Is Cosol in St. Lucia as good as people say??

[ValerieJo]

I have been trying to book a tour with Cosol in March. I have left phone messages and also sent an email but have not gotten a response. I got the numbers off their web site. Help! I don't want to miss out on not taking the tour. Do anyone have the necessary information I need to book with Cosol. How did you go about booking your tour?

 

I emailed him late this afternoon and had a response within about 2 hours. Maybe he just responds to emails in the evening after his day of touring is done. We are also booking for March.

[unipanther08]

This tour was by far the best tour I went on. We just got back from our cruise from Jan. 16th-Jan. 23rd. We had Sam as our driver and he couldn't have been better. They provided as much beverages as you want, an opportunity to taste the local foods and fruits, and photo stops every 10 minutes...and Jalousie Beach was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen which was situated between the Piton Mountains. You couldn't book a better tour than Cosol's Tours. I loved every minute of it! :)

[cary1306]

just back from cosol trip and it was great and lasted all day and the time flew. plenty of stops and always beer,rum or soda to drink all day long.you will not be disappointed ,and have full knowledge of st lucia island by the time the tour is over .thanks cruise critic for the great info:)

[bluesea6504]

We just returned from a tour with Yellowbird and he was so sweet and took us everywhere. We had a great time.

[tess47]

Hi myself and husband are doing Cosol in March- can anyone tell me if they did any swimming? Our tour says you can swim in the waterfall but no one has said anything about getting wet. Just wondering if we should wear bathing suits under cloths and bring towel just in case. thanks:)

[BroncosFan2010]

I am hoping to provide a bit of a balance here to all the positive posts. I would caution those of you planning on doing this cruise IF you have many ships in port. I did the Cosol tour in March and there were 6 ships in port. There were over 200 people on this tour and about 25 vans. We had 10 people in our van, and it was somewhat crowded. The tour started about an hour late because of all the people and we were literally HERDED into vans for a drive. We did not have a good driver, and he was quiet for most of the tour. We had to cut out one of the options because of the late start, so we were unable to go to the beach. The sights were SO crowded that we felt very rushed. There was not a lot of food because of all the people, so we were hungry most of the tour. The bathrooms often had long lines and cost $1 to use. Be sure to bring singles.

 

I think this tour COULD be enjoyable had we been the only ship in port. There were just too many people to get to see all the sights and enjoy the food. To add insult to injury, Cosol kept telling, no, DEMANDING that we come back to Cruise Critic and post good reviews. It was very off putting.

 

I know that so many people have had a great time on this tour, but I want to warn people to CHECK THE NUMBER OF SHIPS IN PORT before you book. If there are more than 2-3 ships, you may want to find something else to do, especially if you don't want to feel like a herd of cattle all day.

 

St. Lucia is a beautiful island, and DH and myself will be returning there in August. We will be finding a beautiful beach and avoiding the island tours this time.

[Ms Bee]

The botanical gardens were really about using the changing rooms before you go to the beach. If you wear your swimsuit you can take the time to see the garden or walk into the waterfall. It is a shallow area you can just walk right in.

 

My only complaint was that some people were over a half hour late at the start of the tour and we ended up being rushed to stay on track. Personally I would have left without them.

 

I had the luck to be on the very first tour they used the water taxi on. The road had washed out and they made a last minute arrangement. Our guide asked how we felt about using the taxi and we all loved it! I heard the guides talking about making a permanent change--I guess they did!

[CruiseLover824]

I have been trying to book a tour with Cosol in March. I have left phone messages and also sent an email but have not gotten a response. I got the numbers off their web site. Help! I don't want to miss out on not taking the tour. Do anyone have the necessary information I need to book with Cosol. How did you go about booking your tour?

 

I am just going to confirm that I had a super quick response from Cosol too! I do know that some of his responses ended up in my spam folder---so check there.

 

I am so excited to actually take the tour after reading about everyone's great experiences!!:D

[jen06]

HI, the cosol tour sounds great, but so do the spencer amborse and Frank's...they seem to be the same price and see pretty much the same stuff. The only thing I see that is different is that Frank's takes you to a local restaurant for lunch. This would take up time and I wonder what you don't get to do compared to other tours....do the other tours feed you lunch or just stop a lot for sampling? I will be in St Lucia in May and am having a hard time deciding which tour to book...THanks for any help!

