Thenford Grey's Nevis tour?

[Mitwif]

We just returned from a 12 day on the Gem with a stop in St Kitts from 9-6 pm. We've been to St Kitts several times before and wanted to see Nevis. I checked the ferry schedules and it didn't seem possible. I contacted Thenford and he assurerd me that it was, so we booked the tour with him. He asked that we get off the ship as soon as possible in order to catch the 9:30 ferry. He had someone meet us at the terminal and drive us to the ferry dock. Thenford came by and greeted us and said that everything was arranged and Hellerina would meet us at the dock in Nevis. His man Harry bought our ferry tickets and gave us an envelope for Hellerina ( I assume it was her pay and money for the return ferry). The Ferry from Port Zant takes 45 minutes and our van was literally parked 20 ft from where we stepped off. Hellerina was wonderful. Our drive around the island included many stops for photos and several stops at former plantations now hotels with beautiful gardens and views. She's 4th or 5th generation Nevisian and full of information and local stories. We could have had lunch and spent some time at the beach but decided to catch the 12:30 ferry back to Port Zant. If we did stay we would have had to take the 3 pm to the southern tip of St Kitts ( 10-15 minutes) and then have a 25 minute ride back to the ship- good if you're not in a hurry or haven't seen the southern end of the island.

 

Thenford picked us up at the ferry and offered to take us to the beach for a couple of hours (he had a group there already) in his new large 15 or so passenger van for no charge, but we decided to have lunch in town. He is a lovely man, I highly recommend him for any of his excursions

 

Nevis is a beautiful island. If you have been to St Kitts before, see Nevis- it's as beautiful if not more

 

 

Thank you for your excellent review. We have booked the Nevis tour with Mr Grey and can't wait!

[cruisetimeforme]

Mitwif, would you please come back after your Nevis tour to give more info on your trip as well? I've booked this same excursion for Feb and would appreciate your thoughts as well. Do you plan to take the tour as described, taking the 3pm ferry? Our ship leaves at 5pm so we do have some concerns about making it back in time. Thanks!

[paul58]

If you are on a 3 pm ferry from Nevis to St Kitts, you will arrive in St Kitts at about 3:45. It is a 650 yard walk from the ferry terminal back to the port

[crisp1]

If you are on a 3 pm ferry from Nevis to St Kitts, you will arrive in St Kitts at about 3:45. It is a 650 yard walk from the ferry terminal back to the port

 

 

I believe the 3 pm ferry goes to the south end of the island, not Port Zant, and it's a short ferry ride. The ride back to port from there is around 20 minutes

[Mitwif]

Mitwif, would you please come back after your Nevis tour to give more info on your trip as well? I've booked this same excursion for Feb and would appreciate your thoughts as well. Do you plan to take the tour as described, taking the 3pm ferry? Our ship leaves at 5pm so we do have some concerns about making it back in time. Thanks!

 

 

I will certainly do that. Our ship also departs at 5pm. Mr Grey has assured me he will get us back in ample time.

[paul58]

The Sea Bridge ferry departs from Cades bay in Nevis at 3 PM. It arrives at Majors bay in St KItts. Usually there are NO taxis at Majors Bay unless prior arrangements have been made & it is a 20 min ride back to Port Zante.

[Froufie]

Also interested in Thenford's Nevis tour - will be docked from 9 am to 5 pm so I suspect this is feasible?

 

Looking for more feedback from those who stayed on the island and had lunch/beach time - wondering how it was? Any facilities? (eg. washrooms/showers/loungers/umbrellas)?

 

thanks

[NCTribeFan]

No, I'm not stalking you, Froufie. :p

 

I'm interested in this, too. In fact, I'm going to email Mr. Grey in a few minutes to see if I can reserve this for my upcoming cruise.

 

I'm solo, so not sure how it will work if no one else books for that day.

 

I'm so sorry to hear about his daughter. The first time we toured with him, my daughter had just turned 23. It was a birthday/graduation surprise for her. :(

[paul58]

According to Cruise TT, your ship the Conquest is the only scheduled ship in port on June 4th. The website has a arrival time of 7am and a departure time of 5 pm. You should have plenty of time to visit Nevis.

