Sunny vs Godfrey...just booked with Sunny, but a few concerns

[rookiecruiser717]

I first wanted to say how appreciative I am for these boards--without them I would be lost in trying to plan my first cruise on RCCL Adventure of the Seas, which is also my first trip to the Caribbean.

 

After reading the boards, I decided to get in touch with both Sunny and Godfrey yesterday re: our one day stop in St. Thomas. I already received an email confirmation from Sunny. I just have a few concerns. First, lately it seems as though there have been some problems with Sunny "standing up" passengers. Was this just a one time thing or should I be concerned about this? Second, my mother has me paranoid that I should be careful that Sunny and/or Godfrey "people" are making the postings. I tried to reassure her that this was an extremely reliable website (as told to me by a client of one of my friends), but I just want to make doubly certain. It seems as though there is no way that this many positive reviews about both tours could be coming from "insiders."

 

If anyone could comment on Sunny vs Godrey recently and/or reliability of postings issues, I would really appreciate it. As I said before, being a first time cruiser has me with my guard up--hopefully, you all understand...thanks so much!

 

PS: If you have any other tips about Aruba, St. Martin or Curacao, they would be much appreciated! :-)

[KruznKel]

I first wanted to say how appreciative I am for these boards--without them I would be lost in trying to plan my first cruise on RCCL Adventure of the Seas, which is also my first trip to the Caribbean.

 

After reading the boards, I decided to get in touch with both Sunny and Godfrey yesterday re: our one day stop in St. Thomas. I already received an email confirmation from Sunny. I just have a few concerns. First, lately it seems as though there have been some problems with Sunny "standing up" passengers. Was this just a one time thing or should I be concerned about this? Second, my mother has me paranoid that I should be careful that Sunny and/or Godfrey "people" are making the postings. I tried to reassure her that this was an extremely reliable website (as told to me by a client of one of my friends), but I just want to make doubly certain. It seems as though there is no way that this many positive reviews about both tours could be coming from "insiders."

 

If anyone could comment on Sunny vs Godrey recently and/or reliability of postings issues, I would really appreciate it. As I said before, being a first time cruiser has me with my guard up--hopefully, you all understand...thanks so much!

 

PS: If you have any other tips about Aruba, St. Martin or Curacao, they would be much appreciated! :-)

 

Hi there.. I wouldn't be worried.. I don't understand how somebody could be stood up by either of these operators..

 

We were 1st time cruisers in 03/06 and had booked Godfrey.. We were the only 2 people for the 11am pickup and he came back just for the 2 of us.. We do not work for the company.. the info we found from this site is how we booked our tour.. I did post a picture of myself along side Godfrey after the tour.. it is in one of the threads here..

 

If you are off the ship at the proper time .. there should be no problem.. for us Godfrey picked us up on ship time.. not St. Thomas time I believe they are 1 hour ahead so please beware of the time issue.. that could have been why some people were stood up..

 

Enjoy the tour it is really amazing and alot of fun :)

[amy2313]

I received with Godfrey for a tour last month after reading posts from Cruisecritic and I can say without hestitation we had the best time on his tour. He was waiting for us at the ship (even though we were a little late getting us due to the lines) brought us downtown, dropped us off and was there when he said to pick us back up. His tour of the island was informative and he brought us to the best beach to go snorkeling that day (the day we were there the water was a little rough so Coki's water was not as clear so he brought us to another beach I had never even heard of that was absolutely beautiful!) Godfrey also let us leave our shopping buys in the tour bus when we went to the beach and I never once felt uneasy about leaving our belongings or purchases with him.

 

With all of that said - I would recommend Godfrey's tour - I have never been on Sunny's so I can't speak for that one, but we had such a good time with Godfrey that we are booked with him again on our next cruise in May.

 

Hope that helps!

[misteve]

My group of 7 were on Sunny's tour on April 4th. I will speak for the group and tell you that this was the best tour that we had taken of all the islands that we visited. Sunny is a riot, he has the music going, sings and gets everyone on his bus in the mood to have fun. When we were in port there were 6 ships in port and the tours were very busy. I can't speak for the Godfrey tour but was very happy with Sunny and his wife and would not hesitate to go on there tour or recommend them to anyone. If you don't change your tour you wont be disappointed.

[the2ofus]

We used Godfrey for our tour in St. Thomas back in November. A very personable, reliable gentleman. I would not hesitate to book with him again.

