To ALL who recommended Sonny Liston

[Sandi149]

I read that when you go to the beach with Sunny's tour he locks all your stuff up in his bus. Doesn't he use an open air bus? Does it have a secure trunk? Is there enough room for everybody's stuff?

[rjack22]

Sunny locks your stuff up in the truck cab which is enclosed.

[Cruise or Lose!]

Just one question - is your Sonny Liston related to THE Sonny Liston???

 

http://www.ibhof.com/liston.htm

[nho9504]

The last thing we need is some sort of accident because of "flying up the mountain".

 

We usually rented a car at St.Thomas but this time since Princess docks at Crown Bay that makes things difficult - so we decide to just take a tour for both mountain top and beach time.

 

It is good to read about others experiences so one can choose what suits one better.

[Lightsluvr]

Don't sit directly under the loudspeakers in Sonny's truck unless you want to experience temporary deafness and ringing in the ears...He gets really loud...and you'll be singing the days of the week in your dreams for weeks!

 

LL

[CrusinAgain]

When we were there this year, he had 3 trucks. We were expecting the happy music people bragged about and telling us what we were seeing as we traveled. We didn't get Sunny and the music was on one tiny speaker so sounded horrible! All the trucks followed Sunny at up to the mountaintop and we would all have to gather around him when we stopped so he could tell us what we were looking at but with that many people and traffic going by it was hard to hear. After that, we never saw him again.

 

So just because you book with him doesn't mean you will get him. Also after the stop at the beach, everything changed and we were moved to a different bus to get back to the ship along with many others who didn't want to stay and the tourguide never said a word the whole time back.

 

This tour consisted of taking us to town and dropping us off to shop, picking us back up and taking us to mountaintop and then to a beach and back to the ship.

[SeaSeaRiders]

Does he actually stop at Bluebeard's Castle, Blackbeard's Castle, Drake's Seat ect? I haven't heard anyone mention the stops. His website makes it sound like you at least get to get out & take some pics at these places.

 

I do like the idea of no credit card to hold your reservation.

 

If extra people decide to come along, does he usually have a spot for them?

[CrusinAgain]

We went with Sonny in April and we did not stop at any castle. We did stop across the street from Drake's seat, but it is a park bench to replicate where Drake use to sit. He had 3 buses back then. You could e-mail him and ask if he could accommodate more?

[burrma]

Thanks for the positive review. I'm taking a group of 30 people on his tour on Feb. 5/07 and he allowed me to do the tour in the a.m. as so many of us want to shop in the afternoon; better bargaining power.

I do have room on this tour for a few more people so if you are interested, contat me soon at *****

[burrma]

I have used Sunny on many other cruises and have been very happy with him. This time, Feb . 2007, I booked Sonny in advance and took a group of 50 people with Sunny Liston. His wife was the other driver and both were fantastic. She was a little quieter but all the people on her van enjoyed her immensely. I booked him through the internet months before we cruised and had to send him $100.in advance by Pay Pal which he was very quick to return to me on arrival. He was excellent at communicating by email;we discussed together what I wanted the group to see and the times. He usually takes people in the afternoon but was more than willing to change to my ideas. We took the tour 2 1/2 hours (plus extra for pick up and drop off points) in the morning and it was awesome. I could have asked him to make the tour longer but that's the time my group wanted as shopping is a big part of St . Thomas plus there's a lot to do within walking distance of town. I have taken many groups on tours and this past cruise was the best yet because of all the private tours I arranged for the group. The tour operators were fabulous. Will defiantly use all the tour guides again. They bent over backwards for us. The people in the group saw and learned so much about the islands; I would say they saw in one tour with each operator about the same as if they had taken three different ship excursions and for a lot less money. I guess that's why my groups continue to grow in size. We take a lot of cruises because I work very hard to find all kinds of ways to cruise as inexpensively as possible.