[Froufie]

No, I'm not stalking you, Froufie. :p

 

I'm interested in this, too. In fact, I'm going to email Mr. Grey in a few minutes to see if I can reserve this for my upcoming cruise.

 

I'm solo, so not sure how it will work if no one else books for that day.

 

I'm so sorry to hear about his daughter. The first time we toured with him, my daughter had just turned 23. It was a birthday/graduation surprise for her. :(

 

I contacted him about Nevis for my november cruise - but since we are arriving 'later' it seems it won't work out due to the ferry schedule....oh well - guess we shall find something else to do....like hanging out on a beach somewhere? :D:cool::D

[Host Jazzbeau]

We took a tour arranged through Thenford Grey on our cruise earlier this month. I requested a custom itinerary ("no swimming, no shopping") and this was followed even though my group and the regular group would both have fit in one van. Here's what we did: Thenford met us at the pier and got us on a van to the ferry terminal (very close, we could have walked) for the 45 minute ride over to Nevis –we were picked up there by local guide Ozzie – toured around Charlestown with visit to the Nelson Museum – then an hour at the Nevis Botanical Garden, which gives you the idea of what it would have been like to own one of the great plantations – then photo ops at the Montpelier Plantation Inn and the Nisbet Plantation – a delicious lunch of lobster sandwiches at the beautiful Golden Rock Plantation Inn – then a short ferry across the narrow channel to the South end of St. Kitts, where we were picked up by another van for the ride back to Basseterre. This tour seemed a little expensive (all admission fees and lunch were extra), but Thenford showed me his costs and explained that while he doesn’t really make any money on Nevis tours he does it for love of the island.

 

I recommend Thenford Grey very highly for either St. Kitts or Nevis.

[NCTribeFan]

That sounds great! I'm not opposed to a beach stop, but I'm not really a beach person.

 

I'm not getting any interest on the Roll Call and since I'm solo, I won't be able to do the Nevis tour. He needs a minimum of 4 people.

 

I'll keep trying, though! Just seems silly to waste the opportunity to add another island to my "been there" list when I can so without it even being a port-of-call!

[islandatsea]

We took a tour arranged through Thenford Grey on our cruise earlier this month. I requested a custom itinerary ("no swimming, no shopping") and this was followed even though my group and the regular group would both have fit in one van. Here's what we did: Thenford met us at the pier and got us on a van to the ferry terminal (very close, we could have walked) for the 45 minute ride over to Nevis –we were picked up there by local guide Ozzie – toured around Charlestown with visit to the Nelson Museum – then an hour at the Nevis Botanical Garden, which gives you the idea of what it would have been like to own one of the great plantations – then photo ops at the Montpelier Plantation Inn and the Nisbet Plantation – a delicious lunch of lobster sandwiches at the beautiful Golden Rock Plantation Inn – then a short ferry across the narrow channel to the South end of St. Kitts, where we were picked up by another van for the ride back to Basseterre. This tour seemed a little expensive (all admission fees and lunch were extra), but Thenford showed me his costs and explained that while he doesn’t really make any money on Nevis tours he does it for love of the island.

 

I recommend Thenford Grey very highly for either St. Kitts or Nevis.

 

This Nevis tour is what we want to do next year. Our arrival time should be 8am so that should be ample time for the ferry ride as long as the ship arrives as scheduled. Of course, the ships' arrival time could change. What would happen if we booked this tour & the ship arrives too late for the ferry ride ? Would we get our money for the tour back or do you pay in full upon arrival ? Thanks everyone for all your valuable information :) .

[jmwg49]

This Nevis tour is what we want to do next year. Our arrival time should be 8am so that should be ample time for the ferry ride as long as the ship arrives as scheduled. Of course, the ships' arrival time could change. What would happen if we booked this tour & the ship arrives too late for the ferry ride ? Would we get our money for the tour back or do you pay in full upon arrival ? Thanks everyone for all your valuable information :) .

 

This is exactly what we are looking to do too!! We are also on the Sunshine Feb 21/16. I have emailed Thenford and asked about a tour to Nevis, but he told me he was not sure he was going to continue to offer it. I have sent him a message today again. If he does continue to offer it...i will post it here!

