Spencer Ambrose tours????

[MamaDaley]

Have you been on your tour with Spencer Ambrose yet?? I would love to know some details!! Thanks!!

[floridalady]

Attention-----Anyone-----please let me know if you Do need shoes in the water at this beach.

Thanks so much!

 

You climb out of a small boat which they bring right to shore. She should be able to maneuver, sit on side and swing legs over side and you could ease her onto the beach floor. Have her get some water or beach shoes as there are seashells and might bother her bare feet. Enjoy, it is a beautiful beach. I forgot my beach shoes and wished I had them for walkin in the water.

[floridalady]

Where did you see those prices can I ask?

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

Did you get a price break with the larger group. It appears he charges $65 - $70 US per person for groups of 2 - 4.

 

Thanks.

[CruisingEasy]

I will be using Spencer in December. I just spoke with him yesterday and he said his current, going price for 2 adults will be $ 70.00 per person. That is for a specific tour though, other tours might be different prices.

[Zappa Fan]

I've had a couple of wonderful days with Spencer. I really need to get photos online. (need to figure that out):confused:

 

He's wonderful. Very warm and accommodating.

[dz63]

I would love to see photos of your tours with Spencer Ambrose. It would be neat to start a little Photo Gallery, where we can see sites and things that are offered on Spencer's tours. I already posted my review with photos from the West Coast Delight Tour in this forum, but here are a few highlights to start.

 

Anyone else have photos to share?. . .Anyone?

 

Banana Plantation

 

Toraille Waterfall

 

An exotic Waxrose in the Botanical Garden

 

Sulphur Springs

 

Jalouise Beach

 

When I wrote my review with photos I sent an email copy of it to Spencer. He resonded back and was very touched by it. This really meant alot to him.

(By the way, he is working on updating his website and could use more photos and testimonals. To help out, we gave him permission to use some of ours).

We enjoyed our day with Spencer. Hands down he was the best tour guide we ever had!

So if anyone else enjoyed their day with Spencer, it might be nice to let him know that too!

 

 

cz

[cruzinmecrazy]

Best tour on St Lucia. We had people from our ship that paid much more than us and didn't see half of what we saw. Plus they didn't get fed either. We had a great time. Saw all the most sought after sites. We even had an unexpected rain shower, but Spencer had a backup plan....He fed us. That and the Rum Punch and beer is always a great back up plan for any hick-up in your itinerary. Great job Spencer

[Host Faith]

We had a wonderful time with Spencer last week. He was kind and courteous, making sure everyone had a great time. I liked the fact that the tour was customized to suit everyone's wishes. It rained a bit in the middle of the day, and since we didn't want to see the drive-through volcano anyway, we felt that the trip ended up being just right for everyone on the tour.

 

The lunch included was great. His rum punch is strong, so sip it slowly!:D

 

Floridalady- you don't need water shoes in the water at Jalousie Beach, unless you want to go snorkeling near the base of the Pitons. It looked like there were some rocks in that area. However if you just want to go swimming, that area is roped off and the sand is perfect. We took a water taxi to a pier on Jalousie, so no worries about stepping in the water directly from the boat. Enjoy!

 

~Chrystal and Wesley

[kjacruiser]

Just sent a request for our Sailing in November......Have to talk the rest of the Gang into It......Great review Turtle Lover...and the Photos are very Nice Also...

[kellyclayt]

What tour is this? We also are going to St. Lucia in December.

 

I will be using Spencer in December. I just spoke with him yesterday and he said his current, going price for 2 adults will be $ 70.00 per person. That is for a specific tour though, other tours might be different prices.

[CruisingEasy]

What tour is this? We also are going to St. Lucia in December.

 

It is a basic island tour but you can get a private tour for more money. That is better so you do not have to do what everyone else does. I would hate to be a follower and rather a leader.

[texasmomoftwo]

We went with Spencer in July. Out of all of the tour guides, he was by far the best...and we had great tour guides on each of our stops. He was sooo worth the money and the hospitality was AMAZING. Please bring some school supplies for the local children. It would be a great gesture. Then the space that you had for the school supplies, can be for your purchases on the way home! :)

[rubyrosedreamer]

I am posting this in 2 spots so if you see it somewhere else too, it's not a mistake. Just fyi.

