lavie12

We just booked with Jaime for January and made our $25 deposit via Paypal.  Can someone tell me if the balance due is to be paid in cash  only or does he accept credit cards?  I asked  him this and instead he sent me directions instead lol

Just used this offer to book our Princess Cruise for May!  Thanks for the headsup

We toured with Royston on December 26, 2017. I feel I need to contribute a head's up that our experience was a bit different than others have had. Ya know how when you read TripAdvisor reviews and there's the one really detailed bad one amid all the upbeat ones, and you think that poster must just be cranky? I wish I had paid a bit more attention to the one poster.

 

We had booked ahead of time for our party of three, and agreed to pay a nominal fee for 3 other seats so we could have a private tour. We like to get really in depth in our touring, asking tons of questions and pausing at interesting parts, and we didn't want to bore another party who might have ended up riding with us. Royston met us right on time and started driving us around the island. So far so good.

 

The van is really in bad shape. The windshield is cracked, the sliding door doesn't latch well, there were holes in the floor. It was fine, and certainly added character to the tour, but not particularly comfortable. There were several quick hard rainstorms through the day that made the lack of windows a bit unpleasant. If we hadn't brought raincoats, we would have been soaked through for the rest of the trip. The island is beautiful.

 

We got plenty of time to look at things, because Royston would pull up to a ledge and pause for long moments, lost in reverie. I assume he was giving us more than enough time to take pictures, but it was also kind of weird. There were occasional monologues about colors only he could see. In fact, we were treated to a few repeated themes of monologue as we went along. One about the students at the vet school being drunks and unChristian. Another about St. Kitts avoiding the recent hurricanes because it is a Christian island, while St. Martin deserved its damage because they have casinos and don't pray. And then the colors. Lots about the special colors only Royston could see.

 

There was a cooler in the van with a variety of drinks, which we appreciated. When I asked about lunch, around 11ish, trying to plan ahead, Royston replied that he would have to see what he could do. To be fair, this was Boxing Day and a lot of places were closed. But surely that was not a surprise? Doesn't it happen every year? Nonetheless, we toured for several more hours, with no food in sight, when finally we ended up at the Fort, which has a junky little tourist grill. By this time, it was around 2 and everyone's blood sugar was low. When I asked if there was a plan for lunch, Royston replied that he had hoped to see people grilling in the picnic area but there weren't any. So we got really bad sandwiches from the grill and made do. Royston did pay for these, as lunch was advertised as included, but as he did he commented that he didn't need food anymore, so he forgot other people did. A far cry from roti prepared on the beach!

 

We continued our tour. We saw wonderful things. St. Kitts is so beautiful. Also, kind of big for a day tour. We began to encourage Royston to wrap it up, so we could get back on time. He did not have watch or a phone to keep track of time. At this point, we were still having fun, although glad we had not laid out a ton of money. We figured it was weird but basically good. Some of the drop-offs made me a little nervous, as the van edged right along them, but all part of the adventure, right?

 

And then, the last 45 minutes: we were quzzed about our own religious beliefs, specifcally what our beliefs required of us in order to get into heaven. Once we had answered, I guess correctly, Royston felt safe to launch into his own spiritual journey, including exactly what it feels like when God comes to talk to him, what Jesus really looks like, why he was kicked out of his own church after he confronted them about using the wrong calendar since Rome and the Pagans conspired to destroy the real calendar system in the beginning (??), and who exactly the antiChrist is, and Royston's proof of this. Also, how helpful YouTube has been in interpreting all the numbers God has confided to Royston in dreams, so that he is in the process of calculating when precicely the world will end. Spoiler alert: he's narrowed it down to 2040 but still iffy on the exact day. This might sound quirky and funny, but delivered in a rundown van on the edge of a cliff, from someone who clearly wasn't joking, it bordered on scary. Like he might save us all the trouble of waiting until 2040 and just take us over the cliff now. At the very least, it was not a pleasant way to end a tour.

 

Fortunately, we did arrive back in town without the world ending. It was a funny story to tell our friends at dinner. But I wouldn't want to repeat the day. We decided that both the great reviews and the few completely negative ones are accurrate. I think Royston must take medication for whatever mental condition he has, and this allows him to focus and function the majority of the time. Unfortunately, he must have literally gone "off his meds" for the holidays, and we got the unfiltered version. My husband kept asking me, "and everyone on cruise critic loves this guy????" So I felt obligated to comment. In fact, I would have started a new thread, with a title along the lines of "Warning!" but I read the posting rules and that would seem a violation.

 

If anyone tours with him in the next couple of months, I hope you'll come back and comment. I'd love to hear that he's settled down because I'm not so sure how sustainable the current level of nuts will be. (On the other hand, I suppose he really could be hearing from above, and come 2040 I'll wish I'd paid more attention.)

Reading this review makes me VERY happy we went with Thenford Gray's tour instead. We went there on 12/22/17 and had a great time, driver was professional and it was a very comprehensive tour. Lunch was not included, but we ate at the beach and enjoyed the food. This sounds like a complete nightmare! yikes.

He got back to me and unfortunately he is fully booked that day. We'll try to rent a car instead and drive ourselves around.

It took him nearly two weeks but I also heard back from him, but at that point, I had already booked with Thenford Grey. And it's true, their response time was within 24 hours. Very organized booking info and I like that. Looking forward to the tour!

I've had the same problem. Booked online but haven't heard bsck from him. How long does he usually take?

No idea, but I think nearly two weeks is too long. I had no problems booking my Antigua excursion. Very prompt with confirmation within 24 hours. So, I am not sure spotty internet is to blame here. Think I am going to look into Thenford Grey's Tours.

Anyone been able to get in touch with Royston's lately? Trying to book for December and filled out his form, but never heard back. Been nearly two weeks. I'll try again but just wondering if anyone's been able to get in touch with him lately.

Nice photos! So you just went off the ship and caught a taxi and asked them for a city tour?

Okay he wants the full amount upfront from each of us (it's three couples and we want to pay separately). No lunch included for the city tour and Carnival's city tour includes lunch and is $49.99 each. He wants $45. Same exact tour. Thinking we will just go with Carnival even thought I typically avoid booking tours with them these days, but at this port, we'll be the only ship there so it won't be overrun with other ship goers and at least we can wait until last minute to book.

what was the deposit amount he asked for? We're a group of 6 and booking a city tour with them for February. He hasn't mentioned a paypal deposit yet.

How far in advance do you recommend booking with woodwind? We are only cruising next year but don't want to miss out on what sounds like an awesome excursion. Also how long do they last? I see on their website that they go from 9-1400? But they also say 3-4 hour sailings. We are only there from 7-1400 don't want to miss the boat! thanks :)

Guess I'm the odd lady out but we booked on March 5, 2015 for our April 21, 2015 tour. lol You guys are making sure you get your bases covered!

Can any of you past Woodwind guests tell me how many people were on your tour?

 

Thanks

I just got back from my cruise on the Carnival Valor and we did the Woodwind tour which was fantastic BTW. I went with the early group (8:15am) and we had about 25 people and we were split into groups of about 8 folks per snorkel guide.