Ziplining in St. Lucia?

[manther225]

Anyone do the zipline excursion through Carnival in St. Lucia? We are looking at this and a mountain bike tour. I think both would be fun, however the zipline is $100/person and doesn't seem all that exciting. The bike tour is only $40/person.

I know they are very different, but I am just wondering if it's worth it to zipline or wait and do it on another cruise or vacation.

TIA.

[applebottoms]

When I was In St. Lucia I did the zipline with Frank's Tours. It was great! and we paid $20.00 less than the ship. We arrived there before the ship's tour and had the place to ourselves, there is also a new line, it's lot's of fun. I think you should give it a try. What we did was a zipline and sight seeing tour.

 

If you wish to contact Frank, his e-mail address is franktax@hotmail.com

 

Hope you enjoy your ride in St. Lucia, it's a beautiful place to see.

[lucyddr]

We just got back this week from ziplining in St. Lucia. We have been in Antigua and Belize and believe St. Lucia is far better! We took a private tour of the island that included a stop at the zip lines through Fabian. The cost for ziplining was $65 pp. We were the only ones there and it was outstanding in every aspect! I would not go through Carnival, but would highly recommend going on the lines in St. Lucia.

[Darcy8]

What company did you use for your tour?

darcy8

[nerak]

Did you zipline at Errard Estate or the new one with the canopy tour also? We have done the one at Errard Estate, but are considering the newer one this time.

[nerak]

I just got an email back from Fabian with the cost of $180 for 1-4 people for a 2 1/2 hour tour and an additional $65pp for zipline. Anyone interested in sharing the tour on September 26th. There are 2 of us, we need at least 2 more.

[linbobky]

what is zipline excursions? :confused:

[nerak]

Never a bad question.....

The ziplines are cables connected to trees through the rainforest. You harness up and attach the harness to the cable then glide hanging below the line from platform to platform on the trees. You are 30-50 feet above the ground. It is an awesome experience. Most anyone can do it. I will be 50 this year and did it for my first time Christmas 2005.

[linbobky]

it sure sounds like a great excursion! if i can talk my wife into it, we are going to do it. we will be there in oct. trying a 8 day cruise on the carnival miracle. sounds like alot of fun.

 

thanks alot for the info!!:)

[nerak]

Good luck!!! Hope you talk her into it. Check your cruise line if you don't want to book independently, they might have excursions. Royal Caribbean does...2 different ones.

[nerak]

Good luck....hope she agrees, you will love it!

[Ripley]

Hi, I'm interested in any review of the Treetop Adventure Park zipline tour. Apparently there are two zipline parks on the island and it's difficult to discern which one cruisers are talking about. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Ripley

[nerak]

Hi, I'm interested in any review of the Treetop Adventure Park zipline tour. Apparently there are two zipline parks on the island and it's difficult to discern which one cruisers are talking about. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Ripley

 

Isn't that the one with the arial tram also? If so, can't help. I am looking for reviews also.

I have found this site though http://www.rfat.com/

There is a toll free number at the bottom left of the page ... they gave me more info regarding the ziplne and tram.

[55J5-5]

I am looking at the zipline tour, but can someone tell me if you do mostly zipline or is there a lot of obstacle parts to it? We did one in Dominica and it was an obstacle one mostly. So are looking for more of the zipline kind.

Also, anyone been to the bat caves? Is it worth seeing them or do you just kinda sail by and look in them?

thanks.

[nerak]

I am looking at the zipline tour, but can someone tell me if you do mostly zipline or is there a lot of obstacle parts to it? We did one in Dominica and it was an obstacle one mostly. So are looking for more of the zipline kind.

Also, anyone been to the bat caves? Is it worth seeing them or do you just kinda sail by and look in them?

thanks.

 

The one we did was all ziplines. It opened late 2005 and we did it Christmas 2005. Great company/great first time on the lines for us. This is the zipline, sometimes call Aerial Trek, that does NOT have the canopy tour tram. Royal Caribbean offers both on their excursions. I have spoken with the one I mentioned above (with the tram) and they said they are zips only except for having to use the tram to get you up to the top.

