Stressful end to a St. Lucia tour (James Touring Service)

[dani negreanu]

I've already posted it on the St. Lucia's boards. The "traffic" there is slow, may be it can help someone here. The "all aboard" was at 4.30PM. The boat docked at 4.21PM !!

 

Since we were not interested in spending time on beaches, I booked only custom-made private tours or group tours, which had the option to skip the beach time and return to ship directly. Also, we didn't want to spend more than 4-5 on any tour.

I've thoroughly researched what we'd like to see on every island, beside beaches and contacted only tour operators who offered the custom-made private tours.

Custom-made private tours come at a cost, and we were willing to pay it.

For St.Lucia we decided we'd like also to skip the usual visit to the Vulcano and the Mud Baths, and to go back by boat instead of car.

James offered this custom-made + return by boat option. I've sent him the list of our wishes, he quoted a price of 115$ pp (which seemed quite steep, but, since it involved a return by private?? boat, we agreed), and, at my request, he confirmed the itinerary. (Just as a reference point, for Antigua, only the 2 of us with the driver, 5 hours tour – 100$ pp).

We arrived at the meeting point 15 min before his "sharp" departure time of 9AM. He didn't even ask our names, just led us to wait nearby, for the other(?) guests to arrive. So much for a private tour.

After a few minutes, another couple showed up and introduced themselves, asking if they were on the "right" tour, since James didn't ask for their names either. We told them we're on the "short" tour, returning by boat, at 2PM at the latest. They were relieved, said "OK, so we're on the same tour like you, we absolutely have to be back on the boat by 2PM, we're part of a competition group, which starts at 2.30PM"). We waited some more.

Then James came to fetch us, very upset. Seems another "private" couple was a "no-show". He asked up front for the payment and both couples paid.

We started the tour, the car was clean and air conditioned, but the other couple and us were under the clear impression that James hasn't the"foggiest" idea who are we and what tour we agreed upon…. He asked us what we'd like to see…

We looked astonished at each other, and I replied – "no banana plantation, no vulcano, no mud baths and return to ship by boat at 2PM the latest".

We "finished" the itinerary both couples were interested in quite quickly, and, since it was too early for lunch, James suggested to "send" us to the Botanic garden. He said he will pay the fee entrance, but we'll have to pay for the guide. Since the other couple seemed interested, we decided to be "game" and not spoil the day.

I repeated both couples' request – to be back by 2PM, and he said "not to worry".

We toured the Botanic garden, and James took us for lunch at a restaurant he has a contract with. OK lunch.

By then it was past noon, we've seen everything we wanted to see, and James took us to the catamaran we were supposed to get back with. It was 12.45PM. He said "that's the boat", bye….

We took place on the upper deck, and chatted a bit with the other couple. After about 20 min, the other couple got edgy (it is supposed to be a 40 min ride back to ship) and I accompanied the other lady to ask the captain when r we sailing. He was surprised at our question, and said it will take some time, but we'll be back to ship by 4PM!!!

4PM??? – NO WAY!!! That's not what we agreed upon. What r we supposed to sit there in the heat and sun and wait for almost 2 hours for the boat to move?

The captain was also surprised at our astonishment, and said "too late to contact James, he's already on his way back to Castries". We said "we paid for a private tour and boat to take us early to ship" and he said "that's the only boat you'll get".

To make an already long story short – we waited almost 2 hours on the boat for it to be so full, that it was standing room only and people around us were voicing concern about the safety of such an overcrowded boat.

By then, we were resigned to our "fate" and our only wish was to make it to the cruise ship on time.

To make matters worse – the boat sailed about 5 min, and then stopped for more than half an hour for people to swim and snorkel. Then it stopped for people who rented houses at different stops -- the "local bus".

Those were more than 3 futile hours spent on the boat, and we made it to the "all aboard" with only minutes to spare !!!!

[breezy_carol]

That must have been frustrating and scary.

[melski]

Wow that would be an unfortunate and stressful way to end your journey. I'm so glad you posted on the excursion board too. I hope you also post your review to the trip advisor website. As someone who usually books private tours, I use this and the other website to verify touring operators and a review like this would be very helpful on who not to use.

[reallyhooked]

too frustrating. Glad you got back to ship

[marci22]

Your tour description would be my ultimate port stop nightmare. Unfortunately, he is rated very highly on TripAdvisor (with a few bad reviews) so not sure your warning will be heeded. I have found private tours to be a mixed bag, especially when the tour operator gets popular here. You really never know. Most tours will end up being ok, but some will not; it's too bad you were the unlucky one in this case.

 

ps I hope you didn't tip him.

[lattelady]

I would have been very stressed out! I hope you will leave a review on TripAdvisor.