Sonny bent over backwards for us. He only charged $25. and after the tour, he gave them many options: some stayed at beach for afternoon and he came back to get them later; others were dropped off downtown to shop and he came back to get them at many different times, to take them to ship and he took others directly back to ship after the tour. One couldn't go wrong as they saved $4.50 each way in taxi fare to downtown and back to ship so now the cost of tour was $17. We docked at Crown Bay. He met us directly outside gate , where we had planned in advance to meet, and had a large sign with our name on it. He was extremely friendly, knowledgeable, immaculate and professional but "happy" with Caribbean music. He was more than willing to turn down the music if it was too loud.

He now owns another brand new safari vans.

He certainly reimbursed me for all the work I put into the tour to make it a great one and enjoyed by all.

He is becoming so popular, that little of his business is now obtained on the street. The majority of it is through the internet. He is more than willing to take groups of 2-4 but of course, you can't expect all the

amenities that you receive by traveling in a group with an agent who is stretching your dollar as far as possible. Email me if you would like to join one of my private groups. I am not a travel agent but will get you the best deal!

*****

I would highly recommend Sunny Liston as a tour operator for St. Thomas

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks for the review. It just brought back the GREAT memories of our tour with Sunny! :)

[tnf]

Does anyone know how to get a copy of the song he plays(days of the week)?

[RvrCrzr]

The name of the song is: "Everyday Of The Week", song is by ONYAN from Antigua. The name of the album is "Back To Burning Flames". You can also hear it on Sunny's website. It is the theme song of his site.

[tnf]

The name of the song is: "Everyday Of The Week", song is by ONYAN from Antigua. The name of the album is "Back To Burning Flames". You can also hear it on Sunny's website. It is the theme song of his site.

 

Thanks for the info.

[Maddie444]

We are taking the tour this April with Sunny.

Can anyone tell me if the beaches are crowded at 1:30 - 2:00 pm when he drops you off? Can you get a spot for 10 people or will we be sitting on top of each other.:confused:

Thanks,

Maddie

[jsd0330]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I had booked a tour with Sonny after reading all the great reviews. My two son's did not want to go, and Sonny had said in his email they would have a great time, but still they were undecided until the morning of the day we pulled into St. THomas. They thought they were going to be stuck on a bus the whole time. Once they saw they were open taxi's they reluctantly gave in.

 

They were not sorry and we had the BEST time. The other tours were so jealous of us, flying up the mountain, laughing, and singing to the blasting Caribbean music, and Sonny's great sense of humor. He dropped us in town to shop and came back a few hours later, where he said we had a group to pick up at the beach. We got an entire tour of the whole island, and didn't return to the ship until dark.

There was a family of 5 on our tour, who complained about his driving and after Sonny dropped a bunch of us in town, they were MIA. I think they got another ride back to the ship on the return. No problem, it was a great time!!

 

Thats great to hear, I have booked with Sonny on 3/28 for my family of four. Let me ask you a question. Which beach did you go to and was there parasailing available there. I think I've convinced my wife to try this. I have gone skydiving before but this will be a first for her.

[RvrCrzr]

Sapphire Beach wasn't very crowded mid-afternoon. There were only 3 ships in harbor that day, however. There can be many more...and it could change.

[Jill and Jo]

First and foremost, Sunny does not drive fast...the roads are very steep and winding. I assure you that you will be in good hands and will have an awesome time!

