Land & Sea to Soufriere

[daneicy80]

Has anyone done this excursion in St. Lucia? I am thinking about taking it and would like some feedback. Thanks.

[BCLINE3155]

We did this excursion in 2002. We did the land portion first ... then the sea. It was a great excursion ... just a very long day. We saw the volcano (a bit smelly) ... and the Pitons (beautiful). Bought some of the banana ketchup ... very good. By the time we got to the beach for swimming and snorkeling in the afternoon ... we were tired and just ready to get back to the ship. Good thing we booked this thru RCCL ... as we were about 30 minutes late getting back to the ship!! If you like to shop and/or site-see on your own ... you will have no time.

 

Hope this answers your questions.

 

BARB

[truffles2]

We have also done this excursion but did the sea portion first. Enjoyed it very much.

[daneicy80]

Does anyone have any other suggestions of things to do instead of the Land and Sea to Soufriere? Would you do the land portion of the tour on your own? Is the sea part good or can it be passed up?

[trish1c]

We did this on another cruise line. It was the BEST excursion ever! The land portion was very educational. The volcano is amazing but a bit smelly as someone said. I probably would have enjoyed the botanical garden tour more if I wasn't doing it w/ what seemed like every other cruise passanger on the island that day (there were 3-4 ships in port that day). The pitons are even more beautiful / majestic from the sea. The lunch was delicious & very unusual. The catamaran sail is a lot of fun & the snorkeling is OK, not great. It was wonderful to sail back into the harbor to see your ship. We also had a Windjammer barefoot cruise cross our path. With all of the masts, she looked incredible. I don't think I'm hearty enough to take a cruise on a Windjammer but it was fun to look at her.

 

Our tour guides also did a pretty good job keeping all of the peddlers away from us.

[kitty1]

If you want to see the Pitons..... The Coastal Cruise to the Pitons is excellent and it's a 4 hour excursion. By catamaran up and back to the Pitons. Stops right at the base of them, then turns around and goes up inside Marigot Bay on the way back and stops at a secluded beach for a short swim.

 

Other folks told us not to do the Land & Sea because it's a very long all day excursion and the land part is by bus that goes up and down windy roads and a lot of people were getting motion sickness on the bus.

 

The Coastal cruise was just long enough and we got to see all the scenery from the water. From what I hear the volcano is nothing special, just a smelly hole in the ground.

[jrm9999]

We did this tour back in 2000. I highly recommend it. The land portion is informative and on an air conditioned bus. They stop at several scenic places along the way. There are peddlers at each stop, but like the other poster said the guides keep them under control.

 

The sea part was a nice sail up the coast on a catamaran. They stopped mid-way to snorkel. Snorkeling was ok, but overall the trip was fun. On funny story is that my wife and I were happy to go on the sea portion to get away from all the peddlers. Well wouldn't you know, we stop in a little cove to snorkel and the peddlers come out on their canoes up next to the boat with goods to sell you. We just had to laugh. The boat guide said "The only sharks in the water here are the guys in the boats"

 

It is a long day and you won't have much if any extra time. As for shopping, I don't think you'll be missing much. Its the same goods you see at the other islands.

[daneicy80]

Thanks for all the great advice, I think we are going to go ahead and book this tour. It sounds like you really get your money's worth and that you really get to experience St. Lucia from the land and the sea. It will be a long day but I really want to make the most out of my vacation so I'll deal with it. Thank you again. If anyone else wants to share their experiences on this tour or any other St. Lucia tours it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!! Also, any suggestions for non-cruise tours at St. Lucia??

[Squire5000]

Kitty1:

 

On the Coastal Cruise, what time did you start out? Do they do both morning and afternoon trips?

[kitty1]

We went on the 8:30am Coastal Cruise and were back on the ship by 12:30pm. They had another one in the afternoon. They used the Mango Tango Catamaran.

 

We did this one because it left the afternoon free to do whatever we wanted. We had lunch on the ship, then took the water taxi to the market in town then went back to the ship to relax. It was quite nice because the ship was pretty empty during the afternoon.

