Gordon Finch or Leston Lawrence

Anyone used either of the two tour guides recently? If so, how was your tour? Thank you.

We just used Leston Lawrence "Lawrence of Antigua" last week with a group of 15. We did the land tour with beach extension (he took us to Valley Church Beach). We really enjoyed the tour. Lawrence is professional, answered all my questions promptly, has a wonderful van that is spotless, roomy and great air conditioning and took us to all the key sights of Antigua. I would use him again in a heartbeat and also refer clients to him as well. You will really enjoy a tour with Lawrence. I highly recommend him!

Anyone used either of the two tour guides recently? If so, how was your tour? Thank you.

We toured with Gordon and I vote for him. We were very pleased. We had considered Lawrence and met him at the dock as he thought he was going to show us around and had failed to check his emails from me canceling him. Lets just say Gordon was a gentleman. :)

We toured with Gordon last week and he showed us a great time! We saw Devil's bridge, Shirley Heights, Nelson's Dockyard, and the Block House. We had a rainy day and decided not to go swimming so we made just a short stop at a beautiful beach..Dickinson, maybe?

Gordon was a lot of fun, singing lots of songs to us and asking about our lives in the US...he is a great guy! I would tour with him again in a heartbeat!

lauri

We just used Leston Lawrence "Lawrence of Antigua" last week with a group of 15. We did the land tour with beach extension (he took us to Valley Church Beach). We really enjoyed the tour. Lawrence is professional, answered all my questions promptly, has a wonderful van that is spotless, roomy and great air conditioning and took us to all the key sights of Antigua. I would use him again in a heartbeat and also refer clients to him as well. You will really enjoy a tour with Lawrence. I highly recommend him!

We toured with Lawrence just 3 weeks ago and had a wonderful tour. We toured all the areas of importance on the island and highly recommend him

I toured with Gordon and did NOT think much of the island, was glad when the "tour" ended.

This was last sept

I didn't like all the vendors at Valley church

I live in a very tropical area and I found most of Antiqua to be boring and pretty "fugly">> Lots of burglar bars if you like that

We toured with Lawrence last week and at the end of the tour he really grumped at my husband when his water bottle leaked a small puddle on the vinyl floor of his van. Mr. Lawrence thought it was beer and went on and on. His van is very clean-- the front seats were wrapped in plastic. But this interaction left us leaving in a hurry, without tipping at the end. It was a tiny quarter-sized puddle of water, which my DH cleaned up quickly.

I agree with the other poster that parts of Antigua are very poor and not pretty. But the island is worth seeing. I personally would chose another guide next time.

Did Lawrence do what he promised? Yes.

Did he know the island? Yes.

Was the tour reasonably priced? Yes.

Was he personable and friendly? IMHO, not really.

We toured with Lawrence last week and at the end of the tour he really grumped at my husband when his water bottle leaked a small puddle on the vinyl floor of his van. Mr. Lawrence thought it was beer and went on and on. His van is very clean-- the front seats were wrapped in plastic. But this interaction left us leaving in a hurry, without tipping at the end. It was a tiny quarter-sized puddle of water, which my DH cleaned up quickly.

I agree with the other poster that parts of Antigua are very poor and not pretty. But the island is worth seeing. I personally would chose another guide next time.

Did Lawrence do what he promised? Yes.

Did he know the island? Yes.

Was the tour reasonably priced? Yes.

Was he personable and friendly? IMHO, not really.

I also did not have a good experience with Lawrence. We went on a tour with him a week and a half ago. He moved us around to 3 different groups. Then told us we hadn't booked with him. When I showed him my name on his list he told me I didn't go where he told me to go. Gee! I went to the 3 different places he sent me, then blamed me.

He sent another group to one of the other vans. Then told them they didn't listen to him and sent them to our van. They were also not happy how he talked to them. He just seems to lose his cool and then blames the customer. Not a good way to start a tour.

Sharon

Gordon had told me my group would be on one van but when we got there some had to go in another van with his ? brother or cousin or whoever

We never saw the statue of the Prime Minister guy or the "fruit market" that is listed on his page. We went to Shirley Heights...lovely

but then had to lag around and look at the little flea market and have the vendors hassle us

The "Interpretation Center" was closed that day so that was another bust

we rode on bumpy roads, saw poor people and dogs and burglar bars and it looked like Central Florida, not tropical at all...my backyard looks more tropical. It was boring except for some heart pounding moments when other vehicles looked like they were heading towards us. We stopped at more tourist stands/traps.

