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Looking for private tour guide/excursion


CruisinChic
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We are going to be in St. Kitts in April (RCCL) and I’ve determined what we would like to do, but have some questions. 

 

- Based on what I’ve read, you cannot book the scenic railway unless you do it as a ship excursion.  Is this correct?  That seems ridiculous, but I realize what a stranglehold the cruise lines have on the islands.  Are there any private tours that include the scenic railway? 

 

- Does anyone have a recommendation for a full day private tour guide to take us to Brimstone Hill, Timothy Hill, a scenic island drive, downtown Basseterre and a beach stop?  

 

Ideally, we would like to do the railway and all of the above, but don’t know if that is feasible.  

 

Thanks! 

Edited by CruisinChic
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The train can only be booked through the cruise line if your ship has an agreement(contract etc) with them. No private tour includes the train. There will be many private operators at the pier offering tours that will include all of the items you mentioned.

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On 1/19/2019 at 9:34 AM, CruisinChic said:

We are going to be in St. Kitts in April (RCCL) and I’ve determined what we would like to do, but have some questions. 

 

- Based on what I’ve read, you cannot book the scenic railway unless you do it as a ship excursion.  Is this correct?  That seems ridiculous, but I realize what a stranglehold the cruise lines have on the islands.  Are there any private tours that include the scenic railway? 

 

- Does anyone have a recommendation for a full day private tour guide to take us to Brimstone Hill, Timothy Hill, a scenic island drive, downtown Basseterre and a beach stop?  

 

Ideally, we would like to do the railway and all of the above, but don’t know if that is feasible.  

 

Thanks! 

 

I have been To St. Kitts over 4 times.. looked on here, found one that was rec'md to me on this site, just like I am doing for you....and have used them ever since..look into this.. I think it will be exactly what you are asking for..Chris/Karen    

http://www.roseandjimstaxi.com/ourtours.htm

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We have done several tours with Rose of Rose & Jim's Taxi - everyone was fantastic.  We book Rose each time we take someone new to St. Kitts knowing they will enjoy every moment.   They are reasonably priced & will custom the tour to whatever you like - or give ideas if you are unfamiliar. 

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We were in St. Kitts in November and went with Thenford Gray Tours and were lucky enough to have Thenford himself as our guide! His $55 grand tour will take you everywhere you mentioned. At the end of the tour you can spend a couple of hours at the beach instead of going back to the ship, your driver will return for you and get you from the beach and back to the ship in plenty of time to poke through the shops at the pier, I can't recommend him enough! 

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On 1/22/2019 at 12:45 PM, ABC Cruisers said:

We were in St. Kitts in November and went with Thenford Gray Tours and were lucky enough to have Thenford himself as our guide! His $55 grand tour will take you everywhere you mentioned. At the end of the tour you can spend a couple of hours at the beach instead of going back to the ship, your driver will return for you and get you from the beach and back to the ship in plenty of time to poke through the shops at the pier, I can't recommend him enough! 

Could you tell me how long the tour was?  We would like to do a tour, a little beach time then back to the ship mid afternoon.  Thanks!

 

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12 minutes ago, elaineb said:

Could you tell me how long the tour was?  We would like to do a tour, a little beach time then back to the ship mid afternoon.  Thanks!

 

Here's the link to his tour, he was so interesting we wished it was even longer!   

http://www.thenfordgreytours.com/the-grand-tour-of-st.-kitts.html

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We made the mistake last time of doing all full day tours on our Southern Caribbean cruise and were exhausted.  That is why I wanted to know how long this tour is.  The website says 6 hours!  Does that include the beach time?

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56 minutes ago, elaineb said:

We made the mistake last time of doing all full day tours on our Southern Caribbean cruise and were exhausted.  That is why I wanted to know how long this tour is.  The website says 6 hours!  Does that include the beach time?

The tour to the batik house and gardens, around the downtown and the fort (absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth!) is the 3-4 hours. Everyone goes for the ride to the beach, those that want to stay get to stay an additional couple of hours, those that want to go back go to the divide that has the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other for a quick 10 minute photo op and then back to the ship. The ones that stay at the beach go back a couple of hours later and go to the divide on their way back. If you chose to do the tour & the beach you will be at the 5-6 hour mark

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1 hour ago, ABC Cruisers said:

The tour to the batik house and gardens, around the downtown and the fort (absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth!) is the 3-4 hours. Everyone goes for the ride to the beach, those that want to stay get to stay an additional couple of hours, those that want to go back go to the divide that has the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other for a quick 10 minute photo op and then back to the ship. The ones that stay at the beach go back a couple of hours later and go to the divide on their way back. If you chose to do the tour & the beach you will be at the 5-6 hour mark

 

Thanks!  We just booked this tour.  It looks awesome.  So if you decide not to spend time at the beach, do you still go to the beach for a few minutes?  I'd like to see it but don't really want to spend a couple of hours there since we're doing beach/water tours other days.

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7 minutes ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

Thanks!  We just booked this tour.  It looks awesome.  So if you decide not to spend time at the beach, do you still go to the beach for a few minutes?  I'd like to see it but don't really want to spend a couple of hours there since we're doing beach/water tours other days.