[islandatsea]

This is exactly what we are looking to do too!! We are also on the Sunshine Feb 21/16. I have emailed Thenford and asked about a tour to Nevis, but he told me he was not sure he was going to continue to offer it. I have sent him a message today again. If he does continue to offer it...i will post it here!

 

Thanks for checking with Thenford about this tour & posting the results here. Hopefully he will still be offering it but will be checking out other tours since we really want to see Nevis :) ! We saw Carnival offers tours to Nevis @ $124 per person so we have that option if nothing else works out even though it is expensive.

[crisp1]

You should be able to do Nevis on your own if you have an early enough arrival. It's a short walk from the pier to the ferry terminal. I'm sure there will be taxi's offering tours when you get off the ferry. I'd also check out Trip Advisor for tour operators on Nevis

[NCTribeFan]

I would happily do it "on my own" if I weren't actually on my own! As noted, I'm a solo female and I'm just not going to go off to another island by myself.

 

Ack. I really hate ship excursions. Really. But I still have zero interest on my Roll Call. One wouldn't think getting THREE more people to do something new and different would be so difficult. :(

[crisp1]

I would happily do it "on my own" if I weren't actually on my own! As noted, I'm a solo female and I'm just not going to go off to another island by myself.

 

Ack. I really hate ship excursions. Really. But I still have zero interest on my Roll Call. One wouldn't think getting THREE more people to do something new and different would be so difficult. :(

 

Check out which other ships will be in port along with you and post on their roll calls- maybe you can find someone there to join you

[paul58]

According to Cruise TT, it appears that the Conquest is the only ship in St Kitts on your trip.

[paul58]

Try contacting a local tour operator. There may be people on Nevis that would like to do a tour of Nevis. This is the e mail address of a well established tour organizer: tours at kantours dot com

[NCTribeFan]

So, has anyone done Mr. Grey's Nevis tour?

 

After not getting any interest on my Conquest cruise a month ago, I'm having better luck for the Sunshine cruise. One of our Roll Call members has contacted him and we hope to have several people sign up. So far, we have 4 confirmed! Woo hoo!

 

But I'd love to hear from someone who's done this tour.

[islandatsea]

So, has anyone done Mr. Grey's Nevis tour?

 

After not getting any interest on my Conquest cruise a month ago, I'm having better luck for the Sunshine cruise. One of our Roll Call members has contacted him and we hope to have several people sign up. So far, we have 4 confirmed! Woo hoo!

 

But I'd love to hear from someone who's done this tour.

 

I emailed Thenford and said for our Feb 2016 Sunshine cruise, he had no availability for the Nevis tour. Great that he is having the tour for you. If you could, report back on how your tour was. Thanks :) .

[crewsweeper]

I emailed Thenford and said for our Feb 2016 Sunshine cruise, he had no availability for the Nevis tour. Great that he is having the tour for you. If you could, report back on how your tour was. Thanks :) .

 

Hey, islandatsea, maybe he's got a spot for the Vista cruise in 2017.

 

Be nice to hear about the tour. And we've got some time. Still researching what to do here.

 

Crew

[islandatsea]

Hey, islandatsea, maybe he's got a spot for the Vista cruise in 2017.

 

Be nice to hear about the tour. And we've got some time. Still researching what to do here.

 

Crew

 

Hi Crew............ Yes, the Vista cruise in 2017 would be another cruise we would try Thenfords tour to Nevis. Probably too far to 2017 for Thenford to have his schedule ready for that year, will try next year. What I heard from Liz at Pereira Tours was that the cruise ships had all the catamarans under contract for the ship excursions when the Sunshine would be in Port next February. Liz was very prompt in answering our questions regarding the Nevis tour. I know we could take the ferry over to Nevis and then do a tour there. Would like to do the catamaran tour.

[paul58]

A catamaran excursion is really not a way to see Nevis. You are ashore on Pinney's Beach near the 4-Seasons for your lunch and beach time. It is not much time on Nevis to see any of the highlights of Nevis.