Gordan or Lawerence please advice

[tobecool]

$20 per person plus $5 park fee for a 3 hour or so tour that Gordon or any of the others offer. Print a page of gordons tour and at the pier,show it to one of the many drivers there.There will be some with a laminated sheet highlighting the sites which are the same for everyone.This is a very tiny island so there is nothing special that any other guide has.

 

Steve

 

But according to what Gordon told us, he also offer some drinks and lunch or snacks. I'd also like to know how is the cost on that island.

[jen06]

Hey, we tried to book Gordon for a tour by email and he told us there needed to be at least 4 people for a tour (there are 2 of us) and we should check back closer to our date (May 27th) to see if anyone else had booked. We asked him to keep our names in case anyone else wanted to book. Then he emailed us again and suggested we post on Cruise Critic and see if we could get some people to go with us...if we could get 4 additional people to book, he would give us one free fare...what do you think of that?

Jennifer :eek:

[jacketwatch]

But according to what Gordon told us, he also offer some drinks and lunch or snacks. I'd also like to know how is the cost on that island.

Gordon has a cooler full of local beer, pop, water and snacks. In addition he stops at the local market and buys whatever fruit you would like B4 starting the tour. He also bought pastries at the bakery in Nelsons dockyard.

[figgy1978]

Hey, we tried to book Gordon for a tour by email and he told us there needed to be at least 4 people for a tour (there are 2 of us) and we should check back closer to our date (May 27th) to see if anyone else had booked. We asked him to keep our names in case anyone else wanted to book. Then he emailed us again and suggested we post on Cruise Critic and see if we could get some people to go with us...if we could get 4 additional people to book, he would give us one free fare...what do you think of that?

Jennifer :eek:

 

Makes sense to me. He can't run the tour at a loss can he?

[samandlibby]

Hey Jen

 

My family (4 of us) might be interested in doing the Gordon tour on 5/27 with you. Which tour are you interested in? or have you already found someone to share with.

 

We also might just go to Longbay Beach for a while on our own:)

[jen06]

Hey Jen

 

My family (4 of us) might be interested in doing the Gordon tour on 5/27 with you. Which tour are you interested in? or have you already found someone to share with.

 

We also might just go to Longbay Beach for a while on our own:)

 

Great! I replied on the Roll Call board also..I am interested in the Best of Paradise tour...but will happily go on the Tight Budget Tour, also. Here is his website link: http://www.tourguidegordon.com/

Email me or post if your family is interested in booking either tour. I can't wait to go!

tranquilmoments@comcast.net

[dz63]

On posts #220-225, I posted our review of our Best of Paradise Tour with Gordon. For those of you who would like to see more photos and video clips of our excursion in Antigua. . .now you can! Details and link to the video is below:

 

 

Carnival Victory—Our Day in Antigua with Gordon, July 10, 2009

With Gordon as our tour guide, we visited many sites during our port stop in Antigua. We saw the historic St. Barnabus Church in Liberta, Nelsons Dockyard, the Blockhouse, Shirley Heights (which offered us a panoramic view of English Harbour), beach time at Long Bay Beach and a final stop along the rugged east coast where Devils Bridge is located. Length: 4:35

 

[cephasde]

We were in Antigua February 2010. Gordon was our tour guide. He was the BEST tour guide we had on our two week cruise, and we had quite a few. He is young, fun, very talented, responsible, kind, a really sweet Antiguan. He shared the islands history as we drove and went out of his way to make our day full of great memories.

[sklja]

We booked Gordon a couple of weeks ago and did the Best of Paradise Tour and he was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a group of 6 traveling with us including 2 elderly parents and Gordon acomodated all of our needs and wishes to our extreme satisfaction.

He was very knowledgeable, likable, helpful, honest, caring etc. and truly loved showing us the beautiful island of Antigua.

He even dropped the 2 elderly people back at the cruise terminal before he took the rest of us to the beach. ( they did not wish to spend any time at the beach)...no problem at all

We were in a air conditioned van too which was well needed in the hot sun.

The island is gorgeous, the water warm....