Hi, just wanted to add my opinion. I just got off the Miracle yesterday. I took Spencers' Tour Friday, October 23rd. The cost was $65.00 U.S.. This was the only tour I was very disappointed in I'm sad to say. We had been late getting off the ship due to some type of customs issue by about 30 minutes. Found him no problem waiting right where he said he'd be with several of his assistants. Most of us were assembled with in about 20 minutes but yet we still waited....and waited....and waited. He was very disorganized with his name list of who was expected and became confused. After introducing himself we just sat around and did nothing.

 

The Cosol group had assembled right next to us and Cosol was very animated and got his group into the island groove right away. He reiterated all they should expect from the day and in short order they were off to the vans.....and yet we with Spencer still waited......

 

We finally got to go to vans about 10:30 ish or a bit later. There were 3 of them. We were split up and off we finally went. My van was driven by Chris who said he was a cousin. He had to make a stop to pick up ice for the drinks and was gone about 10 minutes. You'd think this would have been taken care of ahead of time. He barely said anything about the island or history unless he was specifically asked. There were some banana's in the van that he handed out and we stopped on the side of the road to see the banana's growing and then he explained a few things about the process.

 

There is a tremendous amount of time spent just driving non-stop 'round the mountains on this tour. If you suffer from car sickness, I wouldn't recommend this tour.

 

We did pass throught the fishing villages he mentioned in his West Coast Itinerary, but that's all we did...drive past. There was a guy on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere that held a boa constrictor but everyone in the van agreed we weren't interested in stopping for it. I think we were hoping to get somewhere better. We arrived in Soufriere and visited the Toraille Falls. The pathway is made up of rounded loose rocks and there are plenty of stairs so if you have walking or climbing issues this would be difficult for you. The fall was very pretty and people did go in the water which they said was chilly but refreshing. We then headed to lunch which was a restaurant in an building with no air conditioning and only 1 fan. There was a rest room here. There were about 5 or 6 different dishes. A plate of dry bbq'd chicken w/a sauce on the side, a plate of sliced tomato, a dish of rice, some kind of potato salad type dish and I think there was a plate of plantains but it was gone by the time I got to it. Some of the items were replenished but not all.

 

It was at this point that we had to decide whether we wanted to see the sulphur spring and the volcano or go to the beach as there wasn't time according to Spencer to do both. I asked about stairs and walking at the volcano and was told there was no problem....I chose wrong based on this info and went to the volcano. I should have chosen the beach. So some of us had to switch vans to go to the volcano. Afterwards we were told we were to meet up with Spencer and our original driver and switch vans again. We had to wait awhile again before the other van arrived at some area by the water with boats and children ran up asking for money.

 

When we got on the road again to head back, we made 1 more stop where Chris went in for about 10-15 minutes and came back with a warm cheese type of bread loaf that was shared among the passengers. Aside from this bread and bananas, we didn't get any of the other island treats mentioned in the tour description.

 

When we arrived back at the ship, we paid for the tour. There was no discount for the time wasted or for having to miss out on either the volcano or beach. No drinks were really offered, we had to ask for them. I talked to quite a few people who had taken the Cosol tour and it seemed to be a night and day difference between the attitudes of Spencer and Cosal and what you got for the money. Cosol seemed to have a much more interactive tour and the people raved about it whereas, the Spencer people were very low key and generally disappointed. I can't say to book Cosol since I didn't take his tour but I wouldn't recommend Spencer to anyone at this time.

[kellyclayt]

I just yesterday booked with Spencer for December based on all the great reviews I read. Your experience sounds awful. Did you express your disappointment to him? Now I'm a little worried about our tour because Jalousie Beach was the place we were most looking forward too. In fact, we had already told him that we wanted to skip the volcano to have several hours at the beach.

 

I would love to hear from anyone else about your experience with the tour.

[theklingfam]

I am posting this in 2 spots so if you see it somewhere else too, it's not a mistake. Just fyi.

