Godfrey vs Henry Christopher

[EmpressofPurple]

Need advice on these two tours - has anyone been on both and can offer comparisons, or recently been on one or the other to provide descriptions.

 

I am interested in: type of vehicle (open-air, a/c, taxi, van, bus, how many people does it hold comfortably), type of tour (scenic drive with narration, many stops at historical sites or for photos, which sites visited, etc.), if there are any drinks/snacks/food provided or rest stops offered, length of actual tour time, order of activities (i.e. shopping-sightseeing-beach or sightseeing-beach-shopping, etc.), and total cost, including any admission fees.

 

Personally, I am interested in someone who can provide interesting information about the island, both current and historic; has a comfortable smallish vehicle (I don't like big crowds) and is a good driver; knows where to go and how to lead a tour, which stops are worth making and which are worth just driving by; makes a beach stop at Sapphire (I've been to Magen's and don't need to go again, and am not interested in Coki), and is affordable. (You may gather that I am not interested in a large, loud, boisterous, singing, drinking group...)

 

So, what information can anyone provide? From my own research, I've found prices (Godfrey advertises $25, shopping-sightseeing-beach, $20 without beach; Henry Christoper is $35, sightseeing-beach-shopping) but I have no info on type of cars (though Godfrey's website shows one of those open-air truck taxis), sites visited or quality of the tour guides. Do these two operators have several driver/guides? Is there one in particular that I should ask for? What is the reason for difference in price?

 

Look forward to hearing from my experienced St. Thomas-visiting CC friends. Thanks in advance for all your good advice.

 

Best,

[Sgt. Jeff]

I can tell you that we used Henry Christopher with EEE Tours and loved him. His vehicle is a 27 passenger open air type truck. He doesn't play any loud music and he is very knowledgable about the island. He has been there all of his life. He took us to a lot of great photo op locations and the tour was great...Coki beach was great too!! We are using him again in September. Let me know if you need any more info!!! Enjoy St. Thomas!

[Ms411]

Denise, the University of the Virgin Islands has a taxi certification program, and approx 50 taxi drivers have completed the course. Their certification training included island history, attractions, customer service, etc. I don't know if either Henry, Sonny, or any of the others who've been recommended on this board are certified, but you may want to ask. I think the ones that are have a logo that they use. If none of them are, please post that, and I'll see if I can get you the names/contacts for some that are.

[redtop101]

DW, DD, DS and I toured with Henry Christopher in May. We were the only 4 people on his 27 passenger open air jitney, and so it turned out we had a private tour, although we didn't book one. As Sgt. Jeff has said, Henry does not play loud music as he goes along. That's one of the reasons we booked him, plus the fact that he is a Christian Pastor and preaches on Sundays and we are a Christian family. Don't worry - he will not force his religion down your throat. He's also an ex policeman, so we felt perfectly safe with him. He gives a small discount for ex police or Christian groups. He started the tour by taking us up to Mountain Top for fantastic views over Magens Bay, Tortola and St. John. He stopped many times along the way for great view points, as other full jitneys sailed by, and he likes to point out the many natural fruits and vegetables growing on the island and explains their medicinal and herbal uses. He then took us to Drakes Seat for more fantastic views looking over Charlotte Amalie and our ship in the port at Crown Bay. Then on to his home to show us his garden and how they harness and store their water supply. He stopped at a local roadside vendor to buy us a fresh coconut to drink the juice and eat the fruit. The actual taxi tour lasted about 1 and a half hours.Then on to beautiful Sapphire Beach where he left us to swim and snorkel for 2 hours. This is a great beach with snorkel rentals, kayaks and paddle boats, restaurant, snack bar and washrooms/changing rooms.

 

Henry then took us into Charlotte Amalie and dropped us again for a couple of hours to do our shopping, before picking us up to return to the ship in plenty of time for our sail-away. A great day out with a great guide. The cost per person was $30 with the small discount - otherwise it's $35 per person.

 

I've posted a few photos of our visit to St. Thomas on Webshots at http://travel.webshots.com/album/559481936WujDwI?start=56

[EmpressofPurple]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!

 

-D

[Sgt. Jeff]

You are more than welcome!! Please let us know how things work !!!!!!

