4X4 Jeep Safari

[debmkay]

Anyone done the jeep safari anytime lately? Never been to martinque and would like some input as to what to do. Is the excursion worth the price?

[sharks48]

Debmkay: I was wondering the same thing. I think we're on the same cruise, BTW. 11/7 Noordam?

[debmkay]

Yep same cruise, haven't got an answer yet trying to review some things, if you find out let me know please!!!!!!!! Maybe we can meet on ship?

[cigarman]

1. debmkay is my DW

2. We booked through HAL

3. I speak very few words of French

4. I really do not complain all that often having been in the hotel business for over 30 years, I understand that things happen.

 

Now for the review.

 

We docked in Martinique early and I saw that it would be a bit of a walk to get to the taxi/tour stand. OK I was ready for that with some Tylenol.

No complaint.

We met our tour guide "Kelly" and he walked us over to his "Jeep",which was really a very new Land Rover, so that was nice.

Kelly then told us in very broken poor English that "this is my 3 day taking tour".

We were ready to go, 6 of us in the Rover were looking forward to a great tour of the island.

As we headed out of town Kelly was silent, with windows up and AC not on.

The guest in the passenger seat pointed to the AC and said "on", to which Kelly agreed and turned on the AC.

After 10 or so minutes Kelly said " Here is where I grow up" For the next 30 minutes he said nothing as we drove higher into the green forest. We spent about 2 hours in this rain forest with one break for some rum and water. One lady in our rover asked about a bathroom break without much success. After another 40 minutes in the forest without so much as an that is a tree, I finally said " toilettes vite, s'il vous plait".

We made it to a bathroom at the rum Museum after another long drive with no commentary from Kelly.

Bathrooms were being cleaned but were useable. We were all happy for a short time.

Two of the ladies in our rover were feeling ill and it was hot so I asked on their behalf if Kelly might bring us back to the ship.

Now some of you might say I should have asked for the bathroom break sooner, We all tried and failed because we were in the forest for so long. He just was following the other three Land Rovers that were on the tour. This driver was so confused as to what to do and were to go, it seemed as though he was not even from Martinique.

Did the other people on the tour have the same problems? They might have but did not speak up about it.

Our banana sugar plantation tour consisted of stoping on the side of the road, not getting out of the rover and Kelly saying " This banana tree, that sugar cane." Then he pointed to the plants for a few minutes.

We made it back to the Noordam with haste from there, and I let the tour desk how we felt about this tour.

The next day we did get a refund.

This tour did nothing to enhance our knowledge or love of this island, though it is pretty. We saw nothing of its culture or history, beaches, or peoples.

To put us with a new guide with no apparent training or the ability to speak English well was very bad judgement on the tour company. When I book and pay HAL directly for a tour I expect much more then we got.

All I am saying here is to make sure you get what is advertised in the brochure and to make sure you tell HAL how you feel, both bad and good.

Beware of this tour.

[rebeljohn]

Thanks for your review, cigarman...............

We haven't planned our Martinique excursions yet, but I know to avoid this one............

[true_grit]

We took this tour in early December. Our tour guide, Bruno, was very charming and enthusiastic. He went out of his way to enhance the tour, including getting out in the pouring rain to collect spices, taking us to a local restaurant, and stopping at a gas station to pick up local junk food delicacies (on request).

 

That being said, this tour is basically riding around in a land rover through some back roads of Martinique. The rain forest part of the tour is relatively short, with time planned for one stop. There are no restrooms for probably the first two hours of the tour, although several gentlemen improvised during the rain forest stop. The banana plantation was as mentioned above. We just pulled off on a ditch and Bruno hopped out and grabbed some bananas out of the field. There wasn't a lot of time at the Rhum distillery either; certainly not enough time to take the actual tour. On the plus side, they have a very liberal sampling policy!

 

All in all we had a good time on this tour, but it wasn't the highlight of our cruise, by any means. My review may be colored by the fact that it was raining all day, so we saw very little wildlife. However, the landscape was beautiful and lush and worth seeing.