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Royston tours or Thenford Grey Tours?


jalinga
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My family and i will be visiting St-Kitts on our upcoming cruise in July. We were thinking of signing up for an island tour as this will be our 1st time ever on the island.

We've heard so many great things about Royston and Thenford's tours and im torn on deciding between the two. Looking at their pricing on their website, Royston's tour seem be a better deal as it includes lunch and drinks and is a few bucks cheaper. However hearing about the places he goes to with his rundown, rusty and old open air van scares me a bit.

 

For those who've taken Royston tours, have you ever felt unsafe riding in his open air van? At the end of the day, money does not matter much, i just want to feel safe and secure on the tour.

 

Based on your experiences with these two tours, which one should i opt for?

Edited by jalinga
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We were on Royston's tour in the open-air van a couple of years ago. Overall, we were very happy with the tour and the price. In fact, we gave him $10 apiece more than what he was asking because we felt it was more than worth it. Not only did he take care of all the admission fees, he even tipped performers and others for us (in local currency). His on-board cooler was stocked with local Carib beer and several kinds of local sodas, including Ting and some kind of pear-flavored soda. Lunch was your choice of chicken or conch roti, which is a sort of wrap filled with curried meat. It was not so much a meal as a snack (but it was included in the tour price), and if I were to go again, I'd probably ask him to stop for additional food at some point. We did stop to sample some local treats at one point, which we could have bought (they were very sugary, though tasty).

 

Regarding the condition of the van, it was comfortable enough. Each of three couples had a wide bench seat to themselves, and a window opening to look out of and take pictures from. Royston is known for being more adventurous in his driving, including driving in the surf along one of the black sand beaches, through some of the grassy fields below the mountains, and up onto some very high points for an amazing view of Nevis and the oceans. The twisty, narrow roads and high, open places could definitely make someone who is afraid of heights feel uncomfortable. It was a bit wild sometimes, but at no time did I feel it was unsafe. You'd have to decide if that would be too much for you, I guess. We had one younger couple, ourselves (close to 50), and one older lady along, and everyone was ok with the "adventure."

 

Royston is very enthusiastic and seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of showing off his island--he can go on a little long at times. He was full of historical information as well as answered every question we had about the present-day running of the island, industry, schooling, social issues, etc.

Edited by CntPAcruiser
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We were on Royston's tour in the open-air van a couple of years ago. Overall, we were very happy with the tour and the price. In fact, we gave him $10 apiece more than what he was asking because we felt it was more than worth it. Not only did he take care of all the admission fees, he even tipped performers and others for us (in local currency). His on-board cooler was stocked with local Carib beer and several kinds of local sodas, including Ting and some kind of pear-flavored soda. Lunch was your choice of chicken or conch roti, which is a sort of wrap filled with curried meat. It was not so much a meal as a snack (but it was included in the tour price), and if I were to go again, I'd probably ask him to stop for additional food at some point. We did stop to sample some local treats at one point, which we could have bought (they were very sugary, though tasty).

 

Regarding the condition of the van, it was comfortable enough. Each of three couples had a wide bench seat to themselves, and a window opening to look out of and take pictures from. Royston is known for being more adventurous in his driving, including driving in the surf along one of the black sand beaches, through some of the grassy fields below the mountains, and up onto some very high points for an amazing view of Nevis and the oceans. The twisty, narrow roads and high, open places could definitely make someone who is afraid of heights feel uncomfortable. It was a bit wild sometimes, but at no time did I feel it was unsafe. You'd have to decide if that would be too much for you, I guess. We had one younger couple, ourselves (close to 50), and one older lady along, and everyone was ok with the "adventure."

 

Royston is very enthusiastic and seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of showing off his island--he can go on a little long at times. He was full of historical information as well as answered every question we had about the present-day running of the island, industry, schooling, social issues, etc.

 

Awesome! I think we will take a chance and go with Royston. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

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Awesome! I think we will take a chance and go with Royston. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

Make sure you mention that you want the 'open air van' . With all the wind there is no need for AC and it makes for great pictures.

 

We spent a great day with Royston, I could have spent longer at the beach but the other couple wanted to get back. We didn't arrive at the beach till quite late.

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Make sure you mention that you want the 'open air van' . With all the wind there is no need for AC and it makes for great pictures.