Jennifer :confused:

[mtjlr]

Broncosfan - I tend to agree with you about the tour. We did this tour in January. We booked the tour because of all the great reviews on Cruise Critic. There were several ships in port the day we toured with Cosol Tours, and there was a large group of people waiting for the vans. We had to wait in line for more vans to arrive. It seemed a bit unorganized. There were 12 in our van, which was too many. If you are prone to car sickness, avoid this tour. Our daughter got very car sick by the end of the day. Most of the day is spent in the van on very hilly and curvy roads. Also, we did not get much time at the waterfall and were told not to tour the botanical gardens, which was specifically listed as part of the tour on my confirmation email from Cosol. We had toured the gardens on a previous trip to St Lucia, and I was looking forward to that again. Our time at the waterfall was very short, no time for dip in the pool below the falls. Felt very rushed at the falls. Our driver was very quiet during the tour and said very little. When I hear about the other entertaining drivers, I feel we missed out. We did enjoy the water taxi to the beach by the Pitons and the time we had on the beach, but there are not enough chairs for all that come by water taxi. We will avoid an island tour the next time in St Lucia.

[Aplmac]

He gives a very good and full tour,

though I am now disappointed that in a period of about two years

he's increased the price from USD 45.00 to USD 60.00.

Still worth the higher price.

Has your cost of living gone up over the last few years? Mine has.

 

What about the price of Crude? It soared to $147.27

and is now busily trying to get back there!

Thank you NYMEX cowboy-traders ;)

 

Gold is a fairly good economic 'barometer' of the world's geo-political state of affairs.

Has Gold done much over the last few years?

Is it still at US$350 an ounce?

 

If the ever-spiralling inflation and cost of living on St.Lucia is anything like it is for us here on Barbados

Cosol has had little choice but to raise his price

mainly because the price of Insurance, fuel for his vans, replacement parts, tyres, everything

has gone up along with the price of imported foods, etc.

 

 

Visitors have the illusion that life in the Caribbean islands is one long happy idyllic day dream,

where we lounge around on the beach whole day, waiting for y'all to show up.

 

 

We sip Rum Punch to kill the time between cooling dips in the sea.

 

That is a naive notion!

Our daily warts are different to your daily warts, and that's the only difference.

Daily Life on these islands is not as Heavenly as is portrayed in the Travel section of your Sunday newspaper.

 

 

 

When we eventually get back to a gold standard

the world's phoney paper currencies will abate their inflationary tendency.

Until then, you can expect Cosol's prices to go up again, in another year or two.

 

Everyone else's too.

Wait for it. ;)

.

[travelangel7]

We thought it was definately worth $65 for a whole day tour. We loved the stops they made, the local food and yes- the rum punch was very good too.

 

I would definately recommend this tour to someone that wants to get a nice taste and st. Lucia and its local foods...

[Kikkycat]

We were in St. Lucia just last week, on Wednesday and took Cosol's tour. There were 3 ships in port, and there were several vans of tour-goers, all going to the same places, so it was a bit crowded. That didn't bother me as much as it might some people. What did bother me was our driver, Ram Zee, who was fantastic and wanted to show us *everything* and give us the greatest tour ever, was a little casual about getting us back to the ship at the time he said the tour would end. We sailed at 4:30 and we got back to the pier area just about 4 o'clock. That was a bit too close for comfort for me. I know Ram Zee got yelled at by Cosol though, since the call came through while we were still on the road.

 

As for food, we got to eat twice. Not large amounts either time, but we weren't hungry either. The first stop was at a lady's house where she had a large spread on her outside patio. You can walk around for several minutes trying everything there. The Johnny cake with banana mustard was delicious, as was the Piton chicken. On the way back from the side trip to Jalousie beach you'll stop in a village (Canaries I think it was) for very fresh bread stuffed with cheese. All in all, it was less food than we were used to eating on the cruise ship - but let's face it, many of us (and I'm looking at myself saying this) eat FAR too much on cruise ships! ;)

[kellyrobin]

Went on the tour with Cosol and it was TERRIFIC!!

 

Plenty to drink!!! ( even some shots of home made spiced rum :D )

Food was great! Got to see many beautiful sights!! Our BEST excursion!!

Don't worry bathrooms along the way!!

 

Highly recommended!!!

[sirgeb27]

I think we were in St. Lucia the same day Kikkycat was- so yes there were 3 ships in dock that day- which made the waterfall and volcano more crowded:

 

A few observations:

Great tour overall- you really do see A LOT!

