Tours and Tickets by Papa J Tours
Overview
See Grand Turk's highlights by land and sea on this 3-hour sightseeing and snorkeling trip. An air-conditioned van will ferry you and a group of 20 people or less to all the island's sights like the former US Air Force Base, the Salt Museum, downtown, and the Grand Turk Lighthouse. After viewing all the land-locked points of interest, you'll head out on the ocean for top-notch snorkeling and the chance to swim with gentle, curious stingrays.
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In February we took a snorkeling tour which was to incllude seeing the Sting Rays. We were able to snorkel. The weather was very windy and seas were choppy so we couldn't go to the Sting Rays. The company was extremely responsive and gave us a partial refund to compensate for this. Very reliable and responsive and excellent customer service. …
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Date of experience: February 2020
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Responded Mar 6, 2020
Thank you for sharing your experience, we truly enjoyed working with you. Sorry we were not able to give you the full experience you were expecting, but it's always Safety 1st.
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My wife and I scheduled a snorkeling tour and decided to ride our bikes from our Airbnb. Unfortunately Google Maps sent us to the wrong place and we were a bit panicked. A quick call to Papa J's and they directed us to where we could lock up our bikes on the beach and they sent the boat captain to our location to pick us up. As far as I'm concerned that went way beyond good customer service. Our boat captain, Erickson, was just as great. He took us to two reefs and to Gibbs Cay. At each location he made sure we were kitted out and safe and helped guide us to see some truly spectacular marine life. The boat ride itself was comfortable and showed some beautiful areas of the island that we could make plans to ride to later on our bikes. All in all it was a super fun tour, a great value for the money and amazing customer service. I just wish we'd have been able to let the owners know personally what a great time we had.…
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Date of experience: February 2020
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Responded Mar 6, 2020
Thanks for sharing some of your experiences, we are so glad that you had and amazing time. We strive to give excellent customer service and it seems as if we had exceeded your expectations!
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The land tour was the best portion of this combo. Very informative nice drive. The sea portion not so great. We were to have six people on this tour, 2 didn't make it. Boat wasn't very clean, rusty fishing hook in the aisle the man in front of me told me to avoid. Snorkle gear on floor in a corner, was it clean and sanitized between people? Hard to think it was. Boat was very challenging to get into, good thing there were two strong young men to help. Sting ray adventure was good. No fresh water rinse when you got out of water. Don't know if this is the only boat, seemed like it was only good for the 4 of us.…
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Date of experience: February 2020
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Responded Feb 27, 2020
Thank you for your feedback, the positives and the negatives. You indicated that you enjoyed the Land tour and the Stingray Encounter at Gibbs Cay, but you did not enjoy the ride over to Gibbs Cay. Please note that we do appreciate it, as it helps us to take stock in maintaining and upgrading our standards. Please note that we do sanitize our gears in between tours when there are several tours in a day. Otherwise, we will stock the boats with gears for all the tours scheduled for the day from to start. We do have three vessels that are used for various tours according to the size of the groups. The vessel you all went on is a 27ft Polar, that is rated for 12 persons. And note, there are fresh water showers and restrooms at the Governor's Beach.
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We spent about 30 minutes on the shuttle bus waiting for two late arrivals - - - and then the bus drove less than 2 minutes down the road to drop us off. It was a waste of time. Once the tour started we were disappointed in the snorkeling. The vast majority of the fish were attracted by crackers thrown about in the water, the lack of good coral also meant a lack of an abundant and varied number of fish to see. One added problem was the dive boat; it was difficult for most and impossible for some to climb back into the boat using the small ladder. The best part of the tour came at the end when we visited the sting rays and were able to hold one in my arms. I would recommend skipping the snorkel tour and just do the portion where you visit the sting rays. A 2nd option would be to bring your own crackers and attempt to attract the fish from the sandy beach.…
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Date of experience: February 2020
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Responded Feb 27, 2020
Thanks for your feedback, please note that we have tours set to depart at various times. Some guests would arrive very early, while other come just around the set time. As for the vessel, please note that we will upgrade the ladder soon as the new one arrives, as we already ordered a different style to make it easier for the user. We do have Catamaran that is also used for this tour, but was out for maintenance. Thanks again, for including your enjoyment of the Gibbs Cay Stingray Encounter!
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Juline gave us a great tour of Grand Turks. Being a native she knew and shared so much about her wonderful island. We had a great time with her, and would HIGHLY recommend a "Papa J Tour".
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Date of experience: January 2020
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Responded Feb 27, 2020
Thank you for sharing your enjoyable experience, it was a delight working with you. Thanks for the recommendation too!
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