Spencer's Or Herod's Land, Sea & Beach

I am trying to decide between Spencer's or Herod's Land, Sea and Beach Adventure Tour. They both seem pretty similar. Can anyone provide any feedback to help make our decision?

I can only speak to the staff at Spencer Ambrose as we opted to do just the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break tour with them a couple weeks ago, but their staff are absolutely top notch. They were super friendly, entertaining, helpful the whole day, etc. My husband and I don't like to spend a lot of time in a car when we're on vacation, even when that car is taking us somewhere scenic and we're seeing things along the way, so we really preferred Spencer's boat ride along the coast. At most, it was 30 minutes to the beach and 30 minutes back. We got to see plenty of sites along the way by boat (all the stuff listed in the tour description you asked about). We could have opted to go to the volcano or mud baths on the beach tour for a small extra fee, but we just wanted to snorkel, so that's what we did =) And the lunch provided was delicious! I honestly don't remember what most of it was because it wasn't stuff you find in the States, other than jerked chicken, but it was all wonderful!

I'm sorry that's not really specific feedback on the tours themselves, but just an opinion on staff and food. I honestly think you'll probably be happy with either company as I've heard nothing but positives about both and St. Lucia is positively lovely.

I am trying to decide between Spencer's or Herod's Land, Sea and Beach Adventure Tour. They both seem pretty similar. Can anyone provide any feedback to help make our decision?

Having only done Herod's tour quite a few years ago, I can't speak to Spencer's first hand, having never toured with him. However, I have also read lots of reviews of both, so I feel I can give a fair comparison.

I believe that one would be pleased taking either tour, as both operators/owners have solid reputations of being quite friendly and informative tour guides.

Some cruise visitors(especially 1st timers to St. Lucia) are most interested in going to Jalousie Beach. TBH (and this is my own opinion), while the scenery IS indeed pretty neat being tucked between the towering Pitons, and it has been sort of labeled as a must-see/'bucket list" destination on St Lucia, the actual beach(especially when crowded due to other touring cruise visitors) is rather simply OK to state the least. The snorkeling is alright, but far from spectacular, and the amenities there are pretty minimal. It's really mostly about the unique view and perhaps to be able to claim that "one has been there before".

My wife and I do enjoy some beach time, but we're usually good for 3-4 hours, rarely wanting to spend a whole day in port lounging at a beach. IMHO, Jalousie is a spot absolutely worth seeing, but I doubt I would want to spend an entire day in port there.

That stated, Spencer does offer a tour that involves taking a (speed boat) water-taxi to/from Jalousie and/or with options to do side tours to various locations around Soufriere/Pitons. This choice may be a desirable option for those that have already taken the land portion of a St. Lucia tour previously, and for those who may want to spend the bulk of their time at Jalousie beach.

Herod's Land and Sea tour involves driving in a van for 1-1 1/2 hours down the coast, w/ quick stops at various locations for vistas/photo ops, a banana farm, the Toraille waterfall/botanical gardens, the volcano, fresh baked bread/Johnny cakes, rum punch, beers, beverages w/ a 1 1/2-2 hour stop at Jalousie and what I believe to be the real highlight of his tour -- a stop at his mother's house for a home-cooked Creole Lunch. The tour ends with the speedboat trip back up the coast back to one's ship.

While we took Herod's tour quite a few years ago, we fondly remember it as having been a fun-filled day w/variety for a good value.

So, as I stated above, I've also read very good reports about Spencer's tour(s). It really would come down to a choice of what one wants their tour to include, as either operator provides a great option for the day in St. Lucia.

We were just on a cruise this past September that had a stop in St. Lucia. We did Spencer Ambrose's "Land, Sea, and Beach Adventure". We chose Spencer Ambrose since we had done their "Jalousie Beach Break" in 2013 while on another cruise stop.

On the "Land, Sea, and Beach Adventure", we met and were organized into separate groups for each of Spencer's tours (they offer several). From there, we went directly from our ship by speedboat to Soufrier where we got into air conditioned vans for the Land portion of the tour.

I found out through others that Spencer does this since getting to Soufrier by speedboat is quicker and when you get to the sightseeing stops, you're getting there before many of the other tours that drive from port to those sites. We visited Sulphur Springs Park, where you have a choice of touring the drive-in volcano or doing the mud baths. Both are highly rated, but we chose the volcano, well, since we wanted to see it. From there we went to an overlook that overlooked Petit Piton where we were given plenty of time for pictures. Our next stop was Touraille Waterfall and Gardens and were given plenty of time there. Our next stop was a banana farm. From there we went to Jalousie Beach, the beach between the Pitons" and had a homemade Creole lunch on the beach (lunch isn't always on the beach, I'm sure that depends on the number of people on each of the tours). The food was delicious. We also had about 2 and a half hours to spend at Jalousie beach, which allowed plenty of time to snorkel and enjoy the beach. The snorkeling here is the best we've ever seen, colorful corals and a variety of fish.

From the beach back to the ship is where we had the "Sea Tour", with several stops at points of interest and photo opportunities. Unlimited beverages are provided (water, coke, diet coke, Piton Beer and rum punch).

We got back to the ship with plenty of time to spare. I would definitely recommend them.

