Spencer Ambrose Beach Break

We are going on Spencer's Land, Sea and Beach Adventure next week. Will I be ok in a swimsuit and cover up or would it be better to plan on changing? Thanks!

We are going on Spencer's Land, Sea and Beach Adventure next week. Will I be ok in a swimsuit and cover up or would it be better to plan on changing? Thanks!

You will be fine. YOu get muddy and wet at the mudbaths and then you get wet at the waterfall and then wet again at the beach. I took my coverup off at the mudbaths and didn't put it on again until we were on our way back to the cruise ship.

Do take a towel ;)

You will be fine. YOu get muddy and wet at the mudbaths and then you get wet at the waterfall and then wet again at the beach. I took my coverup off at the mudbaths and didn't put it on again until we were on our way back to the cruise ship.

 

Do take a towel ;)

Thanks!

We just did the beach break and WOW....AMAZING. The snorkeling was absolutely gorgeous.

I have a full review with TONS of pictures from that day located HERE if you are interested.

We just did the beach break and WOW....AMAZING. The snorkeling was absolutely gorgeous.

 

I have a full review with TONS of pictures from that day located HERE if you are interested.

I see in your review what cameras you have, but what did you use for your underwater shots? Because they look amazing!!!!!!

I'd send you a PM, but since I can't figure out how to do that.....LOL Feel free to PM me if you know how :) Thanks!

I see in your review what cameras you have, but what did you use for your underwater shots? Because they look amazing!!!!!!

 

I'd send you a PM, but since I can't figure out how to do that.....LOL Feel free to PM me if you know how :) Thanks!

It's the same camera for everything...above and below. They are point and shoot waterproof cameras. ;)

There's no PM function on these boards. Everything must be posted to the public. :cool:

We did the beach break with Spencer Ambrose on our Carnival Valor cruise in May 2013 and highly recommend it. We also had the option of booking through the ship, but that beach break would only allow 1 1/2 hours at the beach, which we knew would not be enough time for us. We had seen pictures of the beach (just gorgeous), so we wanted time to get pictures, to snorkel (some of the best snorkeling we've seen), and just to enjoy the beach and an hour and a half time on the excursion through the cruise line just seemed to rushed. We're on vacation and don't want to be rushed. We knew that the beach break with Spencer would allow a lot more time to enjoy the beach and from other reviews I read, he was also very reliable in getting tours back to the ship with plenty of time, and Spencer's prices are very reasonable with all that is included, so we booked with Spencer instead of through Carnival. We were very happy with our experience, so happy that we booked another tour with Spencer (land/sea/beach) on our most recent cruise on Carnival Liberty last September.

 

What we really liked: Speedboat transportation directly to and from the beach; we were the first group there & had first picks of the free loungers; we had about five hours at the beach, so plenty of time to get pictures, snorkel, and just relax and take in the beauty of our surroundings; a buffet stye, home cooked lunch was included (very good); unlimited beverages (water, coke, diet coke, Piton beer, rum punch) were also provided; there were vendors at the beach, but they don't bother you...if you are interested you go to them and they were very nice and not pushy; the trip back to the ship included the "Sea Tour", with several stops along the way for explanation and great photo ops; back in plenty of time so we were able to browse the shops at the cruise center before getting back on the ship. Spencer and those who work for him (including his daughter, Shequana) are all very professional, very nice, and the communication before hand was very good.

 

I did a review of that cruise that includes plenty of pictures. I'll attach a link to the thread and I'm hoping it will go directly to the page that the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break starts on (if not, the section on Spencer's Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break starts on page 10 and goes through page 12). It includes a detailed description of our tour and pictures, including snorkeling pictures.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1917645&page=10

 

We enjoyed the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break so much that we booked the Land, Sea, and Beach Tour through Spencer on our most recent cruise on Carnival Liberty in September 2015. For that tour, we had about two and a half hours at Jalousie (Sugar) Beach. I'll copy and past the link to that section since I got a lot of pictures and my snorkeling pictures this time came out much better. We had the same lunch we did the first time, but this time I remembered to get a picture (I took a little of everything just like I did the first time). Again, copying link to hopefully open on the section that includes the Jalousie/Sugar Beach pictures (starts on page 21, post #413).

