thenford vs. royston?

[StarTrkGeek]

If you want the standard island tour, Thenford is great.

 

If you want to do something out of the ordinary, or customize your tour, go with Royston.

[carib1954]

www.viptoursstkitts.com. King Socrates provides excellent service!

[love2vacation]

After checking his site I am wondering if the tour you took was the 1/2 day tour or the full island tour. His web site quotes 80.00 for the full island tour.:confused:

[CarolinaGypsy]

With Royston I did a full day tour (from the moment the ship docked until 30 minutes before we set sail). It was private - just two of us - and he charged us each only $60 which included all admissions and lunch. The tour was so great we both gave him $75.

[rpmljm]

We just took Thenford's tour last week and we loved it. We are in our 50s. He was very nice, and very knowledgeable about everything regarding the island. St Kitts was our favorite island out of the 6 we visited, probably because of his tour. His van was very nice and new. He gave us a great tour of all the plantlife at Romney Manor, he stopped at many places for beautiful photos, and Brimstone fortress, and Cockleshell beach. I would heartily recommend him to anyone regardless of your age. We did not want a 6 hour tour. We had done that on St Lucia two days before and even though it was great (with Cosol) we were worn out!

[love2vacation]

We just took Thenford's tour last week and we loved it. We are in our 50s. He was very nice, and very knowledgeable about everything regarding the island. St Kitts was our favorite island out of the 6 we visited, probably because of his tour. His van was very nice and new. He gave us a great tour of all the plantlife at Romney Manor, he stopped at many places for beautiful photos, and Brimstone fortress, and Cockleshell beach. I would heartily recommend him to anyone regardless of your age. We did not want a 6 hour tour. We had done that on St Lucia two days before and even though it was great (with Cosol) we were worn out!

 

How long did you have at the beach?

What time did you start your tour?

Where did you eat lunch?

 

Thanks for any information.

[rpmljm]

How long did you have at the beach?

What time did you start your tour?

Where did you eat lunch?

 

Thanks for any information.

 

On our particular tour there were only 7 of us. He had another group scheduled to go with us (not sure how many were in that group)but they did not show up. I felt bad for him. Anyway the tour met at the dock at 8:30 and left about 8:45. Thenford was willing to stay at the beach for as long as we wanted but no one on our tour had any real interest in doing that. Cockelshell beach is a small beach with a nice bar/restaurant and restrooms. The beach seemed a bit crowded compared with others we had been on that week. We stayed there and looked around for about 20 minutes and moved on. Thenford got himself some lunch there to take with him. You could get lunch there as well. We did not. We were back at the ship by about 1:30 and ate there. He will do what you want as far as beach time. The port area had some nice shops to look at. The merchants were not as pushy as some ports. There was a performance of native dancers which took place in the marketplace from time to time which was most enjoyable. Not to be missed.

[love2vacation]

I would assume you ate lunch back at the ship? Also, can you rent chairs at the beach, is the beach bar pricy? Is there shade at the beach, umbrellas?

[rpmljm]

Sorry, since we did not eat there I can't help you with prices, nor can I tell you how much to rent things like chairs or umbrellas. I can tell you that there are trees you can sit under. Yes. we ate on the ship. Actually, the ship was having a chocolate buffet on the Lido deck and chocolate was my lunch that day!:D

[love2vacation]

Sorry, since we did not eat there I can't help you with prices, nor can I tell you how much to rent things like chairs or umbrellas. I can tell you that there are trees you can sit under. Yes. we ate on the ship. Actually, the ship was having a chocolate buffet on the Lido deck and chocolate was my lunch that day!:D

 

The choc buffet would have won me over as well!:D

Thanks for all the info.

[vickykay]

We had a wonderful tour with Thenford Grey last march (als in our 50's) - at the end, he took us to the beach - a couple of folks preferred to go back to the ship (or town, can't remember) which he did after he dropped most of us off at the beach, and then he returned later to pick us up.

 

Sounds like you can't go wrong with either tour co. A tour is the way to go to see the most of this island. The northern part with the rainforest, is very different than the southern part.

 

Enjoy!

[styxscottii]

With Royston I did a full day tour (from the moment the ship docked until 30 minutes before we set sail). It was private - just two of us - and he charged us each only $60 which included all admissions and lunch. The tour was so great we both gave him $75.

We are going to St. Kitts on the Miracle and and looking at Royston for our tour that day. Can you give me any extra reasons why we should use him over others? I've seen many good things written about him.

 

Scott

peorth4@yahoo.com

[CarolinaGypsy]

We are going to St. Kitts on the Miracle and and looking at Royston for our tour that day. Can you give me any extra reasons why we should use him over others? I've seen many good things written about him.

 

Scott

peorth4@yahoo.com

 

 

For me, what made my tour with Royston perfect was his attention to detail. Of course we had him to ourselves since we were on a private tour and he catered to our every whim. I told him my "must-sees" and he not only took us to all those places (way ahead of the crowds) but also to some off-road spots that I'm sure no one else on our cruise ship got to see. If possible I would recommend getting a private tour. It was such a reasonable price to have the entire van to yourself.

One thing that sticks out in my mind is that while we were pulled over to take some photographs Royston saw a plastic bag that has blown into a tree. He got out and walked across the field to get the bag so it "wouldn't ugly up our photos".

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[rodan]

I am thinking of a tour with Thenford but how do you contact him is it by e-mail or a website? Also do you pay in advance or after the tour?

 

 

Thanks,

Rodan

[paul58]

go to: **********************

[love2vacation]

I booked with him for a tour in February and booked right from his website.

In his confirmation reply he will give you all the particulars but you do pay him at the time of the tour, not in advance.

 

 

thenford grey dot com

 

For some reason web links are not coming up. So if you don't understand the above references to his site, you can google Grey Tours in St. Kitts and the search will bring up his site

[ellbon]

my tour had an hour at the beach. we all had lunch. it was good and the drinks were good too. if you walk on the beach it was not crowded at all only near the bar.

[CruisingEasy]

We used Thenford in March and really enjoyed him. There were only 4 of us in his van which was only 2 years old and had around 24 seats.

 

He started out from the terminal and took us into town and stopped so we could take pictures. Took us to the Batik factory and gave us no time limit. Stopped along the way to Brimstone Hill Fortress for us to have pictures taken with monkeys and great scenery shots of the ocean. When we went to the factory and Brimstone Hill he walked with us and gave us a lot of info. We actually had another guide walk with us and said that he wanted to learn so he could share with his clients.

 

From Brimstone we then went to Cockleshell Beach, again he stopped all along the way for great picture shots. We stayed at the beach for 90 min which was more than enough time and then headed back to the ship.

 

I can't comment on Royston but I've heard good things about him too.

 

Robbinsville - you are my neighbor!!! My in laws live there.

[Jeepers385]

Robbinsville - you are my neighbor!!! My in laws live there.

 

Could be, I live out in the country by the turnpike.

Rodan, we paid at the end of our tour and our friends actually emailed Thenford and we joined in.

I don't think you can go wrong either gentlemen it sounds like.

Deb

[mistysue]

After reading all these great reviews of Royston, I wrote them for a quote there are 4 of us and he will let us customize our time as we want. We were thinking of taking the train then touring with Royston. His rates seem very reasonable for what he let you do. For 4 it is $40 each... Happy travels!