Has anyone out there had experiences on caribe tours that mirror mine? A brief description says it all: dirty, roach ridden, lacking in service accurately describes my trip to the other side of the island. You spend your US dollars in order to be tortured and treated badly. to be held "prisoner" on a bus, at the mercy of the attendant and driver. When you see the big yellow bus coming do not get on. There has to be other services that can be used when a person wants to travel around the Island. HELP!!!!
- Thread starter nicnic
- Start date
travel on the big yellow bus-caribe tours
Wow! I am sorry to hear about your experience but also surprised. I have been on Caribe tours several times as a method of transportation from north to south and never had a problem relatively speaking. My only complaint is that the air conditioning is always too high! Without a sweater it's very uncomfortable.
It may be beneficial to describe your experience a bit more since your post is quite brief. My other question is: did you say something or address the issue in any way?
-LDG-
It may be beneficial to describe your experience a bit more since your post is quite brief. My other question is: did you say something or address the issue in any way?
-LDG-
nicnic said:
Big yellow bus? They one's I have seen and used are blue with some yellow on them. I have never had a problem and have used them plenty of times.
I guess your experience is a one off and not an opinion shared by 99% of the people that use Caribe Tours. It's cheap, good and in my opinion provides great service for the price.
IMO there are a couple of things that mar what is generally a very good, well-priced service: the excessively icy a/c and the movies they screen, which are not always appropriate for all ages, to put it mildly.
Caribetur are not the only offenders on either of these counts, but as market leaders they will invariably be singled out for criticism.
Caribetur are not the only offenders on either of these counts, but as market leaders they will invariably be singled out for criticism.
nicnic said:
Hard to believe you are talking about the Caribe Tour that I know. Consider:
1. Caribe Tour buses don't have attendants, just the driver.
2. Caribe Tour buses are not yellow.
There are yellow buses that are privately run and they have what you would call an attendant. Usually his main job is to collect the money and let the driver know when a passenger wants to get off.
I have ridden a great many Caribe Tour buses during my 19 years living in the DR. In fact, for anything but short trips, it is my only means of transportation since I don't have a car. In all the years, I have always felt that Caribe Tours was a well run transportation company, providing excellent service on comfortable buses for not too much money. Almost always I get on the bus when it starts its run for the day, for example the bus that starts in Sosua and goes to Santo Domingo, or the bus that starts in Santo Domingo and goes to Samana. Always these buses left the Caribe Tour terminal clean. There was some litter on floor after stopping at a rest stop for refreshments, but it was always cleaned before the next run. During all these years I have never seen a roach on the bus, at least not of the insect variety. In all these years, I have never felt mistreated. In all these years, I have never seen an attendant on a Caribe Tours bus. In all these years, I have never ridden on a yellow Caribe Tours bus.
It is true as has been mentioned that sometimes the bus is too cold. But knowing that, I always carry an shirt or jacket. I have found this is especially true on the runs early in the AM before the sun has had a chance to beat down on the roof of the bus.
It is also true that that sometimes the tv doesn't work, and that the films shown might not be to everyone's liking. But I have never seen anything worse than what any child can watch by turning on the TV in his own home.
nicnic said:
Sorry to disappoint but i have never had a problem with Caribe tours. The service is good but not great. I never recall seeing a attendant.
nicnic said:
US dollars?
I paid pesos and very few pesos it was for a 4 hr trip. prisoner? What happened wouldn't them stop and let you take pictures along the way? LOL. This is too funny. All the poster above are regular members here and haven't had a problem. This is your first post and you come to complain? You need to tell us more about the being a prisoner part.
Yes the bus is cold. I took a trip through the US and it was cold as well. I think it's to keep the drivers from falling asleep.
Ken said:
I have seen blood-and-guts violence and sex scenes screened on these bus journeys that no small child should ever be exposed to. I realise that once a child is six or seven it is difficult to exercise that sort of control, even in one's own home. However, as the parent of a four-year old I know we have been quite successful in restricting his TV viewing to channels aimed at small children, so I would not be happy if I found myself in a captive audience situation like that. Luckily that has never happened, but a situation where this did once happen was in the cinema - I took my then two-year old to watch his first ever movie and they showed trailers for violent movies.
This for me comes under the category of "WTF were they thinking of" - that is, if they had a brain in the first place.
In light of the above responses
Perhaps you should consider changing your name to nit-pick.nicnic said:
I have used both Caribe Tours and Metro Tours, and other than the same complaint as everyone else about the air conditioning, I have nothing bad to say about either one of them. On the contray, if anything, I am impressed with the fact that they run on schedule. Something you don't see very often around the DR.
I go from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas all the time and the bus stops in Sanchez.
Could it be possible that nicnic rode another company's bus thinking it was Caribe Tours?
Juniper
I go from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas all the time and the bus stops in Sanchez.
Could it be possible that nicnic rode another company's bus thinking it was Caribe Tours?
Juniper