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2275573&highlight=liberty&page=21

 

I hope this is helpful and please feel free to ask if you have any specific questions.

We are going to St. lucia at the end of Nov. and I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your detailed review! So much useful information!

One question....our ship is scheduled to leave at 4:00 that day. Will that be enough time for this excursion? I am always nervous about getting back to the ship in time. I will contact the tour company about it of course, but just wanted your opinion as a customer.

Thanks in advance!!

We are going to St. lucia at the end of Nov. and I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your detailed review! So much useful information!

 

One question....our ship is scheduled to leave at 4:00 that day. Will that be enough time for this excursion? I am always nervous about getting back to the ship in time. I will contact the tour company about it of course, but just wanted your opinion as a customer.

Thanks in advance!!

Thank you so much for letting me know and I'm glad it was helpful to you. Both times we toured with Spencer (we did the Land, Sea, and beach on our most recent visit in September 2015), we were back by 3:30 but our ship was there until 5PM. That could be cutting it close, but Spencer does gear his tours to cruise ship passengers and they do have the ship schedules and times they are in port.

Do you know if you'll be the only ship in port the day you are there? That could be a factor. If you're the only ship in port, then others on his tours would also be needing to be back probably no later than 3:30pm. We sailed on Carnival and Carnival's back on board time is a half hour before the ship is scheduled to leave port. We were in St. Lucia from 8AM - 5PM both times, so had to be back on the ship by 4:30PM. If you're scheduled to leave at 4PM, then my guess is that they would try to have you back at the port by 3PM. Again, that's my guess. :)

The only reason there may be a "hitch" is ff there is another ship scheduled to be there that day that won't be leaving St. Lucia until 5PM. To be honest, I don't know how Spencer would handle that. We've always had to be at the little pier at Jalousie Beach by 2PM to head back to our ship. Again, not positive here, just guessing, but to accommodate two different ships with different times (yours leaving at 4PM, the other at 5PM), they *could* schedule two different times to leave Jalousie Beach. Maybe 1PM for those on the ship leaving at 4PM, and 2PM for those on the ship leaving at 5PM. That is, if there is another ship scheduled to be there the same day you are.

***I just looked up one of the websites that has the cruise ship schedules and this. It's pretty accurate, but not always, so you can't rely on it 100%. I just looked up Castries, St. Lucia's cruise ship schedule for November 15, 2016 till November 30, 2016, and there are three dates in the second half of November that will have more than one ship in port. The rest of the dates only have one ship showing as being scheduled in Castries, St. Lucia.***

November 17, 2016: Adventure of the Seas and Fascination

November 22, 2016: Royal Princess and Celebrity Eclipse

November 30, 2016: Norwegian Gem and Seven Seas Mariner.

But yes, please feel free to contact them, and I'm sure they will let you know for sure. I would probably do that, even if it is just for "peace of mind". They are very easy to work with and they will not mind questions and that is a valid and important question. It's not like you'd be asking for the weather forecast on the day you will be there (I'm sure it's asked). :D

I really do hope this works out for you since our St. Lucia days with Spencer have been our best on a cruise. We will get down there again, eventually, and it will definitely be the beach break next time, we just loved it. Hope this helps. :)

Thank you so much for letting me know and I'm glad it was helpful to you. Both times we toured with Spencer (we did the Land, Sea, and beach on our most recent visit in September 2015), we were back by 3:30 but our ship was there until 5PM. That could be cutting it close, but Spencer does gear his tours to cruise ship passengers and they do have the ship schedules and times they are in port.

