St Lucia Excursions

[mkam2821]

It will be our first time visitng the island. If you've RECENTLY been on a Celebrity excursion in St. Lucia, I'd appreciate feedback. We can't decide between The Island's Delights,  Lushan Country  Life And Pigeon Island and Panoramic St. Lucia.  and my husband is not the athletic type and beaches aren't our thing (we live in South Florida so a beach isn't a novelty).

Thanks in advance and wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday

[Spif Barwunkel]

Have been to St Lucia on land vacations only. Cannot speak to tours by Celebrity but if it is any help, the island is beautiful and full of character. Whichever excursion you choose should not disappoint and hopefully X will do St Lucia justice.

[mkam2821]

11 minutes ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

Have been to St Lucia on land vacations only. Cannot speak to tours by Celebrity but if it is any help, the island is beautiful and full of character. Whichever excursion you choose should not disappoint and hopefully X will do St Lucia justice.

Thank you. 

[dani negreanu]

Pls. take a look at this itinerary, even if you'll take an X-excursion. 

 

It "hits" all the high-lights.

 

http://cosol-tours.com/tours.html

 

[Laurab23]

25 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

Pls. take a look at this itinerary, even if you'll take an X-excursion. 

 

It "hits" all the high-lights.

 

http://cosol-tours.com/tours.html

 

That looks amazing.

[Spif Barwunkel]

56 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

Pls. take a look at this itinerary, even if you'll take an X-excursion. 

 

It "hits" all the high-lights.

 

http://cosol-tours.com/tours.html

 

This is a great look at ST Lucia as provided by Dani. Hope your experience provides you with same.

[mkam2821]

1 hour ago, Laurab23 said:

That looks amazing.

However, as of December 15th 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in St Lucia (among other islands): 

 

[Turtles06]

@mkam2821 We were on the Silhouette earlier this month, and one of our ports was St. Lucia, where Celebrity shorex were required.  We took one, but not one of the ones you've identified, nor do your links work, so I can't tell where they go/what you'd do.  Depending on your interests, I'd suggest one that takes you around the island so you can see as much as possible.   Just know that the roads are very winding and mountainous.  And also that there is no physical distancing on the mini-buses used for the Celebrity excursions, though masks were required and the bus was required to keep the windows open, unless it was raining. 

[mkam2821]

12 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

@mkam2821 We were on the Silhouette earlier this month, and one of our ports was St. Lucia, where Celebrity shorex were required.  We took one, but not one of the ones you've identified, nor do your links work, so I can't tell where they go/what you'd do.  Depending on your interests, I'd suggest one that takes you around the island so you can see as much as possible.   Just know that the roads are very winding and mountainous.  And also that there is no physical distancing on the mini-buses used for the Celebrity excursions, though masks were required and the bus was required to keep the windows open, unless it was raining. 

Thank  you, may I ask which excursion you did take?

 

[Ashland]

59 minutes ago, mkam2821 said:

However, as of December 15th 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in St Lucia (among other islands): 

 

Why is RCI allowing booked excursions directly by approved tour companies and X isn't?

Cosol is certainly one of them.

[Turtles06]

59 minutes ago, mkam2821 said:

Thank  you, may I ask which excursion you did take?

 

Glimpse of St. Lucia. We didn’t want to spend too many hours on a bus. It had some interesting aspects, but I don’t think I’d recommend it. 

[debshomespun]

  From Celebrity's website:

Vaccinated guests can get off the ship in St. Lucia and take a private Gov't approved excursion from select vendors at the port.

[Coloradohawk]

3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

Pls. take a look at this itinerary, even if you'll take an X-excursion. 

 

It "hits" all the high-lights.

 

http://cosol-tours.com/tours.html

 

I’ll second the Cosol tours.  One of the best tours in all of the Caribbean.

[mkam2821]

1 hour ago, debshomespun said:

  From Celebrity's website:

Vaccinated guests can get off the ship in St. Lucia and take a private Gov't approved excursion from select vendors at the port.

