Cosol or Stewart ambrose tours

[renza]

I have Cosol tours booked but am seeing amazing reviews from Stewart Ambrose tours too. Cosol is mostly by land and Stewart is mostly sea. Anyone been on either?

[KatPem]

You can check out my post on another thread.  We have done Spencer's 3 times and chose it because most of it is by speedboat rather than Cosol where half was by bus at the time (not sure if that has changed.)

 

[SG65CB]

Here is a link to KatPem's post on another thread:

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Who is Stewart Ambrose? Is this the same as Spencer Ambrose? Or did a family member take over? Just wondering. 

 

We've done Spencer's tour twice now. Once just to the pitons and the next time to the waterfall, mud baths and pitons. We had a fabulous time both times and the snorkeling is AMAZING!

 

Here's my review's from Spencers:  HERE and HERE

[Ashland]

On 2/23/2023 at 5:05 PM, renza said:

I have Cosol tours booked but am seeing amazing reviews from Stewart Ambrose tours too. Cosol is mostly by land and Stewart is mostly sea. Anyone been on either?

Yes...Cosol...You've made a great choice !!!

[renza]

17 hours ago, Ashland said:

Yes...Cosol...You've made a great choice !!!

No we went with Spencer and it was awesome. U go by boat to baths and waterfall so you beat all those taking the tour in vans. It was so nice being on the water all day not sitting in a van 1/2 a day

[Ashland]

On 3/15/2023 at 4:16 PM, renza said:

No we went with Spencer and it was awesome. U go by boat to baths and waterfall so you beat all those taking the tour in vans. It was so nice being on the water all day not sitting in a van 1/2 a day

Did you get drinks and food like Cosol offers? Glad you were happy with your choice...but many aren't interested in spending that much time in a boat. Nice to have options.

[SG65CB]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:41 PM, Ashland said:

Did you get drinks and food like Cosol offers? Glad you were happy with your choice...but many aren't interested in spending that much time in a boat. Nice to have options.

 

I was on the Spencer Ambrose tour a couple of weeks ago. The website says lunch is at a restaurant buffet, but it was actually served at Sugar Beach. They handed out individually-packed lunches. It was delicious and plenty of food. Chicken, fish, rice, beans, noodles, salad, all prepared in the local style. It was nice to sit under a tree near the Pitons while eating lunch. They also had a cooler stocked with beer, water, soft drinks, and rum punch. it was available at Sugar Beach and during the boat trip back to the ship. 

[Duanerice1]

After reading such great reviews about Spencer I decided to put a deposit down for early next year.   They offered everything we wanted.  So I go to book and find out they don’t offer the tour on the Monday we are there. Ugh!   
 

Plenty of time to look for something else I guess……. 

[TTEllis]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:41 PM, Ashland said:

Did you get drinks and food like Cosol offers? Glad you were happy with your choice...but many aren't interested in spending that much time in a boat. Nice to have options.

But most of us aren't interested in sitting in a tour bus all morning and most of the afternoon taking the drive from hell from one side of the island to the other. Know all about it.

I'll take the speedboat to Jalousie any day over the bus ride from hell. 

I could not agree with you more.

Nice to have options.

[carbon]

2 hours ago, TTEllis said:

But most of us aren't interested in sitting in a tour bus all morning and most of the afternoon taking the drive from hell from one side of the island to the other. Know all about it.

I'll take the speedboat to Jalousie any day over the bus ride from hell. 

I could not agree with you more.

Nice to have options.

Tell me about the speedboat to Jalousie.

[TTEllis]

3 hours ago, carbon said:

Tell me about the speedboat to Jalousie.

Spencer Ambrose Jalousie Beach Break done it twice. 45 minutes from the port to the Pitons via speedboat. It's the only way to go for those of us who would like to spend the day on the beach and not in a tour van. 

Excellent opportunity to get pictures of The Pitons you otherwise would have never gotten by driving. Your first to Sugar Beach (Jalousie) before everyone else. Spencer cut too the chase literally. Everybody wants to get to the Pitons that's exactly what he does by speedboat to and from 

For those of us who've been to this destination many times this is the only way to go. 

[NCTribeFan]

I like the long van rides.  For me, the whole point in going to new places is to, you now, SEE new places.  Yes, Jalousie beach is nice and the boat ride to the Pitons is great. 

 

I've done Cosol's tour all three times I've been to St Lucia and am booking again for next January since my cruise friends haven't yet been to St Lucia.

 

Relax and enjoy the ride.  It's a beautiful island and the food and drinks provided make for a great, relaxing day.

 

Yes, having options is great.  Any private tour beats the big-bus ship tours, imo.

