TL;DR La Perla Viajes y Turismo ruined our last day in Colombia and then twisted reality to avoid responsibility. My advice: Do not book with this disorganized and dishonest company.
When a “Confirmed Pick-Up” Isn’t Real: How Our Last Day in Colombia Was Ruined
My niece and I were looking forward to our final day in Colombia. After a wonderful trip, we had planned to end it with something special: a boat tour to the islands around Cartagena, some snorkeling, and a relaxed beach lunch. It was meant to be an easy, carefree way to close out our travels.
That decision turned out to be a costly mistake.
To avoid uncertainty, we booked through Viator, believing that a large, international platform would offer some protection if something went wrong. We deliberately chose a tour that cost $43 more per person than others because it explicitly advertised hotel pick-up at our location, and our booking confirmation clearly listed our hotel by name as the pick-up location.
Screencap of booking confirmation email explicitly listing our hotel and confirming hotel pick-up at 7:30 a.m.
This confirmation was provided at the time of booking and is the basis on which we chose — and paid extra for — this tour.
Paid & Confirmed
5 Islands tour from Cartagena Including Snorkeling and Lunch
Sun, Jan 18, 2026 / 07:30
Grand Sirenis Cartagena, Grand Sirenis Cartagena, Cartagena, Bolivar, Colombia
2 Adults
CAS 279.58
The Pick-Up That Never Existed
Our scheduled hotel pick-up time came and went. Five minutes before the confirmed time, we received a WhatsApp message from the tour company telling us they can’t pick us up and we should meet them downtown.
Message from the tour guide stating they cannot pick us up at the hotel and instructing us to meet them elsewhere.
This message was sent after the scheduled pick-up time had already passed.
When I replied that we had booked a tour with pickup, we were told to take an Uber to meet them and that we would be reimbursed upon arrival at the meeting point.
Message from the tour guide stating that the Uber cost would be reimbursed.
This written promise is what persuaded us to proceed rather than abandon the tour immediately.
“Let’s do something. Take an Uber to the clock tower and we give you the money back when you get here. To be honest we don’t pick up there because of the distance.”
Feeling uneasy, I asked if they could simply send us an Uber instead. I had a nagging concern (oh, you know those little voices in the back of our heads, that we should always listen to? That little voice was speaking to me! Call it premonition, I should have listened to that voice.) that if we ordered it ourselves, we might be left stuck with the bill. They replied that they could not find any available cars and that we should order our own and let them know when we were on our way.
Follow-up message from the tour guide stating they cannot send an Uber and that we must arrange our own. This reinforced that transportation responsibility was being shifted to us, despite the advertised pick-up.
With my niece looking at me, excited and hopeful for an island day, I talked myself out of cancelling. I didn’t want to ruin our day by being the jaded tourist who assumes bad faith. After all, this was a Viator-listed tour. It should have been legitimate.
Shifting Instructions, Rising Pressure
Almost immediately, the instructions changed again. We were told it was now “too late” to meet downtown and that we needed to go directly to the boat dock instead. A Google Maps pin for the marina was sent to us, with instructions to confirm as soon as we were in the Uber.
Message from the tour guide providing the marina address and asking us to confirm as soon as we were in the Uber.
“… you should get straight to the marina …. Mamonal … [Google pin location]”
At this point, we were under real pressure. If we didn’t move immediately, we would miss the tour entirely. Based on the written instructions and the promise of reimbursement, I ordered the Uber.
The Promise That Made Us Comply — and Then Vanished
What convinced us to proceed was the explicit written assurance, sent via WhatsApp, that the Uber would be reimbursed when we arrived. We were told to notify them once we were en route.
So, we did exactly that; relying on those written instructions and that promise, we booked our own Uber.
Once we were already in the car, the story changed. They sent another message stating that they would not reimburse the Uber after all.
Message from the tour guide stating that the issue was no longer up to him and that we needed to speak with the agency.
“Call me when you are with the driver “
“I’m on my way”
“Now the agency is telling me that you pay for the transportation”
“What? You will refund me for the uber”
“Talk to the agency because I just follow the rules”
“If you followed the rules, you would have picked us up”
Despite being the person who had promised reimbursement moments earlier, the guide now claimed he had no authority to resolve the issue.
The false nature of this promise was reinforced when we finally met him; he had no funds on him to reimburse us. Clearly there was never any intention to give us the reimbursement we were promised in the WhatsApp exchange.
The Email That Arrived Too Late — and Made No Sense
At 8:06 a.m., a full 36 minutes after our scheduled hotel pick-up time, and while we were already communicating with the on-site guide via WhatsApp, we received a separate email stating that there was no hotel pick-up and that we needed to meet downtown.
This email was not only late, it was impossible to act on. Taking an Uber downtown at that point would have caused us to arrive after the bus had already left, forcing us to scramble yet again to reach the dock. By then, we were already en route based on the WhatsApp instructions and the written promise of reimbursement.
Now, consider this: I travel with an eSIM and maintain constant mobile connectivity, but I recognize that not all travellers do this. If a traveller without real-time data had booked this tour and relied on the confirmation email, they could easily have been left waiting at their hotel indefinitely, only to later find an email that the company could use to deny responsibility and refuse a refund.
Left Out of Pocket and Stranded
In the end, we paid approximately $50 out of pocket for transportation to the marina that we should never have needed. We were taken to a gas station at a private dock in an industrial zone; hardly the beginning of a relaxing island day.
The company also refused to refund the additional amount we had paid specifically for hotel pick-up, a service that was advertised, confirmed, and never delivered.
When we provided screenshots of our booking confirmation clearly stating hotel pick-up, the company dismissed it as a “miscommunication” and insisted we should have known they do not offer hotel pick-up, despite their advertising and confirming exactly that.