[Lyncruiser]

We didn't think the Land/Sea excursion to Soufriere was worth the money. On the bus trip down, rather than being informative, the guide seemed merely to be in a hurry to beat the other buses to the catamaran in order to get a seat in the shade for the return trip. St. Lucia is very poor and some of the bus stops weren't enlightening so much as they were simply depressing. We've been all over the Caribbean, as well as the Mexican Pacific coast, and never have we seen poverty like we saw in St. Lucia.

 

Moreover, one of the buses broke down so. We waited for ages while they decided what to do. Finally, they loaded the passengers on the remaining buses (including ours), which served to make the bus ride that much more uncomfortable.

 

The volcano stop was okay but nothing to get excited about. Same with the botanical gardens. The lunch stop was only fair -- I had some kind of lentil dish, took a bite and ended up with a mouthful of ash. Obviously the cook was smoking while making the dish and dropped a big hunk of ash in the dish, which I got -- yuck. The return cataman trip was much nicer than the bus ride. The coast is pretty and we really enjoyed the stop for swimming. But, you must be a good swimmer as the only way to go ashore was to swim. Otherwise, you stayed on the cataman.

 

There is a private tour company called something like Jungle Adventures (I don't think that's the name but it's close). I probably would try them next time. People we saw on that tour seemed to be having more fun. Or I would do a catamaran trip and forget the long bus ride.

[Squire5000]

We just booked the 4 hour cat excursion. I read to many postings about how these bus trips often turn into disasters.

[daneicy80]

Squire...

 

What is the cat excursion? Catamaran to the Pitons? Sorry for my confusion.

[daneicy80]

It might be better to do a four hour tour instead of an all day one, what is involved in the shorter "cat" tour?

[Squire5000]

We booked the coastal cruise on the catamaran. We want to see the Pitons up close but don't want to spend all day doing it. The 4 hour excursion ($58 per adult) fits into our plans which give us an afternoon n the ship.

[daneicy80]

Thanks Squire, that might be a good alternative to the all day Land and Sea tour. Does anyone have any feedback on it?

[capsfan]

Someone asked about an alternate St. Lucia tour...Last February, my travel companion and I booked a FANTASTIC tour of St. Lucia from Shoretrips.com. We booked the all-day St. Lucia private tour and Ben was our tour guide. It was just the three of us in his brand new air conditioned 4WD vehicle. We stopped numerous times for photos, shopping, to taste the local vegetation, for cassava bread, canova rolls and for a soda (all included in the tour). We also went to a beautiful outdoor french restaurant w/ a beautiful view of the Pitons. That was separate, but the price was reasonable and the food was as good as any I've ever gotten in Paris. Ah, and the view...priceless. We also went to the gardens, saw the boiling sulfur lake, and so much more. Just being the two of us, we had total freedom and the guide let us pretty much set the schedule. He was well travelled and very well informed about his country. It seems like the tour cost us around $75 or so each, but this was comparable to the ship tours and much more personalized. I highly recommend it and would do it again if I ever go back to St. Lucia. We covered the same sights as the land and sea tour, but much faster and without the negative things we've heard...long day, hot ride, etc.

[daneicy80]

Did you have good results with ShoreTrips because I read another post on here somewhere that they were not very reputable. One couples' tour info was lost and the island based tour company felt bad so they booked them on a later trip. I don't know if I would trust them based on this info.

[capsfan]

Yes, I was VERY pleased w/ Shoretrips. I have not had good results with any ship tours I've ever taken and every single trip I had with Shoretrips was excellent. The tours were small (the largest one only had 2 couples) and very personalized. I've taken their tours on St. Lucia, Barbados, Domenica, and St. Kitts. I would not ever book through the ship again, although you do run the risk of getting back late. Still, if you tell your guide exactly when you want to be back at the ship, they will get you there early. On every single experience, the guide told us Shoretrips personally called them the day before and Shoretrips sends an e-mail follow up when you get home asking about the tour. In fact, in St. Lucia, Shoretrips even called our guide on the cell phone while we were there just to make sure we were picked up and kept happy. I was very impressed w/the follow up. Also, I learned about them from these boards, and believe me, there are very few negative posts about them. I weighed the good reviews w/ the bad, considered my experiences w/ ship tours, and took the chance based on the recommendations of these boards and am very glad I went with them.