 

Do you know if you'll be the only ship in port the day you are there? That could be a factor. If you're the only ship in port, then others on his tours would also be needing to be back probably no later than 3:30pm. We sailed on Carnival and Carnival's back on board time is a half hour before the ship is scheduled to leave port. We were in St. Lucia from 8AM - 5PM both times, so had to be back on the ship by 4:30PM. If you're scheduled to leave at 4PM, then my guess is that they would try to have you back at the port by 3PM. Again, that's my guess. :)

 

The only reason there may be a "hitch" is ff there is another ship scheduled to be there that day that won't be leaving St. Lucia until 5PM. To be honest, I don't know how Spencer would handle that. We've always had to be at the little pier at Jalousie Beach by 2PM to head back to our ship. Again, not positive here, just guessing, but to accommodate two different ships with different times (yours leaving at 4PM, the other at 5PM), they *could* schedule two different times to leave Jalousie Beach. Maybe 1PM for those on the ship leaving at 4PM, and 2PM for those on the ship leaving at 5PM. That is, if there is another ship scheduled to be there the same day you are.

 

***I just looked up one of the websites that has the cruise ship schedules and this. It's pretty accurate, but not always, so you can't rely on it 100%. I just looked up Castries, St. Lucia's cruise ship schedule for November 15, 2016 till November 30, 2016, and there are three dates in the second half of November that will have more than one ship in port. The rest of the dates only have one ship showing as being scheduled in Castries, St. Lucia.***

 

November 17, 2016: Adventure of the Seas and Fascination

November 22, 2016: Royal Princess and Celebrity Eclipse

November 30, 2016: Norwegian Gem and Seven Seas Mariner.

 

But yes, please feel free to contact them, and I'm sure they will let you know for sure. I would probably do that, even if it is just for "peace of mind". They are very easy to work with and they will not mind questions and that is a valid and important question. It's not like you'd be asking for the weather forecast on the day you will be there (I'm sure it's asked). :D

 

I really do hope this works out for you since our St. Lucia days with Spencer have been our best on a cruise. We will get down there again, eventually, and it will definitely be the beach break next time, we just loved it. Hope this helps. :)

Hi again! Thanks so much for your very helpful response, I appreciate you taking the time. In checking our itinerary I discovered we are in St. lucia on Dec. 2, (sorry about that, duh!) and I checked and see that there is only one other ship in port that day, leaving at 4:00 as well, so I am thrilled. Shouldn't be a problem with returning to the ship in time for all aboard. So, I am going to book the beach tour and am very excited. Your review, plus others on CC and Tripadvisor are all very positive. Should be a great excursion.

Thanks again, and happy sailing! 😃

Hi again! Thanks so much for your very helpful response, I appreciate you taking the time. In checking our itinerary I discovered we are in St. lucia on Dec. 2, (sorry about that, duh!) and I checked and see that there is only one other ship in port that day, leaving at 4:00 as well, so I am thrilled. Shouldn't be a problem with returning to the ship in time for all aboard. So, I am going to book the beach tour and am very excited. Your review, plus others on CC and Tripadvisor are all very positive. Should be a great excursion.

Thanks again, and happy sailing! 😃

You are very welcome. :) Always happy to help because others have been very helpful to me in the past. Believe it or not, we also chose Spencer because of the positive reviews and they were very reliable in getting cruise ship passengers back to the ship on time. Before we booked with them, we had always booked tours through the cruise line, so I have to admit that I was a little nervous at first. But we had a great day and Spencer and his whole crew are very nice and easy to get along with. Our tours with them have been our favorites.

I hope you enjoy your day in St. Lucia as much as we've enjoyed ours and also hope you have a wonderful cruise and great weather. :)

Just returned from our West Indies sail on the Viking Oceans "Star" and second time in St. Lucia with Spencer Ambrose. This time we did the Beach Break - took his speed boat directly to Sugar/Jalousie Beach and spent the entire time snorkeling under the Pitons. The best snorkeling of our cruise! The squid were still there - and beautiful as ever! Maybe even a few more?

Just a few small rocks so glad to have our water shoes. Thought we might need to rent snorkel gear but they did have enough for everyone. I particularly like that we could walk in from the beach rather than jumping off a boat into waves.

We were among the first to arrive and easily found four good chairs together under the shady trees. No need at all to rent lounges from the resort. Plenty of long chaises in good condition. Buffet Creole lunch was delicious. I also really enjoyed the fresh fruit smoothies from the "Banana Boat" vendor on the beach. Spencer met us at the pier, but wasn't able to join us that day. Instead, his daughter and crew took really good care of us. Wonderful day!

