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Alternative Excursions on St. Lucia?


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The port boards are pretty slow so I thought I would try over here....

 

It seems like the two big excursions on St. Lucia are zip lining and island tours - Cosol or Serenity. Does anyone have any suggestions for something different? We are traveling with two big guys that probably won't be under the weight restrictions for the zip line, and we're just not sure about being in a van for 7 hours for the island tours. I know there are a bunch of stops along the way but for some reason it just doesn't sound appealing.

 

So, if you weren't going to zip line or take an island tour, what would you do for your day in St. Lucia? :)

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I've done the ziplining and wasn't that impressed. It's one of those things that I'm glad I tried but don't really need to do very often. I've taken the Brig Unicorn day tour and loved it, but it involves sailing on a tall ship around the island then a couple hours in a van as part of an island tour, then sailing back. I've done the Serenity island tour twice (once with hubby & once with mom) and the Cosol tour once (with hubby). I enjoyed the island tour (Serenity a little more), but I like seeing the sights, tasting the food, and having a beach break. I'd recommend the helicopter tour as something different but you mentioned large guys. I can't remember the weight limit (250 lbs. maybe). Our pilot took us really close (too close for comfort :o) to the waves hitting the cliffs on the east side of the island. The view of the Pitons from the air is wonderful!

 

I know Serenity offers other tours on their website besides just the island tour. Did you check any of those out? They offer a beach tour to Pigeon Beach if you want a beach day. The beach is okay (Antigua beaches are better) and Fort Rodney is at the top of the hill. The view from the fort is incredible. There is also a hike to a waterfall. I didn't try that one yet. Maybe next time.

 

Last cruise a couple at our table took a cab to Reduit Beach and said it was nice. I don't know how much the cab ride cost. Jalousie Beach on the south side of the island is also popular. I think one of the Sandals resorts offers a day pass but I haven't tried it. The Grande has the best beach (it's actually by Pigeon Beach) but Regency has the best amenities & pool.

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HI - I have just spent over three weeks on holiday in St Lucia (latter 9 days due to the volcano erruption in Iceland!) - used Serenity twice... if you dont want to be stuck 7 hours in a bus, do the half and half option (half tour in van and then get Catamaran from Soufriere) we found this fabulous...they take you to a restaurant with fab views of the pitons, do the tour of sights, casava brad making etc but then the last 3 hours or so is on a cat back to Rodney Bay... really nice... gorgeous rum punch included! Serenity use Tango 1,2 and 3 cats for the latter part of the tour. They stop off for snorkelling for about 45 mins at Ti Kaye resort which is lovely. The service from Serenity is absolutely great, punctual, caring and we really had a great time. It cost about $90 each for the whole day including lunch from memory. That was one of our best days in St Lucia. REduit beach is also lovely but if you go on a cruise day its packed at certain areas due to the excursions there. Hope this helps. Ste Lucia is beautiful. Also venture into Rodney Bay Village - the new designer shopping mall should be finished now and lots of great bars and restairant... about 10 mins walk from the reduit beach. Hollyanna

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I'm interested in this land/sea tour. I emailed Serenity and was advised that they didn't offer the tour to cruise passengers, at least not based on my particular arrival/departure time, but that I could book the excursion through the cruise line. I guess the cruise line must contract with them??

 

Has anyone done the land/sea excursion in St. Lucia through RCL?

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The port boards are pretty slow so I thought I would try over here....

 

It seems like the two big excursions on St. Lucia are zip lining and island tours - Cosol or Serenity. Does anyone have any suggestions for something different? We are traveling with two big guys that probably won't be under the weight restrictions for the zip line, and we're just not sure about being in a van for 7 hours for the island tours. I know there are a bunch of stops along the way but for some reason it just doesn't sound appealing.

 

So, if you weren't going to zip line or take an island tour, what would you do for your day in St. Lucia? :)

 

My wife and I went on a great snorkeling trip with a dive company that picked us up right from the dock. We snorkeled at two beautiful locations, one of which was right under the Pitons!

 

If you want I can look up the name of the company as it was two years ago and I don't remember the name off of the top of my head.

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I'm going on the Serenade of the Seas in August and I had the same question. The shore excursions seem a little lame in St. Lucia.

 

Am I gathering that the best beach is Pidgeon Beach? Maybe we'll just head over there for a beach day!