[55J5-5]

nerak, did you book yours with royal or privatly? What was the name of the company or website? [oh wait, you posted it already.] It sounds like the one you took is just what we are looking for. Thanks.

[nerak]

nerak, did you book yours with royal or privatly? What was the name of the company or website? [oh wait, you posted it already.] It sounds like the one you took is just what we are looking for. Thanks.

 

We did it through RCI...and it was all zips. The trip there was a little over half an hour. We got to stop for a 'kodak' moment at an overlook. Our guide on the bus showed us many things...camoflage trees, bamboo (and the deadly poison that can be on it), star fruit growing, got us a coconut and shared it fresh (nothing like the ones we buy in the store), found some raw chocolate and let us try it, etc. It was an awesome trip, even the bus ride.

[nerak]

jmodest...Thanks for the info. I loved the ziplines the last time, but am am a little confused, which place has added longer lines...the one with the tram/zips or the one I did previously? I am not sure what it was called, but the owner said his brother owns the Brig Unicorn if that helps...and it did not have the tram at it. Thanks for your help....longer lines would be great!

[nerak]

You are quite right nerak. I spoke with John over at Serenity on a few things including these tours earlier and he confirmed that 1. Longer lines have been added to the zip line in Dennery, it's now up to 900 feet long and 50ft above ground. 2. It is owned by a member if the Deveaux (sp) family who also own the Brig Unicorn m - a Mr Sean Deveaux. If you go to Serenity's website and scroll down somewhere on the "Land Tours" page, you can view a very short video of the actual zip ride, short. Those interested can call the toll free number 866 766 0794 and get as much information as they want. I have never done the zip line myself and therefore cannot give a review of it.

 

Thanks again! Sounds like they have made it even better than the last time I was there! Now we just need to find a trip that will take just the 2 of us...without doing it through the ship without paying an arm and a leg. We have written to a couple of providers and the price is good if we have 4 or more people. The las ttime we did it, we did it through the ship for $99 each (still the price), but no island tour. WE did have an awesome guide on the bus with us who showed us a lot of things and we stopped for a 'kodak' moment overlooking the ocean by a fire station.

I appreciate your info.

[DecafMom]

We just returned from St. Lucia and did the zipline during our day there. It is $65 per person and it was so much fun! We also did an island tour with Fabian, which I would not recommend for a couple of reasons. The first reason is I prefer a tour guide with a little charisma. Fabian hardly spoke to us. We were with another couple and seated in the second row of the van. When he did speak, I had to ask a couple of times for him to speak up so we could hear him as well, but he never did so I gave up. Did we get a tour of the island? Not really, but he did drive us around it. Make sense? Also, it is A LOT of driving. Our experience is that it was too long of a day in a van on windy roads. All of us were a bit green by the end up the trip. I also heard the same comments by others who also toured the island. Not to mention Fabian did not stop for lunch at all...we left at 8:30 and he returned us around 2:30-3:00 with no stops for food. We were hungry!

[nerak]

We just returned from St. Lucia and did the zipline during our day there. It is $65 per person and it was so much fun! We also did an island tour with Fabian, which I would not recommend for a couple of reasons. The first reason is I prefer a tour guide with a little charisma. Fabian hardly spoke to us. We were with another couple and seated in the second row of the van. When he did speak, I had to ask a couple of times for him to speak up so we could hear him as well, but he never did so I gave up. Did we get a tour of the island? Not really, but he did drive us around it. Make sense? Also, it is A LOT of driving. Our experience is that it was too long of a day in a van on windy roads. All of us were a bit green by the end up the trip. I also heard the same comments by others who also toured the island. Not to mention Fabian did not stop for lunch at all...we left at 8:30 and he returned us around 2:30-3:00 with no stops for food. We were hungry!

Thanks for the review. We are still trying to decide what to do and if anyone else is going to go with us to cut the cost. So, the island tour was nothing special? Maybe we should just have him take us to a beach when we are done? I know that when we did the zips through RCI, we had a great tour on the way there. We made several stops to see things...didn't get out, but the guide stopped and brought things on for us to see. It was a good little tour for no extra charge...well, they do over charge to begin with.