We did Herod's tour on Wednesday of last week, and it was the highlight of our week. The trip from Castries to Soufriere was punctuated by regular stops for photots, bananas etc, as well as the mud baths which were excellent.

The lunch at his mom's was probably our favourite meal of the week.

The waterfall dip was invigourating, and the stop on Jalouise Beach was lovely.

There was a group from Spencer's Tours there already, and they seemed to be having a ball.

I would have no problem recommending Herod to anyone.

I am trying to decide between Spencer's or Herod's Land, Sea and Beach Adventure Tour. They both seem pretty similar. Can anyone provide any feedback to help make our decision?

We did Herods land and sea it was a BIG RIP OFF stay away from the bush league operation...Boats what a joke we were in a Banana boat... should I say anymore...dont do it trust me!

Just say "NO" to Herod and his tours.

I was also on the Norwegian Getaway 12 night cruise. We looked forward to the highly regarded Herod's Island Tours. One of our fellow cruisers booked a tour with Herod for a group of 40 for November 6, 2015.

The morning we met Herod and Co. for the tour was raining heavily off and on. We all proceeded on the tour as normal as Herod never mentioned that the conditions could lead to some dangerous water levels at the mud baths and the ocean levels.

Our group was put onto 2 tour vans, and Herod himself was the guide on our vehicle.

We proceeded to the Banana farm, stopped in the rain and Herod brought bananas on board our motor coach for sampling. The rain continued through Soufriere where we stopped for photos. Continuing onto the Toraille Waterfall, a Heritage Toursism site, we found it to be closed due to flooding. Next up on the tour was the famous "drive-through volcano" - where we could not see a thing due to heavy rain. I guess you are seeing a pattern here.

We were then let loose to explore the mud baths. We were not guided or advised of how severely flooded the baths were. We were not told of the unevenness of the rock formations or the retaining walls around the baths, which we could not see due to the heavy mud and continuing rainfall.

Needless to say there were several people, including myself, who fell into the mud because we could not see the drop-offs in the mud pool area.

It was extremely dangerous, especially for people like me, 58 yrs old, who went there for the "relaxing experience and therapeutic benefits" so often talked about, and instead found ourselves slipping, sliding and tripping over the flooded and unseen concrete formations.

We were somewhat shell shocked going back to the bus, and thinking about it now am surprised that Herod and/or his associates did not use common sense and cancel or at least warn us about the circumstances.

We then went to lunch at his Momma's house. We asked for uncooked rice and a Baggie to place my Galaxys6 phone into to try to revive it after Herod's associate dropped my phone Into the mud! No apologies for her mistake. No reimbursement for dead phone.

Meanwhile the rain continued to fall.

After another drive we were passed off to his boat operators for the "sea" portion of the tour.

The ride to the Pitons wasn't bad, even though the rain felt like needles as we cruised to Jalousie/Sugar beach. After approx 40 mins it was time for the return boat ride.

This is when our tour became downright frightening and dangerous to all.

At one point, after a woman twisted her neck from the fast, rough ride, the crew said they had to go fast or the boat would capsize. Many of us ended up bruised and weary.

If the sea conditions were so bad, why didn't they arrange alternate transportation back on land? Why did Herod and his boat operators expose over 40 people to such danger?

You can google weather conditions for Nov. 6, 2015 in St. Lucia, Castries and find reports of severe flooding, accidents and even a death due to the severe conditions.

HEROD, never again.

HEROD, never again.

Did any of the other tour operators (that offer similar Land&Sea tours) cancel their tours that day?

I don't know what the others tour operators did, I speak from my experience with Herod.

I have read that those on tours in St. Lucia that day, Nov 6, 2015, and who booked directly with NCL received partial refunds so that is a clue that their tours were not completed.

I would like to expand on my input for this thread. We just returned from a sailing that included St. Lucia.

Being in port on a Sunday, initially I was unsure of what to do for our day on the island. My thinking was that we would check out and self tour the Pigeon Point/Rodney Bay/Reduit Beach area.

When we arrived, the sky was absolutely clear, and it looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day on the island. So upon disembarking from the ship, I quickly adapted our plans and sought out Spenser as an option to take us down to the Pitons. The last time we were in St. Lucia, the day was pretty overcast and it rained some, so I thought it would be neat to see the area again with a beautiful weather day in store.

I found one of Spenser's helpers with a sign and negotiated a price to join his speedboat (RT) tour to Jalouise (w/ lunch and drinks included).

It was an excellent day. Being the earliest tour to the beach, we had first choice of the public beach chairs available. The snorkeling area was a lot better than I remembered it from before. Lunch was tasty and Spenser's helpers were very friendly and accommodating - also keeping the beers and rum punch flowing.

On the way back to the ship, the speed boat slowed many times allowing for a coastal tour - which included pulling into Marigot Bay and views of the celebrities' homes that are perched above. (The last time we were there, the sea conditions were a little rougher and we mostly jetted straight back to port.)

(Keeping in mind that weather/conditions are a variable that can't be controlled by tour operators) Obviously aided by the excellent weather, our day was 5 star!

I can absolutely recommend Spenser and his tour (along with Herod's Land & Sea offering) as great way(s) to spend the day in port at St. Lucia. .