Spencer Ambrose Tours

[newcruiser1573]

Just returned from 14-day Caribbean cruise on HAL. We had booked with Spencer. He was prompt with getting back to us with all the details. When we arrived in St. Lucia there was no one to meet us. Waited 40 minutes. Checked e-mails...nothing. Had one of the information booth ladies call him twice...no response. Never heard from him. Very disappointed but fortunately we didn't let it ruin our day. Interestingly our ship was late in docking but we were still there at the prearranged time, perhaps a few minutes late but not more than five minutes. We were also the only two from the ship booked with him. Most of the people seemed to be with Cosol or James Tours. We booked based on cruise critic feedback and TripAdvisor reviews. Will assume this was a fluke and something beyond thier control but it would have been nice to have been contacted.

 

Thanks for your feedback. I'm glad it did not ruin your trip. I think experiences like this need to be known. Your experience help me decide to look else where. Thank you.

[poppadevan]

Were you able to hook up with Cosol or James after Spencer did not show? Thanks

[sippican]

This assumes that everyone that takes his tour writes a review and as we all know that is not the case.

 

I have never written a review on TripAdvisor and have taken some wonderful excursions around the world. I guess if I had a really bad experience I would be inclined to write something so others know can make informed decisions though.

 

What tour did you book and did you enjoy it? CC reports are always the best and I would love to hear your experience :)

 

Some reviews on TripAdvisor that are almost hard to believe especially for the same excursions I really enjoyed :confused:

 

My conclusion only assumes that 90% of the reviewers on Tripadvisor had a good tour. I apologize if I lead you to believe otherwise. But yes, all reviews on any travel site need to be taken with a grain of salt - even CC ! ;)

We did end up booking a day pass at Ti Kaye resort with Island divers. (Unfortunately we ended up canceling due to an injury.) But we are looking forward to the same day trip this coming April. We will be sure to report back.

[jgoulart1978]

We did the beach break tour with Spencer a couple of weeks ago. I did enjoy the boat ride to the beach. Loved seeing the coast and the Pitons in the distance. I was a little disappointed by the beach and the fact there were no chairs when we got there in the morning. I knew the beach area where the chairs would be was smaller, but it turned out to be smaller and not in as nice as condition as I expected. The lunch was average. Aaron was great to our group, always checking in with us and bringing us drinks. Our group also had some transportation issues. Spencer needed to move some people to a water taxi because one of his new boat drivers didn't show that day and we had too many people for the main boat. Well it turns out the engine in the water taxi gave out and they had to be transferred to another boat to get to the beach. It kind of left a little damper on the day for our group. I had high hopes for this excursion and I kind of felt let down by some parts of it. Part of me wonders in Spencer is in over his head a little and is overbooking and relying on a water taxi on some of the heavier days. I have seen a few other reviews of this similar thing happening. But St. Lucia is a very beautiful island and I enjoyed the sights we did get to see that day.

[harry0]

Seems to be hit or miss-When I was in St. Lucia for the day I did not want to chance it by breakdowns or mismanagement-I am glad we did not take this tour.

[SnorkelAway]

We did the Jalouise Beach Break with Spencer again off Jewel - the February 15 to 22 cruise. We had a great time. It was a very big day for Spencer, however, and things were not as smooth for others taking his excursion. We managed to be on the boat with Terry - who seems to be Spencer's main guy on the boat or boats - which put us in the best position arriving first at beach, which meant we got great chairs. We like Spencer and Terry, as well as his crew at the beach, and would take his excursions again despite knowing of the possibility of problems which are most common when he has a lot of bookings. Problems can happen with any excursion. I will take his excursion again and recommend his Jalousie Beach Break to anyone - try to be on Terry's boat to the beach - even if not, relax and enjoy any issues that come up - you will get there and have a great time.

[klscaz]

I do not trash someone's reputation lightly but my day with Spencer's team was my worst vacation day ever. I would rather have been at work. Thankfully, our other independent tours were very enjoyable!

 

Our guide was Aaron. He seemed like a nice guy but his van is a junker. Eleven of us were packed in and all of us in the back were roasting. None of Spencer's vehicles are marked and while we didn't meet Spencer, I think I saw him lurking at a few of our stops. Lunch was not "at the beach" as advertised but at some relative's house.

 

Spencer knew that we were unhappy and through Aaron, gave us a $5 discount. Whopee!

 

Finally, we aborted the tour (took the land portion only) and they brought us and another disgruntled couple back to the port in an air conditioned bus. However, the new driver dropped us off at the wrong terminal for our ship. We had to take a taxi to get to the correct berth. The perfect topper to a horrible day!!!

[chickadee1]

The most recent comment on this thread was in April and since we are going in November and wanted to go on Jalousie Beach Break, has someone gone more recently and can they update us on this tour? It is a long day and we want to be sure we are having a good time!! Thanks.

[dz63]

The most recent comment on this thread was in April and since we are going in November and wanted to go on Jalousie Beach Break, has someone gone more recently and can they update us on this tour? It is a long day and we want to be sure we are having a good time!! Thanks.

 

Have you checked Trip Advisor? There are some recent and very positive reviews posted there.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147343-d1724874-Reviews-Spencer_Ambrose_Tours-Castries_Castries_Quarter_St_Lucia.html

[chickadee1]

Have you checked Trip Advisor? There are some recent and very positive reviews posted there.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147343-d1724874-Reviews-Spencer_Ambrose_Tours-Castries_Castries_Quarter_St_Lucia.html

 

Thank you for directing me to Tripadvisor! I read the recent reviews and feel a lot more confident about this tour! Thanks, again!

[lunagirl]

Was the boat ride very rough?

 

Yes! The boat ride on the way out to the Pitons was pretty rough, but mostly because someone was encouraging them to cut across waves. Eventually, they slowed down a bit because several people were complaining and on the verge of being ill, and that helped a lot.

 

I think they were in a hurry because we were dropping people off who wanted to climb the Piton, then trying to get to the beach before some other tours.

 

It was still a great day. We loved the food and snorkel experience. I would book this tour again. I heard horror stories from people that took the Land and Sea tour and I distributed motion sickness medicine to several of them at the beach. Go for the boat tour!

[alfthecruiser_1]

Just back off the Valor. :D Spencer tours, one of the best tours we have ever taken. Took the catameran from the ship to Soufriers where we boarded vans for the island tour, then back to board the cat once again to go to the beach between the Pitons. Stayed at the beach for about 1.5hrs. Then on our way back to the ship on the cat, we stopped at several places along the way for pictures and what the places were and represented. Spencer, his daughter and crew on the cat, were outstanding, the best people to know and have fun with for a day.Our whole group along with Spencer, didn`t want the day to end. Go and have fun like we did..:D