Derek.. read your report. Wow! It sounds like it was the Fyre Festival of birding. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but paying that kind of dough for less than the whole nine yards is harsh! Just too many birders and seems like not enough thought went into the organization and planning. Hopefully the negative feedback from yourself and others will help Rockjumper and Heritage tighten up on those aspects. It could and should be a spectacular trip! 70 birders @ $14,000 a pop is just shy of a million bucks in gross revenue, so I can see why they want to continue offering the tour.
The birds you did get though, were just fantastic! Not only would they all have been lifers for me, I never even heard of most of them! :D :D :D The albatross photos are so cool! Hey.. and you got New Zealand Storm Petrel! That was considered extinct for 150 years before it was rediscovered. How cool is that to see one of those?
Daniel Bastaja
danielbastaja@...
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Jun 12, 2023, at 9:54 PM, Derek Matthews <Derek@...> wrote:
Hi Vanbirders,
We recently took the Western Pacific Odyssey tour with Heritage Expeditions which was a very expensive ($14,000 per person!) disaster and we wanted to at least warn other birders who may be considering this tour.
We booked the tour through ROCKJUMPER BIRDING TOURS, and although we had a Rockjumper itinerary not a Heritage itinerary, Rockjumper refused to do anything about any of our complaints and hid behind the fact that ¡®they were only the agents¡¯ and have told us that ¡®we do intend to continue offering the 2024 cruise in its current form¡¯! This is possible the most disturbing thing about the whole experience, and I would honestly tell anyone to consider the honesty, integrity, and accountability of a company like Rockjumper who are clearly not interested in their guest experience as long as they get their money! Needless to say, we will never use either Rockjumper or Heritage Expeditions again!
The trip report is here for anyone interested:
Derek<image003.png>
Derek J. Matthews
Chairman, Director Communication
NABC Certified Trainer
Vancouver Avian Research Centre
Registered Canadian Charity #82118 2656 RR0001
4115, East Braemar Road, North Vancouver, BC, V7K 3C9
T: (604) 218-1191
E: Derek@...
W: www.birdvancouver.com