 

I am sure folks have had negative experiences with every tour company. Just gotta weigh for yourself the good and bad, I guess. My personal experiences were absolutely fantastic (and I'm pretty particular). I like being met at the dock on time, being able to stop for a photo when I want to, and the personalization of those small tours. We always were back at the ship well within 2-3 hours of departure time. Can't get that with a large tour. Just to give you one other example - our guide in St. Kitts was driving along and suddenly stopped. We had been talking about sugar cane. He pulled out a machete (OK, yes, I was a little concerned) and went off into a field. I relaxed when he cut off a stalk of the sugar cane, peeled it and diced it and cut it into small sections for us. He put the cane into a napkin and told us how to eat it. (You chew it and spit out the fiber when the sweetness is gone.) We never would have dreamed of asking him to do that and it is an experience we never would have likely had on a tour of 40-50 people. Also, on one of our tours, my travel buddy was getting a headache from the sun. The driver loaned him a pair of sunglasses and took us back to the ship early. Again, flexibility you couldn't get in a large tour.

 

I would tend to discount the negative nancies - but then, I subscribe to the theory you can't please all the people all the time.

 

I don't regret for a minute taking the chance and in fact, I plan on using Shoretrips on my cruise in November. There are other companies, but I would really recommend research using these boards - they are really great.

[daneicy80]

Capsfan...

 

Thanks for the positive reply, I might go and check Shoretrips out, seeing as I am completely torn as to what to do in St. Lucia. Thanks again for reassuring that they are a good company to deal with.

[capsfan]

You're quite welcome! I see that you will be on the Seranade the same time I will be on the Voyager. Let's hope for fair winds and following seas!

 

I certainly hope you have good luck. I don't see how you can go wrong in St. Lucia. It was not one of the countries I was excited about visiting, but once I got there, thanks to a very good guide, I loved the place. If you can, be sure to try a canova roll - it is a local made pastry filled w/ fresh coconut and raw sugar. Cost was $1 each US. They baked these in a stone age oven in Anse Chase.

 

I went to your profile to try to let you know I would send you the link to access my pictures. I took a ton of pictures in St. Lucia and you could check out the guide, his vehicle, etc. Our guide was Ben, of Ben's Taxi. If you book through shoretrips, I'd request him, for sure. My photos are on Snapfish and I'd need your e-mail to grant you access but will be happy to do so. Like me, your e-mail on your profile was hidden.

[daneicy80]

capsfan,

 

That's great that you'll be sailing around the same time as me. Where does the Voyager go?

 

The canova roll sounds delicious, I will make sure to try them out.

 

I would love to see your pictures! My e-mail is dmbanko@patmedia.net.

To tell you the truth, I haven't even looked at my profile since they changed it over so I'm sure I need to update the info.

 

Thanks for all your help.

[capsfan]

On the 11/27/04 sailing Voyager is leaving from Miami, going to Nassau,Bahamas, St. Thomas, V.I., San Juan, P.R. two sea days. I liked the itinerary because I wanted two days to enjoy the Voyager at sea.

[NoVa Mimi]

We were wondering if there were many people on the Land & Sea to Soufriere, and the coastal cruise to the Pitons. I just don't like the excursions where there are so many people it feels as if one is being herded like cattle. Could anyone please share if these excursions were over crowded? Thank you!

[trish1c]

There were probably 40-50 people in our group on 3 mini buses. There were dozens of other buses just like ours at most of the points of interest. The only time it really annoyed me was at the botanical gardens. I felt like every cruise ship passanger in port (3 of them: us/NCL Sky, Carnival Destiny & Dawn Princess) were all there at the exact same time. We had our own catamaran so that wasn't crowded but we pulled up to an area to snorkel w/ 2 other catamarans. They both left shortly after we arrived so it wasn't too bad. You will know you are on a group tour; privacy & elbow room are in short supply.