James Tours or Spencer Ambrose? Can't Decide - Help!

[melissa89n]

good luck and I hope you enjoy your visit!

 

Thank you SO MUCH for the very thorough information! I am going to investigate all the options you have suggested!

I appreciate your input greatly! :)

[ibcnusoon]

Oh my goodness! Reading this thread makes it sound like you are rolling the dice if you pick either of these tour operators! It could be great, or it could be terrible, depending on a lot of factors. It seems like these guys are not great at adapting to difficult situations, and are possibly becoming overwhelmed with the number of guests they are booking on their tours. I have also read complaints about recent tours with Cosol and how people are sometimes only getting 45 minutes at Jalousie, after being promised 1.5-2 hours.

 

I don't think I am willing to gamble on these tour operators ability to make our tour a great experience. I understand situations arise out of their control, but the guides should be adaptable and know how to turn a bad situation into a positive experience!

 

I just really want to see Jalousie most of all. Are there no other choices on this island besides these guys? I've got 6 people who are depending on me to make the right decision here and I am having a really hard time! Ack! LOL

 

 

We just want to see Jalousie too and wanted just to do the water taxi rather than by land. I was thinking of booking James but have read recent reviews that he rushed through tours, then I read bad reviews recently from Cosol.

 

I've decided, unless another operator comes forth and has positive reviews, I'm gonig to take the ship-sponsored water tour to Jalousie. That way if I have a problem with the tour, I can complain and possibly get refund relief through the ship.

[reedprincess]

We just want to see Jalousie too and wanted just to do the water taxi rather than by land. I was thinking of booking James but have read recent reviews that he rushed through tours, then I read bad reviews recently from Cosol.

 

I've decided, unless another operator comes forth and has positive reviews, I'm gonig to take the ship-sponsored water tour to Jalousie. That way if I have a problem with the tour, I can complain and possibly get refund relief through the ship.

 

As I stated above, Spencer Ambrose does a Jalousie Beach break that is by boat both ways - and he hasn't had any recent bad reviews.

Also, you can arrange a water taxi/boat through other tour operators - these are not the only operators in St. Lucia. Try SerenityTVL or Barefoot Holidays, Mystic Man tours, Captain Mike's, Hackshaw's or Exodus. also, Carnival tours (not affiliated with the cruise line), Bateau Mygo, Endless Summer. Some of thse may be booked through the cruise line, but worth checking.

Going with the cruise ship tour is also an alternative (although it is also through a local operator) That way, as you said, if there is a problem, you may have some relief through the ship.

good luck, I hope you enjoy your visit.

[ibcnusoon]

As I stated above, Spencer Ambrose does a Jalousie Beach break that is by boat both ways - and he hasn't had any recent bad reviews.

Also, you can arrange a water taxi/boat through other tour operators - these are not the only operators in St. Lucia. Try SerenityTVL or Barefoot Holidays, Mystic Man tours, Captain Mike's, Hackshaw's or Exodus. also, Carnival tours (not affiliated with the cruise line), Bateau Mygo, Endless Summer. Some of thse may be booked through the cruise line, but worth checking.

Going with the cruise ship tour is also an alternative (although it is also through a local operator) That way, as you said, if there is a problem, you may have some relief through the ship.

good luck, I hope you enjoy your visit.

 

I've read some recent bad revies of Spencer too, where he rushed people to a boat, then transfered then to another boat, after only spending 45 minutes at Jalouise.

 

I am now looking at Herod's coastal cruise. Will look into Mystic Man, they even have an updated Facebook page. But I am specifically looking for water-taxi only tours. I do not want to be in a van for hours on a long and windy road. I googled Carnival tours and came up with nothing, so I can't trust them unless they have a website.

[martyap]

