Valor Southern Caribbean review with pictures and Fun Times - better late than never

[fragilek]

I am enjoying this review so much- I keep checking on it all day to see if you have written any more. I can't wait for St Lucia and esp st kits (as we don't know what to do there). We were planning a our in St Thomas but after your review we may just do Sapphire beach- was it easy to get a taxi there and especially back. In Barbados was there anyway onto the beach at the hilton without going through the Hilton hotel (as all beaches in Barbados are public ones) we will be touring about so will only spend a 1/2hr or so on the beach so do not want to pay of a day pass.

[pghsteelerfan]

This was one of the days I was looking forward to most. We had never been to St. Lucia and it was one of the islands I’ve heard so many great things about and couldn’t wait to get there. We booked the “Spencer Ambrose Jalousie Beach Break”, a private tour company that is not a Carnival sponsored excursion. Carnival offered a similar excursion but it only allowed an hour and a half at Jalousie Beach, the beach between the Pitons. There is snorkeling included in both excursions and we wanted to spend time snorkeling since we heard there was good snorkeling but we also wanted more time to enjoy Jalousie Beach and the scenery. Another reason we went with Spencer Ambrose was all of the great reviews I’ve seen about Spencer’s tours, how fun they are, AND that he’s very watchful of time and reliable on getting his tours back to the ship with plenty of time to spare. Many of those reviews are here on CC. We booked this tour in January, right after booking our cruise because we knew his tours were popular and we wanted to be sure we booked before the tour filled up. The tour includes transportation to and from the ship, in a speed boat, and four hours at Jalousie Beach to snorkel or just enjoy the beach. Lunch was provided at the beach in addition to an unlimited supply of water, regular and diet coke, Piton Beer and rum punch. There was also a Sea Tour of St. Lucia’s coast on the return trip. Meeting time was 8:30AM and we’d be returning to the ship was around 3:30, which was plenty of time. Spencer Ambrose’s “Jalousie Beach Break” is also the first tour group to get to Jalousie Beach and there are perks with that which I will get to.

 

I set my alarm to go off at 5:30AM and as soon as it did, I got up and went out on our balcony. The sun wasn’t up yet but it was getting light and I could see St. Lucia…and the Pitons!!! This is the reason I set my alarm for that early, in hopes of seeing the Pitons from the ship as we sailed in. This time I saw what I was hoping to see. DH got up right after I did and came out and we both took a lot of pictures, in addition to the video he got.

 

At 5:30AM, this is what we saw from our balcony

 

I used the zoom on my camera for this one of the Pitons

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I am enjoying this review so much- I keep checking on it all day to see if you have written any more. I can't wait for St Lucia and esp st kits (as we don't know what to do there). We were planning a our in St Thomas but after your review we may just do Sapphire beach- was it easy to get a taxi there and especially back. In Barbados was there anyway onto the beach at the hilton without going through the Hilton hotel (as all beaches in Barbados are public ones) we will be touring about so will only spend a 1/2hr or so on the beach so do not want to pay of a day pass.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying the review and hope it will be helpful to you as others were to us in planning what to do in each port. There is just so much to see and do and so little time. It's going to be a busy week for me around here but I'm going to get as much in as I can for about an hour this morning.

 

Yes, very easy to get a taxi to Sapphire. When we got off the ship, we were directed to where the taxi's were, about a five minute walk through Havensight Mall to where they were. For our taxi there, it was an open air bus that held about 20 - 25 people. I think it only cost $10.00, but may have been less. They wait until those are filled up, but it should fill up quickly since there are about 4 stops (Red Hook, Sapphire, Coki Beach/Coral World and on more, but I can't remember when it was). For the taxi back from Sapphire, when we left, there were several out there waiting to take cruise passengers back. These were individual cabs or vans and the cost was the same.

 

Barbados, yes, you can get onto the beach without having to go through the hotel. We wanted a couple of hours there, so we basically paid for use of loungers for the day, but you can get on the beach to either walk or just put your towel in the sand with no charge. A couple of gals who were in the cab to the Hilton did that and just put their towels in the sand.

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

There appeared to be a lot of clouds but we could also see the pink in the sky then finally, the sun broke through. It was a beautiful sunrise and we got more pictures of that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

I went up to the Lido Deck for a cup of coffee and came back down and had that out on the balcony while enjoying the beautiful scenery of St. Lucia’s coast.