Thank you for the update.. I usually book private and ahead of time  but booked through Celebrity as this is our 1st visit to this island and I don't want to go through the hassle of choosing a provider at the port

[chemmo]

10 hours ago, mkam2821 said:

It will be our first time visitng the island. If you've RECENTLY been on a Celebrity excursion in St. Lucia, I'd appreciate feedback. We can't decide between The Island's Delights,  Lushan Country  Life And Pigeon Island and Panoramic St. Lucia.  and my husband is not the athletic type and beaches aren't our thing (we live in South Florida so a beach isn't a novelty).

Thanks in advance and wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday

We did a Celebrity island tour a couple of years ago. I cannot remember the name but we drove along the coast and a bit in land, visited the volcanic area which was interesting, had views of the Pitons, a stop by a beach (short time to get a drink or shop). Could possibly have been panoramic St Lucia? I think it lasted about 4 hours.
 

We did find the minibus small and every seat was taken. My husband and son who are both 6’ found it very tight. Given the present circumstances I wouldn’t want to be in one of those minibuses…Is there a boat trip on offer? To me the nicest thing to see in St Lucia is the Pitons from the sea. 

[Laurab23]

12 hours ago, mkam2821 said:

However, as of December 15th 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in St Lucia (among other islands): 

 

We are not cruising until Jan 2023 so hopefully things will be better by then.

 

Laura

[lusyrsgirl]

I've been to St. Lucia many times, both land visits and by ship (I got married there too!).  I highly recommend Joys Adventure Excursion.  The over-land travel is replaced by boat and believe me when I say this - you'd rather take a boat to the sights than take the treacherous roads from Castries to Soufriere.  You snorkel between the Pitons, see the bat caves, visit the volcanos, mud bath and have lunch at a residence on the island.  It's about $100pp - well worth it.  https://www.joysadventure.com/joys-adventure-excursion

 

[dani negreanu]

13 hours ago, mkam2821 said:

However, as of December 15th 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in St Lucia (among other islands): 

 

 

May be [since English isn't my mother tongue] I didn't explain myself clearly -- what I've meant is: look at the Cosol's itinerary and look for the same visited spots in Celebrity's itinerary. If Celebrity's itinerary goes to the same/almost the same spots, you're in for a nice excursion.

 

BTW, we've chosen [even before Covid "era"] to combine a land and sea trip. Go by minibus to the Pitons, and back by boat.

 

[Turtles06]

56 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

May be [since English isn't my mother tongue] I didn't explain myself clearly -- what I've meant is: look at the Cosol's itinerary and look for the same visited spots in Celebrity's itinerary. If Celebrity's itinerary goes to the same/almost the same spots, you're in for a nice excursion

I understood you to mean that. 😊Unfortunately, our recent cruise on the Silhouette did not have these sorts of excursions. The few that came close combined them with other things that just did not work for us. 
 

It’s a limitation we have to accept when we choose to cruise right now. 

[scrapcreator]

Any recent experiences with Cosol or Joys Adventures? Trying to decide for an October cruise.

 

Thanks,

Jeanne

[lorimay]

We did the Cosol tour in January. We saw a lot of the island but it was not one of my favorite tours. Our driver was fine, but not very communcative. He would answer questions but not point out too many things. The van made loud noises and the driver kept apologizing because he said it needed repairs. We even stopped for him to make a minor repair.

First stop was the shop in the banana fields - where you felt you had to buy something. We did go to the waterfall and the mud baths which were both fun. For whatever reason, the original beach we were supposed to go to was cancelled and he took us to the city beach at Soufriere. It was not the nicest beach I have been to. We had to pay some kids for two chairs and an umbrella and then keep waving them off when they tried to earn more money.  After about 90 minutes on the beach, the driver came back to get us with his two kids and they drove back with us to the port.

We did get to see a lot of sights, but I really felt like the whole tour was just a little unprofessional. However, St. Lucia had just opened back up and you could see they desperately needed the tourist dollars so I felt bad about complaining. Based on my experience, I don't know if I could recommend them.

[Country_Cruiser67]

In February 2019 we took a Celebrity shorex called Pitons Cruise & Snorkel. It was a lovely boat ride and we snorkelled between the Pitons.

In 2018, we took a Celebrity shorex that took us to the mud Baths and then stopped at the Beacon Restaurant for a delicious lunch (included in the tour). The view is phenomenal from the Beacon and makes for wonderful photos.