Cosol has a 'Billy Mays' type carnival barker style (that's not a bad thing- just something to note)

Drinks were made widely available from the famed 'Blue Van' (we were jokingly told there was going to be an additional $20 charge if the blue van wasn't empty at the end of the tour)

There's a $1 charge to use the bathroom at the house where you get the breakfast samples. There isn't a bathroom again until the sulfur volcano- so remember that- especially if you're enjoying the beverages.

Cosol sells bananna ketchup and hot sauce bottles for $4 a pop at breakfast (that's a smart move on his part because we were wondering if we could buy it after we tried the samples- it was yummy)

The water taxi and beach between the Pitons is simply amazing.

Seems like the tour is a very efficient and well-oiled opperation- especially with that many people in port.

 

Also- if you're doing the 2010 Serenade Southern Caribbean itinerary that hits St. Lucia- they get REALLY close to the pitons at sunset (on purpose). Stay out on the top decks for that- it's really cool to see.

[Kikkycat]

Also- if you're doing the 2010 Serenade Southern Caribbean itinerary that hits St. Lucia- they get REALLY close to the pitons at sunset (on purpose). Stay out on the top decks for that- it's really cool to see.

 

Wasn't that amazing? Those of us on the aft balconies were applauding Capt. Stig for his deft handling of the ship and the slow sailby at sunset. We were nearly as close to them in Serenade as we were in the water taxis!

[ellbon]

he is the best!!

[Aplmac]

Wasn't that amazing?

We were nearly as close to them in Serenade as we were in the water taxis!

Those Pitons continue their precipitous plunge down into the water

--it's a WALL dive-- so it's easy to take a cruise ship with a draft of around 28 ft.

right in close, at no real risk.

 

Stig's biggest worry would have been currents, followed by wind (maybe).

.

[FRANCOIS]

and I still enjoyed it.

like Yellow bird (Cosol brother) said at repetition, you see, you eat and you drink a lot!

the business got bigger but still very good compares as price / quality.

 

 

So if it;s your first time and you want to the the highlight of the island, that is the tour.

 

Francois

[DGNY]

Also- if you're doing the 2010 Serenade Southern Caribbean itinerary that hits St. Lucia- they get REALLY close to the pitons at sunset (on purpose). Stay out on the top decks for that- it's really cool to see.

 

Port or Starboard?

[Kikkycat]

Port or Starboard?

 

On the Serenade, the itinerary's next stop was Grenada so we were heading south. So the view was on the port side.

 

Once he reached the middle of the Pitons, and just exactly at Sunset, he wheeled the ship around and headed straight out to sea. Those of us on the aft got to watch the mountains fade into the darkness. Our cabin was on the aft, port corner (8168 on Serenade).

 

 

 

 

 

[newsman]

Just got off the Millenium last week and we did our second tour with Cosol's company. You will not be disappointed with the main island tour. The food is fantastic and he and his drivers make sure you have fun. We had him set up a north island tour for us (four of us had done the main tour) but because 8 of us had never been to St. Lucia, Bumpee (our driver) took us to Marigot Bay and Anse le Raye. And he worked his tail off to get us the fresh bread at the end.

 

Tell Cosol that newsman from tampa still wants to know if he's the richest guy in St. Lucia, and that I suggest you all "test" the rum punch before getting onboard at the start, just to be sure it meets Cosol's (and newsman's) high standards. Our group had to go thru 2 liters of the stuff before we could be sure. Bumpee, after watching our taste test, proclaimed he better get more.

[susiefay]

He does a great complete tour of the island, very fun too! We took the tour 4 years ago and will be doing it again early march.

was wondering if anyone knew how many vans he has now?

[4 cruis'n]

As for food, we got to eat twice. Not large amounts either time, but we weren't hungry either. The first stop was at a lady's house where she had a large spread on her outside patio. You can walk around for several minutes trying everything there. The Johnny cake with banana mustard was delicious, as was the Piton chicken. On the way back from the side trip to Jalousie beach you'll stop in a village (Canaries I think it was) for very fresh bread stuffed with cheese. All in all, it was less food than we were used to eating on the cruise ship - but let's face it, many of us (and I'm looking at myself saying this) eat FAR too much on cruise ships! ;)

For those (many) that have been on the tour, please clarify what the situation is with eating at some lady's house? Post #90 mentions having to pay $1 to use the bathroom at the house they visited? This makes me feel uncomfortable...

[newsman]

Susiefay: I think he said he was up to 7 now, but the day before were were there he had 280 people from one ship. He had to hired 20 drivers and vans.