[LookingForward2]

So sorry to hear of your experience. We had an unfortunate experience with him several years ago also. Half way though our private tour, we asked when we would get to the Pitons and he replied ' we're not going there'. He thought we were a different group from a different ship! I will add though that he contacted us when we got back home and apologized and made it right with us. Unfortunately we didn't see the sites we wanted but he did the right thing.

 

 

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[A&L_Ont]

Dani, I'm sorry to read about your adventures. I appreciate the heads up.

[cb at sea]

Ahhh! "Private" tours aren't always private! They usually aren't private...they simply are not thru the ship! Lesson learned!

[happymanitee]

Did you put this review on Trip Advisor as well? I always check there and your review would definitely influence my decision. I am pretty easy-going, but your experience would have upset me too,Also, I have never booked a 'private' tour, but I always book with independent tour guides instead of the ship's tours. I would have thought that private would mean private. It's interesting to hear that isn't always the case.

[sparkinator99]

Your tour description would be my ultimate port stop nightmare. Unfortunately, he is rated very highly on TripAdvisor (with a few bad reviews) so not sure your warning will be heeded. I have found private tours to be a mixed bag, especially when the tour operator gets popular here. You really never know. Most tours will end up being ok, but some will not; it's too bad you were the unlucky one in this case.

 

ps I hope you didn't tip him.

 

I hope you plan to go to trip advisor and report your day. I use trip advisor quite a bit, and your story would have scared me away big time.

[LilBlackDress]

WOW!! So sorry you had to go through all that!! Very stressful

 

St Lucia is the first time we ventured out and did a "private" tour. We had an awesome time....We went through Colsol. If you so make it back, check them out

[shippmates]

That is too bad about your tour. I would have been so stressed. When we were in St Lucia we did a tour with Colsol and it was awesome. I would recommend you try them the next time you are in St Lucia. We may do one of their other tours the next time we are there.

[danv3]

Echoing many others, please post your experience on Trip Advisor. Hopefully you'll steer others away. This is not OK.

[nelblu]

That's scary. Glad you made it back to the ship. I wonder if there's any institution on the Island that you could lodge a complaint.

[vacationlover_mn]

Wow! I would have been upset! I get nervous about being late, whenever we book an independent tour... So much so, that we probably will stick with ship tours in the future, with the exception of "walking/cabbing" to a nearby beach. In St Maarten, our tour went 2 hours long (which everyone else seemed to like), but I just got more and more worried! LOL- it's funny, I know that odds of missing the ship are low, but I guess I'm just too overly cautious!

[dani negreanu]

I would have been very stressed out! I hope you will leave a review on TripAdvisor.

 

I will, though I dread the moment I'll hit "submit review"... knowing my review may impact someone's livelihood.

 

....We went through Colsol. If you so make it back, check them out

 

Spencer Ambrose and Cosol were top on my list. Sadly, both replies that they will not do a "land+sea tour" the day Jewel docked.

In general, my experience with contacting various tour operators was not good -- no replies, late replies, not to the point replies.

[dani negreanu]

 

Your tour description would be my ultimate port stop nightmare.

 

Indeed, it was. We always try to be back on ship at least one hour-one hour and a half before "all aboard", not taking any risks...

 

ps I hope you didn't tip him.

 

Ha-ha, a good one... he disappeared in a "pufff.....""

[Bailey & Sophie]

I will, though I dread the moment I'll hit "submit review"... knowing my review may impact someone's livelihood.

 

He impacted his own livelihood.

I'm glad to hear you made it back in time.

[makiramarlena]

a tour provider who accepts cruise ship passengers needs to base their livelihood on making sure they get those passengers back to their ship on time. Not dropping them off to take the local water taxi (without telling them how long that might take).

[DISFANS3]

Thanks for info...

[Worn out mailman]

I was nervous as hell on our last St Lucia tour, it was Ambrose, a big tour operation. Same story, a little too much waiting around before we got started on the driving portion, waiting too long for a boat to take us to the beach between the Pistons, then later waiting MUCH too long for a boat to complete the tour and return us to the port. It was very much done on the fly by the operator. From now on I'll stick with cosol who had us with one guide all day.

 

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[cathy1227]

Dani - Thank goodness you made it back!! That is my biggest fear about cruising - missing the all aboard. I am on the same page as vacationlover_mn. I am nervous about booking private / independent tours. I prefer to spend the extra money booking an excursion thru the cruise ship as it gives me a better sense of security that we won't miss the all aboard :)

[dreamer976]

He impacted his own livelihood.

I'm glad to hear you made it back in time.

D I T T O!!! He may have sealed his own business fate by misrepresenting his "product". You certainly weren't the first four people that he ripped off and caused unnecessary stress to. If someone before you would have posted this on CC and TripAdvisor, you may have avoided the situation.

 

So sorry this happened to you, but certainly relieved you didn't miss the ship on top of it.