Karambole Tours

[disneycast]

Hi,

A few people mentioned that the website was in French not English. If you click on the flag which is towards the upper left corner you can change the translation to English. Hope that helps!

[Nebr.cruiser]

I posted a review on a different thread of our tour in Dec. We really enjoyed the tour, with one caveat, which I think she will be addressing.

 

The caveat is that the van she was hiring was pretty cramped for 8; It meant sitting 3 to a seat which isn't fun for the middle person and the air wasn't keeping up.

 

Christelle speaks excellent English and really tried to provide a good tour. We loved all the little tastings and drinks that she offered at various stops. The island is beautiful and we really enjoyed touring with her. We stopped at a church--it was Sunday, so fun to peek in--waterfall, various view sites, the town of St. Pierre that was destroyed by the volcano and a black sand beach.

 

The time to swim at the end was refreshing as it was a very hot day. She even provided water to wash the clingy black sand off of our feet.

 

Her company is only a month or two old and at the end she asked for suggestions for improvement. All we could think of was the size of the bus. I'd definitely go with her again.

[Nebr.cruiser]

What were all of your stops?

 

We stopped at a church, a waterfall (walked down to it, could swim if desired), several view stops and did a short walking tour of the town partially destroyed by a volcano. We also stopped at a black sand beach before returning to the ship, with time for a swim. The island is beautiful and much less 'touristy' than many other islands.

 

She told us to let her know any place we wanted to stop or see and she would if possible. We had food tastings at each stop.

[cruzeluver]

Thank you so much for posting this. Exactly what we were looking for in Martinique!

[gooscar]

Going on their tour Jan 25th. Christine (the owner) has secured a bus for a group of 30!

 

:)

[smarks]

This sounds really good I just sent a request for a group of 24 for Feb. 29, 2016. I have been searching for something provided in English. Hope this is the end of that search. Thank all of you for posting this and for following up on your tour. I will be sure to come back and post if we get a tour booked. Thanks again everybody.

[MisterBill99]

The caveat is that the van she was hiring was pretty cramped for 8; It meant sitting 3 to a seat which isn't fun for the middle person and the air wasn't keeping up.

We did the tour on Friday with 8 people and had no problems being cramped. We were fortunate to have a fairly thin girl in her early twenties who was able to sit in the middle seat in the front, which I think would have been the only issue. Those of us who sat in the rows of 3 did not have any problem. Christelle isn't very tall so I was fortunate to sit in back of her and took advantage of the extra leg room from the driver's seat being moved up. If you're 8 large people I can see where 3 people to a row might be a problem, but this would be the case with almost any van/taxi.

 

We had a great time on the tour and would highly recommend it.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I wonder if she rented a larger van. The one we were in was very cramped with 3 to a seat, very uncomfortable. I'm not very big and was so hot in the middle seat and felt very crowded. Another small person did sit in the front middle seat, which helped. When we started out we had 4 in the back seat! Then she volunteered to move up front from the middle row.

 

3 to a seat isn't too bad in some vans but this one just wasn't big enough. But, we enjoyed everything else.

[richfromhaw]

Last week we sailed on Celebrity Summit.

On Wednesday the port of call was Martinique.

We used Christelle Eugene from Karambole Tours for a day excursion.

It was great.

The itinerary was:

1) Church of Sacred Heart ( on hill overlooking Fort De France modeled after the chuch at Montmarte in Paris)

2) Rain forest

3) Waterfall

4) St Pierre ruins ( town destroyed by volcano in 1902. We visited the theater & prison (where the supposed only survivor from the catastrophe was housed))

5) –rum factory and

6) Finally an hour swimming in the sea at a beach near St.Pierre

It was busy and terrific.

Christelle is a former English teacher who is starting her own independent tour company in Martinique.

The van only seats seven(7) so suggest if that you want to use Karambole for a day excusion off your cruise ship that you book early.

At every stop Christelle provided a sampling of local foods including pastries and other delights.

Her English is excellent & she accepts USD(cash) in addition to Euros.

Christelle is very knowledgeable about the island of Martinique & its history.

Highly recommend Karambole tours.

[richfromhaw]

I also posted as separate thread on ports of call Martinique:

 

Last week we sailed on Celebrity Summit.

On Wednesday the port of call was Martinique.

We used Christelle Eugene from Karambole Tours for a day excursion.

It was great.

The itinerary was:

1) Church of Sacred Heart ( on hill overlooking Fort De France modeled after the chuch at Montmarte in Paris)

2) Rain forest

3) Waterfall

4) St Pierre ruins ( town destroyed by volcano in 1902. We visited the theater & prison (where the supposed only survivor from the catastrophe was housed))

5) –rum factory and

6) Finally an hour swimming in the sea at a beach near St.Pierre

It was busy and terrific.

Christelle is a former English teacher who is starting her own independent tour company in Martinique.

The van only seats seven(7) so suggest if that you want to use Karambole for a day excusion off your cruise ship that you book early.