Based on the review that i have read posted on cruise critic, i am an irate client who visited the island of st. Lucia recently with some friends and family, we stayed at the Sandals Grande which i must say was very pleasing,We are folks who are fond of having a good time and also know good service! Because back at home we do own a family business and know the key to customer servive. Whilst staying at this Grande Resort we were keen on expiriencing this lovely island! So we asked around about tours and sites, after lots of inquires and reserch someone finally recommended James Touring Service. We accepted the offer and the tour was booked! On the beautiful morning of this tour to see the splendid island, we were up an ready at exactly 9:00 am at the front Lobby! We were first impressed at the site of this black and yellow steelers transit,because we are surely big fans, then out came this guy tall, good posture and an excellent smile warm extremely friendly and welcoming. He introduced himself as James, First impressions are lasting ones and just this warm greeting made us feel at home! A man who indeed won our trust at the start. We were then off for the Tour. This man is turely to be considered an island gem, he was very courteous and patient he showed us all the wonderful sites and places to be and see and never once showed any sign of uneasiness, he was very informative and must i say bold and expressive! He offered us drinks and food and made sure we were utterly satisfied! He drove very safe and he is an extrodinary entertainer. Coming back up to the Hotel James stopped along the way with us and took lots of photos! We felt as if he were famly this is the kind of service which wins tourists like us hearts, hensce the reason we will be back again! This man is an excellent driver, a trusted friend and an amazing business man! I do believe that review i read. Yesterday had to be a drastic mistake and a malicious attempt to sabotage this business! Whoever has done a Tour with this gentleman would indeed believe that the fraud review about James Touring Service is Ludacris! He is the best and soon we will be back again! Two thumbs up! And Five Star service!

I agree with you 1000000% James is fantastic

[CruiseDaydreamer]

I do not believe that the negative review was a fraud.

 

My group of four had a bad experience with James Touring Service last month, mainly because of the driver and woman in our van who was the guide. My conclusion was that if your guide is not James himself, forget it.

 

However, we also had a couple of stops in vacant gas station lots where James and his group met up with us and shared drinks. This time it was the other group who had to wait 30-40 min for US to get there. What a waste for them. Our whole tour was a waste because of the driver and guide.

 

One more thing. When we got home, another person in our group posted a negative review on CC, and James must have thought it was me, since I was the one who had made all of the arrangements with him. I got three harassing e-mails in one day about what could he do to make up for it. The final e-mail was a paragraph about "How to be a better person" and I should just start my day and be determined to have a better attitude. I finally responded and told him to stop e-mailing me, that I was the one who was cheated our of a good tour in St. Lucia.

 

Anyway, I can picture him pressuring people to write good reviews... it seems he's very sensitive about CC postings.

[reedprincess]

I've read some recent bad revies of Spencer too, where he rushed people to a boat, then transfered then to another boat, after only spending 45 minutes at Jalouise.

 

I am now looking at Herod's coastal cruise. Will look into Mystic Man, they even have an updated Facebook page. But I am specifically looking for water-taxi only tours. I do not want to be in a van for hours on a long and windy road. I googled Carnival tours and came up with nothing, so I can't trust them unless they have a website.

 

 

Mystic Man would definitely be a water only tour. Herods regularly gets good reviews on TripAdvisor, so you should get a good tour with either.

Again, good luck and enjoy your visit!

[melissa89n]

I do not believe that the negative review was a fraud.

 

 

I agree with you, however I'm not so sure about THIS review, especially after looking at his 4 other posts...

 

I do believe that review i read. Yesterday had to be a drastic mistake and a malicious attempt to sabotage this business! Whoever has done a Tour with this gentleman would indeed believe that the fraud review about James Touring Service is Ludacris! He is the best and soon we will be back again! Two thumbs up! And Five Star service!

[CruiseDaydreamer]

Melissa, I agree with your assessment. There is something about Stone Henge's posts (all 5) that have made me suspicious that he may be from St. Lucia.

[eclipsethecat]

I can assure all of you cruise critic members that my husband and I are not "frauds." We have posted on cruise critic for over three years and while not incredibly active it clearly isnt our first post- weve been active in roll calls and other general postings.

 

I can also assure you that with both of us having full time jobs it would be incredibly ridiculous of us to spend time making up an extremely long review- why would I make up a review about someone I dont know and dont care about? I dont have a business on St Lucia. I dont have family down there- I dont have any ulterior motive other than to hope other people dont get stuck paying for a bad day.

 

Overall, I agree with someone's assessment of the touring companies- perhaps it is best to stick with the cruise companies on this island. Then you can at least take your concerns to someone who wont call you a fraud :)

[eclipsethecat]

Melissa, I agree with your assessment. There is something about Stone Henge's posts (all 5) that have made me suspicious that he may be from St. Lucia.

 

 

It is strange especially considering that if Stone Henge knows so much about my tour they must have been on it! And considering that the other people on our tour were NOT on cruise critic (I asked after the shore excursion when I saw them on the ship,) I can pretty easily narrow down who Stone Henge must be....

