Best way to experience St. Lucia for the first time?

My family of four (myself, my husband and our two 13 year old girls) will be on Adventure of the Seas in April. We have not been to St. Lucia before and hear fabulous things.

We'd love advice from others who have been there on the best way to spend the day. We plan to snorkel and do a boat tour (eco tour) in Antigua so we can skip similar here. And we plan to do a 4x4 green monkey tour in Barbados.

Things we are considering for St. Lucia:

• Island Tour to sulfur springs, volcano, etc...
  
• Tree top adventures - ziplining
  
• St. Lucia tram ride thru thr forest
  
• Other - tell us what we missed that we may want...
  

Look forward to your feedback. It seems there are some great tour operators here too - so tell us your favs. Thanks!

Best way to see the highlights of the island, including Pitons, volcano, etc, is with a land and sea tour. Barefoot Holidays, Serenity TVL, Solar Tours and Travel, Real St Lucia Tours, Herods, etc can all put this together for you. Land down the coast, spectacular views, etc volcano, waterfall, a little beach time and sea back for bat cave, lady slipper rock arch, Marigot Bay, etc.

For a first visit to the island, any tour that takes you to the Pitons is a must!

I'm interested to hear if you do the tram ride. We are considering doing that.

Aerial tram is a slow ride through the rainforest, it has beautiful views and very informative, perfect for nature lovers. I suggest adding the zip line and doing a combo tour. It would be a great addition for your girls.

I am interested in this advice too. We are going to be in St. Lucia on 4/1. Wondering about seeing whales this time of year? Hoping this info is helpful to the original poster.

Thanks for any info.

Would also like more information on tours will be on RCI Adventures of the Sea

We did the land and sea tour many years ago. It was beautiful. The second half was a catamaran that stopped right at the base of the Pitons. It was beautiful. On the bus part we stopped at Diamond Falls. It was raining, but the sun came out for a minute and it was gorgeous! I highly recommend it!

Is there a tour company that anyone recommends? Should I book in advance? Does anyone have a website I should book through?

Thanks so much for your help!!!!

We were in St. Lucia on April 1. It was the best stop on our 11 night cruise. We went with Spencer Ambrose. The Jalousie beach break was amazing! Highly highly recommend. Request to be in Terry's tour. Best guide we have ever had. Enjoy! It's a beautiful island.

http://Www.spencerambrose.com

Surprised that Cosol tours hasn't been mentioned yet. Check out their website. Do a search for them on this forum.

We went with them a couple of years ago and plan to again this fall.

My family and I did a tour with James' Touring Service, James' Tours is a premiere touring company in St.Lucia. I would highly recommend him. He's the best!

Here's the link to his website:

http://www.jamestouringservice.com

:)

we have done Cosols tour and Rodneys boat tour. Both were awesome. Cosols tour was on a van & rodneys on a small boat, both ended up at the Pitons and at what used to be Jalouise now called Sugar beach. Both were equally incredible yet somewhat different. I dont think you would go wrong choosing either

My family did the TreeTop Adventure two years ago and had a great time! We booked directly on their website which was less expensive than booking through a tour. they provided transportion, met us at the port in an air conditioned van with an enjoyable tour guide. This was our first time zip lining, it was fun and easy to learn. Another family with us have ziplined at many islands including Hawaii and said that this was their favorite course.

We LOVED Spencer Ambrose's Land, Sea, and Beach tour. You get to see the land highlights (mud baths, waterfall, and volcano) without a long, nauseating drive. The snorkeling at the beach is really good, too, or at least it was on the day we went. The crew is just hilarious and made the tour for us. I can't imagine a better crew.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the land, sea and beach tour because I have it booked for our upcoming March cruise. I was a bit nervous doing a seven-hour tour with an independent vendor, but Spencer gets mostly positive reviews and says he always gets you back to your ship on time :D did you have much time to relax on the beach? Did you do the mud bath?

We did the land and sea tour many years ago. It was beautiful. The second half was a catamaran that stopped right at the base of the Pitons. It was beautiful. On the bus part we stopped at Diamond Falls. It was raining, but the sun came out for a minute and it was gorgeous! I highly recommend it!

