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Spencer Ambrose or Carnival excursion, catamaran to Pitons?

apandjcrew5

By apandjcrew5,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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golfadj

golfadj

Posted
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We booked him with a bus and than boat ride to the pitons in Feb. He pawned most of our group to a young girl who we were not impressed with.Than when the group met up for the boat ride to the pitons things got real disorganized and I would up taking a separate rout e back to the port than the rest of our tour.

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Vanessa L

Vanessa L

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Unless you like sailing more than swimming/relaxing, go with Spencer. We booked his speed boat to the Pitons and we got there in about an hour. And that was with site seeing stops along the way. Here's the album with those pics, I believe it starts about 1/3 of the way down or so:

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/vanessa.1963/CarnivalMiracle#

 

We watched the poor people on the catamarans and they took FOREVER to get over to the Pitons. We beat them back by at least an hour and left after them. The catamarans are VERY slow movers. But some people like that. For me, I was incredibly happy for the extra time at the Pitons. They took us to Jalousie Beach. Lunch and all the beer/soda/rum punch you could drink was included in the price. I think you'll agree by the pics that the extra time at Jalousie was well worth it!!! I cannot say enough good things about Spencer! You will love him!

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stargate fan

stargate fan

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Sailing on the Victory July 3 with a very large group. I was torn between the Spencer Ambrose Sea adventure and the Carnival catamaran trip to the Pitons. Would love to hear pros and cons of both. Thanks!

 

We took a tour with Spencer that was SUPPOSED to catamaran to the Pitons. Never made it. It was one of the least pleasant and least enjoyable private tours we booked. I do not recommend him at all. We did talk with people who booked with Cosol and had a fabulous time. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cosol-tours.com%2F&ei=8zeNTf3GHIi60QHMpZCqCw&usg=AFQjCNH0JKxaQ3sm4lv3MjbSCA9yAdyVyg

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aggie1

aggie1

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My DH and I did a B2B on the Serenade last October. We did Spencer's tour in St. Lucia and it was the worst tour I have ever been on. Very disorganized, his brother was the driver going to Joulisie and had several ladies crying and sick because of his driving. Got to the volcano and we all had to pay $4 each to drive thru, which was a crock!! Got to beach and he wanted $40 pp to go back to ship by boat which was suppose to be included. All I can say is that it was awful!!! Never again.

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DUCHESSRN

DUCHESSRN

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Terrible experience in February 2011 , total mess up starting with Spencer not checking Carnival time to Island time , Catamaran left without some of our group as he thought they were late .I was on a bus tour ,pawned off to a young Lady tour guide . Awful lunch ,we paid for speed boat from beach back to Miracle so we did not have to ride miles and miles in van again.

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We weren't very happy with Spencer either. His tour gave me exactly what I wanted - a full day at the beaches, but the food was much less than he promised, and no rum punch. Luckily we got to go back in the bigger of the speedboats. Many of the people were crammed into little water taxis. Looked a little scary to me.

 

Why don't you book with Herod instead. He does a land/sea that is wonderful. Takes you to lunch at his parents house. Pays for all the snacks and entrances to the sights. He's a former teacher and shares tons of information about the island. The only down side to his tour is that you only get an hour at Jalousie.

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golfadj

golfadj

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Terrible experience in February 2011 , total mess up starting with Spencer not checking Carnival time to Island time , Catamaran left without some of our group as he thought they were late .I was on a bus tour ,pawned off to a young Lady tour guide . Awful lunch ,we paid for speed boat from beach back to Miracle so we did not have to ride miles and miles in van again.

 

He screwed up the time with us also. His guide did not know the botanical gardens and waterfall was closed.

 

Heard good things about him on port of call pages but would not recommend him at all.

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nytonowhere

nytonowhere

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I took the Jalouise beach break with Spencer and it was a great excursion. After reading about the road conditions in St. Lucia we knew we didnt want to be in a van at all that day. All i can tell you is that we were on a outboard engine boat with 15 other people and we took it down to Jalouise beach. We saw different sights on the way down, and once we arrived at jalouise beach we spent 3 hours there. We were one of the first tours there so we didnt have a problem getting a chair and umbrella, on the snorkeling side, and you have full use of the swimming side of the beach. There was plenty of water, beer and rum punch which was the best rum punch i had the whole trip. For lunch we had chicken and different sides like rice and beans, noodles, potato salad etc. There was plenty of food we had over flowing plates. Our captian and tour guide were great guys. They did run out of water at the end of the tour once Spencers other tours started showing up so grab an extra water to horde if you want. which wasnt a big deal since we would be back at the ship in a half hour anyway. I cannot say how the carnival catamaran is, but i can say it was full of people and didnt stop at the beach, they must have sailed by but i dont remember seeing them. Also all i can say about spencers other tours is that they showed up hours after we were at the beach relaxing all day. I have a victory review in my signature that tells more about the day.

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Vanessa L

Vanessa L

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I guess it's like anything else in life....it is so difficult to judge what is "good" and "bad" as you have no idea what people's expectations are going in. If they expected A and got B you can bet the review will be awful. We went in with no expectations at all, and got A-Z and more!! Our guides were incredible, they had awesome personalities, and, as you can see by the pics, we had an amazing time at Jalousie Beach. It is so far away from where the ships dock, however, I cannot fathom going over there by catamaran. Also, we were there I think about 3 weeks after St. Lucia was torn up by a hurricane, so many of the roads to Jalousie were still closed. I think if you do some research, you are going to find many good and bad reviews for any company you choose (go to the boards for the island you want for more reviews of any company) and in the end, you're going to have to just pick one and go with it. My only advice is to go in without expectations that it is going to be "perfect" and you will likely have an awesome time :)

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golfadj

golfadj

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We heard mostly good things about Spencer and so we had high expectations.

 

He put us on a corner of the beach which had about 3 ft of beach. Lunch was served box style a cold chicken and rice which most of us was disappointed with.

 

Based on screwing up the time we only had about a half hour at the beach in any case. He tried to get most of us to agree to his boat going back to port in a half hour for about 30 pp but most of us did not have that much in cash on them so had to take a bus.

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Posted
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Thank you all for your responses!! We are leaning towards Herod's sea tour now. I am sure we will have fun whatever we decide on!

 

Good choice. We've done Herod's land tour and his "land and sea" tour (that's the one where we lunched at his parent's house) We loved them both! I haven't done his sea tour but it sounds great. From reading the description on his website I didn't see any mention of food, just refreshments so you might want to ask about lunch. He always kept us pretty well fed. Be sure to try his mom's rum punch!

 

When you get to Jalousie Beach remember the beach is free, it's only the chairs and shade that are reserved for resort guests. Feel free to drop your towels anywhere for sunning and swimming. The snorkeling at Anse Chastenet was a little tricky to get to but well worth it. Nice snorkeling at Jalousie also.

 

You'll have a great time.

 

http://www.herodstours.com/index.html

 

2221039170104013758S500x500Q85.jpg

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