 

 

This is the reflection of the Pitons on the door to our balcony

 

 

Edited September 24, 2013 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

More views as we came into St. Lucia

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

We took turns getting ready and went up for breakfast. We did the buffet and went back to our cabin when we finished breakfast. Since we still hadn’t docked yet, we just sat out on the balcony as we approached Castries and got pictures as the ship was docking. This is a very pretty port to come into. By that time the clouds were gone and it was looking to be a beautiful day.

 

These are all pictures as Valor was coming into Castries, where we docked

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

More coming into Castries

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

 

The cruise center shopping area

[pghsteelerfan]

More of the cruise center shopping area from Valor

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

There is a small airport right near where we were docked and we watched this small plane take off

 

 

 

Before we grabbed what we'd need for the day, I got a picture of our souvenir cups all lined up on the cabin dresser

 

Once Valor docked we got what we’d need for the day (towels, cameras, cash that we’d to pay for the tour, extra cash for the cruise shops after, S&S card and passport…just in case), waited for the ship to be cleared, then proceeded off the ship.

 

 

 

A few pictures of Valor from the cruise center shops before meeting up with Spencer Ambrose

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

When we booked through Spencer, he was great with the correspondence and instructions on when and where to meet. Meeting time was 8:30AM and to look for “Spencer” signs right after the entrance to the Duty Free shops, which are right when you get off the ship. We saw the signs and were greeted by Shequana, Spencer’s daughter, who directed us to Spencer. Spencer offers several different tours in addition to the “Jalousie Beach Break”: the “Land & Sea Tour”, a “Land Tour”, “Piton Hike Tour” and there may be others, but I’m not sure since these are the main tours that I’ve seen in other reviews. He had a clipboard with a different page for each of his tours and on each page he had list of names of the people who had booked that day. When we got up to Spencer, welcomed us with a huge smile and asked us which tour and what our names were and collected payment. He apologized for collecting payment before the tour. He told us he used to collect payment while at the beach or when the tour was done but stopped doing that due to a couple of negative reviews. I did see some of those comments on the “Port of Call” section here on CC. The complaints were about the money being collected at the beach and how it was disorganized. Those were the only complaints I’ve ever seen about Spencer’s tours and I told him that and that I had no worries because there were many more positive reviews/comments and some people aren’t happy unless their complaining. Spencer told us that he does read the reviews and takes all feedback, positive or negative, to heart. If there is something that there are complaints about, he does what he can to improve. He’s proud of St. Lucia and he wants people to come back from his tours with a positive experience. Once we paid him, he put a mark by our names and directed us to the meeting spot for the “Jalousie Beach Break” tour. Spencer had the other tours separated in groups as well. Everything was very well organized. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we met a few others from our CC Roll Call who were also on the “Jalousie Beach Break”, so it was nice meeting and getting to know them a little. We could already tell this was going to be a fun group. Once everyone was there, the different groups headed out on the separate tours. For the “Jalousie Beach Break”, we had Spencer and we’d be taking the speed boat straight to Jalousie Beach. His daughter Shequana and another girl name Sharmine were along to assist. Once we were all in the boat we headed out. We already knew it was going to be a great day because Spencer, Shequana, and Sharmine were all very nice, smiling and laughing with us and really made us feel at home. There were views of Valor as we headed out, so I took plenty of pictures.

 

 

 

Spencer Ambrose with his speedboat, the "Me Sea Dye II"

 

 

One of the other couples from our roll call got this picture of us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spencer Ambrose

 

[pghsteelerfan]

Spencer told us about the island, history and culture on the way out of Castries while the boat was going slow out of Castries until he could pick up the speed once out in open water. Once out in the open water, we picked up speed and on our way. There were a few places that Spencer slowed the boat down to point something out and tell us about. The boat ride was a lot of fun. It does go fast and does get bumpy at times, which is part of being on a speedboat in the ocean. It never seemed scary or uncomfortable.

 

Pictures of St. Lucia's coast on our way to Jalousie Beach

 

 

The Pitons! We're getting close

 

When we got into view of both Pitons, Spencer stopped the boat to tell us about them and so we could get pictures. They are volcanic plugs and Petit Piton is the one on the left as we approached and Gros Piton is the one on the right. Gros Piton is the larger of the two. Spencer asked if anyone still needed to get pictures and either Shequana or Sharmine said there were a couple of people at the back who were trying to get pictures. Spencer turned the boat for them so they could get pictures of the Pitons without the rest of us in the picture. I thought that was really nice.

 

 

 

Picture of us taken by one of the other couples (we did the same for them). I ditched the sunglasses so I could get pictures

[pghsteelerfan]

After we all got our pictures, Spencer continued and a few minutes later, he cut the speed as we went through the protected harbor where Jalousie Beach is took us right to the little dock. It was 9:30AM and we were the first group there.

