1st time cruiser - overwhelmed with how to pick local tours

First time cruisers and first time to Grenada. I have always heard about what a rip off cruise ship excursions are and to go local - but it's overwhelming for someone new to game especially with private taxi hire vs car rental vs tour

Cruising RCI and will be in port on a Friday. What has piqued our interest is Grand Etang (I saw somewhere to bring bananas for monkeys?), hiking to waterfalls (is that in Etang? We've heard 7 Sisters is best?) and spices (of course!).

Don't know what can best fit in a day and welcome your recommendations for how to arrange the best tour/experience?

First time cruisers and first time to Grenada. I have always heard about what a rip off cruise ship excursions are and to go local - but it's overwhelming for someone new to game especially with private taxi hire vs car rental vs tour. Cruising RCI and will be in port on a Friday. What has piqued our interest is Grand Etang (I saw somewhere to bring bananas for monkeys?), hiking to waterfalls (is that in Etang? We've heard 7 Sisters is best?) and spices (of course!). Don't know what can best fit in a day and welcome your recommendations for how to arrange the best tour/experience?

Welcome to these Cruise Critic boards for our Indiana "neighbor". Yes, cruise excursions might be a little higher in cost, but many times they make things more convenient and allow you to see and do more than you could achieve on your own, using public transit, etc. Trade-offs?? Your time or your money? Which is more important and valuable??

From my live/blog below, plus my posting note lower, you can see more as to how our tour around this island worked so well for us. Much depends on your exact personal desires and interests. Below are a few visuals samples for what we saw and did.

Added questions? Don't be shy!! Keep asking good questions.

For "Grenada: Pix's, Fun, Experiences Jan./2015!", see:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2263775

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 47,212 views for these postings.

Here is a sampling for some of the initial sites as we traveled north from the port/capital. First is a sample of the shore fishing action as people from the village there pull in the nets. Next, our excellent guide, Bertrand Antoine, who had the perfect island voice/style, plus lots of details, personality and sharing skills, took us to an old estate. He gave us background for the various spices and items from this island. He passed around samples so that we could smell and feel these unique items. He also told us about the flag for Grenada, its color and design, etc.:

Here is an example for one of the small Grenada towns we traveled though at the top of the island where the Caribbean Sea meet the Atlantic Ocean.:

From the rum distilling operations, here is one of my visual samples. This plant dates back to 1785 and still uses that same type of water wheel set-up to power the crushing of the sugar cane. They produce a product that comes out at 75% alcohol or 150 proof. Yes, we sampled and it was really burning in going down. Their rum with a fruit version went down much easier!! Very educational and interesting stop!!:

Here is another view from the historic rum distilling plant. This equipment was manufactured by G. Fletcher & Co. from London and Derby. We also saw the large and somewhat primitive boiling pots that processed the liquid that came from the crushing operation processing on the sugar cane.:

At the Belmont Estate plantation, where we had lunch, this picture shows one of the drying set-ups. This estate dates back to the late 1600s, during the colonial area, when plantations were first established through the system of land allocation under French rule. It was then owned by a gentleman from Scotland, following the cession of the island by the French to the British in 1763.:

We did the Grand Etang hike to 7 Sisters Falls with Caribbean Horizons and loved it! The guide was fantastic, as he pointed out numerous tree monkeys and showed us the local flora. Hike was beautiful, with only 5 people. Our ship arrived late, but guide waited for us and gave us the full tour. I highly recommend this company.

http://www.caribbeanhorizons.com/

Thanks!!

I just got back from Grenada seven sisters fall tour with jnj tours. We were the only two people with our tour guide warren. He was so nice and pleasant and wanted to make sure we were enjoying ourselves.

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Thanks Irish gal and epixx! Was 7 sisters "worth" it? I was debating between that and Concord falls (knowing we also wanted to go to chocolate factory/Belmont).....

We did a tour with Savor the Spice. We did their "country tour" that included all of those mentioned plus many and varied local food and spice tastings. It was the best tour we took on our cruise. They also took us to a private estate, where local organic produce and spices are grown. A multi course tasting was offered with all their spices etc incorporated.

We loved it and highly recommend.

Just returned from a fabulous cruise and while in port in Genada four of us wanted to do a few different things. First, we walked up to Fort George which is just a few blocks walk from the ship. Being Sunday we knew there would not be many shops around in town and so we wanted to go to a nice beach, one that might have some snorkeling right from the beach. We found a great guy to give us a recommendation and drive us there and then come back a few hours later and pick us back up to head to the ship. I highly recommend Ken Cab - Taxi and his local contact numbers are 1 (473) 406-1927 or 1 (473) 416-1928; he also is often outside the port terminal. Ken recommended Marne Rouge Beach which is around the bend from Grand Anse Beach. It was a lovely and peaceful beach but not much to see snorkeling. There was an amazingly good restaurant right there, Sur Le Mer, with free WiFi and clean facilities. And Ken picked us up as promised and even stopped, per my request, at the House of Chocolate Museum (wow, wow, wow, not only great chocolate but so many other fabulous products) and then dropped us back by the ship. We had a wonderful day!

We did a tour with Savor the Spice. We did their "country tour" that included all of those mentioned plus many and varied local food and spice tastings. It was the best tour we took on our cruise. They also took us to a private estate, where local organic produce and spices are grown. A multi course tasting was offered with all their spices etc incorporated.

 

 

We loved it and highly recommend.

How long was the tour and how much was it per person? Did you book in advance or at the pier?

Thanks for any info you can share,

Used JnJ Tours in January 2018. Stanley Grainger was a fantastic tour guide. He is a wealth of knowledge about his Island, and as a US Army veteran and former inhabitant of the USA speaks perfect English. Stan has a newer top of the line van that will seat 7 max, our group was 6, ourselves and 2 other couples. He is a gentleman in every way, he pulls that van over, and waves the other traffic past, at many places to show interesting things and explain what you are looking at. You make all the normal stops for Grenada, waterfall, spice shop, crater lake, Ft Fredrik, and then a stop at Grand Anse beach. He will pick you up at the beach and return you to the ship at whatever time you tell him, and no worry he will be there since you don’t pay him till your dropped back off at port, $50 pp.

Highly Recommend this tour – contact info – email:grainger.stan@gmail.com or web site:http://www.jnjtours.com – I had great response with email

Hi, wondering what tour you ended up selecting? It looks like your interests are identical to ours. Thanks!

We did a tour with Savor the Spice. We did their "country tour" that included all of those mentioned plus many and varied local food and spice tastings. It was the best tour we took on our cruise. They also took us to a private estate, where local organic produce and spices are grown. A multi course tasting was offered with all their spices etc incorporated.

 

 

We loved it and highly recommend.

Fellow Winnipegers here and looking for tour advise. Travelling with another WPG couple!

snow bunny

Just back for a tour with JNJ. Stan was wonderful. We took our 6 year old son and he is still talking about Stan. He ask what we want to do. He was very informative. Spoke perfect English as he went to high School in FL before going into the Military for the US. I will us him next time I am on the island.