Luxury Costa Rica Vacation Review: Arenal SkyTram & Zipline Tour, Manuel Antonio Catamaran Excursion, Nature Walks

Review by traveler

FONDA S.

4.28.2015

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Costa Rica

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

We truly loved visiting Costa Rica. We went to Arenal first. The hotel is absolutely spectacular. The grounds are extremely well maintained and the rooms are just beautiful. We did the Sky Trek tram and zip line there, and it was awesome. We were in Arenal for 3 nights. We then took a hopper plane to Manuel Antonio. The hotel was nice there as well, but the rooms are quite small unless you get the premium ocean view suite! We did the nature walk at the national park and really enjoyed it. We also enjoyed doing the catamaran boat excursion. Everyone in Costa Rica is very warm and friendly, and we found them to be extremely accommodating. I would definitely like to revisit Costa Rica.

In regard to the travel agency, there were some pros and cons. First the pros:

1. They were very organized and detailed.

2. All excursions and transfers were seamless, and the drivers were always there and on time. This made it very easy for us!

Cons:

1. The agent that helped us started off very friendly and informative. After they received our deposit, we started having serious communication issues to the point that I felt the agent was rude. He did not return my phone calls sometimes until a week later, and there were necessary changes to be made to the itinerary that were not as we had originally requested.

2. I was disappointed that we never even heard from them one time during our 10 day stay in CR. It would have been nice to have received an email at some point asking if everything was going well, and if we had any concerns or questions. As a matter of fact, we have been back for two weeks now and never heard another word from them. We only talked to them the day before we left because, again, I had noticed the itinerary was incorrect with the date of return, thus affecting our hotel and transfers. Luckily, the issue was resolved in time.

Overall, I would definitely use Zicasso again but would be hesitant to use this agency for our next vacation.

Best,

Fonda

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

The people and the beauty of CR. Also, loved the zip line experience . It was our first time to zip line.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

not sure

Travel Company's Comments

Dear Fonda,

Thank you for taking time to write a review on the Zicasso site. I’m glad you enjoyed Costa Rica and that excursions and transfers went well.

I appreciate the statements you made in our favor, but was distressed to read your “con” statements and to see that you gave us such a low rating. We take all reviews very seriously and strive to keep a good reputation. I do have a few comments about the negatives you gave us:

As I recall, I worked very quickly to give you the verbal confirmation for your trip so you could get your flights confirmed (I remember staying quite late after hours to get it done). And I tried explaining in subsequent conversations, an important process in confirming a trip is to get every detail in writing from Costa Rica, so that we can make sure every aspect of a trip is perfectly confirmed. For this part of the process we rely on our partners (hotels and other service providers in Costa Rica) to send us confirmations in writing. I did try to explain that the process can take as long as a week to complete. I think that is in fact how long it took. And only by allowing this process to complete itself thoroughly can we guarantee our guests have a perfect trip – which I think you did have. Sounds like it was a seamless trip.

With reference to not receiving any email from us while you were travelling - our local Costa Rican colleagues follow up with guests while travelling, which I think they did. I understand that my colleague Jeison in San Jose or some of his staff spoke to you a number of times in Costa Rica. In turn the office relays to us in USA if there are any problems to report, which there were not.

With reference to not hearing from us upon your return, Linda in our office sent an email to you on 21-April to follow up on your trip, ask you for feedback and to invite you to submit a review to Zicasso.

Regarding the incorrect return date: in reviewing every itinerary we sent, we had the same return date. Clearly it was our mistake at the very outset, but we also put everything in writing so our guests can double check the details for us before approving the confirmation and making final payment. I apologize that the return date was incorrect from the start, and am glad you caught this the day before you left. I am also glad that due to our excellent relationship with the hotel , we were able to get you an additional night at the hotel free of charge.

I hope I do not come off as being argumentative, I just want to provide my perspective and correct some inaccuracies.

I hope you will reconsider the moderate rating you gave to us – and that you make it back to Costa Rica someday.

With kind regards

Andrew

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Luxury Costa Rica Vacation Review: Arenal SkyTram & Zipline Tour, Manuel Antonio Catamaran Excursion, Nature Walks

General Info

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

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