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James Tours


Katiekakes
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I just wanted to post informing everyone how impressed I was with James Tours. I emailed James earlier today and told him I wanted to do an excursion with him next March, and he actually called me tonight to confirm my reservation. I was really impressed, and liked the personal contact. I have been reading all the posts about St Lucia and am really looking forward to seeing the island.

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thanks for your post. i am considering using him as well in feb. its just so confusing with all the tour companies..james, cosol, spencer ambrose. the tours seem to be very long too, ie 6 hours. i would really like time at the end of the tour to shop, and i'm not sure there is going to be time :rolleyes:

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We've used James twice and had fabulous times. He personally escorts his tours and has a passion for delivering top notch service. There are many options in beautiful St. Lucia but you certainly cannot go wrong with James.

He will provide a tour based on your specific group's needs. We recommend James 100%!!!

 

Marty and Karen

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, the tours might be great if James is the guide, but we had a disappointing tour last week. I booked specifically because of reviews like this and then got stuck with a soft-spoken young woman in the van doing the tour-guide narrative. The main problem was the the driver, "Sugar Daddy" thought he could be a better guide, and everything the woman said, he repeated in a loud voice, adding one or two additional details. Aside from being annoying, it really slowed down the timing of the day.

 

By the end of the day, Sugar Daddy was really spouting long rants about how the rich people were unfairly getting advantages at the working peoples' expense, and how we were lucky we didn't live in St. Lucia. Not exactly what I want to experience when I'm on vacation.

 

So if you go with James Tours, make sure you get James for a guide instead of the second-string.

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  • 1 month later...
we also had a a bad experience with james touring. I have posted a long review in other posts and on trip advisor. Please read so you can avoid having the type of day we had.

trip advisor score for james:

 

35 great reviews

1 not so good

 

we have been very happy with the service we received from james

(even though we're jets fans and he's a steeler's fan)

 

do not be afraid to use james touring!!!!!

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trip advisor score for james:

 

35 great reviews

1 not so good

 

we have been very happy with the service we received from james

(even though we're jets fans and he's a steeler's fan)

 

do not be afraid to use james touring!!!!!

 

I have been looking through the posts about James Touring, and this just is not true. The thread titled "James Tours or Spencer Ambrose? Can't decide - Help!" has 4 or 5 negative reviews. Some of the posters later said that James called them after they posted on CC and he apologized, but that doesn't take away from a bad tour.

 

Also, Martytap, alot of the positive reviews and comments are from you! You seem to be a constant cheerleader for James, even to the point of insulting people who have different opinions.

 

There are alot of "positive" comments about JAmes from people who haven't even toured with him yet. Their comments are solely about how quickly he answered their request for a tour, and "what good customer service." This is a recurring theme. Then it turns out that that one poster revealed that she was urged by James to post a positive comment about how quickly he responded. He even offered a free tour if she did this.

 

This makes me wonder about the authenticity of some of the "Positive" reviews.

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Also, Martytap, alot of the positive reviews and comments are from you! You seem to be a constant cheerleader for James, even to the point of insulting people who have different opinions.

 

.

I hope what you say about James is not true. I only defended him because we had two very enjoyable tours with him. This will be my last posting on this board and on this topic. I did go back to Trip Advisor a few minutes ago. There were 39 posts about James Touring.... by 38 different people.... and 38 of the reviews were excellent. I hope whoever you may choose in St. Lucia provides a great tour.

Enjoy your holidays.

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Just returned from a cruise having booked James Tours in St. Lucia, Couldn't have been more pleased. He is most knowledgeable, and very, very pleasant and quite flexible . Seemed really happy to share his beautiful island with us.

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I don't know if anyone will scroll down this far, but we just returned from our Christmas cruise and my family of 4 had an EXCELLENT tour with James Tours! We all agree that James made St. Lucia our favorite island, we love his environmentally conservative and locally proud attitude. The negative review earlier this year was with an employee that James fired, he no longer trusts anyone but himself to guide the tours to his standards.

We love the mud bath at Sulfur Springs, we actually found that our skin was clearer and happier for days afterward. James helped us to apply the mud and he did such a good job that all of those other non-guided poor souls at the mud-baths lined up to have him help them. THANK YOU JAMES for showing us St Lucia in a way that very few people ever see.

I cannot recommend him enough - the personal touch and prompt response to the initial email request gave us a great deal of confidence.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I wanted to add my experience with James Touring Service as we did a tour with him on January 5th. We are a family of four with two teenagers. After waiting for another group who did not show, James took us on a wonderful tour of St, Lucia. We felt fortunate to have him all to ourselves as he is very proud of his island and very knowledgeable about the island.