We usually snorkel off of boats in deep water instead of off beach.

I'm a bit worried about accidentally stepping on a sea urchin or getting cut on coral due to shallow water.

Would appreciate your input re: my concerns.

Thanks

No problem. The area marked off for snorkeling at Sugar/Jalousie Beach has a mix of sand and pebbles as you enter. Also one or two large rocks, but those are easily avoided. I saw only a very few black spiny sea urchins and those were really far out in the deeper water where I'd have to be scuba diving to reach them. A few beautiful patches of coral too, but further out where you'll be floating far above. As I mentioned, gorgeous small squid fluttering in formation. Also various types of needle fish, schools of small fish, angel fish and parrot fish. Our best, most colorful snorkeling in several years.

We usually snorkel off of boats in deep water instead of off beach.

 

I'm a bit worried about accidentally stepping on a sea urchin or getting cut on coral due to shallow water.

 

Would appreciate your input re: my concerns.

 

Thanks

Walking into the water is a bit tricky. There's tons of small/larger rocks/pebbles when getting in. Either go slow or use water shoes. (You can carry your fins while wearing water shoes, walk out take shoes off and throw up toward beach, put on fins). It doesn't take long at all before it gets deeper.

Here's a picture of the entry under water. I took this picture just for this particular question about entry because I knew some would have questions. :D

As for the sea urchins. They are usually in the rocks. We did see some of the spiny black sea urchins right as you enter on the HUGE rock sticking up out of the water right by the entrance. They are on the rock (sideways) and no way for you to step on them. This is the rock I'm referring to.

For the most part, like the other poster said, they are out, hiding in the rocks, in deeper water. The only other urchins you will see (and see everywhere you go) are the white sea urchins:

They wont hurt you at all.

This place is really a DO-NOT-MISS place for snorkeling. Seriously! It's that good. Check out my review and pictures of all the snorkeling we did here (in my signature link). It's really one of the best places I think I have ever snorkeled. My 8 year old daughter snorkels with us (and has been since 3 years old) and she says this is her favorite place to snorkel EVER! (And she goes a lot...3/4 cruises a year and snorkels at least 3-4 times each cruise).

Be sure to try a fresh fruit smoothie from the vendor on Jalousie/Sugar beach! Delicious!

As I mentioned, gorgeous small squid fluttering in formation.

Yes the reef squid are pretty neat there. They look very similar to cuttlefish with undulating fins around their mantles and their ability to quickly change color.

We just did Spencers tour last week. It was WONDERFUL !!!!

I had written ahead and asked if the tour was doable for people with bad knees. He wrote back and said yes.

He and his crew were the most hospitable, lovely people.

They were especially helpful and would have done anything to help those of us that had some mobility problems.

St Lucia is beautiful and Sugar Beach, where we had lunch and a beach break was truly the most beautiful location I have ever seen. With this secluded beach surrounded by the volcanic Petons it was outstanding!!!

The lunch was also very good. Would go again and I highly recommend this tour.

The next day we did a similar tour in St Marteen and the tour company I used was not even near as professional and considerate.

Spencer Ambrose was a great tour guide

We just did Spencers tour last week. It was WONDERFUL !!!!

I had written ahead and asked if the tour was doable for people with bad knees. He wrote back and said yes.

He and his crew were the most hospitable, lovely people.

They were especially helpful and would have done anything to help those of us that had some mobility problems.

St Lucia is beautiful and Sugar Beach, where we had lunch and a beach break was truly the most beautiful location I have ever seen. With this secluded beach surrounded by the volcanic Petons it was outstanding!!!

The lunch was also very good. Would go again and I highly recommend this tour.

The next day we did a similar tour in St Marteen and the tour company I used was not even near as professional and considerate.

Spencer Ambrose was a great tour guide

I'm curious...what tour did you do in St Maarten? We have one booked next week for our cruise.