“It’s Not Up to Me”: The Accountability Void
The tour guide repeatedly called management while we stood there in a gas station parking lot trying to resolve the situation. Each time, he returned with the same response: it was not up to him. He began to get agitated because he had to depart on his route for the day, accusing us of delaying everyone else’s tour. He kept calling management and relaying the problem, and they were no help.
We asked to speak directly with management or to meet with someone in person to resolve the issue. At this point, I was ready to take a taxi to their office to resolve the problem. Management refused. We were told they have no physical office, only a “virtual office,” and that they would not meet with us, would not reimburse us, and would issue not refund.
The conversation on the phone continued to become increasingly frustrating. Eventually, he just left us there, as we continued to exchange messages with the hidden manager we had been passed off to. Abandoned in the parking lot, we continued to try to get resolution with the manager via WhatsApp.
Management proceeded via WhatsApp to tell us that their listing clearly showed that there was no pick up. This contradicts both the advertised service and the written confirmation we received with our specific hotel clearly listed. I provided screencap proof that we had confirmed pick up at our hotel.
Message from management claiming it was “clear” that hotel pick-up was not provided, followed by our response showing the booking confirmation listing our hotel.
“In the confirmation is says that we do not pick up in Manzanillo del Mar and from early we are telling you but it seems that you do no understand”
“No, on the confirmation it specifically says we WILL be picked up at our hotel.
That is why we chose this one. Do you see my hotel name on my confirmation? [screencap sent]
Then, you tell me to take an Uber because you will pay, and once I am in the Uber you changed your mind”
“There’s a mistake there but we explained and you didn’t understand”
Then, management claimed they had never told us to take an Uber. This denial directly conflicts with the written WhatsApp messages sent earlier that morning. When I sent a screenshot of the WhatsApp message explicitly instructing us to take an Uber and stating it would be reimbursed, the response was that it was a mistake and our misunderstanding.
Message from management denying that we were told to take an Uber, followed by our response showing the exact instruction to do so.
They further denied instructing us to go to the marina, even as screenshots I provided showed they had done exactly that. The cost of the Uber was later cited as a reason it should not be reimbursed, despite being their chosen meeting point.
Message from management denying that we were instructed to take an Uber to the marina, followed by proof that we were explicitly told to go there.
“I didn’t tell you to take an Uber… where is that written?”
[screencap of WhatsApp message where we were told to take an Uber]
He said take Uber and he will pay. Then he said go to the boat. So we did”
“He said clock tower not dock. Taxi to go there is expensive”
“Do you see the second screenshot, he said dock. I know it’s expensive, I PAID IT”
In other words, written instructions sent by the company were later disowned once they became inconvenient.
Update: The Company’s Public Response — and What Actually Happened
After I posted reviews of this experience on TripAdvisor, Viator, and Google, the company responded publicly by claiming they refused us service because we were disrespectful. This claim is categorically untrue and misrepresents what actually happened.
The problems began long before any interaction became heated. The confirmed hotel pick-up never occurred. We were given shifting instructions. We were told in writing to take an Uber and promised reimbursement. That promise was then withdrawn once we were already en route. We were denied a service we had paid for and left out of pocket.
Only after it became clear that we were being lied to, that written commitments were being denied, and that there was no legitimate avenue for resolution did I lose my temper.
At that point, the company had already cost me approximately $50 for an Uber to meet them where they instructed us to go, and we were facing another $50 just to return to our hotel — $100 spent for nothing but being driven to a remote industrial dock and back, without ever going on the tour.
I was in a foreign country where I do not speak the language, at a remote location, with no office to go to, no manager willing to meet with us, and no meaningful recourse. I felt threatened, taken advantage of, and completely powerless, and yes, I did lose my temper and at one point during the phone call I said, “you are a motherfucking criminal.” I said it once, in response to repeated refusals to honour written commitments and refund costs already incurred.
Despite what the company has responded to my public reviews, I absolutely did not repeatedly abuse anyone during our phone conversations. Embellishing how the argument went down only shows the disingenuous nature of this company. I own it when I loose my cool, and I recall exactly what was and was not said. I am not especially proud of that moment, but cause and effect matter. Any suggestion that we were refused service because of our behaviour is false. The service had already failed. The costs had already been imposed. My reaction came after the harm was done, not before.
It is also important to note that the only reason I ultimately received a refund for the tour itself (the Uber costs were never reimbursed) was because I escalated the matter to Viator customer service. Without that intervention, I would have been forced to pursue a credit-card chargeback.
The company’s public response, which attempts to reframe their documented operational failures as a personality issue, further demonstrates a lack of accountability for their own disorganization and poor treatment of tourists.
A Pattern That Raises Serious Concerns
Based on the shifting instructions, the late and contradictory email, the refusal to honour written commitments, and the absence of any meaningful avenue for resolution, it is difficult not to conclude that this situation creates a serious risk of travellers missing tours while being blamed for circumstances entirely outside their control.
The company operates under the name La Perla Viajes y Turismo and is listed on both TripAdvisor and Viator. In our experience, their listings do not reflect how their operations actually function, and travellers may end up paying extra money for services that are never provided.
Why This Matters
Travel is expensive. Time is precious. And for many people, the final day of a trip is something you look forward to.
Instead of snorkeling, island hopping, and enjoying a beach lunch, we spent our last day stressed, in tears, out of pocket, and trying unsuccessfully to get someone to take responsibility for a problem that never should have happened.
If you are considering booking with this operator, proceed with extreme caution. And if hotel pick-up is important to you in Cartagena, do not rely solely on what a listing says — even when it is confirmed in writing.
