st. kitts private tours

Hi-We are sailing on the Emerald Princess in February and I'm not to impressed with the ship's excursions so I'm looking for some input on private tours that are reliable. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

check out the roll call for princess grand 2/14 several posters rave about the st kitts to nevis sailaway.

Hi-We are sailing on the Emerald Princess in February and I'm not to impressed with the ship's excursions so I'm looking for some input on private tours that are reliable. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

You can check previous posts on the St Kitts forum.

Enjoy!!!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=428

We took a private tour with Thenford Grey tours and it was excellent. There were so many from our CC boards that it took three medium tour vans for all of us. OUr guide was wonderful he even included som home made goodies made by his wife and drinks (bottled water/soda) for everyone. I highly recommend him. I use a wheelchair for tours and he was very accomodating even though everyone else did not (expecially at the fort).

It is a very interesting island with an amazing history.

our tour was about 4 hours long, we chose not to go to the beach as it was a very hot day, so he took all those that did not want to go to the beach back to the ship and then on to the beach with others.

We took this tour last Feb 2010 when on the Grand Princess.

Thanks so much for the responses, I'm looking into Thenford Grey now!

How would a firs timer choose a private tour operator? By recomendation or by instinct

A first timer needs to research their options just like a veteran. Read the comments on the ports of call boards here on cruise critic. Join the roll call for your cruise also here on cruise critic. Read the tour descriptions from the cruise line. Of course keep your own likes and dislikes in mind as you review your options. If you don't like swimming/sunning then a beach day no matter how well done is not for you. For example, we are not shoppers so a tour that offers an hour or more of shop time will not be at the top of our list for what to do. We also like to mix it up a little, one day we might like beautiful vistas, the next some history and finally some relaxation. Basically you need to do what you like to do.

Try Ilva Wallace, she is wonderful.

We toured with Royston Tours. A full day with snacks, covered the entire island, great commentary and just 12 folks so lots of interaction. Look him up on the internet and you will also find great comments from lots of folks. Best of any of the various island tours we have ever taken

HI We used a company run by Rosevelt Taylor called St Kitts Paradise Tours. They are on the web. We had a personalised tour (just the two of us with Anthny who works with Rosevelt) faultless, luxury car, air con etc. We had him for the whole day and he took us wherever we wanted to go. Much better than an organised tour. May cost a bit more than the $20 tours but well worth it. Highly recommended.

If you are reasonably active and want something a bit different, I highly recommend Javin. His tours give you the "drive around the island" thing, but he does a few stops that are a bit unique. He takes you down into the black rocks to get photos at the water, rain forest hikes ending in pristine mountain pools, and he can change his tours around depending on what you do or don't like to do.

I can't say enough about him...he prefers relatively intimate tours...for us, it was just the 3 of us for the entire day. The added bonus that he brings his own camera and posts photos of your day on his Shutterfly account for you to download at your leisure (without a charge) is an added plus.

He is quick to respond by e-mail, carries a Blackberry, and provides some of the best customer service I've ever had on a tour. You can't go wrong...St. Kitts was a different island when touring with Javin. You can find him by doing a web search for Myislandtours and Javin.

I second the Javin recommendation! It was our BEST tour of our cruise....you have to be up for adventure and you will surely have a wonderful time.

He also takes a TON of pictures uploads him to his site and you can download them for free...just an added bonus! http://myislandstours.shutterfly.com/

We toured with Royston Tours. A full day with snacks, covered the entire island, great commentary and just 12 folks so lots of interaction. Look him up on the internet and you will also find great comments from lots of folks. Best of any of the various island tours we have ever taken

Agreed! Just responded to an OP on another thread - see below please:

My sister and I went with Royston when visiting St. Kitts in November. We can't even begin to express how pleased we were with him. There were 6 people on the tour, which was wonderful because we were all able to visit with him and he was able to find out what each of us wanted out of the tour and customize it to our liking. We went to the fort, the batik factory and snorkled in a somewhat remote area. Our fee to Royston included the entrance cost to the fort as well as lunch and drinks. Royston toured us all around the island and even drove us by his home. He is very humble and very eager to please. His prices can't be beat! Everyone on the tour told him that he need to increase his prices due to the exceptional quality of his tour.

We would book with him again without question.

Couple of more votes here too and HUGE thumbs up! You summarized it pretty well! And that complimentary lunch - oh, boy!

 

Photo albums and video clips from our wonderful experience with Royston this past December (Island Tour, Holiday cruise - 12.28.2011):

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: driving from Basseterre (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

- Video:

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: Wingfield Estate visit (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: Caribelle Batik visit at Romney Manor (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

- Video: http://youtu.be/pX7_KN8zg88

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: Brimstone Hill Fortress visit (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: Dieppe Bay Point (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: visiting a Fishing village (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: Black Rocks, Atlantic Coast (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

- Video:

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: driving along the Atlantic Coast (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: delicious lunch in Basseterre (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

- Video:

*** Veggie wrap also available (we stopped at different location to get it)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: driving by South Friars Bay (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: Cockleshell Beach & water sports; snorkeling (Wednesday 12.28.2011)

 

 

Photos: Royston Tours of St. Kitts: ending Island Tour in Port Zante (Wed 12.28.2011)

 

 

Enjoy!

I also recommend Javin from myislandstours!!! He is very knowledgeable and made the day fun and he really looked out for us!!