[TTEllis]

8 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

I like the long van rides.  For me, the whole point in going to new places is to, you now, SEE new places.  Yes, Jalousie beach is nice and the boat ride to the Pitons is great. 

 

I've done Cosol's tour all three times I've been to St Lucia and am booking again for next January since my cruise friends haven't yet been to St Lucia.

 

Relax and enjoy the ride.  It's a beautiful island and the food and drinks provided make for a great, relaxing day.

 

Yes, having options is great.  Any private tour beats the big-bus ship tours, imo.

I love Cosols Tour done it twice. 

Both times with Baptiste. Our CC group we had 5 vans of people and one van with everything to drink. 

I think Baptiste is running the show now he has been for awhile. 

Great tour everytime. 

I'm just not into the long van ride anymore. With that being said it's a great tour.

 

[katie64]

Hijacking this for any recent reviews as those on TA seem to be more in the negative lately... any thoughts from anyone who has used recently?

 

Thanks 

[tbmrt]

On 8/10/2023 at 8:41 AM, katie64 said:

Hijacking this for any recent reviews as those on TA seem to be more in the negative lately... any thoughts from anyone who has used recently?

 

Thanks 

Same here.  We had a wonderful time with Spencers years ago and are debating on doing this again.  I wrote them and found there were no longer chairs on the beach and am wondering how uncomfortable it will be sitting on towels for a few hours if we take just the Jalousie Beach portion.

[LLRS11]

I have seen motion sickness warnings for all of the ship's excursions, and I see a reference to the "bus ride from hell" above.  I have problems with motion sickness but don't want to miss seeing what I hear is a beautiful island.  For those who have done both, do you feel that speedboat would be a better or worse choice for someone prone to motion sickness?

[katie64]

ps an an update i emailed and asked if we could have Baptiste and told no definitive confirmation could be given so think we will look elsewhere. 

[mitsugirly]

We have went with Spencer twice now and absolutely loved it there. The first time we went we just went directly to Jalousie beach. They snorkeling there is absolutely AMAZING! The food is really good too. We knew we had to go back again when we went back to St Lucia.  The second time around we did the land and sea tour, which included going to the mud baths and waterfall and it was another great experience. You can find my reviews HERE and HERE with tons of pictures if interested. 

[TTEllis]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:04 AM, katie64 said:

ps an an update i emailed and asked if we could have Baptiste and told no definitive confirmation could be given so think we will look elsewhere. 

Yes, no Baptiste I would go with Spencer Baptiste made the tour both times. Spencer Ambrose Jalousie Beach Break you can't lose. Go straight to Jalousie and The Pitons, no lawn chairs though. I didn't have a problem with it other's may. Water between The Pitons is calm and wonderful, snorkeling is awesome. Have fun.

[colesc15]

I really want to do Spencer's boat to sugar beach, but the time is 8:30-3:30 and the ship is in Port from 7-4 so 3:30 feels like it's cutting it pretty close, no? 

[tbmrt]

21 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

I really want to do Spencer's boat to sugar beach, but the time is 8:30-3:30 and the ship is in Port from 7-4 so 3:30 feels like it's cutting it pretty close, no? 

We are doing Spencer's Land & Sea Tour on 2/28/24 - scheduled 8 am to 7pm.  I was worried about not getting to the tour in time, but was told they watch schedules of ships so would not be a problem.

[CruisingFun2023]

1 hour ago, colesc15 said:

I really want to do Spencer's boat to sugar beach, but the time is 8:30-3:30 and the ship is in Port from 7-4 so 3:30 feels like it's cutting it pretty close, no? 

 

That schedule makes me nervous, as a result of which I may not feel relaxing at the beach at all. No room for any delay. I wanted to do Spencer’s as well but did not like the 3:30 pm return time, so I booked the cruise line excursion in the end.

Edited January 2 by CruisingFun2023

[TTEllis]

If 4pm is the time your ship disembarks St. Lucia 3:30 is tight and leaves little margin for any type of error.

I've never done Spencer's Land and Sea Tour but I have done his Jalousie Beach Break a couple of times yep we got back around 3:30-3:45pm-ish but our ship the Emerald Princess didn't leave until 5pm.  Gave us plenty of time to hit the beer garden at the pier before getting back on the ship. 4pm I would definitely have it worked out ahead of time with Spencer. 

 

[Cruising to Retirement]

9 hours ago, colesc15 said:

I really want to do Spencer's boat to sugar beach, but the time is 8:30-3:30 and the ship is in Port from 7-4 so 3:30 feels like it's cutting it pretty close, no? 

Did you email them, he may adjust tour due to the Ship's time- worth a shot..