 

 

 

Heading to our next stop, Jalousie Beach (Spencer & Sharmine)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Jalousie Beach, there is a resort, the “Sugar Beach Resort” that has its own padded loungers and there is also a bar. There are regular loungers on the other side for us to use. They are under the trees but can be moved out into the sun. There were more than enough for our group. I’m guessing there were about 30 loungers. Being the first ones there, all of us had first pick of those loungers. The roped off snorkeling area is right in front of the loungers and next to the dock where the boats drop off/pick up people. It doesn’t look that large but it is. It is also right beneath Petit Piton. We were free to use any of the part of the beach but anyone wanting to use the resort’s loungers would have to go to the resort (maybe the bar) and rent one for the day. I don’t know what they cost but they were pricey. We also had the option of putting our towels in the sand at the resort area (no charge). The loungers provided were fine for us. There were some small gift shops in huts above where the loungers were and right behind them were the restrooms. The restrooms were kept clean and they were being swept out several times.

 

After we picked out loungers out, we got our cameras and walked the beach for a while. It’s not a large beach, but it’s very scenic and pretty. The sand is white, but the beach is naturally a black sand beach. The resort ships in the white sand to make it more appealing. The resort’s landscaping is done very nice and saw a couple of other people on the beach who were staying at the resort, but other than that it was just our group. There is a roped off swimming area on the other side of the dock from where the snorkeling is and we were free to use that to swim. Right down by the water you can tell the difference in the color of the sand (it’s much darker) and there are also a lot of little rocks but sandy again once you get out. I didn’t use water shoes, but I’d recommend them to anyone with sensitive feet.

 

 

 

Next group of pictures are all of Jalousie Beach

 

 

View from the small dock where Spencer let us off the boat. This is Gros Piton, the larger of the two

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

This is where you can see the difference in the white sand that the resort brings in and the natural darker (and rocky) beach right at the water

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

More of Jalousie Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

We had to walk all the way down to the far end of the beach to get a picture of all of Petit Piton in it

 

 

 

 

 

[scgirlatheart]

Thank you for posting your review & pictures. I'm really enjoying it! I was undecided about which tour to do in St. Lucia but I think after reading about Spencer's tour that's the one I'm going to book.

[pghsteelerfan]

 

From the section of the beach where we had use of the loungers with a view out toward the snorkeling area.

 

We spent about an hour walking along the beach just taking in the scenery and getting pictures. After that we could tell that the snorkeling area was all in the sun. It was still shaded by Petit Piton when we got there and were afraid we wouldn’t see much in the shade. We got the snorkel gear (included with the price of the tour) and snorkeled for a good hour and a half. I had my new underwater camera with me for the snorkeling. I would have to say that it was pretty good snorkeling and the best I’ve ever seen. There were a lot of different kinds of fish but I couldn’t tell you what kinds they were. There was also a lot of different types of coral that was also the most colorful I’ve seen. The water was clear and not “stirred up” at this point. I have seen in reviews that the water isn’t is clear and snorkeling not as good later in the day when all the tours are there. There may have been one more small tour there in addition to us at that point but there still weren’t that many people. When we decided to get out, a couple other tours had arrived and another tour group was just getting in. They would be coming and going the rest of the time we were there, so we picked a great time to snorkel. We were comfortable leaving our stuff at the loungers because Spencer, Shequana, and Sharmine all hung out right there.

 

Snorkeling pictures

 

View of Gros Piton as I was getting into the water

 

I was trying for a half in/half out of water picture hoping to see more than just dark blue

 

 

DH

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you for posting your review & pictures. I'm really enjoying it! I was undecided about which tour to do in St. Lucia but I think after reading about Spencer's tour that's the one I'm going to book.

 

Thank you for following. We couldn't have been happier with Spencer. We did the Jalousie Beach break because we wanted time at this beautiful spot. Next time, don't know when, we get back to St. Lucia we're definitely going to book his Land and Sea Tour so we can see more of the island.

[pghsteelerfan]

More of the snorkeling

 

 

 

The snorkeling is right beneath Petit Piton and is shallower with more rocks and coral at the base but gets deep pretty quick. I took this picture right by the area that is roped off

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I finally got some pictures of the fish that came out. They are much harder to get pictures of because they move.