For a first timer the Land & Sea is worth doing ... once!

The catamaran excursions going to the Pitons with a beach stop suit

us better now. We enjoy St. Lucia more from the water than driving around on land. ;)

LuLu

Glad to hear you enjoyed the land, sea and beach tour because I have it booked for our upcoming March cruise. I was a bit nervous doing a seven-hour tour with an independent vendor, but Spencer gets mostly positive reviews and says he always gets you back to your ship on time :D did you have much time to relax on the beach? Did you do the mud bath?

I would say that we had about an hour and a half on the beach. It seemed like plenty of time to me. We ate lunch, took our time snorkeling, and still had some time to relax. We did do the mud baths. They were fun! Spencer got us there before the bulk of the crowd. So, we didn't have to wait in line. It was definitely a unique experience. The crew makes it the best.

My family did the TreeTop Adventure two years ago and had a great time! We booked directly on their website which was less expensive than booking through a tour. they provided transportion, met us at the port in an air conditioned van with an enjoyable tour guide. This was our first time zip lining, it was fun and easy to learn. Another family with us have ziplined at many islands including Hawaii and said that this was their favorite course.

Did you book direct at Rainforest Adventure? I cannot see, if they arrange the transportaion, too....we are arriving with the Jewel otS and RCI only offers the Aerial Tram and NOT Aerial Tram AND Ziplining

Thanks, Summer

Did you book direct at Rainforest Adventure? I cannot see, if they arrange the transportaion, too....we are arriving with the Jewel otS and RCI only offers the Aerial Tram and NOT Aerial Tram AND Ziplining

 

 

Thanks, Summer

In case you are still wondering, I booked this directly with Rainforest Adventures recently via email. Roundtrip transportation is $80 for 1-4 people, and they reduced the tour price by $10/person to $85.

the day we were in St. Lucia, was a rainy, gray, cold day..

Yuk, yuk, yuk..

I was very disappointed in the Volcano, not worth the money to see it...

and the mud bath...lol

we didn't do the beach, due to the weather, guess that would have been Great...

but.... we did do a tour.....

Did you book direct at Rainforest Adventure? I cannot see, if they arrange the transportaion, too....we are arriving with the Jewel otS and RCI only offers the Aerial Tram and NOT Aerial Tram AND Ziplining

 

 

Thanks, Summer

We were there in 2013 and transportation from the pier was included in the price. At that time, I was able to book directly on their website: Treetop Adventures. It looks like they handle their bookings through a larger site now, adventuretoursstlucia. We have been to St.Lucia three times, and this was our favorite excursion (other tours: land tour thru RCCL and catamaran snorkel tour thru Mystic Man)

Best way to see the highlights of the island, including Pitons, volcano, etc, is with a land and sea tour. Barefoot Holidays, Serenity TVL, Solar Tours and Travel, Real St Lucia Tours, Herods, etc can all put this together for you. Land down the coast, spectacular views, etc volcano, waterfall, a little beach time and sea back for bat cave, lady slipper rock arch, Marigot Bay, etc.

For a first visit to the island, any tour that takes you to the Pitons is a must!

Will anyone of these tour groups put together a 'land and sea' tour for you? Need advice! Haven't been to St. Lucia, but will port there on a cruise, so I need to do it all in one day!

Ellen

We did the land and sea tour many years ago. It was beautiful. The second half was a catamaran that stopped right at the base of the Pitons. It was beautiful. On the bus part we stopped at Diamond Falls. It was raining, but the sun came out for a minute and it was gorgeous! I highly recommend it!

What tour company did you use for your land and sea tour?

Ellen

Will anyone of these tour groups put together a 'land and sea' tour for you? Need advice! Haven't been to St. Lucia, but will port there on a cruise, so I need to do it all in one day!

Ellen

Yes, all or any of them can put together a land/sea tour for you and many of them already offer a combo tour.... So, check in with them.

We visited St. Lucia recently on a cruise and really enjoyed it. Together with two other couples that we met on the ship, we hired a fellow with a van at the dock to take us on a 4 hour tour. It was great. As you can see, St.Lucia is a very beautiful island: http://Saint-Lucia.ca