[dc-snoopy]

We were on the Carnival Destiny 6/10-6/17 with our stop in St Lucia on Thursday 6/14. We were going to try to arrange for the ziplining tour through the cruise ship, but Tuesday, one of the two excursions was completely booked and the other only had one slot available.

 

So, I got on-line in the Internet Cafe Wednesday night and found the phone number. Thursday morning, I got off the ship first thing in the morning and called the Dennery site directly. The woman I spoke with said that I could just come out there and did not need a reservation. We had to arrange our own transportation. They were open from 9AM to 4PM and we could come anytime.

 

We arranged with a cab driver named Bompy (I wish I could remember his real name, he was very nice). It cost us $100 for him to take us out, wait for us to zip-line and bring us back. He had a 2 year old Toyota minivan and it was very nice inside and air conditioned. The zip lines cost us $65 each. So I paid $230 (plus tax). We ended up there at the same time as the morning excursion and they put us in the same ziplining group as the Carnival passengers. :) The other passengers paid $99pp including their ride, but their ride was in an unairconditioned bus that was sweltering hot and there were 26 of them packed into a bus made for about 20-25. Everyone was complaining how bad the bus trip out was (and it was about 45 minutes out and then we hit traffic on the way back and it was about an hour). It was worth it to me to pay $30 extra to ride to and from in comfort. If we had had 4-12 people instead of just the two of us, it would have saved us money, but even still, I'm just glad we got to do it since it was a great excursion.

 

For those who don't know what ziplining is, there are cables strung through the rain forest "canopy". There are nine platforms and six runs of cables ranging from the short ones about 50 ft long to the last one which is over 360 feet long. On the last zip, the starting platform is about 70 feet above the forest floor and at the middle, you are about 160 feet over the river running below. Although the view is gorgeous, while trying to keep straight and "land" right, you don't pay that much attention to the view on the line. But it is a rush and it is not particularly physically intensive. There were a number of non-athletic people in our group and they all had a blast. You are put into a harness that is similar to the one that you use when rock climbing. Your harness is connected with clips to two different cables and then there is a third clip that connects as a safety back to the first cable (but doesn't touch the cable unless the first clip becomes undone for some reason). It is very safe and can hold up to something like 400 lbs weight pp.

[DecafMom]

Thanks for the review. We are still trying to decide what to do and if anyone else is going to go with us to cut the cost. So, the island tour was nothing special? Maybe we should just have him take us to a beach when we are done? I know that when we did the zips through RCI, we had a great tour on the way there. We made several stops to see things...didn't get out, but the guide stopped and brought things on for us to see. It was a good little tour for no extra charge...well, they do over charge to begin with.

 

No, nothing too special on the island tour. We had spent a week in St. Lucia on our honeymoon 10 years ago and not much has changed. I think it would be nice to visit a beach rather than do an island tour. I mean, all in all, it beats a day at work, but I would do it differently next time. :)

[valuesrok]

Thanks for the review. We are still trying to decide what to do and if anyone else is going to go with us to cut the cost. So, the island tour was nothing special? Maybe we should just have him take us to a beach when we are done? I know that when we did the zips through RCI, we had a great tour on the way there. We made several stops to see things...didn't get out, but the guide stopped and brought things on for us to see. It was a good little tour for no extra charge...well, they do over charge to begin with.

 

Hello, we just got back and we contacted Franks Taxi for our zipline tour. He charges $80.00 per person and likes to arrive BEFORE the cruise ship tour. We had the lines to ourselves-marvelous! The guides were alot of fun. Highly recommend! We did the north island add on but really would have been satisfied just going to Rodney Bay afterwards. While we thoroughly enjoyed Frank (ages 50-20) We were in the van for a very long time with windy roads. By the time we got to the beach we just wanted to eat and go back to the ship.

 

Google Franks taxi st lucia for his web-site. He was quick to answer our multiple emails.

[55J5-5]

Has anyone done this zipline and the one on Antigua? We are trying to decide which to do. I did post this question on Antigua board also.

Thanks for your help.