Cartagena Private Tours & Local Tour Guides

“Decent tour, but Keyla was not our guide”

We had multiple pre-tour emails starting with making a reservation with Keyla in April (8 months ahead of a port day) and expected to meet her at the cruise dock holding an umbrella and a sign with our name on it. We waited for at least 10 minutes and didn't see her. We were able to contact her via a phone number and she advised us to look for the purple umbrella (which we had seen as soon as we arrived but it was being held by a man and he didn't have a sign with our name). The gentleman with the umbrella turned out to be our guide, Nelson. He and our driver were a good team, but NOT what we expected when we booked this tour. We were not advised of a change in personnel by Keyla and no explanation was given when we finally got her on the phone at the port. Our tour included the fort, the naval museum, and the gold museum. We were also taken to a local shop (which happened to be run by a friend of our guide) to hear a presentation on the mining of Colombian emeralds followed by obligatory browsing of the jewelry on display available for purchase. We have used GoWithGuide for 3 tours in the past with no issues. Our interests are history and science not gem shopping and we expect our guide to be the person we have had multiple communications with. Overall, this City Tour got off on the wrong foot and ended on the wrong foot. Still, Cartagena is an interesting location and we wouldn't rule out a return in the future for a more in-depth stay.