ポート オー プリンス地区のプライベート ツアー

Guide forgot to pick me up at the airport and wanted to end the tour after 2 hours instead of 6! There is very little to see in the capital and it is also very dangerous.

First of all I need to say that I took this tour mid March of 2023 during a time of national crisis and turmoil. The entirety of the tour lasted not more than 2 hours instead of the 6 hours as described in the ad. That was a very sad pill to swallow because I do believe that the description of the tour needs to be adjusted! Besides the museum in the capital and a drive through Petion-Ville there was not much else to be seen or done. For safety reasons I was not allowed to leave the car, again, while I appreciate the concern, I wish I was made aware ahead of time. The price to be paid for the tour should also be adjusted. I had to pay full price for a 6 hour tour. That is simply unacceptable.

I was in PAP for a few days and decide to see more than the hotel. Vladimir was the driver and Pierre the tour guide. They picked me up on time, but other than expected with a motorcycle. Because of security reasons it was not possible to go everywhere. But Pierre knows exactly where are the save places in town and where you are better not going because of gangs and shootings. Most of the time we are driving around and I saw the real life in PAP and a few "sights" from the motorcycle but me spend also some time in an old sugar factory and have a cold drink. Pierre is a nice, very friendly guy - if I will ever go to Haiti again, I'm going to plan the next trip with Pierre.

PAP was an interesting city to visit and for the most part, Pierre my guide/driver did a good job of showing me the city. However, his conduct at times was extremely unprofessional and at times bordered on aggressive. Firstly, he failed to pick me up in a timely manner from PAP airport, leaving me stranded in a sea of aggressive taxi touts and having to use my phone's 3G roaming data to call him to inquire on where he was. He claimed that because of "government problems" he was not able to pick me up directly from the terminal. However, I had seen other vehicles at the airport pickup area and there didn't seem to be any roadblocks/government restrictions on picking passengers up from the airport. In any case, if he hadn't been able to pick me up directly from the terminal, this information should have been conveyed to me in advance of my arrival. Next, when I questioned him about why he was not at the airport on time to pick me up, instead of offering an apology, he got extremely aggressive, stating that I "knew nothing" about a place like Haiti (I have been to 172 countries in the world including all of Africa), before proceeding to threaten to cancel the tour and take me back to my hotel. He started raising his voice on me which was absolutely uncalled for and then tried to take me back to my hotel without doing the tour. He then proceeded to do the tour, which was for the most part interesting and exciting. However, towards the end of the tour, he tried to spring a "fuel charge" on me, asking me "How am I going to pay for the fuel?" As a traveler who has been to 172 countries in the world, I anticipated the trick he was trying to pull on me and pulled up the pre-paid Viator voucher which showed that there was no additional fee required to be paid. He then proceeded to say that "customers always give me a tip because this is the culture of the country. If you do not tip your guide, they will not protect you in Haiti". Excuse me?? If "tipping" is the sole hallmark of whether or not you offer a proper service, then you most certainly should not be a tour operator. We pay you (at your price) to show us the city and this includes ensuring customer safety. If the price of the tour is insufficient to cover your overhead costs then by all means raise the price of the tour. But attempting to corner tourists into tipping you is absolutely uncalled for (NB: I was going to tip him in any case at the end of the tour, but this incident ruined everything) In short, Pierre needs to understand that the well-being of the customer takes precedence over everything else. We pay you to offer a service so you by all means deliver it. Attempting to blame Haitian "culture" on substandard service such as failing to pick a passenger up in a timely manner, raising your voice on a passenger and bullying customers into tipping you is a poor excuse for a Viator-certified tour operator. As someone who has visited 172 countries in the world, I know that "Culture" does not compensate for poor service. Stop caring so much about money and actually place the needs of the customer before those few extra bucks. Then maybe (just maybe) tourism in Haiti will get a little better. However, with tour operators like Pierre continuing to run things here, it does not spell a very good outlook for Haitian tourism

On one hand, Abraham Pierre-Mary did a good job of showing me around the city of Port au Prince, and was generally knowledgeable + well-versed both in the history/details of the various sites and at ensuring general safety. However, there were a couple of instances which marred the experience and resulted in points being deducted from the overall review score. 1. Upon arrival, Abraham was nowhere to be seen despite indicating he'd pick me up from the airport. It was only after connecting to the local 4G (at exorbitant rates) did I get through to him, following which he asked me to go to some side police station to be picked up from there. All this time I was being hassled by the aggressive taxi touts and baggage handlers in the arrivals area of PAP Airport. I had asked Pierre to have a signboard with my name on it so that I could identify him easily but he failed to deliver on this. As a guest in a foreign country, it is expected that the tour agency pick the customer up promptly and on time. This is a basic standard let alone for Viator 2. When I confronted him about his failure to pick me up appropriately, he immediately got very defensive (and even aggressive!). He stated that I had no idea how the 'culture of the country' was and that because of 'political problem' he picked me up in that haphazard manner. I explained to him that country culture and political problems do not compensate for poor service, and if he had to pick me up from an alternative location, this had to be conveyed to me prior to arrival. Instead of just offering a simple apology, he raised his voice on me (the customer) and threatened to cancel the tour because I was "not polite" despite me being extremely measured when confronting him about his poor service. 3. Finally, Pierre was also unnecessarily pushy about tips at the end of the tour which was uncalled for. At first, he tried to spring a side curveball at me by asking "How are you going to pay for fuel?" When I pointed out that there was no indication on the pre-paid Viator voucher that fuel costs were an extra charge, he stated that customers give tips to him. He then went on to quote the 'culture of the country' to say that if you do not tip your guide, they will "not protect" you, which was a rather disturbing predicament. Firstly, when you are a paying customer who has paid for a service, you are obliged to deliver the service as paid for. Tips should not even be part of the equation. Secondly, I was going to tip Pierre at the end but his attempt to frame "fuel charges" was extremely uncalled for. In short, Pierre needs to understand that certain standards are expected as a Viator tour operator. As someone who has visited over 170 countries in the world, I can safely say that a country's "Culture" does not compensate for substandard service. In addition, as someone in the tourism industry (who is also running for a political position in his local region), Pierre needs to learn how to accept and inculcate constructive feedback given to him and not to perceive any form of criticism as personal attacks. Finally, Pierre needs to understand that as a paying customer, courtesy and politeness is expected, and rudeness towards a customer (including raising his voice on one) is absolutely out of the question. If Haiti is going to get any kind of boost to its tourism sector after the 2010 Earthquake, it starts from tour operators like Pierre who need to ensure that the customer service matches tourism-worthy standards.

Pierre is an excellent driver who speaks English well. Transport vehicle was a nice 4X4 with tinted windows and great A/C. I enjoyed visiting a few sites during my short trip including the museum, observatory and a beach hotel in Carrefour. I highly recommend Pierre’s company for transportation/ tour services because they provide well price customized services less expensive then most hotels. Pierre also provides professional invoices for services provided.

This was an amazing and highly interesting guided trip in Port-au-Prince. Pierre was my guide on this one day tour and gave me deep insights into culture and daily life of this rumbling capital. Besides the major sights he understood to make this trip very individual and had answers to all questions I asked him. In summary I strongly advise to take this kind of visit because as a newcomer it's one the best choices to get the whole package in shortest time possible.