Best way to spend a day in Grenada?

[raringtogo]

ChattTenn - can you tell us how much the 7 hour tour cost please?

it sounds very good. We will not be in Grenada until end of the year but I will be booking way ahead to be sure we can secure Mandoo himself

[Grammar Goddess]

There were four of us; Mandoo charged us $45 apiece for the entire day - about 8:00 in the morning until about 4:00 in the afternoon, with an hour break for lunch back at the ship. We booked him in about February for our New Year's Eve tour of Grenada. Yes, go ahead and get him lined up. He is by far the best tour guide you have ever had! And his van is immaculate. He will show you Grenada as nobody else can.

 

Tell him Connie recommended him!!

[raringtogo]

thank you connie -:)

[kpauley]

For those of you who pre-booked with Mandoo, did you need to pay in advance? Also, does he have XX number of passengers he takes in total. Let's say group1 books 6 people and group2 books 10 people, and group3 books 4 people and there is 3 people at the pier looking for an excursion. Is that now the "group" for the tour or does he just take the first group to book. Thanks.

[Grammar Goddess]

Hi there,

 

I asked Mandoo in an email if we could pre-pay, as we wished to pay everything ahead that we could and not have to bother with constantly carrying cash around. He sent me a form which allowed me to pre-pay half of the tour by credit card, but he didn't send it to the credit card company until our tour was over.

 

There were four of us in our party. He had us scheduled for the day and time that we arrived. If someone had asked him later, no matter the size of the party, he would have turned them down. Mandoo is ethical, responsible, sophisticated, articulate, professional, courteous. His immaculate custom van would probably have held two more people, but we didn't think ahead of time or we might have invited some new cruise friends to go along.

 

There aren't enough good things to say about Mandoo. Here's one example: one member of our party insisted upon returning to the ship for lunch after we had covered everything that we'd pre-arranged: the spice factory [which he opened for us. It was Sunday when we were there, so it was closed. He also carefully explained the process to us and offered us the opportunity to purchase the already-packaged spices there in the factory. The prices were amazing: $1 to $2 for spices we pay five and ten times that amount for in the US.] After we reluctantly agreed to accommodate our friend and go back to the ship, on a whim, I asked Mandoo if he would pick us up an hour later. :o Surprisingly, he agreed. Despite the inconvenience to him of having to split the tour and return to the cruise dock, he charged only what he had previously said, $45 per person, even though the second part of the tour covered ground that we had not asked for before the tour. He took us all over St. George's, to the fort, around the town, all the while narrating for us. He's just a prince of a fellow. You cannot possibly go wrong with Mandoo. We hope to be back in Grenada again in December of 2008, and you can be sure that if that cruise materializes, we will be booking Mandoo again.

 

You will love Grenada!

 

Enjoy your cruise, :)

 

GG

[kpauley]

Grammar Goddess - Thanks for all of your information. Do you know if he has different sized vans? We'll probably have 10 in our group. Thanks.

[Grammar Goddess]

Sorry, I don't know whether or not Mandoo has vans other than the one he used for us, immaculate and roomy, but not able to accommodate 10! [unless you're VERY friendly]

 

The four of us had lots and lots of room.

 

If his van cannot hold ten passengers, my advice would be to ask him how many he will take and to suggest another guide for the rest. Perhaps you could be a caravan.

 

You don't want to miss Mandoo!! :)

 

GG

[Grammar Goddess]

So sorry, but I don't know. There were four of us, would have been room for six, even with all of our stuff! Mandoo is so knowledgeable, articulate, eloquent in his explanations, courteous, charming, and delightful, that my advice would be to go with him, even if he can't accommodate all of your party!! Ask him to recommend someone for the others, but you grab him! For all I know, he has larger vans . . . we just didn't need one. But if he doesn't, you make sure that you go with him. Anyone he recommends is certain to be competent. As I've said earlier on these posts, when/if we return to Grenada, I'll book him as far ahead as I can. I don't think anyone could capture the flavor and essence of Grenada as he does, and with such style. :)

 

GG

[GloriaF]

Mandoo used a small bus when we were on tour with him. The bus wasn't full, would probably accomodate 20ish and we had 13, I think. My husband & I booked independently, as did the others, but we were all from the same ship (only 1 in port) and it was a wonderful tour! Highly recommended!!:) :) :)

[thatbloominplace]

mandoo was perhaps the best land excursion we have ever taken. partly it was the very varied experiences of the tour, largely it was the fascinating and articulate mandoo, himself.

 

we took the northern route which included stops at a spice processing plant, an old rum distillery, an organic chocolate "factory", beautiful vistas, an incredible lunch at a local restaurant in a secluded oceanfront area, walks along a beautiful ocean reseve, a short walk to a waterfall you can swim in,and all the while mandoo narrating and discussing the politics of grenada and the future of his country, and to an extent the world. highly opinionated and perceptive, he tried to engage the passengers in debate, and not just chide them into believing his views. he welcomed questions and comments and was also open to discussing his personal experiences.

 

this was, then, not just a chance to see a beautiful country, but a chance to hear and discuss its future and culture. i have always arranged for tours on our own when we travel, so we have taken many excellent tours such as this. but mandoo is a can't miss experience!

 

steve

[kpauley]

mandoo was perhaps the best land excursion we have ever taken. partly it was the very varied experiences of the tour, largely it was the fascinating and articulate mandoo, himself.