[MomGo]

We got off the Crown Princess on July 5, and used Henry for our private tour with our family of 4. My DH is law enforcement so even though we arrived on a Sunday, Henry made an exception for us. We shopped first, met some of his family, toured the island, Mountain Top, stopped at his home, then ate, swam, and snorkeled at Sapphire Beach. He stopped and introduced us to fellow law enforcement officers everywhere we went. Our tour lasted the entire time we were in Port. He was absolutely fantastic and can't wait to go back next year to see him again. I would never tour with anyone else. In the next few years, we are planning on spending a week in St. Thomas in order to see all of the surrounding islands with Henry. What a special man!

[Sgt. Jeff]

MOMGO...Thanks for sharing that about Henry!! He treats everyone so great and makes you feel like family!! We can't wait to go back September 8th.....

[jkudzu]

We just got off the Caribbean Princess this morning. We took a tour with Godfrey on Wednesday of this past week. He was wonderful! Such a nice man and very proud of his island. He was so kind to those on the tour as well as some folks who had been stranded by another tour. It was a low key, very informative tour of the island, its history, landmarks and beaches. I would go anywhere with this man and his prices were very reasonable. Bon Voyage!

[jkudzu]

Oops! Forgot to include that it is an open air vehicle that holds about 27 people. We didn't have that many. He played music quietly when he wasn't talking. Nothing obnoxious. We didn't stay at the beach so Godfrey gave the two of us a personal tour of some more of the island and took us into town to do some more :D shopping. We were never rushed. He then picked us up on the way back with everyone else and took us promptly back to the ship.

[EmpressofPurple]

So glad people are still posting their experiences (and glad to have a Godfrey review to go along with all those HC reviews).

 

Still considering both, happy to hear more opinions.

 

Best,

 

-D

[kml2000]

We went with EEE Tours the end of May and our experience was not quite as good as others has been. We found out after our reservation that Henry would not be our driver. We agreed to tour with Victor as our driver for a private tour with our party of 9. When we got to the port, Victor had a board with our name and another name, a party of 4.

 

We went on the tour even though it wasn't a private tour as we had confirmed. Unfortunately we were not impressed with Victor, he was not very accomodating to our needs. We did have some special needs that I had discussed with Henry when reserving (the reason for booking a private tour). My parents (in their 70's) were with us and they have vision and mobility issues. In addition, we had two diabetics (one on an insulin pump) that had needs to eat close to a certain time. Apparently Henry didn't pass those on to Victor (as he email confirmed he would) and when we tried to talk with Victor we just got a nod and an okay and nothing. What I THINK Victor did was continue on a pre-planned tour route regardless of our needs. Our group also asked to visit a specific store, only to be told by Victor that it was too high priced. After 3 or 4 requests, they finally got him to take them there.

 

We got a tour and we paid our money, it wasn't as much as the ship's tour.

[paylady]

We had booked with Godfrey and confirmed our reservation via email before we left on our cruise. He never showed up. We waited a half hour. Another two folks on our ship had booked him for an hour later and he showed up a half hour late for them. They were sorry they hooked up with him.

[beachlovergirl]

We've used Godfrey several times and he has always been on time waiting for us at the pier with a sign with our names on it. We'll always use Godfrey when in St. Thomas.

 

 

Dee

[VIKINGCRUISER]

DW, DD, DS and I toured with Henry Christopher in May. We were the only 4 people on his 27 passenger open air jitney, and so it turned out we had a private tour, although we didn't book one. As Sgt. Jeff has said, Henry does not play loud music as he goes along. That's one of the reasons we booked him, plus the fact that he is a Christian Pastor and preaches on Sundays and we are a Christian family. Don't worry - he will not force his religion down your throat. He's also an ex policeman, so we felt perfectly safe with him. He gives a small discount for ex police or Christian groups. He started the tour by taking us up to Mountain Top for fantastic views over Magens Bay, Tortola and St. John. He stopped many times along the way for great view points, as other full jitneys sailed by, and he likes to point out the many natural fruits and vegetables growing on the island and explains their medicinal and herbal uses. He then took us to Drakes Seat for more fantastic views looking over Charlotte Amalie and our ship in the port at Crown Bay. Then on to his home to show us his garden and how they harness and store their water supply. He stopped at a local roadside vendor to buy us a fresh coconut to drink the juice and eat the fruit. The actual taxi tour lasted about 1 and a half hours.Then on to beautiful Sapphire Beach where he left us to swim and snorkel for 2 hours. This is a great beach with snorkel rentals, kayaks and paddle boats, restaurant, snack bar and washrooms/changing rooms.