You will be pleased you booked with Gordon Tours.

sklja

[galliegirlie]

We were on Gordon's tour last Tuesday and had a great time. Except Gordon was not with us (he must have had a private tour booked cause we saw him later that day), so he passed us onto Leon. We had a full van (around 15 people), and the tour lasted 6 hours from dock to dock. We visited all items listed on his tour website except for the Dow Interpretive Center. When I asked Leon about it, he questioned it being part of the tour. I had the website printout with me, but I did not make a big deal about it. They had chicken wings, cheese buns, and beer/water available at the blockhouse stop. There was plenty of food and beer, as many people had seconds/thirds. The time at Nelson's dockyard is very short (30 min), especially after they make you take a 15 min guided tour. I definetely could have spent a full hour there. Time wise, all the other stops were more than adequate. Since we had some people on the tour who did not bring their swim suits, we all agreed to only spend 1 hour at the beach. This was okay with me, since we wanted to have some time at the port to do some shopping. Leon was a great tour guide, he was very knowledgeable about the island, and had lots of stories for us. I would definately recommend Gordon's Tours.

[doug508]

Our family of six adults had a tour with Gordon in January, 2010 and it was excellent. Our driver was Reggie and we had our own van which was very new and clean. We met with Gordon several times throughout the day for snacks and lunch. Reggie knew the island very well. Since we had visited Antigua previously, we knew some of the places we wanted to visit and the routes we wanted to take and he was very accommodating. We visited Valley Church beach and it was beautiful. An excellent experience.

[Jems797]

We just returned from a cruise on the Ruby Princess. We did the island tour with Lawrence and I would highly recommend him to you. He was very gentlemanly, informed and took us to all the highlights. We especially enjoyed Devil's bridge and the end of the tour at Jolly Beach--absolutely gorgeous.

Very nice and very reasonably priced. He had a clean air conditioned mini-van that would seat 8 but only had 6 on our tour-- and he was a safe driver!

[cindyseattle]

We just returned from our trip and we used Gordon. He was absolutely fantastic! We went to Long Bay Beach (just beautiful white sand with gorgeous blue water), then onto the Devils Bridge, Nelson's dockyard, Shirley Heights, the Blockyard..we also had him book the zipline for us. He got us two snacks during the day - one was called "peas ball"..it's black eyed peas in a hush puppy type ball and the other was a cinnamon bread with cheese in the middle, both yummy! Our tour for the island was $40 each ..Zip line was $60 for 5 lines..We spent most of the day with him ..around 6 hrs..well worth the money...wonderful guy..would highly recommend him!

[vawalkers]

We just returned from our cruise on the Carnival Freedom. We had booked a tour with Lawrence of Antigua several months before departure. We had communicated by e-mail to book the tour and discuss the itinerary. He would send reminders as the cruise date grew closer. The tour was absolutely the BEST! When you disembark in Antigua, you have to walk through a lot of taxi and tour bus drivers. Each of them is trying to get you to go with them. They were very friendly, but persistent. We would tell them we were booked with Lawrence of Antigua and they would point us to where he was waiting. He met us on time and his van/bus was spotless. We spent the next 6-1/2 hours with him. In the tour we covered nearly 75% of the island. We saw the Devil's Bridge (a must see), Shirley heights, Nelsons Dockyard, the rain forest, and spent a couple of hours at Jolly Beach. Jolly Beach was even prettier than Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. The tour was $40.00 each with a $5.00 charge for Nelson's Dockyard. I would highly recommend Lawrence of Antigua if you want a tour that will show you the island and it's people. If you want any other information I would be glad to email it to you.

[MotoRacer598]

Great to hear! We have him booked on our cruise in a few weeks

[vawalkers]

The one in your link is the one who has had many problems.Just go back over the threads and you will see he has overloaded a large group,not taken people where they wanted, not showed up at,along with other issues.

Plus he charges double for the same tour as everyone else.There are also many positive posts as well.