 

This "fish" was easy to get pictures of (that's DH again)

 

Several of us asked what this was - it's "basket coral"

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

Sea Urchin

 

I loved this guy's face

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

Finished snorkeling, time for a Piton Beer

 

There were also a couple of vendors who showed up but they had their items set up in canoes down by the water. They did not come up and push what they were selling on any of us. If you wanted to buy something or were interested in seeing what they had, you had to go to them. One was selling different types of fruit and another was selling wood carvings. One of the other couples on our roll call showed us these very pretty wood carvings that they bought and said the prices were reasonable, plus it’s something authentic and not a cheap souvenir that’s actually made in China and not St. Lucia. I went down to see the carvings that he had and spent a few minutes talking to him. His name is “Dr. Twist”. I’m guessing that’s a nickname but I didn’t ask. He told me he cuts the wood into different sized pieces at his home and does his carving at the beach. He had carvings in all sizes and I bought a smaller carved fish from him for $5.00.

 

 

 

This is Dr. Twist with his wood carvings

 

 

 

 

 

I got this picture of the snorkeling area right after I bought the wood carving from Dr. Twist

 

 

 

They started serving lunch so I went back up and we went and got in line. The lunch is all homemade and served buffet style on a table. They had BBQ chicken, green salad, potato salad, green banana salad, two different kinds of rice dishes and four different types of root vegetable (I think it’s a vegetable) that are very good and have a similar taste to potatoes. I do remember Taro root was one of them but I can’t remember the other three. My favorites were the roots and the green banana salad. I didn’t have the potato salad because my plate was getting full since I had some of everything else, and I can have potato salad any time. Everything was delicious!!! The green banana salad and roots might sound gross, but they are SO GOOD, please don’t be afraid to try them. The green banana salad has a similar taste to potato salad, but I thought there was more flavor to it, a pleasant flavor, nothing unusual. I should have gotten pictures but I told DH I wouldn’t embarrass him. Not long after we got our plates, some of Spencer’s other groups arrived. It never felt crowded.

[pghsteelerfan]

Not long after I finished lunch, I heard this horn that sounded like an air horn used at football games. Another vendor just arrived and he was selling conch shells and conch shell horns. I wanted a horn so I went down and bought one for $20.00. When I got back to the lounger I tried it and no noise. Spencer came over, laughing, because I was trying to get sound out of this thing and nothing happened. He said there is a certain way to blow it and I asked him if he could show me. He said he’s played musical instruments but it’s been a long time since he blew a shell horn. He tried it and nothing. Tried again several more times with no luck either. By this time everyone around was laughing, including Spencer. Even Spencer’s other employees and a few of guides from other tours were egging him. Spencer said that if it didn’t work, he’d walk down personally to the guy selling them and get him to exchange it for one that works. Before that, Spencer said “Yellowbird” might be able to blow it, so I went with Spencer to Yellowbird. Yellowbird was laughing but he knew how to do it and showed me how. I got some noise, not much, but did get some. Yellowbird asked if I ever played a musical instrument (I hadn’t) and he it would take practice, just like an instrument. I can now get noise out of that thing that sounds like it should. I found out later that Yellowbird isn’t one of Spencer’s tour guides, he’s with another one of the tour companies. You’d never be able to tell because they all got along.

 

After lunch we spent the rest of the day having some drinks and just enjoying Jalousie Beach. I had the rum punch and it does pack a punch and was good, but stuck to water and the Piton Beer after that. It was hot, so we spent a lot of time in and out of the water in the swimming area. What was really nice was that Spencer, Shequana, Sharmine, and all of the others who work with him mixed and mingled with us. Some of us had a lot of questions about St. Lucia, they were happy to tell us. We actually felt like we were at a big beach party with friends that day.

 

 

 

DH with the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Terrible Towel"; we weren't the only ones. One of the other couples on our roll call were doing the same thing. Unfortunately, this may have "jinxed" the Steelers this season - they are now 0 - 3. LOL!!!

 

 

 

The snorkeling area, a little more crowded but still not too bad

 

 

 

Gros Piton

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were all told ahead of time that the boat would be leaving the dock at 2:30PM to take us on the Sea Tour then back to the ship. At 2:15, we gathered our stuff and went to the dock. There were two of Spencer’s other tours there as well. Those who did the “Piton Hike Tour” (I felt bad for them because it was in the 90’s that day) and those who were on the “Land and Sea Tour”. Those of us on the “Jalousie Beach Break” rode in the same boat with Spencer. Spencer had at least two other boats. There were four people from one of the other tours that joined us and the rest went on the other two boats.

 

 

 

We all took turns getting pictures of each other in front of Gros Piton right before we got back on Spencer's boat to leave Jalousie Beach and start the Sea Tour