 

Hi, just wanted to add my opinion. I just got off the Miracle yesterday. I took Spencers' Tour Friday, October 23rd. The cost was $65.00 U.S.. This was the only tour I was very disappointed in I'm sad to say. We had been late getting off the ship due to some type of customs issue by about 30 minutes. Found him no problem waiting right where he said he'd be with several of his assistants. Most of us were assembled with in about 20 minutes but yet we still waited....and waited....and waited. He was very disorganized with his name list of who was expected and became confused. After introducing himself we just sat around and did nothing.

 

..... but I wouldn't recommend Spencer to anyone at this time.

 

Hi Everyone,

 

My husband and I were also on this tour and there really isn't much more to add. I don't want to speak for others but it was the general feeling that we picked a bad tour... it was disappointing. Basically, their idea of taking us to the places mentioned was to drive by and much of my pictures were taken at a brief stop along a very busy, windy road or from behind the window in the van we were in. The most exciting part of the tour for us was getting to drink out of a fresh coconut. (I know, sad!) For some reason, Spencer seemed overwhelmed. It was poorly organized and we spent the day either riding in the van or waiting around. I would NOT recommend this tour to anyone... I am sad that we wasted our day in St. Lucia and probably won't choose to go back there because of our negative experience. I wish we would have done a water excursion instead of land. The waterfall was pretty but not grand, the volcano was interesting at best. I think what I am trying to say is that the description of the tour was MUCH more exciting than the actual tour. Also, it was mentioned in the previous post that we had to choose between the volcano or the beach. Those who chose the beach were only given 30 minutes once at the beach. Some protested this and were told if they wanted to stay longer, they needed to pay an additional fee of I think $40 per couple to take the water taxi back to the pier. The pictures that are posted in a previous post are accurate, basically the same pictures you would come home with. The pitons were pretty but I think they would have been prettier from the water. If you book with Spencer, I hope your tour is a 100x better than ours.

 

Good luck!

[kellyclayt]

OK, I am totally getting worried!

[rubyrosedreamer]

I just yesterday booked with Spencer for December based on all the great reviews I read. Your experience sounds awful. Did you express your disappointment to him? Now I'm a little worried about our tour because Jalousie Beach was the place we were most looking forward too. In fact, we had already told him that we wanted to skip the volcano to have several hours at the beach.

 

I would love to hear from anyone else about your experience with the tour.

 

At the point where we paid I was so discouraged I just wanted to get back to the ship. I'm hoping he reads this. If you really want good beach time, I wouldn't take this tour. It takes a long time to get to the Jalousie Beach area. Frankly, there were other tours both through Carnival and not where you could just choose the beach, I'd go that route. The island is gorgeous no doubt about it, and I'd return in a heartbeat. I'd just make different choices about what to do while there.

[burm]

Hi Everyone,

 

My husband and I were also on this tour and there really isn't much more to add. I don't want to speak for others but it was the general feeling that we picked a bad tour... it was disappointing.

 

 

How many people were on your tour?

[CruisingEasy]

I just yesterday booked with Spencer for December based on all the great reviews I read. Your experience sounds awful. Did you express your disappointment to him? Now I'm a little worried about our tour because Jalousie Beach was the place we were most looking forward too. In fact, we had already told him that we wanted to skip the volcano to have several hours at the beach.

 

I would love to hear from anyone else about your experience with the tour.

 

 

You are from CA and you would rather spend hours at a beach than see the volcano????

[kellyclayt]

Yeah, well, I wasn't born in California.. . . I live here, partially, because I love the beach. Anyway, I have spent a lot of time in Yellowstone Park, so I figure I have seen the geothermal features, but I will be in St. Lucia very few days in my life and I have heard that Jalousie Beach is not to be missed.

 

You are from CA and you would rather spend hours at a beach than see the volcano????

[floridalady]

I hear ya.:confused:

 

OK, I am totally getting worried!

[CruisingEasy]

We had a wonderful time with Spencer last week. He was kind and courteous, making sure everyone had a great time. I liked the fact that the tour was customized to suit everyone's wishes. It rained a bit in the middle of the day, and since we didn't want to see the drive-through volcano anyway, we felt that the trip ended up being just right for everyone on the tour.