 

 

I know that reviewing tour operators is very subjective. One never knows what a reviewers expectations were before taking their tour. That being said, we booked this tour through lawrenceofantigua.com and went on the tour last week. We found Lawrence to be charming, his van was spotless, he met us on time, took us everywhere we asked to go. He provided drinks along the way. We were a group of five on the tour with another family of four. You could not have asked for a better experience. You want to make sure you are booking with Leston Lawrence. You can email him at lawrenceofantigua@gmail.com. He charged $40.00 for a tour that lasted 6 hours including time at Jolly Beach.

[swdke]

Wow, lots of great info on Gordon and Lawrence. I still find it hard to select between the two.

[mrspaper]

Wow, lots of great info on Gordon and Lawrence. I still find it hard to select between the two.

I don't think you can go wrong with either one. Since I only used Gordon, I can only personally say we enjoyed our day thoroughly.

 

Linda

[BcIcemen]

just off the freedom and used Lawrence. Outstanding

[OC PAT]

Ok, I have read all 15 pages of comments and still on the fence. Maybe someone who has used these gentlemen can help me get off the fence. All I do know is I do not want to take a taxi or wait until I get on the island to book a tour. As I see it, it appears tours with either gentlemen go bad when they overbook and it appears to happen to Lawrence more than Gordon. Lawrence is less costs than Gordon but Gordon has food. Are these observations correct? Here's my other questions, can or will the men advise how many are on the tour? Is Nelson's Dockyard really worth the visit if your not into historic forts/dockyards? My DH is so is there somewhere I can stay out of the heat while he does the tour? The rest of the stops appear to be more of the scenic events, correct? How difficult is it to walk over the Devil's Bridge and how much time is allotted by each gentleman? I know Gordon does a beach stop but does Lawrence? I want to snorkel and spend time on the beach. Which gentleman offers the most time?

 

Your respose is most appreciative

OC Pat

[mrspaper]

Gordon has food. Are these observations correct? Here's my other questions, can or will the men advise how many are on the tour? Is Nelson's Dockyard really worth the visit if your not into historic forts/dockyards? My DH is so is there somewhere I can stay out of the heat while he does the tour? The rest of the stops appear to be more of the scenic events, correct? How difficult is it to walk over the Devil's Bridge and how much time is allotted by each gentleman? I know Gordon does a beach stop but does Lawrence? I want to snorkel and spend time on the beach. Which gentleman offers the most time?

 

Your respose is most appreciative

OC Pat

With Gordon, we weren't more than fit into a mini van. He had a second van filled, with a driver named, Abe.

Gordon was the only one who walked across Devil's bridge. The rest of us walked up to it and took picks.

We spent about 2 hours at the beach

Nelson's dockyard was very nice and worth the visit. It had lovely views and a few shops (also a flea market of sorts, where we didn;t buy anything)

[OC PAT]

Appreciate your response cruise 268 and MrsPaper.

 

Mrspaper-Did you go to Long Bay Beach?

 

cruise 268-What beach did you go to? Would we need to get 6 others to join us for the $30.00 rate?

[mrspaper]

Appreciate your response cruise 268 and MrsPaper.

 

Mrspaper-Did you go to Long Bay Beach?

 

cruise 268-What beach did you go to? Would we need to get 6 others to join us for the $30.00 rate?

I believe we went to Long Bay Beach. Whatever beach we went to, had a restaurant or two, a hotel off to one side, and a place to rent chairs and umbrellas. We just used our towels from the ship. We brought our own snorkel gear, but Gordon had gear for those who needed. Allegedly, he charges to use the gear, but I don't think he charged anyone. He brought food into the water to feed the fish.

[BcIcemen]

We had 6 people(our party) in a minivan and he charged us 125.00 for the 6 of us (4 adults and 2 children). We toured the island, went to Devils Bridge and then to Long Bay Beach for as long as we wanted. The best part was we didnt have to pay unntil he dropped us off at the ship. We used Lawrence and our driver was Eric.

[OC PAT]

Appreciate you quick response BcIceman and Mrspaper.

 

We have our own snorkeling equipment. I am assuming there is storage in these vans for our beach and snorkeling gear, right? I know my dh will be happy that there are umbrellas for rent, however, we will be spending most of our time in the water. Does Long Bay have a place to change into and out of your bathing suits?