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Pigeon island beautiful! But dont tell anyone! 2 very small beach once inside the island (costs $5 pp to get in) and extra for bed and umbrella rental... about $10 each? But the water is gorgeous, you can climb to the top of the hill and the views are stunning -and dont forget Mike's cellar bar (he is like the resident pirate!) he owns the bar, great character with many stories). The nicest beach is the one with the beach bar on it. Like I said, dont tell anyone or you wont get the tranquility you require for a perfect day if all the ship hear! Enjoy ;)... a taxi from Rdney bay is about $15 USD (only about 5 minutes from Rodney bay)...Hollyanna

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I've done the Cosol tour and you definitely aren't on the bus for 7 hrs. Lots of opportunity for off and on, snorkling, eating, waterfalls...the list goes on.

 

Given the opportunity, I would DEFINITELY do it again. They cater to cruise ship passengers and for the price, don't think you can beat it.

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I had a MISERABLE time on the Cosol tour, and won't recommend it to anyone. If you enjoy snorkeling, you could go to one of the marine parks and snorkel. That is our plan for this August. I am looking forward to avoiding the masses of people and being crowded into a van and herded around like cattle. No more island tours for me!

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We did Cosol's tour in the spring and enjoyed it very much. The only thing I didn't care for was the beach stop at Jalousie. I would definitely skip it (the water taxi freaked me out and the beach wasn't that great). Another couple on our van skipped Jalousie and spent that time at the beach where we got onto the water taxi. There was a restaurant there, so they had lunch.

 

I agree -- the beaches on Antigua looked much nicer!

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We did a tour with Spencer Ambrose and had an amazing time! He has a few contacts that Cosol doesn't have that allow him to do things like drive to the plantation at Jalousie rather than take a water taxi, etc. He is a former police officer and his wife teaches, and we felt like he was an old friend. He's willing to customize tours and will do pretty much whatever you would like. I highly recommend him!

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I had a MISERABLE time on the Cosol tour, and won't recommend it to anyone. If you enjoy snorkeling, you could go to one of the marine parks and snorkel. That is our plan for this August. I am looking forward to avoiding the masses of people and being crowded into a van and herded around like cattle. No more island tours for me!

 

It is interesting to get your take on the tour. I almost never book tours but that particular one seems to get mentioned frequently on these boards. I have always preferred to plan my own day on the islands. I love to read about them ahead of time and decide what I want to do. The occasional time that we have done tours some have worked very well but on others I have usually found myself getting a bit annoyed with time being wasted on things that I am not interested in, not having enough time at the things that I am interested in, or waiting for people who can't seem to return to the van on time.

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Has anyone done the land/sea excursion in St. Lucia through RCL?
I did on my very first RC cruise, but that was 10 years ago. I assume it's changed some since then. At the time, I thought it was a great tour. We boarded a catamaran in Castries and sailed around the island, had a beach stop for about an hour, then continued around to Soufriere. In Soufriere, we boarded vans and went to a plantation/garden for a tour and lunch then a brief swim in a waterfall-fed pool. Next, we went to the volcano and up to an observation point that overlooked Castries and the ship. It was an all-day tour and we returned to the ship just before sailing. There was very little time at the end of the tour for browsing the shops along the pier. There are a few booths set up around the volcano that offer some items and there are some people selling necklaces and t-shirts by the observation area. It was somewhat rushed, but that tour was part of why I fell in love with St. Lucia and have gone back several times both on cruises and on land vacations.

 

I felt like we got our money's worth from the RC tour. Since then, I prefer the smaller tours. I've taken Cosol's tour with a group from CC and we had a great time. The only thing I didn't care for on the Cosol tour was the tour seemed to focus on the sights and drinks not history and culture. With a group it's hard to have time to ask about specific things and get an understanding of the culture. I prefer the private tours and have booked Serenity twice for that so I can plan my own stops. It is much more expensive, but I control where to go and how long to stay, plus if I have questions, I can ask them without feeling like I'm interrupting.

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Thanks for posting about your experience with RCL's tour. We're also considering it, mostly because we haven't found any tour company (in St Lucia) that hasn't had at least a few significantly negative comments here on CC. Is this island new to cruising (in that they still don't have a reliable infrastructure for cruise tourism)?

 

Our main concern about RCl's tours is that many have a weight limit. I can certainly understand this if we were ziplining or parasailing (we're not); does anyone know why they have weight limits?

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Thanks for posting about your experience with RCL's tour. We're also considering it, mostly because we haven't found any tour company (in St Lucia) that hasn't had at least a few significantly negative comments here on CC. Is this island new to cruising (in that they still don't have a reliable infrastructure for cruise tourism)?

 

Our main concern about RCl's tours is that many have a weight limit. I can certainly understand this if we were ziplining or parasailing (we're not); does anyone know why they have weight limits?

