn't a strong enough voice to explain and share cool facts and important information. I had to provide and hand water out to everyone. At times as well I didn't know where the tour guide member even was. Great sights, poor execution.

via Viator

Could do better

Very unorganized, car broke down and we been tucked in the small van, never got a horse ride said in the itinerary.

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Bad experience

Driver was late 45 minutes (said that Key was left in car when going thru the car wash), and he has to go home to get 2nd key. City stops were not the best - walk through the market was terrible with dirty water, lots of bug (I think that we all family members pick up sickness after this tour). We decided to shorten the trip - skipped Cigar stop, skipped Horse ride - just took foto. I would not recommend.

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Half Day Dominican cultural tour with Eduardo.

Loved that it was a small group, a total of 6 people. Our tour guide, Eduardo was very pleasant and accommodating. We had to pay $1 donation to enter the Basilica, and he paid for two passengers who did not have cash. It was awesome visiting with the locals, seeing inside a typical Dominican home and eating a Dominican home cooked meal, which was delicious. We were treated with some sugarcane which I loved. We also visited a primary school and Eduardo got us some mangoes.

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Unsafe and dishonest, avoid this one

This was a scam, plain and simple, and this is coming from someone on their third time doing this exact type of tour in the Dominican Republic. I know what a real version of this looks like, and this was not it. Our guide, who introduced himself as Andy and claimed to be a higher ranking police officer, did not guide us at all. He talked to the driver the entire day and only spoke to us to ask for money. None of the photos in the listing matched anything we actually experienced. We spent the entire "half day tour" being driven around on rough, unpaved local roads in an old, tired van for what felt like the majority of the day, leaving us exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, while the actual touring parts of the day added up to maybe one hour total. The van stopped for gas and we were nearly out again on the way back, meaning the vehicle itself was barely being maintained for the route. While the driver fueled up, the guide bought water for himself and never once offered to get us any or even mention we could buy some. The river stop listed in the tour was skipped completely. At the so called cacao and coffee farm, we were told the weather was too dry to show us anything, despite the fact that I did this same tour in July before and was walked through a full garden, shown the entire cacao and coffee making process, and given a fruit platter to try. Instead we got a five minute cacao taste and nothing else. Lunch was not at a restaurant, it was beans, rice, and chicken at the family's actual house, and my kids would not touch any of it. On a previous version of this tour we were taken to a real restaurant with options, fruit, and drinks. On top of that, we were pressured into a 20 dollar donation to the family, then pushed into buying a 20 dollar bag of mamajuana with wild, unverified health claims attached to it. The tipping never stopped. Tip the guide during the day, tip him again before he might not come back, tip the horse handlers at the end. And the horse riding itself was the most dangerous part of this entire tour. There were no steps, no mounting block, nothing. The horse handler physically grabbed my daughter and me and put us straight onto the horses, then walked us directly into active local road traffic on a public road with cars driving past us the whole time. This was not a controlled activity, it was genuinely unsafe. Do not book this tour. It is not the cultural experience advertised, it is a string of unsafe conditions and constant money grabs disguised as a half day tour.

Response from the operator: We completely respect that every customer is entitled to share their opinion, but we cannot allow inaccurate and misleading statements about our company and our excursion to go unanswered. Many of the claims made in this review are simply not true and do not reflect the service we provide. Our excursion is a real cultural experience operated locally, and our customers regularly enjoy the activities, food, transportation, and experiences included in the itinerary. We strongly disagree with the accusation that this was a “scam.” We would never intentionally put our guests in danger or pressure them into giving money. Any optional purchases, donations, or tips are not mandatory and are not a requirement to participate in the excursion. We are also surprised by the claims regarding the transportation and activities, as the itinerary and operation of the excursion are clearly explained to our customers. We use different types of vehicles depending on the day’s operation, but we guarantee comfortable transportation with air conditioning. Weather, road conditions, and other circumstances can occasionally affect how certain activities are carried out. However, that does not mean the excursion is fraudulent or that our customers are being deceived. We are sorry that this particular customer did not enjoy the experience, but presenting personal dissatisfaction as proof that our company is a “scam” is unfair and inaccurate. We have many genuine customers who have enjoyed this same experience and have shared their positive feedback. We stand behind our service and are always willing to investigate legitimate complaints. However, we cannot agree with or accept accusations that are not consistent with what actually happened.

via Tripadvisor