[letscruisegd]

My group of 7 were on Sunny's tour on April 4th. I will speak for the group and tell you that this was the best tour that we had taken of all the islands that we visited. Sunny is a riot, he has the music going, sings and gets everyone on his bus in the mood to have fun. When we were in port there were 6 ships in port and the tours were very busy. I can't speak for the Godfrey tour but was very happy with Sunny and his wife and would not hesitate to go on there tour or recommend them to anyone. If you don't change your tour you wont be disappointed.

 

I was also on Sunny's tour on April 4th. We were in the vehicle his wife drove. We got off the ship a little late due to immigration and Sunny's wife was right there waiting for us. She said she realized it could take a while for passengers to leave the ship so she waited. By this time my daughter and I were the only two passengers on the ride downtown. We ended up not having enought time to shop before the tour so we went back downtown after the tour. I wouldn't hesitate to use Sunny again. We had a GREAT time.

[bandtaxi]

We booked a private excursion with Godfrey for our group of 13. When we left the ship a lady had our name on a paper. She took us to our vehicle. Godfrey had apparently overbooked for the day and had hired another driver for us. Burlie gave us a wonderful island tour, then stopped at Coki beach. We decided to go to Sapphire beach. When we got there and saw the prices for lunch ($11 for a hamburger), Burlie offered to take us down the road just a bit to a local area for lunch. We had great snorkling, seeing sting rays and a barracuda (it's better to the right toward the rocks).

 

Burlie then took us to town and dropped us off. We were able to leave our stuff in the truck. We had 2 in our party ready to go back to the ship, so she took them back and came back for us in a couple of hours and then delivered us to the ship.

 

Burlie was great!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I was also on Sunny's tour on April 4th. We were in the vehicle his wife drove. We got off the ship a little late due to immigration and Sunny's wife was right there waiting for us. She said she realized it could take a while for passengers to leave the ship so she waited. By this time my daughter and I were the only two passengers on the ride downtown. We ended up not having enought time to shop before the tour so we went back downtown after the tour. I wouldn't hesitate to use Sunny again. We had a GREAT time.

For those of you who toured with Sunny after April 2nd - we are booked with him in a little over a week and are very excited. We have a group of 21, so I'm certainly not concerned about being stood up! I am a little concerned about the time difference factor. Sunny says that after April 2nd the ship time is the same as the island. I assume that is true, but if you could confirm that for me I'd appreciate it very much!:D

 

I am very impressed with how Sunny has conducted his business so far. In organizing this group I have sent him multiple e-mails & he has always responded promptly and courtesly. I know we will enjoy this day!:)

[Broch]

For those of you who toured with Sunny after April 2nd - we are booked with him in a little over a week and are very excited. We have a group of 21, so I'm certainly not concerned about being stood up! I am a little concerned about the time difference factor. Sunny says that after April 2nd the ship time is the same as the island. I assume that is true, but if you could confirm that for me I'd appreciate it very much!:D

I am very impressed with how Sunny has conducted his business so far. In organizing this group I have sent him multiple e-mails & he has always responded promptly and courtesly. I know we will enjoy this day!:)

 

Why on earth do you need this confirmed. Sunny lives on the island. if he does not know nobody will. He is not going to lie about a thing like this. Anyway I thought you say you like the way he has handled your business

[Sunny AZ Girl]

He has been great. However, on our last cruise one of the tours did give me the wrong information on island vs. ship time. At another island the ship personnel gave the wrong info.:eek: So, I know I may be paranoid, but I didn't think it would hurt to just get it confirmed by this board! Because of the info I had received just before I left last year from Cruise Critic people I was right on time in each place! Some people who had received the wrong info from the ship didn't get back on time, they kept asking the islanders what time it was instead sticking with ship time.......:rolleyes:

[letscruisegd]

For those of you who toured with Sunny after April 2nd - we are booked with him in a little over a week and are very excited. We have a group of 21, so I'm certainly not concerned about being stood up! I am a little concerned about the time difference factor. Sunny says that after April 2nd the ship time is the same as the island. I assume that is true, but if you could confirm that for me I'd appreciate it very much!:D

 

I am very impressed with how Sunny has conducted his business so far. In organizing this group I have sent him multiple e-mails & he has always responded promptly and courtesly. I know we will enjoy this day!:)

 

It was around 11:15 when we got off the ship. Sunny's wife waited a little longer after she walked us to the truck so it's possible she was giving others who booked the tour time to get off the ship. She apologized to us about the lack of shopping time and we of course told her it was fine since we got of the ship so late. We know this was not something she could control. I was appreciative that she waited on us. We ended up getting downtown around 11:45 to pick up the other passengers for the tour that was scheduled to start a noon. I believe as long as you're off the ship by 11:30, they'll be there waiting for you. Also, we always stick with ship time.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thanks for the reply! We opted for the 9 AM pickup time - don't want to miss any good shopping, LOL!:) I'm still assuming that 9 AM ship time is also 9AM island time.

