Spencer Ambrose tours????

[azurewater]

How long do you get at Jalouise Beach? One posting stated 45 minutes...which is not near enough time!

 

thanks,

Joy

[IslandToIsland]

How long do you get at Jalouise Beach? One posting stated 45 minutes...which is not near enough time!

 

thanks,

Joy

You can request to stay longer, which would eliminate something from the tour.

[burm]

Spencer has not emailed me back after 3 days. I am not impressed.

[jms2362]

How long do you get at Jalouise Beach? One posting stated 45 minutes...which is not near enough time!

 

thanks,

Joy

Spencer will do whatever you want, change where you go and tell him you want alot of time at Jalaouise Beach, we did and it was great. If you eat there plan on paying alot, but it was very good. There is an open sided restaurant there on the beach.

[Londen'sMiMi]

Spencer has not emailed me back after 3 days. I am not impressed.

 

Try checking your junk e-mail. He responded to me quickly, but for some reason it went into my junk email folder...lucky I figured it out because I would not want to miss his tour!

[burm]

I checked my junk folder but nothing there. He has still not replied. :(

[dznymom]

I checked my junk folder but nothing there. He has still not replied. :(

 

Have you tried to send it again? Maybe it got lost somehow. He has responded to all of my questions within 24 hours, and I have had several :o. I am very impressed with his professionalism thus far, and I am really looking forward to our tour.

 

There is also a CONTACT US link on his new website you could try.

[alschmid]

Not sure if we are going to tour with Spencer yet or not - but I emailed him this week and he got back to me within a day or two. Also asked him some questions - which he answered fully in a quick time. Just wanted to chime in that even if we don't go with him - I'm happy with his responses and information (compared to some others I've been communicating with)

[dz63]

Our family took the West Coast Island Delight Tour with Spencer on July 9, 2009. We had a bit of a later start as Spencer was waiting for another family to arrive. After waiting around for 35 minutes, Spencer decided that we couldn’t wait any longer as any more time wasted would defeat the purpose of missing the large cruise ship crowds plus cut into the time needed to complete everything on the tour. Spencer felt really bad about leaving the other family behind but felt it wasn’t fair for those of us that arrived on time to have our time sacrificed. About 1/2 hour later, Spencer received a call from the missing family. Apparently, they were not pleased that Spencer left without them!

 

Altogether there were 11 people on this tour. Our family and another couple toured with Spencer while another family went with Spencer’s brother Small. I cannot say enough good things about Spencer and his services—he was an awesome tour guide and by far the best tour guide from all the islands we visited on our Carnival Victory cruise! He really knows how to take care and look after his guests. He had a cooler stocked with soft drinks, water, beer and home-made rum punch which we could help ourselves to at any time. Our boys loved the access to the free coke!

 

Spencer was very accommodating and flexible and was willing to cater the tour to our interests. We wanted to see everything that was advertised in his tour as we have never been to St. Lucia before—even if it would mean shorter stops at places.

 

Our first stop was at a banana plantation. Here Spencer gave us some fresh delicious bananas to sample and explained the harvesting procedure.

 

 

After that we continued on our way and stopped at a high overlook at Anse la Raye. Here we could take pictures looking down onto a Fishing Village.

 

 

From there we saw the “snake man” standing on the side of the road with a large Boa Constrictor. Spencer asked if we wanted to stop and we all agreed—like I said we wanted to do everything--even though I do not particularly like snakes. This Boa Constrictor was picked up on a beach just the day before. (I’m glad that I wasn’t on that beach!) The snake man encouraged us to touch the snake--my youngest did. We took a picture of it, tipped the man and then continued on.

 

 

We made another stop at an overlook where we could see our first glimpse of the Pitons and the town of Soufriere. Even though the Pitons look like they are at the same height, one of them is actually 600 ft higher! My DH thought it would be a real adventure to climb the Piton—Spencer says that he would have to be crazy to do that!

 

 

We continued down the winding hillside and arrived at the Toraille Waterfall and Botanical Gardens.

 

 

 

 

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[dz63]

After a short dip in the cool falls fed by spring water, Spencer pointed out some of the Botanical plants in the garden.

 

 

 

At the exit to the Waterfall, a lady was selling love apples. Spencer bought some of these apples for us to sample. I thought it had a similar consistency to that of a pear.

 

From the Torialle Waterfall Spencer took us to a local restaurant for lunch. Spencer had called ahead to order the meals. We arrived at a rustic, open-air restaurant that looked like it was operating in the ruins of some old building. The front of the restaurant was open to the street and we could see chicken frying on a large grill. We passed through an opening in a stone wall and continued to the back of the building where the picnic tables and bar were set up. The ceiling was naturally constructed from some kind of vine that cascaded across and over the restaurant with long, string-like roots dangling down. This all added to its rustic charm.