At every stop Christelle provided a sampling of local foods including pastries and other delights.

Her English is excellent & she accepts USD(cash) in addition to Euros.

Christelle is very knowledgeable about the island of Martinique & its history.

Highly recommend Karambole tours.

[smarks]

I wrote Karambole and asked for a tour for 24 and she is booked up for Feb. 29. Christelle seems like such a nice person. She is talking to some of her partners to see if they can set us up a tour and is going to get back with me. Thanks for letting us know about her. She sounds like a person I would love to take a tour with.

[muskatnuss]

Thank you for your Review!! We will be with her in February.

[Birdnutty]

Did your tour have a particular name, or was it hand selected by you? How much did it cost? It sounds like a great way to see the island. How long was the tour?

[richfromhaw]

It seemed that Christelle only ran one tour, the one we took.

We paid her $65 USD each for two people.

She picked us up right outside the cruise port in Fort de France and we were back in town around 3:00PM (15:00), our all on board was 4:30PM.

Hope this is helpful

[richfromhaw]

Smarks, believe you're spot on about Christelle

[Sass4]

Am interested in this tour - however in light of the Tortola accident I was wondering if you felt safe on the windy road with the type of vehicle driven?

 

Did you book this tour? We are on the same cruise I think, and I want to book this also.

[Sparky333]

Thanks to this thread I found out about her tour and booked it -- I wasn't having much luck figuring out what else to do in Martinique. I thought I'd post that we had a great experience with Christelle on Jan 7th. (from the Celebrity Equinox)

 

Another group had cancelled so it ended up just being my husband and myself so we had plenty of room in the van ;)

 

We had a great day - stopped at the places richfromhaw listed - enjoyed the snacks and drinks she brought for us to try. She's very sweet and speaks perfect English - as someone mentioned she was an English teacher before starting this business. We learned a lot of the history of the island and the Empress Josephine who was born there.

 

I was especially happy to be able to pay in US $ and not have to worry about euros.

 

One thing I would mention is to get to the waterfall we crossed a shallow river (just a few feet across) on foot. Even if you can find rocks to walk on your feet will get wet so be prepared for that with shoes that can get wet or if you're not comfortable doing that you might not want to cross. Possibly you could get a peek of the waterfall from the far side of the river. I took mine off and crossed in bare feet which was not the best idea - the rocks were a little ouchy to me. So - water shoes if you have them would be good to have with you!

 

It really was a great day and we thought the island was beautiful - very lush and flowers were growing everywhere. Other people on the ship that evening said they didn't enjoy their day in Martinique so I was thankful we had a good tour to see the nice parts of the island.

[muskatnuss]

Thanks for the tip with the water shoes!

[anjoliza]

Last week we sailed on Celebrity Summit.

On Wednesday the port of call was Martinique.

We used Christelle Eugene from Karambole Tours for a day excursion.

It was great.

The itinerary was:

1) Church of Sacred Heart ( on hill overlooking Fort De France modeled after the chuch at Montmarte in Paris)

2) Rain forest

3) Waterfall

4) St Pierre ruins ( town destroyed by volcano in 1902. We visited the theater & prison (where the supposed only survivor from the catastrophe was housed))

5) –rum factory and

6) Finally an hour swimming in the sea at a beach near St.Pierre

It was busy and terrific.

Christelle is a former English teacher who is starting her own independent tour company in Martinique.

The van only seats seven(7) so suggest if that you want to use Karambole for a day excusion off your cruise ship that you book early.

At every stop Christelle provided a sampling of local foods including pastries and other delights.

Her English is excellent & she accepts USD(cash) in addition to Euros.

Christelle is very knowledgeable about the island of Martinique & its history.

Highly recommend Karambole tours.

 

Thanks for the review! Is there much walking involved? Some of my group have mobility issues.

[anjoliza]

There website shows 3 different tours - do you know which one you went on?

 

http://www.karamboletoursmartinique.com/?lang=en

[britty1]

Thanks for reporting back. We tour with her in April.

 

Hi there Sky616, I think you are on the same cruise we are on - April 9th Adventure - which tour did you choose to go on. If it's not full already we may try to join you.

[Sky616]

Hi there Sky616, I think you are on the same cruise we are on - April 9th Adventure - which tour did you choose to go on. If it's not full already we may try to join you.

 

Yes we are on this cruise with you. We are doing the Pile et Face tour with Karambole. According to a poster from our roll call this tour is full. She booked 4 people as we have 4 people and then she went back to reserve 2 more but it was full. I believe her bus/van only holds 8 people. Hopefully she can get another van and guide together soon to accommodate everyone. Sounds like she is getting more popular with the good feedback from people who have toured with her.

[richfromhaw]

Pile Et Face

[richfromhaw]

In general at the stops, walking was easy on paved surfaces (except for waterfall).

At this and any other stop where mobility is a concern, those individuals can stay with the van.

Hope this helps.

[anjoliza]

Pile Et Face

 

 

Thanks!! :)