[CinWin]

We booked a tour with Spencer Ambrose which was wonderful. We wanted to go by boat to Jalousie Beach between the Pitons and return by boat also. There were 4 couples all together from our ship. We met Spencer at the pier, but he was conducting another tour so put us in the hands of Kurt the speed boat driver and his assistant, Bradley. At first we cruised around the island for sightseeing, then they took us to the beach where we spent lots of time relaxing and enjoying the water. They supplied a very nice lunch and unlimited, delicious rum punch (so good that my husband could hardly walk back to the boat). Bradley spent a lot of time taking care of both of us and we wanted to adopt him. On the way back to the ship, Kurt let the speed boat go full blast and it was a fantastic, fun ride. We would gladly do this tour again on our next visit to St. Lucia and hope Kurt and Bradley would still be our guides. We've corresponded with Spencer since then and let him know how happy we were with this tour - and especially about those 2 employees.

Cindy

[l2f]

We were also on the Miracle and did the same tour with Spencer. We had a different problem during our tour but the end result is the same as above - we were not overly pleased with our Beach Break.

 

Lengthy but we too were on the Miracle and toured with Spencer.

 

Land and Sea Adventure Tour - our family’s experience.

 

There were 10 people scheduled for the Land & Sea Adventure. After boarding the van we had ample (at best) space. Spencer was not our tour guide/driver, which we knew up front. We drove around town seeing some important buildings etc, then to our surprise we were back at the terminal where we originally boarded the van. We stopped and a family of 4 boarded the van. That put 14 people in the van. We aren’t sure what size passenger van we were in, but for doing a tour where we would be in the van for hours, the van was overcrowded. So a family of 2 and the new family of 4 realized it was going to be crammed and started discussing it.

 

Prior to booking, we specifically asked about how many people in a vehicle and Spencer replied; "I have 4 vans on the tours and once I have 10 persons to a van I will close." So cramming 14 into the van (which we felt 10 was a bit stuffy) was unacceptable.

 

So away we went. I believe we made 4 stops where we got out of the van. The first stop a family took longer to get back to the van than the driver said and others complained about it. It was about this point the driver knew it was going to be a long day.

 

So other than the 4 stops where we got out of the van, stops entailed pulling off the road, the driver giving us about 10 seconds worth of facts and we drove away. The further to the rear of the crowded van the less you saw and the less commentary you heard. There were too many heads in the way to see forward, and many people to see the opposite side from where you were seated, and too much complaining to hear the driver.

 

We never toured the banana plantation. We did pull over and the driver said we were looking at a banana plantation. But we didn’t get out of the van. There was a little roadside stand. Didn't look nothing like the pictures on Spencer’s website.

 

We did stop at the waterfall and tour the volcano. Some people from our group did get into the water. I believe we got out of the van at one other point for a picture taking. So in total I believe we stopped and got out of the 4 times (waterfall, volcano, 2 picturesque locations, one with some local craft stands.) The stops were just as important to those crammed in the rear of the van to stretch. We were riding around for hours packed.

 

After the volcano, we went to a pier to meet the boat to go to the beach. We rode in a nice large speed boat (shown on the website.) For our family, this 10 minute boat ride to the beach was the only enjoyable part of the entire tour.

 

At the beach we had approx. 40 minutes. Spencer’s website states 1-2 hours. I'm not sure if this was due to running late (going back to get the additional family at the beginning of the tour, too many people to get back to the ship via boat (story to follow), or some other reason(s).)

 

Our observations about the beach. There is a reason the pictures (3 of them) on the Spencer’s website are so far away. Basically one small corner of the beach is Spencer’s dedicated area. This is the picture on the right. The beach club has the remaining beach area (the middle picture.) You are allowed to use the beach in front of the beach club, but not any of their chairs, bathrooms, etc. Spencer’s dedicated beach area is basically a small area for snorkeling. Not really big enough for swimming and beach activities. You could see one of the Pitons from the beach and there were some good photos to be taken.

 

It would have been nice to have been told exactly what we were eating for lunch other than Creole boxed lunch. All anybody around us could figure out was chicken and a rice/beans serving. The other items nobody knew. We didn't see anybody around us eating the other items. We are adventurous and do try local cuisine at just about every port we have visited. But not the boxed lunch. The food just looked like it had been sitting around a while and was dried out. Perhaps being the last group to arrive contributed to this.