We took a tour with Royston in January. I booked in advance via his website, roystontours@hotmail.com ,there were four adults and we had the full minibus to ourselves. We had a fantastic day, saw all the main highlights plus a few more then had lunch and time on beach. The photo opportunities were fantastic and the bus windows pull back if you don't want to keep getting on and off. Royston is very patient and relaxed and is a safe and confident driver. He is very knowledgeable happy to answer any questions, we all had agreed it was one of the best cruise days we've in 10 years of cruising

HI We used a company run by Rosevelt Taylor called St Kitts Paradise Tours. They are on the web. We had a personalised tour (just the two of us with Anthny who works with Rosevelt) faultless, luxury car, air con etc. We had him for the whole day and he took us wherever we wanted to go. Much better than an organised tour. May cost a bit more than the $20 tours but well worth it. Highly recommended.

What kind of "luxury car"?

Just got back yesterday and want to quickly post my review of Rose & Jim's Taxi & Tour Service so others can be aware of this great service. Rose was our guide for the day. You could not ask for a warmer, more knowledgeable guide. Jim grew up on the island and Rose has been there for 29 years. They have been in this business for just that long, too! It was so obvious how well known and well liked Rose is as we toured around the island. It was like visiting with your grandmother for the day. (She is a grandmother several times over so I know she won’t take offense at this! :D)

Rose and Jim only schedule one tour per day so you are not pressed for time if you run late. My wife and I got off the ship to meet Rose at the appointed time while our parents were running a bit late. Unfortunately, another ship was about to dock and the port authority shuts down the pier. No one could get off our ship until the other ship was safely tied up. It was not a problem for Rose and our time table.

We did the Island Tour and Cockleshell Beach tour which you can read all about on their website. Rose is willing to stop whenever you want to take photos and is always pointing out something of interest. You go through several towns and Rose is quick with some facts about each.

All in all, it was a grand day with one of the best guides we have had in our cruises. You know it was a good experience when there are hugs all around to end the day!

I also recommend Javin from myislandstours!!! He is very knowledgeable and made the day fun and he really looked out for us!!

We toured with Javin a couple of weeks ago and loved our day!

We will be in port from 8 til 6. Is it possible to all this -

Brimstone Fortress

Caribelle Batik

Nevis - island

Cockleshell Beach

Frigate Bay

in that time frame? and is there one company that "does it all?"

thanks

We've toured with both Javin and Thenford Grey, very different tours and recommend both of them.

Just got back yesterday and want to quickly post my review of Rose & Jim's Taxi & Tour Service so others can be aware of this great service. Rose was our guide for the day. You could not ask for a warmer, more knowledgeable guide. Jim grew up on the island and Rose has been there for 29 years. They have been in this business for just that long, too! It was so obvious how well known and well liked Rose is as we toured around the island. It was like visiting with your grandmother for the day. (She is a grandmother several times over so I know she won’t take offense at this! :D)

 

Rose and Jim only schedule one tour per day so you are not pressed for time if you run late. My wife and I got off the ship to meet Rose at the appointed time while our parents were running a bit late. Unfortunately, another ship was about to dock and the port authority shuts down the pier. No one could get off our ship until the other ship was safely tied up. It was not a problem for Rose and our time table.

 

We did the Island Tour and Cockleshell Beach tour which you can read all about on their website. Rose is willing to stop whenever you want to take photos and is always pointing out something of interest. You go through several towns and Rose is quick with some facts about each.

 

All in all, it was a grand day with one of the best guides we have had in our cruises. You know it was a good experience when there are hugs all around to end the day!

Could not have described it any better. Six of us booked with Rose via e-mail and had her all to ourselves for the day for this same tour on 2-11-12. What a charming and delightful lady.

We just got back from st.kitts. We did an amazing tour from Lorenzo. He took us through the entire island. He was very knowledgable about everything. I highly recommend him. We emailed him ahead of time and he met us at the port with a sign held up with our name. You can contact him by email at lorenzo5177@hotmail.com.

You will not be disappointed.

Enjoy

We just got back from st.kitts. We did an amazing tour from Lorenzo. He took us through the entire island. He was very knowledgable about everything. I highly recommend him. We emailed him ahead of time and he met us at the port with a sign held up with our name. You can contact him by email at lorenzo5177@hotmail.com.

 

You will not be disappointed.

 

Enjoy

does he have a website?

We just returned from our cruise today and booked with Welcome Tours (Beulah Mills) and recommend it. http://tourstkittsandnevis.com/?page_id=2

There were 8 of us from our roll call who chose the Full Island Tour and another 8-10 from our roll call who chose the Highlights Tour. I was one of the people on the Full Island Tour. We drove around the ENTIRE island (68 miles), led by York, our driver. I think he may have been a native of the island but I'm not positive. We stopped at Romney Manor, the Batik Factory, the Wingfield Estate, Palms Court Garden (for only $10/pp you can use this house/resort all day -- infinity pool, lounge chairs, amid a tranquil setting up on the hill overlooking the ship down below -- this is what we'll do next time since we've now had the full island tour!), saw the black beaches and lava rocks, heard the history of Basseterre, and stopped at the Ottley Plantation. If I were to do it all over again, I would plan to have lunch at the Ottley Plantation as we were only there for 20 minutes. If we had planned for lunch advance, we could have stayed there for an hour.

The entire full island tour only cost us $38/pp. Beulah greeted us at the end of the tour and thanked us each with hugs, the same way she greeted us at the start of the tour. Note that if you have less than 4 people in your group, you might be waiting for the van to fill. It's best to put your group together in advance and you'll be on your way!

I think I have narrowed it down to Royston or Javin.

I like that with Javin, we will spending some time in the rain forest, skipping the fort(we will see the forts in san juan), snorkeling, and it appears to be a smaller scale group, so far just the two of us.

I like that Royston's fee is about half, that he seems to get to everything on the island...he stated we would get to the rain forest, but I don't know how much we will get to see.

Does anyone have any pointers as to which one would be better?

I like the idea of trying local food, seeing everything we can, doing something a little different such as the rainforest hike, possibly a volcano, snorkeling...

and what is the Batik? not sure if this is something I'd be interested in..