I was a little apprehensive to take this tour due to some of the feedback on these boards. I am glad that I took a leap of faith! This was a great tour! We were the only couple on taking the tour from The Sun Princess. We opted for the 3 hours of shopping...well, I did...my husband was in the dark about that decision..LOL! Sunny's wife Angela picked us up right on time and drove us downtown to shop. St. Thomas has AWESOME jewlery! Sunny had all groups meet at a parking lot across from the jewlery store where we were dropped off at noon. Sunny gave us a highlight tour of St. Thomas and stopped at quite a few incredible look out points. The views would take your breath away. Sunny played very up beat music and you couldn't help but sing along. He was very informative and made the tour a lot of fun. You had your choice of beaches...Cokie was the first stop, Sapphire Beach then Megan's Bay. We opted for Sapphire Beach because we were told it was less crowded and had decent snorkeling. This beach was BEAUTIFUL. Not very crowded but pristine and exactly what you want from a Caribbean beach! We had 2 hours at the beach then Sunny picked us back up and took everyone back to their ships. As we pulled up to each ship, the entire bus was singing and people were looking at us because we were having so much fun-they were definately envious of the great time we were having! You will not be disappointed with this tour...a great value for your money and it will leave you with wonderful memories of St. Thomas. You can't go wrong with Sunny Liston!!! Have a great Trip!!

[HandsUp]

Hi everyone, a few years ago I take a tour with PaPa Bear, air force one tours and Godfrey tours on St.Thomas. Their tours were very good. I am about to take a cruise that will be stopping on St.Thomas again. I heard so many good things about the Sunny Liston Tours. Is this a good tour to take if you are in to having a fun time? We are party people. We would like to have some fun in the sun. Please give me some advice about his tours. We will like to do some shopping, sightseeing and spend some time at Sapphire beach. What time does he pick you up from the ship? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[CrusinAgain]

His tour is the same as the ones you went on - they do shopping first then a quick tour and hit a beach. When we went, we were wishing we were on one of the other tours since we got stuck with a boring driver who didn't say anything and when any music was turned on it came out of one small speaker that people kept saying to turn it off but the driver could not hear the passengers. Personally I don't recommend him but others have had good experience with him which is why we went with him. Oh and he was late picking us up everywhere and dumped the folks off at Sapphire's Beach which at that time the grill and bar were closed and had trash all over. He said no to Megan's Beach because they charge an entrance fee. We chose to not stay at the beach and go back with a vanful of folks that headed back to the ship after seeing the beach. At the time we went we had choices of time pickup from the ship depending how long we wanted to shopping but they were all like that. We also did not see all the stops he had listed in his tour description. If you had fun with one of the others you may want to rethink taking his tour unless you consistently saw while you were on the other tours the Liston vans having fun while yours wasn't.

[Muushka]

I recommended his tour to my friend 2 years ago and she was very disappointed. Perhaps after everyone reading these boards he became too busy to keep up. He hired people to take my friend and the tour was not very good and not a lot of fun.

[pmck]

We took the Sunny Liston tour last November while cruising on Princess and LOVED it.. Since then I have recommended it to our friends who have also taken it and LOVED it as well. Sunny is not only extremely professional and courteous, but fun (our teenagers loved it...and it's not easy to make teenagers happy)...But the icing on the cake was when I sent Sunny a personal email to ask him to give me the name of a shop that we stopped at on the tour because I wanted to order something that I saw there... He offered to stop there and get the item for me and mailed it to me (before I ever gave him any money)!! What kind of a person does that? He is genuinely a good, honest, kind person and I will use his tour any time I have the good fortune to visit St. Thomas!!!:)

[1volnut]

I LOVED Sunny's tour!!...I was a bit skeptical because I'm not a big "sing-along" kind of person, but once he gets rolling, you can't help but enjoy yourself!!....you'll be singing his songs for DAYS!!!....

 

if you don't have fun on this tour, then I'd say you're pretty much not capable of having fun....

[rjrice1]

We had a blast also with Sunny. His music was so much fun. His bus was the "happening one." Some of us did not want to stay at the beach, he drop us off at the pier and went back for the others.

Price was great for the money.

Will do him again.

[msucooper]

My family and I visited St. Thomas back in August 2009 via Carnival Victory. This was highly recommended by the members of Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor. I am so very glad I took their advice. We were able to tour with Sunny himself. He was very polite, energetic and professional. Because of his hospitality I will definitely visit St. Thomas again...hopefully very soon.