 

We got to sample local treats like fresh baked bread, sweet bananas, coconut candy, and jerk chicken. We had unlimited refreshments and he would often pull over to get us another treat to try. He was very flexible in taking us where we wanted to go. We decided that we didn't want to do the mudbaths, no problem, he just asked us what we wanted to do next.

 

He went out of his way to make sure we were enjoying ourselves. We felt that we had really experienced the sights, sounds, taste and culture of St. Lucia after our tour. I would not hesitate to recommend him to any friends or family who might visit St. Lucia and will for sure book with him again if we ever get the good fortune to visit the beautiful island of St. Lucia in the future.

 

Lynn

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We just got back from a Caribbean Cruise, and we were recommended to James Tours for our day in St. Lucia. The recommendation was very positive, however, James and his attitude were more than positive....he was absolutely terrific!!

 

We saw an amazing amount of this beautiful island, and James went well out of his way to make sure our group of 8 were comfortable and satisfied throughout the day. The itinerary included all of the important spots, as well as some very interesting "off the main tourist list" attractions... and we got to taste bread from a local village bakery, fresh bananas at a plantation and more! There was planty of delicious rum punch provided for us, as well as soft drinks and St Lucia local beer. Lunch was provided....bar-be-que chicken and fried fish fritters...yummy! The vehicle was clean and up to date, and the driving was safe and comfortable.

 

I had contacted James beforehand to make sure of the arrangements, and his e-mail responses were quick and on target. This is a businessman who understands how to take care of the customer. His great attitude and the beauty and value of our day-long trip was a highlight of our cruise!

 

I would recommend James Tours to anyone looking to have a memorable day in beautiful St. Lucia. From my perspective, you can't go wrong!!

 

This is not my firstprivate tour from a cruise ship, however it was clearly one of the very best!!

 

Ken and Carol from New Jersey

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just returned from a trip to St Lucia and wish to comment that James is an extremely careful and punctual guide.

We had the opportunity of touring with him and he is more fastidious than I am as in regards to time; also his narrative and comments in the tour were of value to us, we went all the way to Soufriere and back.

I also recommend him without hesitation

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  • 4 months later...

We contacted Cosol to book a tour and he suggested since we have a Toddler with us we should go for a private taxi for 3 of us for 180$. He said People smoke a lot on Van/Bus so private Car will be better but it sounds expensive since I read on this forum it's only 40$ for Kid.

 

James also suggested us a private tour for 200$!!

 

Please advise.

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We contacted Cosol to book a tour and he suggested since we have a Toddler with us we should go for a private taxi for 3 of us for 180$. He said People smoke a lot on Van/Bus so private Car will be better but it sounds expensive since I read on this forum it's only 40$ for Kid.

 

James also suggested us a private tour for 200$!!

 

Please advise.

Well - considering that Cosol's tour is $65pp and $40 for children (if that is indeed his child's price) then that comes to $170 for the day. At $180, a private taxi tour is not really that much more expensive - and you get to determine how long at each stop. However, you do have to factor in lunch and drinks and entrance fees if you go to some places with those. Even at that - it is not much for a fully private tour. Does James private tour include lunch and entrance fees, etc? At that - it would not be all that expensive then for a fully private tour for the 3 of you - if it included all the same things as a regular tour.

I can tell you - the price Cosol gave you for a taxi for the day is right on. Taxis are expensive. Sorry.

Not sure what to tell you - whether you will have smokers on your tour is really dependent on which day and the group in your tour. If that is a worry for you, then a private tour may be the way to go - or try to organize a tour on your roll call with other non-smokers. Or perhaps a boat tour - that way the smoke would blow out to sea. Or - if you take the cosol tour - ask any smokers to please wait for one of the many breaks. A bit harder on the way back as it is pretty much straight back to the ship.

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Thank you reedprincess. Appreciate your input.

 

Well - considering that Cosol's tour is $65pp and $40 for children (if that is indeed his child's price) then that comes to $170 for the day. At $180, a private taxi tour is not really that much more expensive - and you get to determine how long at each stop. However, you do have to factor in lunch and drinks and entrance fees if you go to some places with those. Even at that - it is not much for a fully private tour. Does James private tour include lunch and entrance fees, etc? At that - it would not be all that expensive then for a fully private tour for the 3 of you - if it included all the same things as a regular tour.

I can tell you - the price Cosol gave you for a taxi for the day is right on. Taxis are expensive. Sorry.

