Castries to Soufriere, Tour (St Lucia)

[serendipity1499]

Would like info from any one who has done the HAL tour from Castries to Soufriere in St. Lucia..

We're booked on the Noordam in Nov. ..My friend & I thought we would like to take this tour..However, when we discussed this with our DH's, the first thing they asked was "What do they serve for lunch?"

Normally we only book either morning or afternoon tours & have lunch on the ship, due to our DH's diet & health concerns..

 

So our question is: What & do they serve for lunch & approx what time is lunch served..

I've been looking at the Ports of Call board but only found very little info on the Carnival & Celebrity tours....

Thanks for your help..

Cheers...:)Betty

[jtl513]

Would like info from any one who has done the HAL tour from Castries to Soufriere in St. Lucia..

So our question is: What & do they serve for lunch & approx what time is lunch served..

 

There's nothing served on the tour. It starts at 12:30p (At least our's did.) There's a bathroom-break stop in a small town about half way, and you might be able to pick up a bite from a street vendor there. There were a lot of stalls, but I don't recall if any had food. Eat a big, late breakfast, or grab something in Castries before you go.

 

Edit: we tendered (last minute change of plans) but if you dock (as we were scheduled) you can eat an early lunch on the ship.

[LHC]

My DD and I have been to St. Lucia twice and both times we have done a Cosol Tour. Each was different but several of the same elements.

 

One there is food throughout this tour. You will not be hungry.

Second, beverages including Rum Punch, water and soft drinks are carried in each van.

Third, they will accommodate small or large parties.

 

The beach they visit and the Volcano and waterfall is the best tour for the price I have every taken in the Caribbean.

 

Be warned the roads are winding and curvy. There are winds involved as you go up and down the mountains to beautiful places, so I recommend those prone to sickness to take something or use a patch prior to this tour.

 

LHC

[Roz]

I did this tour last November, and it was well worth it. No meals were included, but there was a small snack at one of the stops where we stopped. It was a long, tiring day, but we saw a lot of the island. My only criticism was that our tour guide, Tony, talked incessantly. If he wasn't talking, he was singing a Bob Marley song. It would have been nice at times to just be able to sit on the bus and enjoy the scenery in silence.

 

Roz

[amster65]

Sail down the coast, the scenery was grand. Never enjoyed a trip that much. No food, but had drinks, I think.

[jtl513]

There's nothing served on the tour.

Correction: I just looked at my pictures, and we did get a kind of Caribbean buffet at a "plantation" at the end, near Soufriere. :o:o

[ninkb]

I believe the ship will pick you up in Soufriere only if you're on HAL's tour.

 

Cosol may be great, but take it only if you'll be back to Castries by sail away time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is correct.

Only those people who are on HAL tours will be picked up by the tenders when the ship anchors off Soufriere.

So if you do any independent island tours -- you have to make certain that you are back in Castries to get on the ship by 2:30 since the ship sails at 3.

[jtl513]

I believe the ship will pick you up in Soufriere only if you're on HAL's tour.

That's what they say ... but nobody checked as we were getting on the tenders in Soufriere. (We didn't have shirt stickers or anything.) What if we had just "missed the ship" in Castries, and had gotten to Soufriere by hiring a taxi or something ... would they really not have let us on the tender? (We had our passports with us, so they could not have handed those over to a port agent in Castries.)

[serendipity1499]

Correction: I just looked at my pictures, and we did get a kind of Caribbean buffet at a "plantation" at the end, near Soufriere.

 

 

Ok Thanks. John.Don't be embarrassed, I can't remember half of the tours we've been on..Did you enjoy the tour? Assume we can tell our DH's that it's a buffet of many different things & not all exotic island food...

 

I believe the ship will pick you up in Soufriere only if you're on HAL's tour.

 

Cosol may be great, but take it only if you'll be back to Castries by sail away time.

 

That's our understanding too..So will not look at the Cosol tour unless our DH's decide they don't want the HAL tour..

 

And if we do take some other private tour, we want to get back to Castries earlier than all aboard time..Would never take a chance that HAL will refuse us at Soufries, for being on a private tour or chance being late for the tenders....

 

We're always very careful about being back on the ship way before all aboard time..;)

 

Also not sure if our DH's would appreciate twisty winding roads with food & punch served at so many stops..:D My DH would love the rum punch, but it's not the best thing for him, my Friends DH can only have one drink a day & no sugar, & if I drink more than one a day, I get a headache..Oh forgot my Friend probably would not drink more than one either, so the rum would be wasted on the four of us..Last time we all drank rum punch & lots of it, was when we made "goombay smashes" on their Sailboat in the Bahamas in the ninety's... What a party that was, :D but we are a little older & wiser now..;) LOL:)

 

Thanks everyone for your suggestions..

