Have you toured with Royston/Ashton or Thenford Grey

[sunluva]

My DH and I did a tour with Royston on Dec 9th. It was the two of us and he said depending on how many people he had that day would determine the cost. There were 4 other people (who all knew each other) plus DH and I. So, since there were 6 of us, he charged only $25pp. Believe me! I would've paid more! So, he got a well deserved tip from us in the end! We have done many excursions in the past and this was by far the best tour ever. Like others have said... his van is a little old and no airconditioning but that did not bother any of us. There's always a nice breeze and we were never hot or uncomfortable. He takes you to his favorite places. Places where NO other tour operators go in their "fancy" vans. I will never forget some of the places he took us. We even went by his house. He said if we ever come back, he has more places to show us. He told us he is in the process of setting up a website, but was not completed yet. He does not need to advertise or beg for customers at the pier because he is so busy from Cruise Critic referrals. I HIGHLY recommend Royston!

[zazou]

We tour with Ashton last March and we loved it.Really been the surprise of our cruise. I have write a review here with pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1162612

 

You cannot go wrong with him,

 

Isabelle

[bonzijam]

Three years ago, 4 of us booked with Royston. In November, 2010, 22 of us were on Royston's and Ashton's island and beach tour. There is nothing I can say about this tour and them except that they were PHENOMENAL! Book with them if you are able to.

[Bling-Bling]

We'll be in St Kitts in January and are interested in a private tour, but there are only 2 of us. Do either of these companies group cruisers together to fill up a van? It seems more fun to tour with a group rather than just us and the driver.

Hi there,

What date are you on St. Kitts ?

We are a party of 4, young at heart, 60ish. year olds !

and we are there on Friday 21st. january 2011.

We also like to travel with others.

[Sherry Baby]

Hi Bling-bling- We will be on St. Kitts Jan. 21, arriving on the Maasdam. We have reserved a tour with Royston for the day, meeting at 8:30. The price is 2 people at $60 each, 4 people at $40 each, 6 people at $30 each. He said the van can hold 8 or 9. Pay after the tour.

 

roystontours (at) hotmail (dot) com or phone (869) 663-4529

 

I would suggest you contact him and check for availability. There are only 2 of us, so we would welcome more guests if possible. He said he would be accepting additional bookings, but I made these plans in October, so you need to check! Includes Romney Manor, Brimstone Fortress, Basseterre, other stops, and light lunch. Yes, he came highly recommended on these boards.

 

Sherry & Dennis

[crsshiplover]

You will LOVE touring with Royston--I just can't say enough good things about the day we had with him. He was very accommodating to what we wanted to see/do. I wanna go back!

[drbillmc]

We took a tour with Thenford in early December. He is a very well spoken, knowledgeable, gentleman who is very proud of his island home. He gave a truly delightful tour. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone.

[TorontoSailor]

My friend and I toured with Royston last winter. He is a wonderful and intelligent guy, who is proud of his beautiful country in a quiet, unasuming way. We felt like he showed us all of the island...and then some. He is kind, warm and will go the extra mile for you. I am sure the others are good, too, but based on my experience I have nothing but praise for Royston. He really helped me connect with St. Kitts, a wonderful place.

[Mr. Click]

One more vote for Thenford Grey. We booked with him last year and while were not in his vehicle the driver and vehicle he provided were just perfect. Very comfortable, very friendly, very knowledgeable. It was a great day for us.

[parrotplay]

We'll be arriving in March. After reading all of the great information about Royston, I think we'd like to book through him. Anyone have contact information? Website or email? Thanks!

 

Peanutzmon, will you be visiting St. Kitts on March 5th?

I have a tour set up with Royston's cousin (Ashton) as Royston is already booked up for that day. Ashton still has room in his van.

 

Arlene

[watcha]

we booked with Roystons cousin Ashton as Royston was already booked up and told us his cousin would take us but he likes a minimum of 6. i advertised on p and o roll call and 8 of us toured with Ashton . We all agreed we had an amazing day. Ashton is very informative without being boring , he walked round the Brimstone Fortress with us (you could go round without him if you prefered ) but he made everything so interesting . A group of Americans there actually asked who our guide was as they were so impressed . We did full island tour ,with time on beach , drinks and roti lunch included for 40 dollars per person . Ashton"s price is not reduced for more people as Royston does , but he does have a newer air conditioned van . I am sure Royston would be just as good . Would certainly recommend.

[yogi]

We toured this past Feb 5th with Thenford Grey.

He was at the port right on time in his nice air-conditioned van.

He is extremely knowledgeable and pleasant. Gave us lots of interesting information

on Brimstone Fortress and anything else we had questions about.

Of all the tour guides we have met on various islands he would

be the first that I would highly recommend !

[tiggerfan616]

We had Ashton on our visit to St Kitts 2 weeks ago and he was wonderul. It was 6 of us including my 9yr old son and he charged us $40 per person that included drinks, lunch and entrance to Brimstone.