 

The lunch included was great. His rum punch is strong, so sip it slowly!:D

 

Floridalady- you don't need water shoes in the water at Jalousie Beach, unless you want to go snorkeling near the base of the Pitons. It looked like there were some rocks in that area. However if you just want to go swimming, that area is roped off and the sand is perfect. We took a water taxi to a pier on Jalousie, so no worries about stepping in the water directly from the boat. Enjoy!

 

~Chrystal and Wesley

 

Where from in NJ?

[Host Faith]

Hi CruisingEasy! We are from South Jersey, about 15 minutes away from Cherry Hill :)

 

For rubyrosedreamer and theklingfam, I'm so sorry that you had a bad experience with the tour. We had a great time with Spencer this month. I do know that he is very time-conscious, and since there was a delay in the start time of the tour, it sounds like he was trying to have his assistants cover each point in that short timeframe. Spencer was prepared with a cooler full of drinks ahead of time, so I do agree that Chris should have had that available upon your arrival.

 

We rode personally with Spencer, and had a great time, so I can't comment on the other guides he has. It rained on the morning of our tour day, and while we were disappointed in the weather, that did not keep us from having a great time. Spencer was upset about the rain, and truly tried to ensure we had a great time despite the weather. Everyone in the van came to the consensus that we wanted to skip the volcano, which we did. He also asked us if we wanted to spend 2 hours at the beach and skip the waterfalls, however many of us wanted to see the falls. So we spent just one hour at the beach and the other at the falls.

 

St. Lucia is a mountainous island, and per many of the reviews on CC, the drive is extremely winding. While preparing for our cruise and this tour, I read the comments of many who toured with Spencer, and honestly the reviews were spot-on regarding what to expect. One thing that many people mention is the winding roads. I do not recommend this tour for those who suffer from car-sickness. They don't just wind from side to side- they go up and down, and on angles at times! :o One of the things I do like about riding around an island is you have the opportunity to observe things around you, as well as have great conversation with your fellow passengers, so being in the van that long was not an issue for DH and me. There was a lot of ground to cover, and since there are no direct, straight routes to anything, getting to various points on the island took time. We did get to spend a nice amount of time at each stop, with plenty of time for pictures. There were also a couple stops to use restrooms at various points.

 

As for the food, we were able to sample the foods mentioned, and we were stuffed the entire time. The coconut brittle was delicious. I think we went to the same restaurant you went to, and one thing to remember is- St. Lucia is not the US with a McDonald's or Starbucks on every other corner. I actually enjoyed the restaurant because it really had a local feel to it. You got to have an authentic experience and see how people in a different country dine, which to me is an incredible opportunity. It is not fair to expect the restaurant to have air conditioning if people living in that area don't even have it at home.

 

I am sorry if you did not enjoy your tour. St. Lucia is a beautiful island and it's sad that you were not thrilled with your time there. You should email Spencer and let him know how you felt. At the very least, allow him the opportunity to know about your experience with him, so he can address you directly and learn from that day.

 

Again, I can't vouch for Chris since we toured with Spencer, however I hope those of you who are currently booked with Spencer keep your reservation. If you have questions about the tour, or want to specify what you want to see before you arrive in St. Lucia, feel free to contact Spencer and communicate your desires. I peppered him with questions for months before meeting with him, and he worked to ensure that all my concerns were addressed. He was very patient too, since I am a type-A person who likes to go over all the details so that I am very prepared. People tease me because of it, but when you're headed somewhere you've never been, it never hurts to do some research! :rolleyes::D Everyone on our tour got the impression that he truly wants his guests to be pleased with their experience, and appreciates honesty and communication before and throughout your booking to ensure you leave happy.

 

Relax and have fun- if you're headed to St Lucia anytime in the next few months, I envy you! We're fortunate to be able to even afford a vacation, especially in this economy. Go into your tours, wherever you go in the world, with optimism. Every day in life is what you make of it, and this tour is no exception. Feel free to message me if you have questions. :)

[rubyrosedreamer]

Hi CruisingEasy! We are from South Jersey, about 15 minutes away from Cherry Hill :)

 

For rubyrosedreamer and theklingfam, I'm so sorry that you had a bad experience with the tour. We had a great time with Spencer this month. I do know that he is very time-conscious, and since there was a delay in the start time of the tour, it sounds like he was trying to have his assistants cover each point in that short timeframe. Spencer was prepared with a cooler full of drinks ahead of time, so I do agree that Chris should have had that available upon your arrival.