 

 

Cheers..:)Betty

[jtl513]

Ok Thanks. John.Don't be embarrassed, I can't remember half of the tours we've been on..Did you enjoy the tour? Assume we can tell our DH's that it's a buffet of many different things & not all exotic island food...

I was thinking at first that we had that buffet on a different island. There was about 8 things to choose from, but I don't remember exactly what there was. I do remember 2 kinds of small sandwiches, one of them tuna ... some kind of fish balls ... fruit ... cake for dessert. There was plenty of everything, so if you find even one thing they like they can fill up on that.

The tour was marred a little by the on-and-off rain that made for lousy pictures at some of the scenic overlooks. We even skipped a couple stops because it was just raining too hard at that time. At the plantation at the end we all had to cram into places too small to hold the whole group comfortably just to get out of the rain. The volcano reminded me a lot of Yellowstone ... a big open pit with lots of fumes!! :)

 

In other words, it was okay, but good weather would have made it a lot better!

[serendipity1499]

Sounds good John, Now all we have to do is convince our Dh's that they really want to take this tour..;)

 

Thanks again...

Cheers..:):)Betty

[twinkletoes4445]

We ended up doing the Queen’s Route in St. Lucia, and it was a lot of fun. We did run into some pretty heavy rain and the roads are pretty curvy, but we enjoyed this tour tremendously. We had a really wonderful guide named Lisa and our driver was Brian (Lisa kept calling him Virginia-it was so funny).

 

On our tour we visited a botanical garden, a drive through volcano, a small town (we got out and took some pictures), we watched a silk screening demonstration. The last thing we did prior to getting on the life boat was to stop for a snack and listen to locals playing music. This was really a lot of fun. The guides all got up and danced and a good time as had by all. This was one of the most memorable stops in all of our excursions.

 

If anyone thinking about doing this excursion should know that you will be shuttled to the ship via a lifeboat. I remember it was a pretty decent drop between the dock and the lifeboat. Getting in was harder than getting out (for me). But HAL had a lot of staff on hand to help everyone safely on and off the boat. I remember thinking, boy, if I was having the problems I'd been having (a couple of years ago) with the arthritis in my knee, it would have made it very hard to deal with the distance from the deck to the boat, but again, there were two men who helped everyone in and two who were standing inside the boat to help you once the other two helped you in. Just FYI. :)

 

Here are some of the pictures we took while on the excursion. I believe the excursion pictures start with photo #11.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/570032749sxdrPj

[Roz]

JTL,

 

The had those of us getting on the ship in Soufriere programmed into the security checkpoint computer.

 

Roz

[jtl513]

JTL,

The had those of us getting on the ship in Soufriere programmed into the security checkpoint computer.

Roz

Yes, but I'm still wondering if we had not been on a HAL tour and had missed getting back on the ship in Castries for whatever reason, what would they do if we showed up in Soufriere to get on a tender? I doubt that they would refuse, and leave us on the dock! Would they just scold us once back on board the ship, or fine us, or what? :confused:

[RuthC]

Yes, but I'm still wondering if we had not been on a HAL tour and had missed getting back on the ship in Castries for whatever reason, what would they do if we showed up in Soufriere to get on a tender? I doubt that they would refuse, and leave us on the dock! Would they just scold us once back on board the ship, or fine us, or what? :confused:

Send you to bed without your supper?

[Roz]

I like the sending you to bed without supper punishment!

 

My guess would be a fine, since it costs extra to go around the island and tender the shorex pax back to the ship.

 

Roz

[jtl513]

I like the sending you to bed without supper punishment!

 

My guess would be a fine, since it costs extra to go around the island and tender the shorex pax back to the ship.

 

Roz

Castries and Soufriere are both on the same side of the island, and HAL is running the tenders anyway, so a couple or a few extra people to pick up would have just about zero extra cost to them. I suppose they could charge people the cost of the Queen's Route excursion for a pick-up fee.

[woody14h]

Send you to bed without your supper?

 

That would be capital punishment!

 

HAL has issued no warning or caveat re. this; ergo, it is safe to believe they will tender you in Soufriere. My friends had no such problem. HAL's policy is that if you miss embarkation in one port you must provide your own transport to the next. They cannot deny you boarding. No exceptions.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Besides I'll put my money where my mouth is on the Noordam next month.

[ctsally]

We ended up doing the Queen’s Route in St. Lucia, and it was a lot of fun. We did run into some pretty heavy rain and the roads are pretty curvy, but we enjoyed this tour tremendously.