 

Not at all. St Lucia has been on the Southern itineraries for quite some time. When we got off the ship we talked to several taxi/van drivers and arranged to do and see exactly what we wanted to. There were plenty of drivers ready to take care of cruise passengers.

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Thanks for posting about your experience with RCL's tour. We're also considering it, mostly because we haven't found any tour company (in St Lucia) that hasn't had at least a few significantly negative comments here on CC. Is this island new to cruising (in that they still don't have a reliable infrastructure for cruise tourism)?

 

Our main concern about RCl's tours is that many have a weight limit. I can certainly understand this if we were ziplining or parasailing (we're not); does anyone know why they have weight limits?

 

Everyone has different experiences and perceptions. I doubt you are going to find a tour company anywhere that doesn't have at least a few negative comments. I find St. Lucia to be one of the better cruise ports - there is lots to do, many reputable tour companies to choose from and several resorts close to the port that offer day passes.

 

We did the Cosol tour in 2007 and loved it. Most of the negative reviews from Cosol's tour come from people who are on it when there were a lot of ships in port. On those days he has more vans (and therefore more people). Before booking any tour I always try to find out how many ships will be in port and then ask the tour operator how many people will be on the tour (some operators will have a limit, many don't). I knew before I went on Cosol's tour that he puts up to 10 people in a van and tries to accomodate as many people as he can. However, since I was there on a day when there was only 1 ship in port I didn't expect to have a very crowded tour (there ended up being 4 vans).

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I did on my very first RC cruise, but that was 10 years ago. I assume it's changed some since then. At the time, I thought it was a great tour. We boarded a catamaran in Castries and sailed around the island, had a beach stop for about an hour, then continued around to Soufriere. In Soufriere, we boarded vans and went to a plantation/garden for a tour and lunch then a brief swim in a waterfall-fed pool. Next, we went to the volcano and up to an observation point that overlooked Castries and the ship. It was an all-day tour and we returned to the ship just before sailing. There was very little time at the end of the tour for browsing the shops along the pier. There are a few booths set up around the volcano that offer some items and there are some people selling necklaces and t-shirts by the observation area. It was somewhat rushed, but that tour was part of why I fell in love with St. Lucia and have gone back several times both on cruises and on land vacations.

 

I felt like we got our money's worth from the RC tour. Since then, I prefer the smaller tours. I've taken Cosol's tour with a group from CC and we had a great time. The only thing I didn't care for on the Cosol tour was the tour seemed to focus on the sights and drinks not history and culture. With a group it's hard to have time to ask about specific things and get an understanding of the culture. I prefer the private tours and have booked Serenity twice for that so I can plan my own stops. It is much more expensive, but I control where to go and how long to stay, plus if I have questions, I can ask them without feeling like I'm interrupting.

 

Thanks for this feedback!

 

We wanted a tour that included the catamaran portion. I can only take so much riding around in a bus or van before I start to get antsy. We did a great all-day tour in St. Kitts recently, but I have to admit that the amount of time sitting in a van did begin to get on my nerves. That's why the land/sea tour seemed ideal.

 

I've looked for private tours that offer both, but most are not geared toward cruise passengers and I'm leery of booking all-day excursions through private tour companies that are not specifically geared toward passenges on strict schedules. I also don't want to give up the catamaran portion of the tour, as that's the part I'm the most interested in.

 

The price is extremely reasonable for this RCL tour, so I think we'll likely go with it. Our cruise is still over a year away, so I have lots and lots of time!!

 

Yes, I'm one of those OVER-PLANNERS!!!

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Found another post about St. Lucia excursions: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1225587

 

Post 15 mentions the Land & Sea tour. I can't tell when she took the tour, but she mentions returning to the ship on the catamaran. I know we had the catamaran part first and returned in the van so the tour order may have changed in the past 10 years. I think the catamaran on the return would be better, assuming they still have the beach stop. I don't like having "salt-water" hair and wearing a damp swimsuit all day so would rather swim at the end of the tour.

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Found another post about St. Lucia excursions: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1225587

 

Post 15 mentions the Land & Sea tour. I can't tell when she took the tour, but she mentions returning to the ship on the catamaran. I know we had the catamaran part first and returned in the van so the tour order may have changed in the past 10 years. I think the catamaran on the return would be better, assuming they still have the beach stop. I don't like having "salt-water" hair and wearing a damp swimsuit all day so would rather swim at the end of the tour.

 

I was thinking the same thing!! If I had a choice, I'd want the catamaran portion at the end! I also heard someone mention the rum punch on the catamaran, which might not sit well with windy roads on a van AFTER the sea portion! UGH!!

 

I'll check out the link. Thanks again for your help!!!

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