Ambrose tours

[cruiseorcamp]

Our first cruise to St Lucia in January 2025.  We want to really see the highlights and participate in as much as we can as we are in our mid 70's.

Our family recently used Ambrose Tours and had a blast, but thought there might be a little difficulty getting either in or out of the boat due to the distance to the step.

 

I have emailed, TEXTED, and filled out forms to Ambrose, but after several weeks have not received a response.

 

I have reviewed all of the other suggestions on this thread, but some are very old.

Any updates on what to do to see Pitons, go to the Sulfur baths, etc?

We really have no mobility issues and always walk many miles when cruising and touring.

We can't, however, climb stadium seats without a handrail.  🙂  I have short stride.

 

Thank you.

[JerseyGirlatHeart]

We used Ambrose in January, please see posted review below.  Safety is definitely not a priority.

 

We just did it two weeks ago.  Had high hopes, but not a great experience.  Due to number of passengers, we had two speed boats.  One newer and one older.  A very large family got on the newer boat, and the rest of us in the older.  We also got the passengers that wanted to be dropped off at snorkel location and passengers for just the beach  (we signed up for land and sea).  Spencer was our boat captain and he was visibly very sick.  When we pulled up to the dock to drop off snorkelers at their location, he hit the dock, dumping one of his mates off the back of the boat near the props, luckily the other mate yelled at Spencer to cut the motor off.  Once snorkelers were dropped off, and mates back on board we headed off to see a bat cave.  When Spencer tried to get close to the cave he rammed the boat into the rock wall, this time everyone was ok.  We were then taken to land/beach portion of the trip and turned over to one of the mates.  Once we were dropped off on the beach we were given lunch in a styrofoam container.  There were no tables, so we sat on rocks to eat.  Once beach time was complete Spencer puller boat up to dock ramming the dock hard.  The mate from the other boat got on and took over the driving, leaving another mate to drive the newer boat.  Spencer stood up on side of speedboat console and looked like he was going to vomit.  We hauled butt heading back to original pickup point, but as luck would have it we ran out of gas just as soon as we turned into the port (we could see our ship)area.  Water was rough and waves were pushing us very close to the jagged rocks.  The newer speedboat was some distance behind us, but was able to throw us a rope and tow us to the docking area.  Just as we were pulling up to dock a Catamaran cut us off, we had no controls and barely missed the Catamaran.  The newer speedboat pulled us around again.  We again rammed the dock hard.  We couldn’t wait to get off the vessel.  My husband did give the mate that took control a tip, just for getting us back on land without killing anyone.

 

would I go with Spencer again?  No, but I do think (after doing strictly land portion in the past …. Long drive), that speedboat is the way to go.

 

 

Edited July 20 by JerseyGirlatHeart

[cruiseorcamp]

Thank your honesty and replay.  Quite concerning.  Our family was there in April of this year, and they had a wonderful experience with their driver.  There was also a buffet lunch somewhere.  I may have to re-think this one.

[reedprincess]

On 7/20/2024 at 10:46 AM, cruiseorcamp said:

Thank your honesty and replay.  Quite concerning.  Our family was there in April of this year, and they had a wonderful experience with their driver.  There was also a buffet lunch somewhere.  I may have to re-think this one.

I wouldn't discount your family's wonderful experience by one bad review.   Spencer does a great tour, occasionally things go wrong - for anyone.

 

Other options for similar tour include Joys Ocean Angel, Captain Dells, Joe Knows, Serenity Vacations, etc. You can also customize with someone like Shashamane Water Taxi or Israel King water taxi.. Serenity can customize also...

 

Cosol does a great land based tour, along with numerous others like Francis Junior at Explore St Lucia or Lerris Marius at Marius Taxi or Kurt at Island Man Taxi and Tours or Mark at Rising Sun and so forth...

[fedexretiree]

I've been on Spencer's tours 3 times.  2 out of the 3 times the boat broke down.  1 time we had to jump from boat to another boat.  Thank heavens everyone could do that. Gave his business the benefit of the doubt after the 1st breakdown. 2nd trip was ok but the 3rd time was a mess.   They were late picking up. Just after leaving boat broke down. They got it started and we arrived safely to sugar beach.  But this time the chairs there are falling apart and was crowded because we were late getting there no place to sit.  I was so nervous the whole day worried that the boat would break diwn and we would miss the ship i couldnt enjoy myself.   Read other reviews.  This is not an anomaly..it happens frequently.

I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND SKIPPING THIS EXCURSION.