 

 

 

Spencer’s brother Small and his group met up with all of us at the restaurant. Both Spencer and his brother proceeded to serve us. They brought us our meals and drinks and did not eat lunch until we were at Jalouise Beach, as their priority was to make sure that all of our needs were met first! They served us some local cuisine which included grilled chicken, rice, potato salad, a noodle dish, and a potato-fish salad. The food was very good and flavorful.

 

 

Once we were back in the van, Spencer served us dessert--fresh Coconut Cakes which he bought from a stand near the Toraille Waterfalls. We were all pretty full from lunch but we did sample them. They also were very tasty.

 

Our next stop was the Sulphur Springs—the world’s only drive-in volcano. Since we lost time in the morning waiting for a family to show, up we had limited time here. Spencer arranged for us to get a shortened 15 minute tour of the Sulphur Springs rather than the full 1/2 hour tour. This worked fine for all of us.

 

 

Amazingly, the sulfur smell was not as strong as I thought it would be. Spencer said that some days it is so strong that it makes your eyes water. I guess we were lucky to be there on a day when the smell was less putrid. Nonetheless, the boys still thought it smelled bad and proceeded to pull their shirts over their noses to mask the odor.

[dz63]

Our last stop was Jalouise Beach—a beautiful, tropical beach nestled between the majestic Pitons. Again we had limited time here and were only able to enjoy 45 minutes of paradise.

 

 

The boys proceeded to swim out to a dock in the water where they had lots of fun jumping into the calm ocean water.

 

 

 

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the ship. Spencer is very conscience of the time and it is his goal to get everyone back to the ship one hour prior to sailing. He said that if he had too, he would pull up his pants and go into the water to pull you out in order to get you back on time!

 

The roads are pretty winding heading back and my youngest two sons were feeling a touch of motion sickness—or maybe the 5 bottles of coke they drank had something to do with it?!

 

Spencer made another stop to pick up some delicious, fresh from the oven, hot Creole bread, served with either peanut butter or cheese. Spencer was willing to make another stop to pick up some jerk pork for us to eat, but we were all too stuffed to eat anything more. There certainly was no shortage of food on Spencer’s tour!

 

Spencer is an awesome guide that offered us the best tour and service ever! Not only will his stories entertain you, but by the end of the tour you have gained a new friend. No wonder Spencer is such a well respected and popular man—you wouldn’t believe how often his phone rang! Spencer pays for all the admission fees and food and doesn’t require payment until the end of the tour. Be prepared to have fun and enjoy your best excursion ever touring the beautiful and lush island of St. Lucia with Spencer Ambrose!

 

 

 

cz

[Deckhandoug]

Thanks for sharing, we are really looking forward to our time with Spenser!

 

Doug & Lisa

[dz63]

I just received an email from Spencer. He said that someone has hacked into his email address and is circulating emails to his contacts called "Fotos" that include attachments.

 

Check you subject line--if you see "Fotos" then you know you got a false email.

 

DELETE THEM! DO NOT OPEN THEM!

 

 

Do not open any email from Spencer with attachments as these emails have NOT come from him and could carry a virus.

 

Spencer has changed his password and is in the process of fixing this problem.

 

We have received these false emails twice and have deleted them.

[maygoddess]

great review, dz! Sounds just like my experience in April. I arranged quite a large group with my cruise critic roll call. we filled all 3 vans..so we had spenser, Small and his other brother Neptune. They all look so much alike, they are almost triplets! LOL!

 

anyway...Spenser should not feel bad about not waiting. I made sure everyone in my group knew we were to meet promptly at 8:30am. I think Spenser had emailed after I had left to bump up the time. We had pretty much everyone BUT one couple who showed up abou 10 minutes late. Spenser and I were both militant and said we would stay on time. If you cannot manage to not be rude and show up in your own sweet time and make people wait...then you miss out. Unless there was some special circumstance that delayed them on the ship..you can get up early enough and get off the ship in plenty of time.

 

So anyone reading this who plans to tour with spenser, please be respectful to spenser and your fellow travellers and be on time if not early. It is an action packed day and maybe 35 minutes wait may not seem like a lot but it then cuts everyone's time to enjoy the beach or take a tour. he was more generous than I would have been waiting that long. I would have given them 10 minutes!

 

Anyway...Spenser is like a mother hen, he makes sure all his "chicks" are moving in the right direction and on time. I believe he would go pull people out of the water if you made him wait!

 

This was my favorite island on our Caribbean Princess trip..and favorite tour. Spenser was the best to deal with.

 

I am hoping to go back next year perhaps via carnival victory this time and spenser will be on my list perhaps doing other parts of the island with him.