Yes, they drive in and ask who would like to stay and who would like to go back to the ship. It's a black/gold sand beach with hardly any shells or rocks to step on, real chairs (they even have cup holders!) and a little beach grill/bar with reasonable prices

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8 minutes ago, ABC Cruisers said:

Yes, they drive in and ask who would like to stay and who would like to go back to the ship. It's a black/gold sand beach with hardly any shells or rocks to step on, real chairs (they even have cup holders!) and a little beach grill/bar with reasonable prices

 

Thanks!  Looks like we have the option to pay by Paypal instead of cash.  I'm thinking about doing that so we don't have to carry as much cash around.

Edited by CruisinCrow
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  • 1 month later...
On 1/20/2019 at 11:56 AM, CLS/KAS said:

 

I have been To St. Kitts over 4 times.. looked on here, found one that was rec'md to me on this site, just like I am doing for you....and have used them ever since..look into this.. I think it will be exactly what you are asking for..Chris/Karen    

http://www.roseandjimstaxi.com/ourtours.htm

Hello, I have looked at the website you suggested more than one time for a tour.  It gives 4 tours, but ONLY the first one tells the price of $100 pp, when 4 people go.  If you did one of the other tours, what was the price, and how long was the tour?  I have tried to contact Rose and Jim, but so far have not heard back.

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On 1/21/2019 at 8:22 AM, pbrady said:

We have done several tours with Rose of Rose & Jim's Taxi - everyone was fantastic.  We book Rose each time we take someone new to St. Kitts knowing they will enjoy every moment.   They are reasonably priced & will custom the tour to whatever you like - or give ideas if you are unfamiliar. 

It looks like you have done tours with Rose and Jim's Taxi before.  How do you go about booking with them?  I have tried contacting them by email, but at this point, have not heard back.  Just wondered how you found them or booked with them?

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5 hours ago, beshears said:

It looks like you have done tours with Rose and Jim's Taxi before.  How do you go about booking with them?  I have tried contacting them by email, but at this point, have not heard back.  Just wondered how you found them or booked with them?

 

If you don't hear from them, definitely think about a Thenford Grey tour.  They are private but our group was small, 14 people.  The Grand Tour was excellent and a good value too.

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11 hours ago, beshears said:

It looks like you have done tours with Rose and Jim's Taxi before.  How do you go about booking with them?  I have tried contacting them by email, but at this point, have not heard back.  Just wondered how you found them or booked with them?

I found them through this site probably 15 yrs ago..I was charged $147.00 for four.. all day.. anywhere we wanted to go.. or take their tour..their island.. so they know where to go.. I believe as more people added on,  it was about $ 40.00 pp for the whole day..you can go everywhere... St. Kitts is a really "cheap" Island.. not much to spend on.. compared to others..well worth it..you say you have had trouble w Rose returning your inquires? I will reach out to her..give Her a call.. when are you going? 

Chris  

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Chris, thanks for getting back with me on this.  We are to be in St. Kitts on April 5th.

 

Since I have not really heard back, I may go with another touring group, but I appreciate your help on this.

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  • 1 month later...

We loved our recent tour with Thenford Grey.  We were excited about visiting St. Kitts as it was our first time there and the only new island for us on our itinerary.  It was easy to book online, and you pay at the end of the tour.  We were greeted at the pier and were thrilled that we would actually have Thenford as our tour guide, while his terrific nephew drove the mini-bus (modern with good A/C and viewing windows).

 

 Thenford has a cool James Earl Jones deep voice and he is a wealth of info about all things St. Kitts.  He really knows his history and has a great sense of humor.  He even sang for us a couple of times.   The Grand Tour gives you a great overview of many of the highlights of the island.  After seeing the downtown area, we stopped for a pretty overlook of a bay with a view of our cruise ship. 

 

Onto the beautiful, lush Romney Gardens where he walked with us and explained the flora that we were seeing.  We also visited the Batik shop here for a quick demo.  Very photogenic place.  There is also a snack shop if you need refreshment such as a Carib Beer or a “Ting with a Zing” which is Ting grapefruit soda and CSR spirit which is similar to white rum.  We usually just bring a bag of nuts or granola bars from home to hold us over on tours like this that don’t include meals (as it is a no-no to take cruise food off the ship). 

 

We traveled onward and upward to the impressive Brimstone Hill Fortress which is really interesting and has awesome views of the ocean and neighboring islands.  We were even lucky enough to be there for the changing of the guard.  There is also a snack shop here.

 

Back to the skinny section of the island where we visited the small beach area of South Friars Beach with gold/black sand.  This is where the shipwreck bar is.  You will also see monkeys here.  The tour offered the option of spending an hour here or going back to the ship.  Our whole group decided to go back, but we got to enjoy exploring the area for about 15 minutes. 

 

The beach here is a very narrow strip, but many were enjoying it.  According to the tour description they sometimes go to Cockelshell beach, but our port time departure was a little early, so I think that is why we went to South Friars.

 

The last highlight was the amazing view from Timothy Hill where you see the “backbone” of St. Kitts beautiful hills and the Caribbean and Atlantic seas at the same time.  Gorgeous.  We returned to port where we still had some time to explore.  The port area here is very nice with a variety of shops.  We loved our visit to St. Kitts and the Thenford Grey tour.  Would definitely recommend him!

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