Thank you everyone for your positive feedback on the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break. I am thinking of booking it.  I see he does not take credit card and takes $10 PayPal deposit. How does this work with Paypal? Is the rest due in USD currency?

I paid Spencer $10 + $1 service fee each using PayPal then cash for the balance before getting on their boat.  I think the web site says you can prepay the entire amt via PayPal if you choose.  If you're new to PayPal, it's been so many years since I set mine up that I can't remember much other than it was easy.  Mine is linked to a credit card, not a bank account.

On 2/8/2017 at 8:44 PM, motherchic said:

We just did Spencers tour last week. It was WONDERFUL !!!!

I had written ahead and asked if the tour was doable for people with bad knees. He wrote back and said yes.

He and his crew were the most hospitable, lovely people.

They were especially helpful and would have done anything to help those of us that had some mobility problems.

St Lucia is beautiful and Sugar Beach, where we had lunch and a beach break was truly the most beautiful location I have ever seen. With this secluded beach surrounded by the volcanic Petons it was outstanding!!!

The lunch was also very good. Would go again and I highly recommend this tour.

The next day we did a similar tour in St Marteen and the tour company I used was not even near as professional and considerate.

Spencer Ambrose was a great tour guide

Loved it a few years ago.  Going back in May.  Was a guy still there who does and sells wood carvings and paintings?

On 2/22/2020 at 1:25 PM, Cruiseoholic000 said:

Thank you everyone for your positive feedback on the Jalousie/Sugar Beach Break. I am thinking of booking it.  I see he does not take credit card and takes $10 PayPal deposit. How does this work with Paypal? Is the rest due in USD currency?

The rest is due in cash on the day of the tour before you board the boat. I trust that you realize that you have resurrected a three-year- old thread.  We did the Jalousie Beach Break just over one week ago, and it was excellent.  The snorkeling there was wonderful and easy as well.  My only nit was Spencer was 40 minutes late to pick us up to return to our ship because another ship arrived late in port, and he was taking them to Jalousie.  He always builds in plenty of time so no worries about missing your ship but his employee on the beach with us was not aware of any delay.  We would have preferred swimming or snorkeling those 40 minutes rather than waiting by the dock for pickup.  Communication!

On 1/31/2017 at 6:50 PM, OBX Cruisers said:

 

Be sure to try a fresh fruit smoothie from the vendor on Jalousie/Sugar beach! Delicious!

Or coconut water straight from the coconut...sorry no photo of the coconut but this was the view from the beach

On 3/14/2020 at 11:24 PM, CintiPam said:

The rest is due in cash on the day of the tour before you board the boat. I trust that you realize that you have resurrected a three-year- old thread.  We did the Jalousie Beach Break just over one week ago, and it was excellent.  The snorkeling there was wonderful and easy as well.  My only nit was Spencer was 40 minutes late to pick us up to return to our ship because another ship arrived late in port, and he was taking them to Jalousie.  He always builds in plenty of time so no worries about missing your ship but his employee on the beach with us was not aware of any delay.  We would have preferred swimming or snorkeling those 40 minutes rather than waiting by the dock for pickup.  Communication!

Spencer is always late, that's just Spencer. 

Love him forever, he's a really funny dude. 

He takes care of everybody on his tours, been with Spencer twice on his Beach Break to the Pitons, and Cosol twice on his Land and Sea tour both top shelf tours. 

I've really enjoyed being the first ones to arrive on Jalousie on the boat with Spencer at the same time I miss seeing the island and the drive over through the rainforest. 

Trying to get back to this destination next fall 2021, my day is going to be spent on one of these tours. 

2 hours ago, TTEllis said:

I've really enjoyed being the first ones to arrive on Jalousie on the boat with Spencer at the same time I miss seeing the island and the drive over through the rainforest. 

Trying to get back to this destination next fall 2021, my day is going to be spent on one of these tours. 

I will take a speedboat over a curvy mountainous van drive anytime. I always have been a bit of a queasy car passenger so it was great on my second Spencer Ambrose tour experience to spend all the transportation time enjoying a glorious boat ride! 
 

I hope you are able to return as you plan.  I doubt I will be trying to cruise at all in 2021.