Not sure what to tell you - whether you will have smokers on your tour is really dependent on which day and the group in your tour. If that is a worry for you, then a private tour may be the way to go - or try to organize a tour on your roll call with other non-smokers. Or perhaps a boat tour - that way the smoke would blow out to sea. Or - if you take the cosol tour - ask any smokers to please wait for one of the many breaks. A bit harder on the way back as it is pretty much straight back to the ship.

Edited by travel@2012
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  • 3 weeks later...

What an absolutely beautiful island. It was so lush and green with all sorts of different flora. I think the neatest thing about this island was that if there was anything you needed, you could find it along the roadside. We had booked the Soufriere Island Tour with James. James was easy to find with his Steeler colors and met us right outside the gate. We hopped inside his van and were off to see the island. James made mention that he wanted to change up the tour a little bit as there were quite a number of other land tours heading out and he wanted to make sure we didn't end up in a large group at the volcano. We had no clue to what he was talking about, but we put our faith in James and were not disappointed. Now, we have taken a number of island tours through our nine cruises, but none like this. James is a most gracious and humble man that truly loves his island and is proud to show it to you. He is very attentive to his guests and goes out of his way to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves...you'll see what I mean a little later on in this review. We made our way out of downtown and James explained to us that if wanted to do any shopping with the roadside vendors that he would give us a wink if the price was right. Our first stop was a view overlooking the bay where they filmed "Pirates of the Caribbean".

DSCN6882.jpg

 

 

After a few photos we moved on to a banana plantation where James explained how each banana plant will only yield one bunch of bananas, why they put blue bags over the bunches (no, it's not because these are the boy bananas) and introduced us to banana ketchup.

 

DSCN6893.jpg

 

 

As we made our way to the volcano, James picked us fresh bananas, bought some fresh Kasava Bread,

 

 

 

DSCN6910.jpg

 

 

 

literally jumped to pick us some cashew nuts

DSCN6912.jpg

 

 

 

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(no wonder they are so expensive), bought us some hot baked bread then stopped for fresh cinnamon, cocoa and tried to find some red bananas for us to try. James explained to us why the Caribbean is called the Caribbean and introduced us to a gentleman called a Caribe. Remember this event because later on you'll see why we think James is such a gracious man. As we cruised along the road, James pointed out how we needed to be careful of scams and pointed to a man handling a snake. He explained how he goes out grabs the first snake he sees and holds his neck so tight the snake feels like it is being choked. He went on to explain how this is not safe for guests nor the snake. James introduced us to Patrick. Patrick is a nine foot long boa constrictor who is just a pussy cat. He'll hang around your neck, just relaxing and will bring his head up when you say "picture".

DSCN6906.jpg

 

 

Continue...

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James asked us to close our eyes and not to open them until he said to. Once he did, we caught our first glimpse of the Pitons. Breath taking...simply breath taking.

 

DSCN6926.jpg

 

We arrived at the drive-in volcano (James paid for our admission) where we met our guide, Felipe. There was only seven of us in our group and we got a very nice tour of the volcano. Yes, the sulfur smell is strong, but after a while you tend not to notice it. There are some steep steps to get into and out of the volcano, but there are outlooks with benches for those that can't make it.

 

DSCN6932.jpg

 

As we made our way out of the volcano, we saw what James had been talking about. There was a group of about 30-40 people straining to hear their guide explain the volcano and what they were looking at. We met back up with James and headed back down the road to our lunch stop. The road was very winding and my sister-in-law started to get car sick. No problem for James. He stopped along the way, picked some leaves, washed them, mashed them up and told her to eat them. A few minutes later, no car sickness and an educational experience. We arrived at La Haut for lunch which was a buffet provided by the hotel. There was salad with fresh onion dressing, fried green bananas, yucca, lentils, Caribbean chicken, Dorado fish, rice, fresh mango juice and passion fruit cake with ice cream. James had a cooler stocked full of drinks (he asked us if we had any special requests when we booked the tour with him), so we broke open a few Piton beers. My daughter had time to play in the garden while we got some great photos of the Pitons. We made our way back into town and stopped off at the bakery again where James bought us the bread. James stopped back by the old Caribe man we had met earlier and gave his wife the bread. It was a very touching moment to see how happy this lady was to receive just some bread and bestowed a blessing on James and us. We haggled with the roadside vendors for some necklaces and other trinkets and James helped us as he said he would. We arrived back at the port and said good bye to James, but not before snapping the mandatory picture with James.

 

DSCN6968.jpg

 

This was one of the best tours we had ever taken. It is done at your pace and James will go out of his way to make sure you see what you want to see if you have any special requests. If you are ever in St. Lucia, be sure to catch up with James.

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  • 1 month later...

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