Looking for Guadeloupe tour information...

[Stockjock]

Visiting Guadeloupe in early 2015. I'm an English speaker on a French speaking ship. I'm not finding a lot of English speaking tour guides at all.

 

Any suggestions or recommendations?

[onyx007]

Visiting Guadeloupe in early 2015. I'm an English speaker on a French speaking ship. I'm not finding a lot of English speaking tour guides at all.

 

Any suggestions or recommendations?

 

That's a hard one. As you can see below in this branch of CC there is not much information on Guadeloupe and as a german speaker I almost waited till arrival to see what they have to offer on land. But I was contacted on another (german speaking) Forum by someone who lives there and makes tours in German.

 

As you will be on a French ship they might not have any tours for other then french speaking people. My suggestion is to look for fellow english speaking guest and they might have the same problem as you and then you might share a taxi. As a price suggestion; our "tour" will cost us (three people) for each 65 Euros for about 6 hours.

 

Look here for the other threads. Many people just walked around Pointe-a-Pitre to see the markets, the church and the city center. It looks like they have some tourism people waiting at the pier, which might give you information as well...maybe I can tell you more mid of January...

[Stockjock]

Thanks. I'd like to get out and see the island a bit.

[Cruzer Two]

Visiting Guadeloupe in early 2015. I'm an English speaker on a French speaking ship. I'm not finding a lot of English speaking tour guides at all.

 

Any suggestions or recommendations?

 

See my post, Terre-de-Haut, Guadeloupe, for information on viewing a video showing the self-guided waling tour of the island we took in November, when the Holland America Prinsendam stopped at the island. It is a beautiful little island.

[Stockjock]

Just watched your video. It seems very pretty there. How did you get around? How long were you there for? I think we visit 8 am to 6 pm.

 

I was considering a somewhat more broad-based tour of the island, but so far, I'm having a tough time finding much of anything. Your thoughts?

[Cruzer Two]

Just watched your video. It seems very pretty there. How did you get around? How long were you there for? I think we visit 8 am to 6 pm.

 

I was considering a somewhat more broad-based tour of the island, but so far, I'm having a tough time finding much of anything. Your thoughts?

 

Our ship was at anchor from 10:00 til 6:00 pm at the entrance of the Les Saintes Bay and tenders were used to transport passengers going ashore.

Terre-de-Haut is a small island with limited professional tour opportunities. Holland America offered three short tours. The first was a 3 ½ hour tour of the island that included Napoleon Fort, and transportation to Pompierre Beach for swimming. The price was $89.95 USD per person. Both of these activities can easily be done on foot or by renting one of the small electric vehicles. The walk to Napoleon Fort is up a fairly steep hill, but you walking on a paved surface so it is not a bad walk. The views of the island from the fort are worth the walk. The beach is in the opposite side of the island, but again it is easily walkable. We spent several hours walking around the fort, village, and beach.

The second Holland America tour was a 1 ½ hour boat ride around Les Saintes Bay to see some of the other smaller uninhabited islands. The price was $69.95 per person. The third tour was 1 ½ hours of Kayaking for a price of $79.95. I believe you could also arrange for these activities yourself once ashore.

I hope this help you plan your time in Terre-de-Haut. It is a delightful little island.

Ron

[neptuno]

Thanks. I'd like to get out and see the island a bit.

 

We visited Guadeloupe recently, 12/31. We rented a car near the cruise dock. There is an information booth at the cruise terminal, they speak English and will direct you to the lot where there are at least five rental companies including Hertz, about a quarter mile walk through the market. The roads are excellent and drivers are civilized. We drove to the west half through the rainforest with a quick hike to the waterfall. Then on to the west coast and Jacques Cousteau marine reserve where we snorkeled right from the beach at the north end. Great snorkeling. There are also dive boats to take you out to the nearby islands depending on your timing. The marine reserve is only about a half hour drive from the cruise dock. We also visited another beach later in the day on the east half, Grande Terre, near Sainte-Anne, Plage Caravelle, a pretty spot by the Club Med. Another couple we met had taken the bus there, but I don't have specific info on that, other than it can be done. Gasoline is about $7/gallon. Everything is in Euros and litres, but the VISA card worked perfectly. I just reviewed the bill and one dollar buys about 0.82 Euros. Also, the street signs were excellent and navigating was easy. Guadeloupe is very organized compared to some of the Caribbean islands. (btw, avoid "TOTO" car rental, they are crooks, but that is another thread.)

Edited January 7, 2015 by neptuno

[Cruzer Two]

We visited Guadeloupe recently, 12/31. We rented a car near the cruise dock. There is an information booth at the cruise terminal, they speak English and will direct you to the lot where there are at least five rental companies including Hertz, about a quarter mile walk through the market. The roads are excellent and drivers are civilized. We drove to the west half through the rainforest with a quick hike to the waterfall. Then on to the west coast and Jacques Cousteau marine reserve where we snorkeled right from the beach at the north end. Great snorkeling. There are also dive boats to take you out to the nearby islands depending on your timing. The marine reserve is only about a half hour drive from the cruise dock. We also visited another beach later in the day on the east half, Grande Terre, near Sainte-Anne, Plage Caravelle, a pretty spot by the Club Med. Another couple we met had taken the bus there, but I don't have specific info on that, other than it can be done. Gasoline is about $7/gallon. Everything is in Euros and litres, but the VISA card worked perfectly. I just reviewed the bill and one dollar buys about 0.82 Euros. Also, the street signs were excellent and navigating was easy. Guadeloupe is very organized compared to some of the Caribbean islands. (btw, avoid "TOTO" car rental, they are crooks, but that is another thread.)

 

Grande Terre seems to have more to offer than Terre-de-Haut, which is a sleepy little island with some beautiful scenery.

[neptuno]

Grande Terre seems to have more to offer than Terre-de-Haut, which is a sleepy little island with some beautiful scenery.

 

Hello Cruzer Two, and thanks for the input. Hope to visit the islands of the saints sometime. maybe aboard a bareboat, anchored somewhere, snorkeling and spearing dinner, or snaring lobster.

[onyx007]

Just returned from beautiful Guadeloupe. It's proper French Territory.

 

We are German speaking Swiss and booked a tour before we arrived,

but there where lot's of people at the pier offering taxi and tours

and I'm pretty sure there where as well people who will understand english.

 

The important thing is that you should have Euros on you. But the streets are nice and well kept, so a rental car would also be an option.

 

We had about 7 hours and paid for our tour (we were three persons) 65 Euros each.

 

We looked at

the Chute de Crévisse (Waterfall)

a rum destillery

Gosier

St.Anne

castel point (or Point aux chateaux)

and on of the cemeterys.

 

It was pretty nice. Try one of the homemade ice cream...

 

By the way I might have seen your ship and what I could here they had their announcements on the ship in French and English !