Herod-excellent tour

We booked Herod shortly before leaving home, as we’d been let down by Cosol. He was an excellent guide to his beautiful island. He suggested meeting early to beat the ship’s tours and this worked well. As we drove south along the coast, he told us about St Lucia and showed us local crops such as bananas, cocoa beans, breadfruit etc. First stop was a tropical garden with a waterfall, where a very knowledgeable local guide showed us the plants and birds. We then went to bathe in a pool fed by a warm waterfall. This was followed by a visit to the drive-in volcano and finally an hour’s snorkelling at a private beach between the two pitons. We drove back through Soufriere, his home town, which is well worth a visit. Drinks were provided throughout including his mother’s rum punch, which was the best we tried. All entry fees and drinks were included in the price. The trip lasted 7 hours. It was one of the best tours on our cruise.

http://www.herodstaxi.com/

I am thinking about going on this tour. What was the cost?

Soufriere Island Delight Tour.

The tour cost US$50 per person for three or more persons and US$160 for one to two persons. The price is inclusive of all admission fees and taxi fare.

Complimentary drinks of sodas,water, beers and rum punch are available

throughout the tour. His rum punch is great and made by his mother.

We are now booked for the same tour. I am really looking forward to it. Were there other people in your group? Did he stop for lunch somewhere?

There were no others in our group.

We did not stop for lunch. We had a large breakfast on the ship and survived on a couple of bananas each that Herod bought from a roadside vendor. There was also a stall selling food outside the garden we visited. We didn't feel hungry at all but others might.

When are you going? You'll have a great tour, Herod's a really genuine guy.

I am going on a 10 day Princess cruise with my boyfriend and will be in St. Lucia April 12th. This is my first cruise, but am an avid traveler so I like to plan ahead and be organized. If you have any other suggestions/tips they would be greatly appreciated as I am sure despite all my research, I still have a lot to learn about cruising.

How do you get to the beach at the Pitons? Small boat? Catamaran?

smurf1177... I too am booked with Herod on April 12th. We're also on the Sun Princess. I just spoke with him today on the phone & he said there will be 4 others from the Sun grouped with us. He also has I think 4 others that will be on a private tour. Will you be in the group tour or with the private one?

Le Anne

I am not sure which group we are with but it will be myself and my boyfriend on the "Soufriere Island Delight" tour. He said he would be meeting us at the dock at 8:30am. We are really looking forward to getting away!

You get to the beach bettween the Titons by a small boat (water taxi). It is only a 5-10 minute ride. The beach is actually part of a resort. Beautiful location

smurf1177... looks like we're on the same tour. The private one is a group of 4. My husband & I are 40 & we'll have our 11 yr old son with us, as well as our in-laws. There must be another couple with us too, as Herod said there was a total of 9 of us in the van with him.

You're on the Sun Princess, right? I haven't seen you on the Roll Call board for our sailing. If you're interested in meeting up prior to our tour...come join us for the sail-away party at Sundowners bar after the muster drills & wear something red.

Do you have plans for St. Vincent yet? We booked with Wayne of Baleine tours for a boat excursion & are looking for others to join us. He offers a lot more for your money than the ship's snorkeling excursion. If you're interested, check out the roll call board, I've got a post out there from just a few days ago that explains the details of that tour.... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=6075406&postcount=470

Le Anne

I am looking forward to our tour. My boyfriend and I are in our mid-twenties. This will be our first cruise.

Yes, we are on the Sun Princess. I am just becoming aquainted with this forum so I am not familiar with the "roll call." Thank you for the invitation to the sail away party.

We dont have any plans for st. vincent yet. I wasn't sure what to do because we wanted to do the hiking excursion but we arent there long enough to do it. When do I need to let you know if we decide to go on the tour with you? Would more people lower the price? Let me know and again thank you for the invitation.

smurf1177... I saw by your # of posts that you're a newby here. The "roll call" is a message board specifically for people who you will be cruising with on your sailing...it's an opportunity to meet others, ask each other questions, plan to meet on the ship & just chat about your upcoming cruise. Here's how to get to it...from the Cruise Critic Message Boards home page, go down to where it says, "Roll Call", then select, "Roll Calls - Princess Cruises", from the next page select, "Roll Calls - Sun Princess", from the next page select, "Sun Princess / April 7, 2006. And here's the link directly to it...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=215826

So if you have any questions about our sailing, go there & ask away. Just post to say your also on our cruise & you will get many warm welcomes from those who have been posting here.

When I booked the St. Vincent tour with Wayne, he wanted a minimum of 7 people or $350 for the boating excursion. But when I told him I could only get 5, he said he would still only charge us $50/pp & not require the minimum $ amount as he didn't want us to cancel. I told him I would continue to try to get more people when I got on the ship. So if you want to think about it & let me know either just before we leave (via the roll call thread) or meet up with us at the sailaway party & let us know then, that would be fine. We had to cut out the part of the trip to the Baliene Waterfalls cuz we didn't think we had enough time & Wayne agreed. So to make a long story short, the price will stay at $50/pp no matter how many people we get.

Here's another link to a thread about the Sun Princess that has been going on for a year now. If you want to read posts from people that are on the boat now or ask them any questions, just go the the last few pages (this is the link to page 123)...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=128566&page=123

Here's how to get to it...from the Cruise Critic Message Boards home page, go down to where it says, "Cruise Lines P - Z" & select "Princess Cruises", then look for the thread titled, "Live From The Sun", started by cruiserforlife, it's usually either on the 1st or 2nd page here. I'm addicted to reading this almost daily for updates....19 more days to go :D

Le Anne

We just returned (April 1) from our cruise on Serenade of the Seas and spent the best day with Herod! He was definetly a highlight of or cruise! We were a group of six and had Herod all to ourselves! Because we had two teachers in the group, we talked with Herod about his experiences as a teacher in St. Lucia and he took us by some of the schools and by the High school where his father is Principal. What a great side trip that was!! The students are all so cute and wear uniforms. No baggy pants and halter-tops at these schools!! We also did all of the above that Kely did. Herod drove us to the resort between the Pitons--breathtaking!! We also asked Herod if there were any places to purchase local art and he took us to a wonderful place that sold baskets, paintings and carvings from local artists. My husband and I liked one of the paintings of the Pitons so the woman working called out to the artist and there he was, right on site! His name is EDGE. He signed the painting again on the back, titled it for us and put the date. What a great memory. Can't wait to get it framed and hung on the wall!

We had a perfect day with Herod and I would highly recommend him to anyone! :)

Check out Herod's Web page for Pictures and additional information about his tours!

www.Herodstaxi.com