The Taste of Mexico

Customer Reviews

• WI

  WITTAYA

  · January 8th, 2024
  The place is good by itself, but the tour management is not worth booking through the tour! I booked the tour through Christmas and New Year before the long holidays with my wife. As it shows that it is still available, I booked a prior travel date for a week. Then, you must confirm the tour and wait for a reply to the itinerary. At first, the staff said that I would get the itinerary in 1-2 days, but I got it after 4 days with lots of unexpected edits. First, the entrance fee was increased from what they posted. Second, the entrance fee for Chichen Itza was not included ($44/pp). At first, they did not state that I had to pay for this. Then, on the departure date, the staff just texted me that they did not have any partner to pick us up from the airport to the hotel. It was a minute change, but the staff did great by trying to refund $50 for the taxi fee. . Then, when we arrived at the hotel, the hotel did not have a queen/king bedroom for us. So, I contacted the agent, but she could not help anything on this even though she said she booked the queen bed for us. . The bus tickets are booked daily, and it also caused us to delay travel for 2 hrs as it did not have enough seats for the bus in the scheduled time from the itinerary. . The staff also gave me the wrong name for my first bus ticket. Luckily, the bus staff did not take it seriously. The tour staff is willing to help if something happens in that situation. That’s great, but having no wrong ticket at the beginning is better. . It was hard to connect to the staff, especially in the morning (8-9 am). . Some additional fees are not stated in the itinerary. And, of course, if you don’t pay, you cannot enter that place (Cenotes). . Tour staff does not know what will affect the tour, so I asked her before travel if the holiday will affect our trip. And she said no. However, some of the places are closed, and we cannot get inside to get the regular tour (some churches). . The next one is the partner or local guide, mostly pick up at a later than scheduled time for 15-20 mins. . According to the itinerary, the local guides had to drop us at the hotel, but some of them just said it was a traffic jam downtown and let us walk back to the hotel by ourselves!! . Lastly, local tours will change some of the tours, and you cannot do anything about that. I should get a small group tour to Chichen Itza (14 pax with van), but I got a tour by bus! Also, they gave a last-minute change: I had to walk to the meeting point alone as they could not pick me up at the hotel due to traffic. However, the tour changes to the bus, making it easier for them to wait in just one place. Because I got a message to meet up at another hotel and then end up with walk back to another place to get the bus which is not close to the told hotel at all. . I would not recommend getting this tour as it has a lot of hidden information and is confusing, even though the tour was booked through an agency. If you have no time to book everything by yourself, it is still a good choice to go with it but keep in mind that there are hidden fees and surprises from local guides on many trips.
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  Trip date: December 2023
• AP

  Andrew

  · January 2nd, 2024
  I have been to 4 continents and 19 countries and this is by far the worst traveling experience I have ever had. Transportation: From vans with 14 people and no air conditioning and bolted windows to rude drivers, the transportation element of this “tour” was horrible. Tour “Guide”/Operator: Tour operator Olivia regularly took hours to respond, If she responded at all. She literally called me names for asking her a question on her day off (how am I supposed to know her hours). Hotels: Very few receptionists on my tour spoke English and twice they did not know who I was or that I would be checking in. Food: If avoidable and affordable, do not eat at the hotels or the buffets that the drivers will take you to. Much of this food offered through the tour tastes like cafeteria food. Luckily, it is not hard to find local dishes if you are willing to explore yourself (and if you are, then you might as well save your money and do this yourself). Do not sign up for this tour. This is the first time I have traveled anywhere and wished that I had saved my money and stayed at home. *SPANISH PROFICIENCY IS REQUIRED*
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  Marvelus Travel commented on this review

  hello Andrew, thanks for the reviews, we are sorry to hear that you didnt like the service in Mexico generally, we understand the situation was your experience, by Marvelus Travel, side offers usually the self guided tours which use normally local... Show more
  Trip date: December 2023
• 

  Susanne

  · December 20th, 2023
  Sometimes it was a little bit chaotic, but Olivia was always there via WhatsApp to handle the Situation! I travelled alone and it was always safe and i felt very well all the time! Because of some deficites on organisation -1 star.
  
