We rented a full day trip for two of us, during our baby moon vacation. I have booked the full price option in hopes to get a nice experience and celebrate our new family status on the sea, but it was ruined in the end, unfortunately.
First, the good parts:
- The tour route was North, with great views, and nice places to swim.
Our guide was Santi and during the entire trip he was nice and seemed genuine. He helped us get on the sup board for the first time, and I really enjoyed it!
- I went for a swim and Santi went after me to scare some jelly fish away. I was not scared of jelly fish, nor expressed any negative about them. But he still got on the sup board and with the peddle threw jelly fish out of my way. It might sound like a nice thing, but the jelly fish being thrown out of the water for meters away was also a bit disturbing for the animals’ well being.
Not so good part:
- The boat itself is not very new, so as there was no wind they had to use the motor - and there’s a smell of diesel;
- note to take towels with you, as they don’t provide any;
- the restaurant they recommend was closed that day, so we had to take our snacks. The fridge on board is mostly making food wet, not cold;
- as we said goodbye to Santi everything was looking positive. I was sun burned and tired but happy we had this trip, but it turned out to be something completely different.
Later in the evening, about 2-3 hours after our tour finished, I got a very unpleasant message on personal phone from Santi saying he did not have to “entertain my husband who doesn’t swim, recommend restaurants, and save me from jelly fish, thanks for nothing, some tip would be OK. People like you have a lot to learn”.
I was astonished, as you don’t expect something like this after a hustle free 800 Euro boat trip for two.
We were just relaxing on board and not demanding customers at all.
Nowhere in the service and prior communication with Ramiro it was stated that tips are encouraged.
This communication from Santi ruined the impression about an overall good service, and felt like the entire 8 hours during the trip he was faking being nice, and I felt really hurt being a pregnant sunburned woman on my baby moon, to receive such a cruel message from the tour guide.
On some level such a message after the trip looked like an extortion attempt. But I would never tip someone this aggressive.
Hope they can figure this out, make a note about tips or work for making the workers salary better - do that customers paying 800 Euro for 8 hours don’t experience what I have.