 

I cant say enough about him, he was wonderful with my son, even made the comment that he was his son for the day. The two of them had such a great time in the rainforest swinging from vines and playing in the spring.

 

I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone, he's top notch!

[grimpil]

We did the volcano tour with Royston last week and had a fantastic time. We started at the south end of island in Frigate bay and toured all the way to the base of the volcano at the north tip. We are 50ish and in decent shape but this is not a walk in the woods but a climb up a mountain. It is a strenuous hike that requires good footware. Royston said someone did it in flip flops - incredible once you see the terrain. He was very patient and let us stop several times to catch our breath, also quietly encouraged us on. This is an experience like no other and so glad we did it. Our pics were amazing. We ended up at the rim looking down into the cauldra. When we were back on the ship and discussed our tour with others we found we had seen much more than anyone else. On the way back we saw an area called "black rocks" and stopped in a few small villages and heard the history of the island from someone who loves his home. We also saw the touristy things as well (caribelle batik, sugar cane mills, plantations, brimstone fort etc.) This will be the excursion that I brag to all my grandkids about.

[montREALady]

Wondering why Thenford's tour is $8 more than the others @$48? I mean he can charge what he wants because I'm sure he books up anyway, but it's not really competitive :(

[mitrod]

We did a tour with Thetford Grey (Oct 25) and he was very informative, polite, well spoken, with a very nice van and well priced! We would highly recommend his Island tour! We had a wonderful day with him! :)

 

Totally agreed. We did the Tour with Mr Grey last week (Eclipse Feb 12-19), and it was well worth the money.

[montREALady]

Thenford just confirmed for my mother and I. Yay! Waiting on a reply from Royston, but according to someone in my roll call group, he already told them he was booked so they booked his cousin Ashton on a private tour. Then Rose & Jim need a minimum of 4ppl before it can be $41 each and so far they don't have any bookings for March 25th.

[salboz]

You can't find a better tour than the one given by Royston. He will even give you a tour of the island, then take you to another ferry spot which is only 10 minutes from Nevis instead of the 45 minutes the one from the pier takes. He took us to get the 1:00 ferry and was there to get us when we came back on the 4:00 ferry. He provides drinks and a delicious roti for $25. each for 8 of us.

[montREALady]

You can't find a better tour than the one given by Royston. He will even give you a tour of the island, then take you to another ferry spot which is only 10 minutes from Nevis instead of the 45 minutes the one from the pier takes. He took us to get the 1:00 ferry and was there to get us when we came back on the 4:00 ferry. He provides drinks and a delicious roti for $25. each for 8 of us.

 

Does he do Cockleshell beach? His van doesn't have A/C, right? Never had a St. Kitts roti, wonder if it's as good as a Trinidadian roti;)

[paul58]

Royston will do whatever you want to do. He has some sugestions for places that you might want to go or see but it is not the usual canned tour that is offered on St Kitts.

[lrtjs5]

I would like to tell you about our experience with Mr. Roosevelt Taylor. He was born in St. Kitts but spent most of his life in the US in Texas. He served in the US army and has now returned to his homeland. His tours are excellent and his knowledge astounding. We considered his cruise such a highlight of our Carnival Victory cruise that we are going back this summer also.

[VeronicaL]

So nice to read these updates on Thenford Grey. Our group of 4 booked with him in February 2010. One of his associates (Dave, I believe) gave us a tour of Basseterre then drove us to the beach in a new, clean, and air-conditioned van. Dave was very nice, as was Thenford. He met me us at the dock and met us later at the beach to coordinate our ride back to the ship. I wouldn't hesitate to book with him again.

[CruisinRoxy]

Great to hear good things about Thenford because we just booked him for a combination volcano/"the tour" for August!

[malcliz]

We had a tour with Royston last week and would recommend him very highly. As others have said he does not have a modern air conditioned van but he takes the windows out which is great for taking photos and a nice breeze as we travelled. He took us away from all the other tourist vans - it was like our own safari van! We even had our own beach with no other visitors and he took umbrellas and chair on the beach which he collected from his home.

[montREALady]

Just did Thenford's tour on Friday and he was excellent. He's very well spoken with a great sense of humor. He knows his island well and is very educated and proud to share info about it. He is also well respected in the community based on the several exchanges he had with people while on our tour. Whatever he speaks about, he hands out either a sample of it (be it a plant or fruit) or even passes around a handout for us to look at pictures or other information he's speaking about. He even does light trivia and makes it fun. When he sees you taking a picture, he offers to take it so your whole group can be in it. He knows a lot about upcoming real estate projects and a lot of other little tidbits of info. In the end he asked us each to introduce ourselves then he handed out pics of his family. Very warm man. And yes, his van was the biggest one no matter where we stopped and had a/c, which I didn't think was too important until that day which was probably 95 degrees. He had a step stool and helped every one off the bus and he also had a cooler full of bottled water and as each of us walked back on, he opened the bottle and handed it to us. Just some of the little things that also mattered.