Gordon Finch or Leston Lawrence

[Holly2]

Thanks for posting the link to your pictures with Lawrence of Antigua. It was a great tour and your pics do it justice.

[Kimmus66]

I toured with Lawrence with a group of 10. We had a fantastic time!!!! His Van was nice and clean, beverages, great air conditioning and each and every one of us said it was our favorite excursion on the entire cruise.

 

I would not hesitate to go with Lawrence of Antigua!

[boca7]

dissapointed!! After reading this thread on CC we decided to book with Gordon. His communication was quick and comprehensive ahead of time. We had a group of 6, we confirmed for the best of paradise tour including beer and snacks for $50 pp. I confirmed with him right before we sailed and told hime we were looking forward to our day with HIM!

 

Well cruise morning Gordon has his sign and a folder where he is collecting confirmations from his 'guests'. Our expected small group tour grew to 39 people being shuffled between 3 mini vans, there was a group of 25 that he had told would all be together, NOT the vans only hold 13 MAX. we were in a van of 14, one finally found a seat on another van. we had to ask the driver his name... Rodney ... That set the tone, NOTHING on this 5-6 hour tour was narrated by Rodney, he was soft spoken and yes with 14 people on the bus it was impossible to hear anything. He would provide 1 word answers to your questions but that was all. I would say as we passes some type of building..wonder what that is?? And he would just ignore me. It was maddening to me that this was the one day I will probably ever have in Antigua and it was a waste. We did visit the locations that were advertised, we were given one soda water break, at Nelson's dockyard we were given one small chicken filled pastry. I asked Gordon about the beer we had requested for our tour and he did go and fetch 4 from a store for the ones in our group that wanted it. I spoke to Gordon at one of the stops and told him how unhappy I was with the lackmof information we were getting about Antigua and that I had expected a small group tour for our day. He apologized, said that one of his drivers canceled and he had to get Rodney at last minute. He offered us a discount on our tour price.

Gordons bus passengers were given a narrated tour of the island with him on microphone as well as the other van having a woman sharing info on the island. guess we were just unlucky with Rodney the mute!

gordon did give us half off of our tour, which was $25pp . Still I am upset we lost the chance to learn about Antigua, we had to deal with the large group tour which we had tried to avoid, and it was a day being stressed instead of enjoying the too short time on the island.

 

Lesson learned, in the future I will stress to the tour guide that I am booking with HIM for a small group of x number of passengers and if he can not meet that request I would prefer to book elsewhere. In my opinion Gordon got GREEDY and we paid the price.

Thank you for your report, I was just ready to book a party of six for a private tour & now obviously nothing is guaranteed.

[gpd231]

Gordon was great. We were at a loss of what to do in Antigua and booked a week before. It was my family of 5 and a couple more that were on the carnival freedom that we didn't know. Gordon really explained the culture and history of the island throughout the tour and explained all the history at each stop. We did stop at a couple markets at the requests of the other people in our tour but he stayed right with us and fended off any vendors that were too persistant. We did stop at a georgous beach and had plenty of time to enjoy our time there. When you go you these islands and are expecting a 5 star resort you are probably better off staying on the ship. We always try to see the beauty in every place we go even if we have to go through a bd neighborhood getting there. I find it funny how people expect the residents that live far less fortunate areas and economies to have what we have in the US. If you get on a personal level with these vendors they will show you as much respect as you show them.