 

At the beach was the first opportunity for anyone in our van to see and speak to Spencer. Several families were talking to him about the van being overcrowded/booked. Not sure what the resolution was if any made at the beach.

 

When it was time to leave it was very obvious there were many more people waiting on the pier than boats to ride in. Most of the people from our van were put on this little yellow fishing type boat which left a lot to be desired. Bench seats, with no backs, three people wide, shoulder to shoulder. The water was a bit rough and the boat had to be loaded to the maximum. The bow of the boat just pounded the waves for the entire 45+ minute ride back to the ship. The times the driver stopped to explain something or for pictures, this small boat was rocking so much pictures taking was difficult at best. On Spencer’s website it does state the return trip to the ship may be by “chartered water taxi”, or one of his speed boats. The website does show a picture of his nice speed boat, but for some reason not a picture of this little yellow boat. This yellow boat wasn’t our idea of a chartered water taxi and definitely wasn’t one of Spencer’s nice large speed boats. The folks that got to ride in his speed boat were packed in like sardines as well. I’m not saying the large speed boat wouldn’t have a rough ride, however since the speed boat was larger, I believe the ride was better and I doubt they got wet like some of the people on the little yellow boat. Additionally I doubt their backs hurt (that night and the next day) like ours. The ride back did offer some beautiful scenery.

 

We have to say for our family, this was the worse tour we have been on for numerous reasons. Over the few days we spoke to other couples that toured the same day with Spencer with his other tour offerings (Land only, West Coast Delight, Land & Sea) and those we spoke to felt the same way. But in speaking with the others, I found out the following...

 

Land & Sea - overcrowded van which didn't make all the stops where we got out of the van, shorten time at the beach, and overcrowded boats getting back to the ship.

 

West Coast Delight/Beach - had to leave the beach early (a couple hours), some had to get onto a Carnival tour boat to get back to ship. Again overcrowded boats getting back to the ship. Spencer reduced their cost (for ones who complained.) "Pay me what you felt the tour was worth" Spencer told one family.

 

Land Only – they got a boat ride back for no additional cost. (this is the family of 4 which got into the Land & Sea tour van.)

 

We heard the reason for the overcrowded/booked was one of Spencer van’s broke down, and put those people in his other vans doing other tours.

 

We felt if Spencer had been up front at the terminal and told us about the overcrowding, then as a paying customer we could have A) known it was going to be a difficult day and prepared ourselves or; B) declined and did something else. But Spencer chose to keep our money in his pockets and say nothing.

 

We are aware things happen out of everyone's control. Spencer commented to one family at the beach he was up since 3:00 AM that morning worrying about the day’s tours. That statement in itself shows Spencer was well aware how the day was going to be for his customers, yet never mentioned it.

[ardeetee]

This is a delayed review for James Tour but I wanted to chime in because my group went on a tour with James over the holidays and we were all happy with the tour. We were a bit unfortunate to come in immediately after a lot of rainfall and we did try to stick to the itinerary but there were certainly some adjustments. Some of the sites were either too dangerous to visit or were in bad shape because of the rain and landslides (sulphur springs were filled with rocks and dirt). However, despite the undesirable conditions, we felt that James did his best to adjust the tour accordingly and make the best out of the situation. We got to try some fresh local banana (also banana chips and banana ketchup), the cinnamon, and also some local apples but the bread shop was also closed. Instead, James stopped to get us some a locally made rice-cake type snack for us to try. We also got to spend some time at Marigot Bay and he made sure the water taxi was ready and available for us to return on time.

 

It's also worth mentioning that we always felt safe while on his tour and appreciated that our safety (and schedule) was important. I can't comment on the other tours in St Lucia but I would recommend James to others. I felt that he was very accommodating and flexible so I think to get the most out of the tour, it's important to communicate with James and he'll do his best to make you happy.

[martes21]

I was with James last 12/28/11 and he was awesome. Great tour with a great guy. He we call you to make arrangements and give you details about the tour. He was always aware of the time and looking for different things to make us comfortable. He will give you drinks and food, so you never will be thirsty or hungry on your tour (included in the price). James enjoy what he do and will make you have a great time. Give him a try, you are not going to be disappointed.

http://www.jamestouringservice.com

[notts cruiser]

Our family group of 21 all ages 9 to 74 had a fantastic day with Spencer on the beach trip .We could have not been better looked after best day of the cruise thank you Spencer. Karen and family