Palawan: Puerto and El Nido - 3 Days and 2 Nights

I took this package to complement a business trip. I had too little time to plan a weekend getaway and this seemed ideal since it included hotel, sightseeing and transportation. I am a woman traveling alone, so my expectation is that I will have clear signals and will feel safe all the time. When I arrived at the airport 25 minutes early, I had to wait about 90 minutes in total for my van. Once it did, we headed to the Underground River Adventure. The van got so packed that they had to ADD a seat. Since I was on the end of the second row, and the roads were so winding, I had to hold on to the door to keep my body from sliding off the seat, even after the lap belt was on. It was just very uncomfortable. The initial ride was over one hour and we stopped in a place for shopping for 20 minutes but in 10 minutes everyone was already back in the van because it was so little of a place. The underground river adventure was fine. The views were beautiful. All organized, except that our guide would not tell us specifically where to wait for him after we exited the attractions.The group would scatter not knowing exactly where to wait. Once we got on the van, I was informed that I was going to be dropped off and picked up by another van. This was news to me. The comfort I felt was thinking that my next van would not be so tight. I messaged my contact, Leo, from the VIATOR ticket I had, and gave him my ETA at the intersection. After a 45 minute drive, we arrived in this precarious intersection with a little business and they told us to wait there. My van did not arrive shortly as Leo had informed me. I waited about one hour when everyone else had been picked up, then I started messaging Leo again and asked him if my next van would be as uncomfortable- the drive would take 5 hours! We kept messaging me saying the van was on its way. At one point, he said it was one minute away, but it did not arrive. I was concerned that it was getting too late and soon it would be dark and I was in the middle of nowhere. A lady from a motorcycle leasing place started helping me with phone calls to Leo and finding suitable transportation. At that point, I was willing to book my own private transportation so I didn't have to go in the packed van like a sardine for 5 hours. Finally, my van arrived and Leo ensured that the back seat was all to me. That made the horrible drive to El Nido much more pleasant. I had room for my things and to sleep. No more room to con

We booked this tour through Viator and we were told that that the local travel agent was Rio Travel and Tour. We were picked up by driver and guide around 8am from the airport and bundled into a ramshackle van with a group of other visitors. About an hour later we stopped at at a 'restaurant' for a picture opportunity and toilet break. The toilet was smelly and had no water but their was a till with a request for donation to maintain it! At this point our guide told us that there was a long waiting time to get into the underground river and forced us to by tickets priced at 300-500 peso for another attraction while we waited our turn. We then drove onto the destination for the new and unsolicited attractions which in our case was a short boat ride along a mangrove and nothing spectacular. Then we were herded back in the van and taken for lunch in a shed by the beach teeming with flies and a very unappetizing menu. There followed the actual underground river tour which was of course fascinating. Since we were transfering to El Nio for the second part of the tour we were dropped off at a transfer point around 3.pm with no information as to how or when the transfer would occur. The drop off was another sleazy 'restaurant' teeming with flies and stray dogs. When we asked a guy there we were told that our transport will arrive around 6pm! Toilet facilities again consisted of a smelly one without water and 2 strips of toilet paper doled out with a compulsory charge of 20 pesos. Luckily our onward transport arrived around 4pm and turned out to be a decent comfortable van. On arrival at El Nido, we and our luggage was bundled out on to the main road and when we asked where the hotel was, a board on the road side was pointed out. Up to that time we were not told the name of the hotel we were to stay in. We wre left to our own devices to find this hotel which was down a side road. The hotel itself was clean with standard facilities and friendly helpful staff. However the total cost of the hotel for 2 nights was less than $200! the amount we paid to upgrade to mid range hotelthis was what we paid for the upgrade! The island hoping tour the next day was sub-standard, judging by the other boats and the lunch was dismal and far from sumptuous, in contrast actual sumptuous lunches served by other tours. We also had to pay for transfers to the hotel. We have traveled with Viator all over the world with good experiences but this horrendous. Avoid Viator for this tour