  Trip date: November 2023
• MH

  Martina

  · November 29th, 2023
  I was a solo female traveller. During this tour, I was travelling on my own, as there were no other travellers. This is no bother to me, as I am quite independent person. You have itinerary and assistance via whatsapp (e-mail/phone) during your tour. I can say, that worked fine for me. Any questions I had were promptly answered by Olivia/Marvelus. Just make sure, you have access to internet or buy Mexican SIM card. (cheaper option and this is what I did) I would say that this tour is quite fast paced, you are on the move a lot, so it may not be suitable for travellers with mobility issues etc. Arrival: Taxi driver met me at the airport. Although it took me really long time to get through immigration and to get my luggage (approx. 1.5 hrs in total) taxi driver was waiting for me, which was great. Hotels: Hotels were simple, clean and with everything fully functioning. They were well located (near the centre). I never had problem with check in, as receptionists were always aware about my arrival. Most of receptionists were able to speak English only few of them spoke little or didn’t speak English at all. I sorted this language ‘problem’ with google translate. Accommodation was mostly short drive by taxi from ADO bus station, except for Oaxaca, where you could walk to the hotel. (literally 2 mins walk). I was bit disappointed, that some taxi drivers charge you double, what the taxi should really cost. I always checked the price of the taxi at the reception, when I arrived to the hotel, so just beware of this. Price of taxi: hotel in Mexico city to ADO stn (200 Mexican Pesos), ADO stn to hotel in San Cristobal (60 Mexican Pesos), hotel in Palenque to ADO stn (40 Mexican Pesos), ADO stn to hotel in Merida (70 Mexican Pesos). Transport: Travelling by ADO buses and navigating around the bus stations was simple enough, but very few staff at the station/bus spoke English, which I sorted with google translate. Olivia/Marvelus always sent me bus ticket via whatsapp the day before departure. You show ticket on your mobile phone to bus driver, and of you go. ADO buses are comfortable, with TV, chargers, aircon, and toilet on board. I enjoyed travelling by bus, as you can see the bit more of the country. Tours transport was always approx. 10 -14 ppl minivan equipped with aircon. Guides: Tour guides always picked me up on time. Two of the tours were with Spanish speaking guide only, which was not ideal, when all you can say is Buenos dias and maleta plateada. 😊 You need to be able to understand in Spanish at least where and what time you will meet. I used translator again, but when we were in the forest by the waterfalls and I had no signal/internet access (I was depending on internet), then it was a real problem to communicate. Luckily, there were two Mexican ladies (bilingual) on our tour, which helped me with translating. Tours: Selection of tours was great, you have bit of everything (culture, nature..) and you get to see a lot. Suggestions: I would add 1-2 days to this tour. After night spent on the bus (Oaxaca – San Cristobal - 11hrs), you go for a tour in the morning after arrival. It would be nice to have more time to recover and to see more of San Cristobal. Overall, this tour was great and I had really nice time in Mexico.
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  Trip date: November 2023
• 

  Catharina

  · July 17th, 2023
  Overall great service and value for the money. Great variety of tours and excursions. Good standard of hotels. For a few tours the pick up service was delayed and it was sometimes a long waiting time to get tickets for the bus transportation between different cities.
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  Trip date: June 2023
• 

  Cassy

  · November 30th, 2021
  Do not recommend. Would choose anything over this company.
  

  Marvelus Travel commented on this review

  Hi Cassy thanks for review us, we want to let you that you never booked this tour CALLED Taste of Mexico. means you were not experience at all, SO YOU CAN NOT QUALIFY it, TASTE OF MEXICO IS MULTIDAY TOURS, as Cassy booked a shuttle tickets with... Show more
  Trip date: November 2021
• SL

  Sterling

  · January 6th, 2021
  Good and bad points occurred. Some were my fault and others imposed by such things as Covid.
  Trip date: November 2020
• 

  evan

  · September 15th, 2018
  Great way to see Mexico. Planning was not thought through e.g. arrive at hotel at 0700 after all night bus trip, to picked up at 0800 for local tour. One hotel had no hot water! So local tour guides spoke no English.
  Trip date: August 2018
• KM

  Keith

  · August 20th, 2018
  The tour was okay. We did have questions at times and it was difficult to get prompt and timely responses.
  Trip date: July 2018
• K

  KeithMorris

  · July 30th, 2018
  Everything for me across the board for review was good. It was not excellent, nor was it bad. The included meals were average. A small degree of Spanish proficiency is desirable, especially in the Mexican bus stations.
  Trip date: July 2018