Spencer Ambrose - Land and Sea vs. Jaloise Beach Break

[fairwell]

A long delayed review: We did the West Coast Island delight tour

 

http://www.spencerambrose.com/island-tours/west-coast-island-delight-tour

 

with Spencer Ambrose Tours on Dec 21, 2010. We met Spencer just outside the duty free area and he told us he had business to attend to and that his brother Small would be our guide. That was not a complete surprise, because he said he was not sure who would be handling our tour. As we got into the van and headed off, Small encouraged us to ask him anything – about the island, the people, him and his family, anything at all. That set the tone for the day, he was focused on making sure we were happy. We headed out of town and soon came to an overlook where he showed us a valley of historical significance and a local woman came up and handed him a doll in native dress, which he used as a prop to talk about traditions. Not surprisingly, she tried to sell us a doll, which we politely declined and there was no pressure.

 

We headed down to the valley to see the banana groves and they were in a pretty distressed state as a result of the flooding, but Small found a tree that was in good enough shape to explain the cultivation. There just happened to be a stand a few feet away selling banana based products and after tasting the banana ketchup we decided to buy a few bottles – not something you find in your grocery. Again, very soft sell. The roads were rough in spots, but the crews were hitting it hard and the main route was entirely passable. Along the way, Small plied us with cold beverages and stopped to pick up local foods for us to sample, which were uniformly delicious. We had one more stop at an overlook where again there was a soft sell of local jewelry, again it was reasonably priced and unique. Small stopped en route to order our lunch and after visiting the volcano we stopped to pick it up. A few minutes later we were met at the dock by Spencer’s boat for a short ride to Jalousie beach between the Pitons.

 

We sat on our beach chairs enjoyed our delicious lunches and went snorkeling. After a while we were again met by the boat for our short ride back to the van. The ride back included a last stop overlooking Soufries and our cruise ship for a great picture opportunity. Throughout the day, Small provided interesting commentary about the towns we visited, the plants, the people, the language, really anything we wanted to know. Small was a great guide, informative, enthusiastic, patient and relaxed. We give Small and the Ambrose Tour high marks in all regards!

[TLHB70]

When we do St Lucia again we will spend the day at Anse Chastanet Beach. Black sand and beautiful place! Nothing else in St Lucia really wowed me over like this beach did.

 

 

 

Can you tell me more about this beach, please? Are there chairs? Umbrellas? Restroom/changing facilities? What about a place for food and drink? How much for a taxi ride there from the ship?

I am just starting to research for our cruise in March 2012. I want to find the most relaxing beach for a peaceful day.

[pcvtmom]

Just returned from a Celebrity Cruise that included St. Lucia. We took the Jalousie Beach Break Tour with Spencer Ambrose. Not sure that I would recommend this tour. Spencer Ambrose was very good communicating via email and a nice man in person. Our guide Clint was very personable, friendly and a good tour narrator. Everyone else including the boat driver and fee collectors were borderline rude.

We began the day meeting the tour outside the terminal. Walked to the dock and boarded a speed boat which comfortably fit our group of 10. As we got to the end of the bay we turned around and returned to the dock to pick up a late couple which took away from our beach time.

It took approximately an hour touring the coast, going into bays, etc on our way to Jalousie Beach. Beautiful island. Arriving at Jalousie Beach the beautiful beach shown on the Spencer Ambrose Tour website is NOT the beach we were allowed to go to. That beach is owned by Jalousie Plantation Resort and they are not friendly to non-resort guest. The Spencer Ambrose tours are put onto a very small area on the other side of the small pier. Bring your water shoes because there is not much sand, mostly rocks. It was OK with my husband and myself because we like rustic beaches and had one of the few chairs available. We sat under a sea grapes tree most of the 2 1/2 hours we were there. The tour had promised drinks but ran out shortly after we arrived at the beach. They brought one small cooler for the day. I didn't feel like drinking rum punch at 8:30 in the morning and wanted some when we got to the beach. Sorry all gone. There was nowhere else to get drinks except the resort. One of the ladies on our tour went to the bar at the resort. No other customers were at the bar. It took her 20 mins to get her 6 ounce drink and cost $15. The lunch the tour provided was typical Caribbean food. Lots of it too.

 

Other tours arrived later (land and sea tour, etc) There were no drinks and no chairs for them. Then when we left they crammed both tours together in the boat we came in. We had a very uncomfortable and fast 30 min ride back to the cruise ship. Wished he could have taken it 15 mins slower to make it a more pleasant ride. There was plenty of time. We got to the dock just past 2:30.

In review I would not recommend this tour. The people on the land and sea tour had even more complaints. Perhaps one of them will post a review.

 

It was not a bad day. Spencer Ambrose Tours just needs to be more organized to make it better. A person needs something to drink on the beach.

Spencer Ambrose Tours also should be honest and show the real beach on the website.

They need to have enough chairs for all guest.

The people that collects your money at Jalousie Beach should be more polite. They were very rude.