 

we took the northern route which included stops at a spice processing plant, an old rum distillery, an organic chocolate "factory", beautiful vistas, an incredible lunch at a local restaurant in a secluded oceanfront area, walks along a beautiful ocean reseve, a short walk to a waterfall you can swim in,and all the while mandoo narrating and discussing the politics of grenada and the future of his country, and to an extent the world. highly opinionated and perceptive, he tried to engage the passengers in debate, and not just chide them into believing his views. he welcomed questions and comments and was also open to discussing his personal experiences.

 

this was, then, not just a chance to see a beautiful country, but a chance to hear and discuss its future and culture. i have always arranged for tours on our own when we travel, so we have taken many excellent tours such as this. but mandoo is a can't miss experience!

 

steve

 

Could you tell me the cost per person for the Northern Route? Thanks.

 

Kathy

[thatbloominplace]

the cost was $70 pp. he takes your cc info ahead of time. you can leave it as a cc payment or pay him cash on the day of the trip.

 

steve

[kpauley]

Thanks.

[MOMJAHELKA]

Hi, we are on the Crown at the same time as you. Have you been on the Roll Call board. There seem to be a great group of people going on this trip. We are a group of 12 and are looking forward to a wonderful time. Come meet us on the Roll Calls. Bye

[dis2cruise]

! INSTEAD take a taxi about $10 total and go to the Plaza hotel its a $15 admission to have a chair and umbrella for the day and use their facility its the SAME thng the ship does except they give you lunch WELL I DOUBT you would eat $74 for lunch! What a rip!

 

 

SusieCruiser,

 

don't want to hi jack this thread however could you tell me a little more about this hotel? can you also use their pool?

 

cheryl

[Merv1]

I've read so many good things about Mandoo...I think that is the tour we will book when in Granada in October/November. Thank you for your informative post. There will possibly be only 2 in my group (my husband and I) -- do you think that is too few for him to accomodate us? The Northern tour that you took sounds like it is just up our alley...we will be looking for NON-touristy places to see...quiet and peaceful. Do you think this would suit us? Thanks!!! :)

[thatbloominplace]

once we left the area around the spice processing plant, we stopped seeing any more tourists. this would be exactly what you want. we saw only 4 other people at the seaside reserve, no one else at the estuary restaurant, and 4 others at the waterfall. so you can see, we were pretty much by ourselves. there were only the 2 of us also, but he had others from our ship as well. i believe there were a total of 12-14 people on our tour.

 

steve

[Merv1]

Hey Steve! Fantastic...this sounds WONDERFUL! Just what we are looking for. I'm wondering if I should contact him now -- our trip isn't until end of October/early November -- your thoughts? Also, I am a vegetarian -- no fish or seafood either. Not knowing what is traditionally eaten/served in Grenada, do you think I would be able to eat at the restaraunt? We would go anyway...it really sounds lovely and my husband does eat meat, but just wondering if I should pack some food with me? And can I assume that the lunch cost is not included in the price of the tour? Mary

[thatbloominplace]

the price of the lunch IS included. the lunch consisted of a wonderful bread and fish fritters served at the table. then there was a self-serve buffet. many vegetables,salad, rice, and chicken. i do not recall if there was fish on the buffet. you will certainly not starve even if there is no main course you can eat.i would not wait too long to make a reservation, he is constantly being recommended. if a group of 20 made a reservation ahead of you i am afraid you might be out of luck.

 

steve

[Merv1]

Oh Wow! What a bargain!! At your suggestion, I have just emailed Mandoo. Looking at our itinerary, I realized that we will only be in Grenada for 7 hours (from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.). I am bummed, because this was one of the stops that I was most looking forward to - wish we had more time! I mentioned that to him in my email, gave him some ideas of what we will be looking to do, and asked for HIS suggestions given our time frame. I have no doubt that we will have a wonderful experience with him. (Hopefully he is not booked yet!) Thanks for all the great info! Mary

[Grammar Goddess]

Hi,

 

Hope you've been successful in booking Mandoo for your Grenada tour. Don't worry--Mandoo will make it wonderful for you no matter how much or how little time you have. One of the places that we went that I enjoyed, but haven't seen anyone else list, is the fort right there at St. George's, not far from our ship. He took us up there after lunch, not a bad walk at all despite my need for a cane; there were no other tourists there, and the views were just spectacular. We took some great photos. A beach was nearby, too, with shade and chairs with thatched umbrellas, not terribly crowded there, and it was New Year's Eve and a Sunday.

 

Don't know how far Grand Etang Lake is, so difficult to judge distance and time in such a mountainous country, but it's worth seeing [despite the tourists]. So many beautiful waterfalls there, too.

 

You'll have a great time with Mandoo, wherever you go. :)

 

Connie

[Fleetwood]

My husband and I just got back from our Jan 9th cruise with the Sun Princess and agree our tour with Mandoo was our favouite. We were the only ones with him on the tour and he gave us so much information about his island and you can tell how much he cares about his home and the people living there. The kids love him and everyone knows him. We learned so much about spices and the history of the island from him. We highly recommend him to everyone and he responds very quickly to your e-mails. Thanks Mandoo!

[dis2cruise]

thanks for the report....

we will be using mandoo on feb 21 can't wait!!

 

cheryl

[Merv1]

Hi Fleetwood! I sent Mandoo an email on Monday...still haven't heard back from him yet, regarding booking a tour with him later this year. How soon is "responds to emails quickly?" I don't want to seem pushy, but it has been 4 days without a response from him. I am concerned he didn't receive it! Thanks! :)

[kpauley]

You may want to contact him again. If I emailed him at night, the response was within the hour. If I emailed him in the morning, it was later in the day.