 

We spent a great day with Royston, I could have spent longer at the beach but the other couple wanted to get back. We didn't arrive at the beach till quite late.

 

We very much enjoyed the windowless van--we were able to get great pictures without needing to get out, and the weather was pleasant with the breeze when the van was moving. He can put the window in if it's raining, I understand.

 

We also arrived later to the beach than I had expected. I thought we had enough time there, however, considering I was the only one who wanted to go in the water. I think Royston has a tendency to get very excited about showing you "everything" and may lose track of the time a bit. (There was never any danger of us being late back to the ship, however!) We just went with the flow, though lunch was a little delayed. I would definitely have stopped for a snack earlier had I known.

Edited by CntPAcruiser
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I really do not know where to put this but it deals with Thenford. A while back there was information about his daughter dealing with cancer. Sadly she has passed away.

 

That is so sad. I have never met Thenford, but i've read nothing but great things about him. :(

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

We were glad to have the regular closed vehicle with Thenford Grey tours. The weather was a bit rainy and it would not have been good to go in an open vehicle!!!!! And the van was in wonderful shape with A/C. I actually would not have felt safe with an open vehicle on those roads.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That doesn't sound good. We booked with Royston for our January cruise. I heard back right away, but I booked a couple months ago. Hope he is still operating and will be there for our booked tour. I better have a back up plan just in case. I plan to send confirmation requests but not until a week or so before our trip.

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I have sent multiple e-mails and tried contacting him via his web site. He has not once responded. It has been about 4 weeks now. I will be looking into Thenford Grey now.

 

This is the e-mail address we used, which differs from some that are out there: roystontours@hotmail.com

 

I hope you hear from him either way.

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We took Thenford Gray's tour in early November and loved it. One of the best tours I've ever taken. We went to the Batik and gardens and then to the Fortress. We were finished around 1:30 and he took us to a beach where folks could stay for about 2 hours...it was the prettiest beach Carambola Beach Club with a nice bar/restaurant. There were clean restrooms with showers. He came back at the exact time he told us he would. He is very proud of his island and made sure everyone was taken care of. If I'm ever in St Kitts again, I would book his tour.

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We took Thenford Gray's tour in early November and loved it. One of the best tours I've ever taken. We went to the Batik and gardens and then to the Fortress. We were finished around 1:30 and he took us to a beach where folks could stay for about 2 hours...it was the prettiest beach Carambola Beach Club with a nice bar/restaurant. There were clean restrooms with showers. He came back at the exact time he told us he would. He is very proud of his island and made sure everyone was taken care of. If I'm ever in St Kitts again, I would book his tour.

 

Good to Hear! I just sent him a request for our Jan Cruise stop there. I have sent Royston 3 emails over the last 2 weeks to re-confirm our tour that I booked with him months ago, but now I can't get a reply! Mark

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I just checked on trip advisor and two people commented in December and both ended up not getting the advertised tour. Most recent said Royston was ill and his cousin Ashton took them. Charged only $20 but didn't get the full tour with lunch and admissions. The other comment was similar - paid less but admission fees not included and no lunch. Hmmm. I still have about six weeks so hope whatever is going on is resolved by then.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did Thenford Grey over Thanksgiving, it was very nice, he his a good driver, tour included then, fort, beach and a garden that was very nice, he dropped us off at the carambola beach club, when you enter walk down the beach to the left there are several black places grilling food, so we had a beach picnic. I would do it again, he offered us water if we asked.

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I sent a confirmation request to Royston earlier this week and heard back the next day that we are all set so whatever the problem was may be resolved.

 

We just got back from a tour with him - we were the only couple on board but he turned up on time and was happy to sit & chat with us on the beach for as long as we wanted. The weather was hot so the open air van was no problem - the van may be ancient but it still managed to get up seriously steep hills - always felt safe and would recommend -

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  • 2 weeks later...

Any recent comments/criticism on either of these? I am not sure which one to go with. Both have said they will do what we want (we added Black Rocks to their tours) and are charging the same fee, but Royston's includes lunch. Not sure which one to do!!!

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Any recent comments/criticism on either of these? I am not sure which one to go with. Both have said they will do what we want (we added Black Rocks to their tours) and are charging the same fee, but Royston's includes lunch. Not sure which one to do!!!

 

We did a tour with Thenford Grey last month, and we really enjoyed it.

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