We hired Renee for a snorkel expedition during the holidays. She picked us up at the hotel and seemed less than enthused to begin the tour. I proceeded to be "uber" friendly, but her responses continued to be flat.....almost bordering on rude. We snorkeled just down the road from our hotel for approximately one hour. She charged $50 and did not have change for the $60 that my boyfriend had given her. She did show us some fish, but provided little information regarding them. We could have done this ourselves and saved $60.00. Needless to say, I am quite surprised by the rave reviews, given our experience.

Jessica, Renee has always been all smiles at dinner, or in the water. We have known her for a few years and have never seen her even close to rude.

Well, this proves that even the best of us can have a bad day! Sorry you had to pick her bad day. We hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip...
Ron

Jessica, I am sorry to hear of your experience. I have know Renee for over 16 years and have always found her to be friendly and pleasant, even during some very tough times. I can assure you that this was not the Renee I know.

Jessica - why not email Renee and let her know how you felt about your snorkeling experience. I have enjoyed snorkeling with Renee and have appreciated her sensitivity to my fear of entries and exits as well as her enthusiasm and excitement about showing me interesting creatures. However, if I was dissatisfied with a specific expedition I'd let her know.

I agree with Sue - you should let Renee know directly how you feel. Anyone else's opinion if you're right or wrong doesn't mean anything... it was your experience and that's what counts.

I was thrilled with our snorkel with Renee and can still hear "WooHoo" in my head and still smile with anticipation.

As a small business owner, I appreciate when my customers let me know honestly if I've done something wrong. It's the only way I can make corrections and get better.

(Message edited by taranguy on January 3, 2008)

I have to add that I've never seen Renee down or sullen. She might have just been having a bad day? I think you should let her know your feelings as well. She's a wonderful lady and super eager to please when she's guided us.
Michelle
(I can't believe I'm posting here and going to St. John ....) I miss Bonaire and Renee has been a happy fixture there for as long as I've been lurking on this board which is about 6 years I think.

Our family was stood up by Renee for a night snorkel a few years ago; when we called to ask if she was coming, she was quite sharp in insisting that we were a day early. (I have our email correspondence showing that we were on the correct evening. We ended up doing our night snorkel with Dee of Woodwind a few nights later.) This March, we decided that we wanted lots of guided snorkeling after doing it on our own for all these years and have signed up with Renee for four snorkels (taking advantage of her 4 for the price of 3 offer). It's hard to overlook our earlier treatment by Renee, but we decided to be positive about this. I think it's obvious from our experience and Jessica's, balanced by the experiences of others, that Renee must be a great person and guide, but she does have "off" moments. We're assuming that we experienced a rare "off" moment, and are looking forward to an enjoyable learning experience with her.

David

(Message edited by bostondavid on January 4, 2008)

David, there is an old saying:
" If your not making mistakes, then your not doing anything". Very ture!!!

Ron,

Turer words were never misspoken.

(My apologies, Ron, I couldn't resist.)

In any case, point taken.

David (who is often ridiculed for his sense of the ridiculous)

I also witnessed, what must be an extraordinary occurrence, a less than stellar experience with "Renne the Snorkel Guide" (less common than a solar eclipse!). Maybe my expectations were too high after reading the posts on this site? My significant other and I are by no means "pros", but have snorkeled many times and have our own gear. I anticipated being shown snorkeling sites, flora, and fauna that we would not have stumbled upon ourselves. In reality, we were taken to a location 1 minute from our hotel, where the conditions on that particular day were a bit merkey. We both tried to swim as close as possible to Renne, in order to hear her faint "youwhos" and attempt to see what in the **** she was pointing at. Unfortunately, we heard very little of what she said and saw even less. We did see some marine life and some old car tires, but really nothing she was attempting to point out. We realize that English is not her first language, but that is no excuse for a service provider being as curt as she was. Our experience from pick-up to drop-off, lasted about an hour and we were charged $60. To add insult to injury, I later found one of her brochures at our hotel lobby and can recall prices being listed as $15 - $25??? Our experience was so fruitless that we feel $60 could have been better spent in town - getting drunk with "cruise ship people". We really enjoyed the solo snorkeling (conditions & marine life) off our hotel much more than our trip with Renne and therefore would not recommend.....Jessica, I hope I do not create the same backlash as you seemed to cause (should I keep my dog inside?). However, I will leave you with an even older saying - "Caveat Emptor" (Let the Buyer Beware)!