Went to Nelson's Dockyard...$12 extra....it was ok, a few guys in my group who were in the Navy years ago seemed to enjoy it the most..it was just OK>>> I personally have no real fascination with the British Colonial Navy but oh well

Gordon bought us water and after Nelsons brought like an order of chicken wings each person got 2 of them, and some little corn cakes or something...hardly a feast or treats IMHO

then Valley Church Beach...expensive food , bad greasy food, and lots more vendors in your face...I had some conch fritters and had him take us back enough of Antiqua for me

That was Sept 2012...this April I visited Antiqua again and went to Coconut Beach Club. It was $4 each way including tip...and yeah we saw the Statue of the Prime Minister, pretty cool...we saw the "markets" (dingy and not worth it) just on the way to the Beach Club. It was a short ride and the beach club was heaven, all food and drink and lots of drinks, alcohol for $45 total, loungers, pool, towels...wonderful day

I would never do a "tour" of Antiqua again, nothing there to see, I would go to Coconut Beach club again in a heartbeat

Could someone please give me contact info or the web site for both tours? Thank you

We toured with Gordon last week and he showed us a great time! We saw Devil's bridge, Shirley Heights, Nelson's Dockyard, and the Block House. We had a rainy day and decided not to go swimming so we made just a short stop at a beautiful beach..Dickinson, maybe?

Gordon was a lot of fun, singing lots of songs to us and asking about our lives in the US...he is a great guy! I would tour with him again in a heartbeat!

lauri

Can you please give me contact info or a website? thank you

Can you please give me contact info or a website? thank you

Here is the link to Gordon's website:

http://www.tourguidegordon.com/

..and this is the link for Lawrence:

http://www.lawrenceofantigua.com/

Although not recent, we toured with Gordon in 2009 on his "Best of Paradise" Island Tour. This tour offered us insight into some of the main highlights Antigua has to offer. We saw the historic St. Barnabus Church in Liberta, Nelsons Dockyard, the Blockhouse, Shirley Heights (which offered us a panoramic view of English Harbour), beach time at Long Bay Beach and a final stop along the rugged east coast where Devils Bridge is located. Gordon was informative and friendly and we enjoyed our day with him. If you are interested to learn more details about our tour, check out my review with photos in this link:

(Posts #138-#143)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1038334&page=7

I have also put together a YouTube video of our day with Gordon. You can view this by clicking on the link below:

Here is the link to Gordon's website:

http://www.tourguidegordon.com/

 

..and this is the link for Lawrence:

http://www.lawrenceofantigua.com/

 

 

Although not recent, we toured with Gordon in 2009 on his "Best of Paradise" Island Tour. This tour offered us insight into some of the main highlights Antigua has to offer. We saw the historic St. Barnabus Church in Liberta, Nelsons Dockyard, the Blockhouse, Shirley Heights (which offered us a panoramic view of English Harbour), beach time at Long Bay Beach and a final stop along the rugged east coast where Devils Bridge is located. Gordon was informative and friendly and we enjoyed our day with him. If you are interested to learn more details about our tour, check out my review with photos in this link:

 

(Posts #138-#143)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1038334&page=7

 

I have also put together a YouTube video of our day with Gordon. You can view this by clicking on the link below:

dz63,

I just read your review of a Gordon's tour and watched the video today. Very nicely done btw. I am a fan of steel drum music and really like the song in the video. If it's not too much bother, I would appreciate the title and the name of the group that performed the music. Also, after reading your review and watching the video we decided to book the tour with Gordon.

dz63,

 

I just read your review of a Gordon's tour and watched the video today. Very nicely done btw. I am a fan of steel drum music and really like the song in the video. If it's not too much bother, I would appreciate the title and the name of the group that performed the music. Also, after reading your review and watching the video we decided to book the tour with Gordon.

Thank you for your comments and I am glad you found our experience with Gordon helpful. The title of the song I used in the video is called: "One Particular Harbor". I am not sure of the name of the group who performed this, but it is from the Carnival Steel Drum Island Collection CD, Volume 2.

Enjoy your day in Antigua with Gordon!

Thank you for your comments and I am glad you found our experience with Gordon helpful. The title of the song I used in the video is called: "One Particular Harbor". I am not sure of the name of the group who performed this, but it is from the Carnival Steel Drum Island Collection CD, Volume 2.

 

Enjoy your day in Antigua with Gordon!

Thank you for the information. We are anxiously waiting for our cruise which is not until January. It's a cold day today which is making wish it was sooner.

Thank you for the information. We are anxiously waiting for our cruise which is not until January. It's a cold day today which is making wish it was sooner.

You're welcome! It is a cool day here too!

Enjoy your trip!

