I would not go on the same trip if I were coming from a Cruise Ship. Taedo had recommended a pick up time of 8:45, but having only gone on one previous cruise I was not confident that we could be at the pick up point that quickly. We agreed on a 9:00 pickup time. To my surprise we were off the ship by 8:15. I did not have a cell phone so I could not request an earlier pick up. By the time we got to the marina, it was mid morning.
The main office was very efficient. Taedo communicated very well with me via email prior to the cruise and in person when we arrived at the marina the morning of our arrival. With what I know now, I would call Taedo and speak to him in person about the trip and not worry about a poolanguage barrier or being on hold for a long time racking up a large phone bill. Had I talked with him in person I likely would have worked the trip differently.
Rafael was our assigned captain. He could communicate in English some but did not not appear to be comfortable doing so. Conversation was limited. We did not get any sort of safety brief from him and he did not shown us where where to get PFDs if they were needed. My brother-in-law and I are familiar with boats and had a good idea where they likely were. We did not specifically as where they were located and thought it odd that this information was not freely offered.
We bought a box lunch and the office provided some bottled water for the trip. The Captain put them in the cooler where they stayed until about 1:30 when we started back in to shore. I am accustomed to fishing guides taking the initiative to start lunch and making sure clients knew they are free to help themselves to food and drink. That was not the case on this trip.
We trolled the entire time and did not catch a fish. The captain cannot control how well the fish cooperate, but anyone in the hospitality industry should be more engaging with the customers and should communicate options with them during the day if fishing is slow and other opportunities are available.
For example, on the way out we passed feeding skip-jack and we stopped for a minute to see if I could get one on a fly rod. After a few failed attempts we proceeded to head out for dorado. When we came back in we saw several other schools of skip jack feeding again. It would have been nice to know we had the option to modified our original plans and catch a different species of fish.
Bottom line, I would be hesitant to try combining the trip we took with a cruise unless I was confident by talking with Taedo in person before hand and unless I was confident that the departure process and pick up could happen quick enough to start fishing relatively early in the day and being in fishable water while fish are normally active.
I would not hesitate working with Taedo on a future fishing trip that was a dedicated trip for fishing. However, I would probably specifically ask if we could get a captain who was more comfortable conversing in English, or have someone with e who was fluent in Spanish.
I would not go on the same trip if I were coming from a Cruise Ship. Taedo had recommended a pick up time of 8:45, but having...