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks for the reply! We opted for the 9 AM pickup time - don't want to miss any good shopping, LOL!:) I'm still assuming that 9 AM ship time is also 9AM island time.

 

Yes it is ever since Daylight Savings time started. I also made the mistake of missing a tour on our last cruise due to ship time versus island time. So I checked and rechecked this time and its the same. We are also booked with Sunny in less than 3 weeks.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Yes it is ever since Daylight Savings time started. I also made the mistake of missing a tour on our last cruise due to ship time versus island time. So I checked and rechecked this time and its the same. We are also booked with Sunny in less than 3 weeks.

I agree that the time issue can be so confusing. You can't be too careful. After all the time I spend planning this tour for ourselves & 19 other peolple, I wouldn't want to mess it up!:eek:

 

Have a great time on your cruise. I'll tell Sunny that you're all ready for him. We'll leave some of that banana daquari for you on Mountain Top!:cool:

[Coolcruise02]

You can tell your mother I don't work for Sunny and I think he is great! It was a wonderful day and Sunny is soooooooo much fun. Also, he will lock up your beach bags while your shopping and your shopping bags while your at the beach. :)

[Hootsie]

We just got back from our cruise and went with Godfrey. He was awesome! He even provided drinks (bottled water and soda and even peanuts for a snack). In fact, while we were at Sapphire Beach he told us he would be in the parking lot and we could get drinks at any time.

 

His open air buses are really new and there were 3 on our trip (totally full).

 

They had a sign for us with our name on it just as we got off the ship. Very easy to find them.

 

I'd book with him again in an instant.

[Beachbumsx3]

We toured with Godfrey the first week in April. He went by ship time. He was a very personable and knowledgable guide. He knows so many interesting facts about the island, culture and history. I understand that he and Sunny work together. Sunny's wife picked us up at the ship for the shopping and Godfrey met us downtown at a designated area for the island tour and beach time. It was a great experience and about halllf what ship excursions cost.

Have Fun!

[scbooklady]

Our family of 5 (3 adults, 2 children) toured with Sunny last week. We were charged $25.00 each and paid in cash at the end of the tour. At first we were a little concerned because we booked the tour at 10 am and by 10:15 there was still no one there to pick us up. We were about ready to find another tour guide, when Sunny's wife showed up. She said there was a traffic jam which is why she was late. She had an open air bus that was comfortable, and brought us to a downtown area to shop for about an hour and 1/2. Sunny picked us up precisely when he said he would and we began our tour of the island, along with a few other families that were on the bus with us. He stopped at several places for us to take pictures and then brought us to the "Mountaintop", which is basically a gift shop with a bar and an outside area that overlooks the bay. We skipped the $7.50 banana daquiries the bar is supposedly famous for. Sunny provided color commentary all along the way, including during the very scary hairpin turns up and down the mountain side! He had all of us singing "Every Day of the Week" while rocking the van all the way to Sapphire beach. I agree with the other posters that he does plug this beach. He will take you to another beach if you request it beforehand, but he told us that Sapphire was the nicest beach for families with less local people pressuring you to buy stuff all the time. We stayed at the beach for about 2 1/2 hours. We wish we had brought some drinks and lunch from the ship because, as others have posted, the hamburgers were $11.00! We wound up buying a large bottle of water from the snack shop nearby for $3.00 and splitting 2 hamburgers. (They are large at least.) After the beach, we were rocking, rolling and singing all the way back to the ship. Sunny's bus certainly gets noticed by everyone as he drives by....probably very good publicity for him.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We just got back from our cruise where we had a very nice tour with Sunny Liston. There were 19 of us on the tour from our group. He was a couple of minutes late picking us up, but St. Thomas had Carnival going on & traffic in town was horrible. Because of that he gave us the choice as to whether we would go on the tour first or go shopping. We chose to do the tour first. We went up the mountain to Mountaintop and as the previous poster indicated we sang at the top of our lungs all the way down!:eek: We did get a bit rowdy..........;) After that he dropped us off at Sapphire Beach, which was an absolutely marvelous beach, BTW - I'm glad he suggested it! The snorkeling was great & it had plenty of shade.