 

Here are some of the pictures we took while on the excursion. I believe the excursion pictures start with photo #11.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/570032749sxdrPj

 

 

Twinkletoes, thank you for sharing the pictures. When I went on this tour in 2008 I had only a disposable camera so pictures are inferior to yours. Thanks for giving me such vivid memories of a wonderful shore excursion on HAL. :)

[serendipity1499]

We ended up doing the Queen’s Route in St. Lucia, and it was a lot of fun. We did run into some pretty heavy rain and the roads are pretty curvy, but we enjoyed this tour tremendously. We had a really wonderful guide named Lisa and our driver was Brian (Lisa kept calling him Virginia-it was so funny).

 

On our tour we visited a botanical garden, a drive through volcano, a small town (we got out and took some pictures), we watched a silk screening demonstration. The last thing we did prior to getting on the life boat was to stop for a snack and listen to locals playing music. This was really a lot of fun. The guides all got up and danced and a good time as had by all. This was one of the most memorable stops in all of our excursions.

 

If anyone thinking about doing this excursion should know that you will be shuttled to the ship via a lifeboat. I remember it was a pretty decent drop between the dock and the lifeboat. Getting in was harder than getting out (for me). But HAL had a lot of staff on hand to help everyone safely on and off the boat. I remember thinking, boy, if I was having the problems I'd been having (a couple of years ago) with the arthritis in my knee, it would have made it very hard to deal with the distance from the deck to the boat, but again, there were two men who helped everyone in and two who were standing inside the boat to help you once the other two helped you in. Just FYI. :)

 

Here are some of the pictures we took while on the excursion. I believe the excursion pictures start with photo #11.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/570032749sxdrPj

 

Twinkletoes..Thanks so much for posting your album..Your pictures are beautiful..Especially loved the close-up's of the flowers in the Botanical Garden..My DH is a Master Gardner & my Friends DH very interested in gardening, so we can hook them with that....Looks like a fun tour..

That would be capital punishment!

 

HAL has issued no warning or caveat re. this; ergo, it is safe to believe they will tender you in Soufriere. My friends had no such problem. HAL's policy is that if you miss embarkation in one port you must provide your own transport to the next. They cannot deny you boarding. No exceptions.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Besides I'll put my money where my mouth is on the Noordam next month.

 

Thanks woody...Hope you will come back to post your observations here..

Thanks everyone for your info..Now I'm getting more & more excited & it's still 8 months away..I'm like a kid in a candy shop...Will have to figure out what to do to keep occupied during the long wait....

Cheers...:)Betty

[gophercruiser]

If a large number of people taking Independent tours resulted in an extra trip for the tender or a wait while another tender was let down, as one who had paid for the HAL tour I would not be happy with my fellow guests who took the Independent Tour and caused an unnecessary waiting time..This is the reason only HAL tour people are picked up as they know exactly how many will be there to be tendered.Perhaps Hal may need to check the "scans" of those coming off these tneders and if they did not have a HAL tour, charge them for same. If this happened once, I think those few individuals who seem to think they can do whatever they want would soon think twice about same (same type of traveller that spends all their time figuring out how to smuggle beer or hard liquor on board).

[twinkletoes4445]

Twinkletoes, thank you for sharing the pictures. When I went on this tour in 2008 I had only a disposable camera so pictures are inferior to yours. Thanks for giving me such vivid memories of a wonderful shore excursion on HAL. :)

 

Thanks! We had a wonderful time on this excursion. :)

[twinkletoes4445]

Twinkletoes..Thanks so much for posting your album..Your pictures are beautiful..Especially loved the close-up's of the flowers in the Botanical Garden..My DH is a Master Gardner & my Friends DH very interested in gardening, so we can hook them with that....Looks like a fun tour.

 

Glad you enjoyed looking at the photos. I love flowers ... but I have a hard time keeping things alive. I love to watch birds, so we also did a lot of that while on the islands.

 

That's awesome that your hubby is a Master Gardner. I do have troubles keeping things alive. I bought a yellow peony (Garden Treasure) last fall and I hope it pops up this spring. It was a lot more money than I usually spend on peonies, but it was just so pretty I couldn't resist. :)

 

There's also a botanical garden on Martinique that we visited and enjoyed a lot. There were tons of hummingbirds at those gardens.

[fann1sh]

I took this tour, and my reaction was a bit different than others.

 

Botanical gardens: pretty

Drive in volcano: OK

Seeing the Pitons: wished the bus had stopped for photos.

Soufriere: Wow! Wish I could have spent more time here.

 

I really wish the Soufriere call was for more than picking up shore ex pax. But sadly, it's not.