 

That was Sept 2012...this April I visited Antiqua again and went to Coconut Beach Club. It was $4 each way including tip...and yeah we saw the Statue of the Prime Minister, pretty cool...we saw the "markets" (dingy and not worth it) just on the way to the Beach Club. It was a short ride and the beach club was heaven, all food and drink and lots of drinks, alcohol for $45 total, loungers, pool, towels...wonderful day

 

I would never do a "tour" of Antiqua again, nothing there to see, I would go to Coconut Beach club again in a heartbeat

We just decided to do a cruise on January 18 and I'm now busy trying to book some excursions. After reading lots of reviews I'm interested in the Coconut Beach Club. How did you arrange this - both the transportation and the day at the club? Thanks for any help you can offer.

dissapointed!! After reading this thread on CC we decided to book with Gordon. His communication was quick and comprehensive ahead of time. We had a group of 6, we confirmed for the best of paradise tour including beer and snacks for $50 pp. I confirmed with him right before we sailed and told hime we were looking forward to our day with HIM!

Well cruise morning Gordon has his sign and a folder where he is collecting confirmations from his 'guests'. Our expected small group tour grew to 39 people being shuffled between 3 mini vans, there was a group of 25 that he had told would all be together, NOT the vans only hold 13 MAX. we were in a van of 14, one finally found a seat on another van. we had to ask the driver his name... Rodney ... That set the tone, NOTHING on this 5-6 hour tour was narrated by Rodney, he was soft spoken and yes with 14 people on the bus it was impossible to hear anything. He would provide 1 word answers to your questions but that was all. I would say as we passes some type of building..wonder what that is?? And he would just ignore me. It was maddening to me that this was the one day I will probably ever have in Antigua and it was a waste. We did visit the locations that were advertised, we were given one soda water break, at Nelson's dockyard we were given one small chicken filled pastry. I asked Gordon about the beer we had requested for our tour and he did go and fetch 4 from a store for the ones in our group that wanted it. I spoke to Gordon at one of the stops and told him how unhappy I was with the lackmof information we were getting about Antigua and that I had expected a small group tour for our day. He apologized, said that one of his drivers canceled and he had to get Rodney at last minute. He offered us a discount on our tour price.

Gordons bus passengers were given a narrated tour of the island with him on microphone as well as the other van having a woman sharing info on the island. guess we were just unlucky with Rodney the mute!

gordon did give us half off of our tour, which was $25pp . Still I am upset we lost the chance to learn about Antigua, we had to deal with the large group tour which we had tried to avoid, and it was a day being stressed instead of enjoying the too short time on the island.

Lesson learned, in the future I will stress to the tour guide that I am booking with HIM for a small group of x number of passengers and if he can not meet that request I would prefer to book elsewhere. In my opinion Gordon got GREEDY and we paid the price.

Just did Gordon's tour the first week of March. We were a party of 10. I asked and got a private minibus for us (I had requested that via email). Leon was our driver and he was quite nice and informative. Everything that was listed on the all day tour we did. Leon supplied beverages, local bread & meat pies throughout the day. The 10 of us had a good day and had no complaints. Oh, and we didn't spend much time stopping at vendors and there were none on the beach that day either. A no pressure/no problem kind of day thanks to Leon :).

We had booked with Lawrence and I was concerned about some of the reviews.

He delivered a well organized, thorough tour. He is knowledgeable with a quiet sense of humor. His bus is comfortable and he had waters, beer and punch for us. He spoke clearly and got out of the bus with us to show us the best views and provide commentary. He also took pictures of us at scenic spots.

He was willing to accommodate our group with two different beach pick up times but that turned out not to be necessary, and he didn't seem to be concerned when we tracked sand onto his spotless vehicle ;).

He is very professional and seems completely dependable. We saw a lot and had a good time with him.

We had booked with Lawrence and I was concerned about some of the reviews. He delivered a well organized, thorough tour. He is knowledgeable with a quiet sense of humor. He is very professional and seems completely dependable. We saw a lot and had a good time with him.

Thanks Holly. We are touring with Lawrence next week. I'm so pleased to see your positive review! Kathy

That is good news! I like to see a good positive review since we will be touring with Lawrence in May. Can't wait!

We toured with Gordon last summer and had a great time. He's a sweet guy and will make sure you have an enjoyable day.

Sent from my KFJWA using Forums mobile app

Please tell him Holly sends regards and that the picture he took of us is great.

I can highly recommend Lawrence of Antigua after our tour with him earlier this month. He was professional and courteous at all times. the tour was very nice. You can see my entire review of his tour here, beginning with post #74.