 

Sunny was funny and very accomodating. Actually, DH & I were the only ones who chose the beach, everyone else was sunburnt or just wanted to do some serious shopping. Sunny graciously dropped everyone off exactly where they wanted to go. He suggested shopping at Haversight by the ship because of Carnival and many did go there. However, a few still wanted to tackle downtown & he did take them there and one couple wanted to be dropped off at K-Mart! Then he picked us up at the beach at precisely the time he said he would!:cool:

 

I would recommend Sunny Liston any time.:D

[jaxcrsr]

We just went last week on a tour with Godfrey. He was very nice and informative. Since Carnival was going on, he suggested that we shop in Havensight which was fine since we had already done most of our shopping in St. Martin. The tour was great and he gave us our choice of beaches afterward or go back to the ship. We chose Sapphire Beach and we were not disappointed. The beach was beautiful and the water was clear. The food and drinks we a bit pricey, but the beach made up for that. Godfrey picked us up on time and we were back at the ship in plenty of time even with a little traffic. I would recommend Godfrey.

 

Patty

[terri1020]

We just booked Sunny Liston for June 25. He said the only pick up time on Sunday is 9am. Not sure why, but that works for us. Does anyone know if there is a time difference between ship/St. Thomas at that time of year?

 

So far, every question or concern I have expressed to him has been met with prompt, curteous responses. He suggested Coki Beach and we had decided to go to Megan's Bay. When I emailed him our choice, he was more than happy to accomidate. He did tell us that Megan's Bay is $3pp to enter. We're hoping we chose well.

 

I always appreciate the information I gather from these wonderful boards! Keep it coming please!

 

Terri

[CrusinAgain]

We just booked Sunny Liston for June 25. He said the only pick up time on Sunday is 9am. Not sure why, but that works for us. Does anyone know if there is a time difference between ship/St. Thomas at that time of year?

 

So far, every question or concern I have expressed to him has been met with prompt, curteous responses. He suggested Coki Beach and we had decided to go to Megan's Bay. When I emailed him our choice, he was more than happy to accomidate. He did tell us that Megan's Bay is $3pp to enter. We're hoping we chose well.

 

I always appreciate the information I gather from these wonderful boards! Keep it coming please!

 

Terri

 

We just got back from our trip and toured with Sunny. Sunny was always prompt with e-mails but once we got there Godfrey was the quickest picking up everyone and they were having a blast and Sunny's 3 groups were not. We were in a truck where it had one little speaker and you could barely hear what his wife was saying - we had his wife for the tour driver. It wasn't nearly as much fun as what I saw with Godfrey's tour. Suffice it to say we chose the wrong one and if I had it to do over again, it wouldn't be Sunny's. We only saw the mountaintop, Drake's seat, and Sapphire Beach. He had a full busload out of the 3 that went that wanted to go back to the ships instead of staying at the beach.

 

Megan's Bay looked beautiful since you could see that at the mountaintop. There are alot of tours once you get off the ship also.

 

Maybe not too many cruise ships coming in on Sunday as to the one choice only of time. Did you check with Godfrey or Airforce One? I see Airforce One was back on the road.

 

Hope you have a better tour and good luck.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We were with Sunny a couple of weeks ago. We were picked up a few minutes later than Godfrey's group, but only waited a few minutes. He was right on time when he picked us up at Sapphire Beach at the time we requested. At this time of year St. Thomas is on the same time as ship time. The number of places that we went were limited due to Carnival going on during our visit. There was so much congestion, especially in the downtown area, that he could barely get his bus through.

 

Everyone we were with had a great time. Sunny was funny and informative. As you mentioned he was very accomodating and took everyone where they wanted to go after the tour - 4 different spots in our group!

[Hoya]

Does these guys have any websites or e-mailadress?

[kathylee]

Just wanted to mention that I have reserved Godfrey's tour and found him to respond very well to all of my e mail questions. I found that the best way to e mail him is through the signing the guestbook portion of his website. I am looking forward to his tour!!