 

Henry then took us into Charlotte Amalie and dropped us again for a couple of hours to do our shopping, before picking us up to return to the ship in plenty of time for our sail-away. A great day out with a great guide. The cost per person was $30 with the small discount - otherwise it's $35 per person.

 

I've posted a few photos of our visit to St. Thomas on Webshots at http://travel.webshots.com/album/559481936WujDwI?start=56

 

 

Redtop, Those are some magnificent shots you posted! It looks like you had a great time!

[Sgt. Jeff]

REDTOP.....I enjoyed the phots as well!!! We will see him on September 8th.....CAn't wait!!!!!!!!

[VIKINGCRUISER]

I can tell you that we used Henry Christopher with EEE Tours and loved him. His vehicle is a 27 passenger open air type truck. He doesn't play any loud music and he is very knowledgable about the island. He has been there all of his life. He took us to a lot of great photo op locations and the tour was great...Coki beach was great too!! We are using him again in September. Let me know if you need any more info!!! Enjoy St. Thomas!

 

Sgt Jeff,

I like what I have read from you regarding Henry and his tour.Question, assuming there were others on the our besides your family, how did Henry plan the tour if some people wanted to go to different beaches to spend sometime swimming?

 

Did he take a vote and dropped everyone off at one beach and come back for them, or did he drop people of at differnet beaches and come bck for them? ( I can't imagine the later being realistic due to time constraints).

 

Thanks

 

Joe

[Sgt. Jeff]

We had a private tour so the 4 of us were the only ones. I have read reviews that he drops people off at different locations, but I think, as in most tours, it is probably what the majority wants.....That being said, every tour is different....From what I hear, just about any beach you choose in St. Thomas is great!!!

[VIKINGCRUISER]

Glad to hear you had a great time!

 

Thanka again!:)

[Sgt. Jeff]

You are very welcome!!

[Sgt. Jeff]

emperessofpurple.....Who did you decide to go with???

[msvacation]

Sgt. Jeff

 

Thanks to your wonderful comments about Henry Christopher we have him booked for a private tour that is fast approaching. I have emailed him confirming our date and some itinerary plans and I am anxiously awaiting his reply. Apparently we will be there just a few days after you. Hope you have a wonderful time and smooth sailings.

 

Denise

[Sgt. Jeff]

Thank you for the kind words. Henry is a super person and will show you a great time....Enjoy!!

[Beachgirl 2]

Never tried Henry Christopher, but after reading good reviews about Godfrey on these boards, we booked a two hour shopping tour from the Crown Princess on August 10th,2007. It was agreed at the time of booking that the shopping would followed by the 3 hour beach tour for three of us, one in the party was a child. We paid the full $20.00 for an eleven year old, but that was OK, the price seemed reasonable at the time of the booking. Godrey showed up 20 minutes late,and he met us way at the other end of the pier, and I had to go searching for him, he really didn't look for us.He then said the Valor (Carnival Lines) came into port too early, and now he had to cut one hour off the tour for us!! Since most of the other tours and taxi's had already left the port, we reluctantly agreed. After the two hour shopping that he merely just dropped us off at (no tour, no stopping for photo's, like we have gotten in many of the othe islands),he did not meet us at the pre-arranged spot, and I had to go searching for him in the Charlotte-Amalie shops, since we had already paid the money, and there he was escorting around another large tour group at the same time!!! When I think he realized I was onto his game, he gave us over to "Florence", she was very pleasant, and had an air-conditoned min-van, and after we waited another 20 minutes for her to drop off some other people, she brought us to Coki Beach. It was gorgeous there, and we finally relaxed. At pick-up time, she arrived late, and almost drove away past us!! Finally,she drove us back to the ship, and explained many points of interest on the island. We just made it back in time,but felt very grateful that she returned for us, even though Godfry had already collected the tour fee from us.We tipped her $20.00, and not sure if we would use "Godfrey"again. There are plenty of taxi's that all come right to the ship, and will do whatever you want, for a reasonable price, so you don't have to just depend and book with one person!! Good Luck!!!

[jamesearl]

Sgt. Jeff

 

My family and I will be on the Explorer Christmas cruise. We will arrive in St Thomas on 12/27/07. I like what you said about Henry Christopher, EEE Tours. Do you have any contact info?

 

Jamesearl