 

True we were delayed about 30 minutes but there was much more delay than that in leaving and getting ice and switching vans multiple times, etc. Nothing was verbally conveyed to us at the start of the tour that anything would have to be shortened or outright missed.

 

 

 

As for the food, we were able to sample the foods mentioned, and we were stuffed the entire time. The coconut brittle was delicious. I think we went to the same restaurant you went to, and one thing to remember is- St. Lucia is not the US with a McDonald's or Starbucks on every other corner. I actually enjoyed the restaurant because it really had a local feel to it. You got to have an authentic experience and see how people in a different country dine, which to me is an incredible opportunity. It is not fair to expect the restaurant to have air conditioning if people living in that area don't even have it at home.

 

I as well had no interest in seeing a McDonalds or other American fast food spot but the food offered and it's setting was pretty bad. From what Cosol people said, Cosol put out a lavish buffet in a very scenic area. I never said I expected air conditioning, I just meant that as a informational tidbit.

 

 

 

Relax and have fun- if you're headed to St Lucia anytime in the next few months, I envy you! We're fortunate to be able to even afford a vacation, especially in this economy. Go into your tours, wherever you go in the world, with optimism. Every day in life is what you make of it, and this tour is no exception. Feel free to message me if you have questions. :)

 

You make a valid point about people even being able to afford a vacation. That's exactly why I think it's important to give people information of what to expect or what occured on a tour. This allows a person to make an informed decision about what suits their own needs and desires so they may get the best value for their dollar.

[dz63]

rubyrosedreamer and theklingfam, I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you, that we were very surprised to read about your dissatisfaction with Spencer’s tour. My family toured with Spencer this summer and we all had a fantastic time. Like you, we also booked the West Coast Island Tour. It is too bad that your ship was held back for 30 minutes. There is a lot of ground to cover on this tour and this time lost definitely cut into your tour experience. Yes, St. Lucia is very mountainous and it is about a 1 – 1 1/2 hour drive on winding roads to get down to Soufriere and Jalouise Beach, but in normal situations the drive down is broken up by various stops, where you can actually get out of the van and take pictures. These stops include the Banana Plantation, the snake man, Anyse La Raye, Canaries, and the Soufriere overlook. To us the drive was definitely worth it! Jalousie Beach was absolutely breathtaking, a dip in the Toraille Waterfalls was refreshing and a visit to Sulphur Springs, inspite of its offensive odor, was a unique and educational experience. It is not everyday that you get to be on top of a volcano and see bubbling mud and steam rising!

 

We agree with everything that Faith413 said in her post. It is true what she said, that what you experience in life, (including this tour), is what you make of it. We also cannot vouch for Chris, as we had Spencer as our guide. We found Spencer to be very accommodating and he will go out of his way to ensure that everyone is happy and having a good time. From all the tour guides we had from the 6 islands we visited on our itinerary, Spencer stands out head and shoulders above them all. Even today, our boys still talk about the wonderful time they had with Spencer on this tour. He also kept us well-fed and we were stuffed the entire day. We ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant which was very rustic. It gave us a glimpse into the St. Lucian way of life and was unlike any restaurant we would ever experience here—and we loved this unique opportunity!

 

We did not find Spencer to be disorganized at all. In fact, he was very professional and throughout the tour he maintained constant communication with his brothers, (who also had tour groups), to see how their tours were going and if there were any problems.

 

We’re sorry rubyrosedreamer and theklingfam that you did not enjoy your day on Spencer’s tour. To be fair, you should let Spencer know about your experience so that he can address any issues. We also hope that those of you who booked with Spencer will not cancel your reservation because of rubyrosedreamer and theklingfam’s experience. The vast majority of people on this forum have shared very positive experiences about Spencer and his tours. This alone is a notably strong indication of the good reputation of Spencer Ambrose Tours.

 

We had an awesome day with Spencer and we would not hesitate for a moment to book with him again!