19 Feb 2024
Let's start off by saying we loved the experience! Our guide was the best: she was thorough, accommodating, informative and was able to pivot to our desires. The jeep was comfortable.
Once we were all on the same page, things went swimmingly!
We were to be in St. Thomas just for the day, and wanted to hit a couple of uncrowded beaches and have lunch. Communicated all that with the office, but apparently, they failed to inform our guide.
We were also a little put off by the "gratuity" the office practically demanded in communications before the experience.
This was to be a cashless transaction; that's the reason we love Viator: make the reservation and one does not have to worry about billing. It has worked for us several times in several countries. Was very perturbing to get a communication (after the fact) that the full fee would not be charged to our credit card, and we were to bring the balance in cash. We DO NOT carry large sums of cash in other countries! Luckily, we noticed this before the date and the office was able to fix the problem.
We met our guide at the appointed spot, and she proceeded to give us a grand tour as we went toward the first beach. She had drinks, beach chairs, etc. as advertised. We had our own snorkelling gear, and looked forward to visiting the beaches we had outlined. We did not notice we were being taken to the western part of the island until we were getting out of the jeep. That's when we realized our guide was not informed of our plans by the office, as the beaches we wanted were more in the easterly direction.
Not a big problem, as we had all day, but it did take extra travel time to the beaches we wanted.
In conclusion, we loved the experience, but would probably use another company next time.