Our search engine for White River Rafting in Puerto Plata took us on TripAdvisor to Marysol Tours and our request was professionally handled by Francisco. On our first interaction with Francisco, we advised him that we were travelling as a group of 36 persons and some of the activities we were interested in, 1. City Tour, 2. Paragliding, 3. Waterfall Excursion and of course 4. White River Rafting. Everytime, we liaised with Francisco we felt comfortable and became a little more trusting of him as an individual. With our travel experience, we have learnt to always check reviews and so we did and I must admit, the more we read, our bad experiences had me questioning these reviews because they all seemed," too good to be true." Upon our arrival, he met with us at the Hotel and we discussed the tours and made our payment so we booked, paid and were anxiously awaiting our activities with him to commence the next day. Well what can I say, Coach Bus arrived on time, clean, well attired and friendly staff and we started out City Tour. Jesus, our english speaking tour guide took us around and both him and the Driver were oh so patient with our crew and made our experience definitely an incredible experience and Day 1 was a success. Day 2, our transportation to Jarabacoa to Paraglide, bus driver on time and took us to our destination once more, waited and was ever so patient again as the Paragliding tram was experiencing some weather delays and took us to an incredible lunch. Day 2, yes a success. Then comes Day 3, Jesus with Driver. If we can describe patience as a person I would say it's this guy, he explained everything to us, safety, got us a Photographer for the group, and was intentional in aiding our non swimmers with overcoming their water fears. Professionally succeeded in this activity, BTW this guy is top fit to consistently do this tour. Last day was the River Rafting and it was like a fairytale come to life. The river was beautiful, guides were patient, fun, clear with the instructions and so in sync with the team. Noone would have guessed we were inexperienced and so many non swimmers. Our fears escaped us and had us in awe of the beauty of this tour. I must say Francisco and his team come higher than a 5 star rating. Our team was comfortable, safe and definitely our moneys worth.
P4039FKkarenm
01 Jul 2023
Earlier this year, my husband and I took the Puerto Plata City tour with Marisol Tours in the Dominican Republic. On this tour, one of the stops was identified as the Amber Museum, but actually it was a tourist type retail store that had a few pieces of amber on display, which we were given information about before being set free in the retail store.
While in the store, a salesman showed us a Larimar pendant (I had my own chain) with matching earrings that he insisted on putting on my body and then directed me to a mirror. The jewelry was beautiful and when I asked about the price for the jewelry he put on my body, we were told $1500 US for the set. I liked the pieces and was agreeable to $1500, so I bought the jewelry,
I did not check any bank accounts on my phone until I returned to the US at which time, I discovered the store had charged me $2500 instead of the $1500 agreed upon.
I contacted Francisco at Marisol Tours to report this and he put me in touch with Louis, the store manager where I bought the jewelry. He remembered me and insisted I was confused about my experience in his store. My husband and I know exactly what we were told regarding the price of the jewelry the salesman put on my body. That pendant and earrings were the only jewelry we looked out.
Bottom line is, I was scammed! Louis offered to send me a gift 5 months ago that never arrived. Again, bottom line is, I was scammed! Buyer Beware!
Fun day! We were picked up at our hotel and taken to the cable cars, downtown, rum factory and fort. Our guide was a very safe driver, very informative, very attentive and spent the entire day educating us on the local life and history of the Dominican. Started at 9am and wrapped up and back to the hotel around 3pm.