 

there are many tour guides to choose from there..reality is that they are all pretty similar..they are all courteous and treat you to great sites, foods, etc..don't sweat too much over WHO you go with..we all ended up at almost all the same spots along the way...you will enjoy your trip no matter who you go with there...

[KuffMUp]

Thank you so much for the trip report and pictures. We are going with Spencer in November and can't wait!!

[floridalady]

Thank you so much for sharing those pictures!They are wonderful.I am going in November and can't wait.:D

How long did you spend at the beach?

 

 

 

Our last stop was Jalouise Beach—a beautiful, tropical beach nestled between the majestic Pitons. Again we had limited time here and were only able to enjoy 45 minutes of paradise.

 

 

The boys proceeded to swim out to a dock in the water where they had lots of fun jumping into the calm ocean water.

 

 

 

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the ship. Spencer is very conscience of the time and it is his goal to get everyone back to the ship one hour prior to sailing. He said that if he had too, he would pull up his pants and go into the water to pull you out in order to get you back on time!

 

The roads are pretty winding heading back and my youngest two sons were feeling a touch of motion sickness—or maybe the 5 bottles of coke they drank had something to do with it?!

 

Spencer made another stop to pick up some delicious, fresh from the oven, hot Creole bread, served with either peanut butter or cheese. Spencer was willing to make another stop to pick up some jerk pork for us to eat, but we were all too stuffed to eat anything more. There certainly was no shortage of food on Spencer’s tour!

 

Spencer is an awesome guide that offered us the best tour and service ever! Not only will his stories entertain you, but by the end of the tour you have gained a new friend. No wonder Spencer is such a well respected and popular man—you wouldn’t believe how often his phone rang! Spencer pays for all the admission fees and food and doesn’t require payment until the end of the tour. Be prepared to have fun and enjoy your best excursion ever touring the beautiful and lush island of St. Lucia with Spencer Ambrose!

 

 

 

cz

[dz63]

Thank you so much for sharing those pictures!They are wonderful.I am going in November and can't wait.:D

How long did you spend at the beach?

 

We spent 45 minutes at Jalouise Beach.

[dz63]

I just received an email from Spencer. He said that someone has hacked into his email address and is circulating emails to his contacts called "Fotos" that include attachments.

 

Check your subject line--if you see "Fotos" then you know you got a false email.

 

DELETE THEM! DO NOT OPEN THEM!

 

 

Do not open any email from Spencer with attachments as these emails have NOT come from him and could carry a virus.

 

Spencer has changed his password and is in the process of fixing this problem.

 

We have received these false emails twice and have deleted them.

 

 

Spencer now has a new email address that seems to be working fine.

spencer7114@gmail.com

[kc320]

Dz, when you went to Jalouise Beach did you drive up or have to take a boat? I have read where one of the tour guides uses small metal boats that you have to climb into from the water... I will be traveling with 2 plus size adults & that will NOT work for them...

[Sgt. Jeff]

Spencer now has a new email address that seems to be working fine.

spencer7114@gmail.com

 

I feel sorry for Spencer with the email problems he has been having. I think that this is the second time that this has happened. He is such a great person and a great tour guide!

[dz63]

Dz, when you went to Jalouise Beach did you drive up or have to take a boat? I have read where one of the tour guides uses small metal boats that you have to climb into from the water... I will be traveling with 2 plus size adults & that will NOT work for them...

 

kc320, we drove down to the beach.

 

Spencer drove us down a beautiful landscaped road that looks like this. . .

 

 

. . .where he parked his van.

 

We then boarded a shuttle bus that took us to the beach.

 

cz

[flcruzer03]

Wow, that looks beautiful!! Can you tell me how much your tour was? There will be 3 of us...but our cruise isn't till Oct. of 2010..:( I know it;s way to early to book now...but just trying to set up a tour budget...

[dz63]

Wow, that looks beautiful!! Can you tell me how much your tour was? There will be 3 of us...but our cruise isn't till Oct. of 2010..:( I know it;s way to early to book now...but just trying to set up a tour budget...

 

We paid $64.00/person and children 12 and under are 1/2 price.

[planotex]

Dz, when you went to Jalouise Beach did you drive up or have to take a boat? I have read where one of the tour guides uses small metal boats that you have to climb into from the water... I will be traveling with 2 plus size adults & that will NOT work for them...

 

Just went, Neptune was great, yes, they used a water taxi for a short ride to the beach. It was very stable but concur you might want to think about the water taxi but it was a decent sized boat, probably 18 foot metal, very adequate for the very short taxi trip to the beach.

[Londen'sMiMi]

The water taxi was actually fun and it only took about 5 minuites to get to the beach. We had a great tour with Spencer on July 23...it was a rainy day, but somehow he managed to make our stops when it was not raining! Beautiful island. Great tour.