The boat tour back to the beach should not be so ridiculously fast.

 

The good parts:

1)Sitting in a chair looking at one of the Pitons. It is one of the only tours that you can sit on a rustic beach and view the Pitons for a couple hours.

2)Taking pictures of numerous small fish in the water without even getting my hair wet.

3)Clint our guide was very nice and personable. He was able to come up with 4 beers that the 10 of us shared.

 

In future trips to St. Lucia I will not go on a Spencer Ambrose.

 

I must agree with you on the negatives. Spencer was not overly organized, and seemed to spend most of his time on a cell phone working out details. Our group did the West Coast Island Delight...or at least that's what we booked for $65. However, due to a "mix-up" (?), we had to be returned to ship by water...and were asked for an additional $15. Spencer said he "forgot" that we needed to go back by land, and it was getting too late to return that way! We felt duped, but had no choice, since we didn't want to take a chance of missing the ship.

 

Our time a Jalousie Beach was not pleasant, due to no chairs or place to sit and eat an otherwise delicious lunch. During the tour, none of us wanted to drink much because bathroom stops were few and far between. I will say that Spencer taught us a lot about growing bananas and pointed out other tropical fruits along the way. The creole bread he purchased (hot!) was the most delicious treat you could ever want. All in all, with a little more organization, it could have been a good experience.

[nytonowhere]

I would say i had a totally different experience on spencers jalouise beach break. I cant comment on anyone else's experience on any other tour since i dont speak for others. Everyone that we met was very nice and respectful of us. Captian Kirk and Clint are both great guys, and personable. Also im sure the couple that was late saw that they went back to pick them up in a different light than you did, they shouldnt have been late and if i was them i wouldnt have expected them to come back and pick me up, but i guess i would have been pretty happy if they did. We didnt come in any contact with any security, we walked around the resort property..near the pool etc..and no one came up to us to ask who were were and if we were guests and we didnt even think twice about walking around, i think i saw one security guy down by the beach but he wasnt bothering anyone. Also im glad i educated myself on the beach policy's of St. Lucia and knew all beaches are public so dont be fooled into thinking you must stay over by the snorkeling section and that any part of the beach is owned by anybody. I dont think it says in the tour explination that anyone is promised a chair, so why would there need to be enough for everyone, or any at all. I will agree that the water ran out, but it was just before we left, so we didnt have any water on the boat ride back, no biggie. What does the lady at the bar have anything to do with Spencers Tour? Our tour was perfectly wonderful capt kirk and clint did a great job.

[wineandbeach]

we were in St Lucia last week and did the West Coast Island tour With the water taxi back to the port. We had a group of 8 people in a van by ourselves with John as our guide. The island is beautiful and John was very informative. We took as long or as little as we wanted at each stop. Spencer had other vans that day but we didn't stay with them, we went at our own pace. When we got to Jalouise beach all the chairs were full but we just got our lunch, put some towels down and found a beautiful place on the beach. This is beach is a must see place. Pictures can not show the natural beauty of being on a beach between the Pitons. We took the water taxi (which is a speed boat back) and this was a fantastic way to see the island by water. Definitely recommend taking the boat back. It made for a nice mix of ways to see the island. Our itenenary on our ship had changed for the week and Spencer was there waiting for us as if we had arrived on the correct day. He was great to correspond with while planning the trip and it was a wonderful tour.

[Cruiselholic]

I'll be on the Carnival Victory and may book the land and sea tour. I've never booked from a 3rd party company so I'm a little worried about getting back to the ship late. On my last cruise a bunch of people took a tour and their van return just as the doors were closing. How early does he get you back to the ship?

[dz63]

I'll be on the Carnival Victory and may book the land and sea tour. I've never booked from a 3rd party company so I'm a little worried about getting back to the ship late. On my last cruise a bunch of people took a tour and their van return just as the doors were closing. How early does he get you back to the ship?

 

 

When we toured with Spencer off of the Carnival Victory, he got us back 1 1/2 hours before the ships departure.

[14ersco]

We did Spencer's land and sea tour on August 18 and it was a great day! He normally requires 10 to 12 people, but no one besides our family signed-up. Spencer still ran this tour; with only us 3 and his brother Small as driver/guide. So basically a private tour at no extra cost! We did all of the stops like described on Spencer's web site. Small had a cooler of drinks just for us and at the banana stop he gave us bananas to eat and a coconut to drink. Small was with us throughout the land portion and to the beach. We had just under 2 hours at the beach; which included time to eat our locals lunch (chicken, plantains, breadfruit) that Small had picked up in town before going to the beach. We stayed on the snorkel (locals) side; even though Small did explain to us we could go over to beach (resort) side though not use the resorts chairs. On the boat ride back we stopped to drop off Small at his van and pick up some couples from a Sandals resort. We were dropped off at the cruise pier early enough to drop off our beach gear in our cabin and then go back out to look in the stores at the pier.

 

We had a great excursion and would highly recommend Spencer and his land and sea tour.