Cosol Tour In St. Lucia

[J & G]

I also regret not buying any of those dolls at our first stop or extra bottles of hot sauce!! I'm buying a case of it when I return!

Happy sailing!!

Second time around and my 40th birthday cruise on the

MAASDAM

10/24/08-11/07/08

 

What kind of dolls were for sale? My neighbor who is taking care of our cats is a doll collector....thought I could bring her something.

[cinnam0n]

I'm not sure what kind of dolls the OP is specifically talking about, but very popular in St. Lucia are the reversible rag dolls. They sell for about $6.00 and can be found many places. Can't find a picture of one, but they are basically dolls made from scraps of leftover material - they have long skirts, and when you flip them upside down there is another doll with different material, etc. Maybe someone has a picture of one to post.

[PAHORNER]

The dolls (yes I purchased one) are called "Married & Single" dolls. They are hand made about 12 inches long, a woman with a full skirt, when you turn doll upside down the skirt comes down to reveal another doll. The single lady has her head covered while the married lady's hair showes. They are cute. We purchased ours at the banana stand for 10.00, the 5.00 were all gone.

[eskov]

Another thumbs up for Cosol's tour - we thought it was one of the best tours and very reasonably priced - highly reccomend it.

[tiyana4]

I sent Cosol an email Friday night and had a response from him the very next day. He was very professional and explained how long the tour would be, the places we would visit and some of the delicacies we would eat and drink. He confirmed that space was held and said he would be available that day. Not sure if that really meant him or his team. But we are all set for our tour in August.

 

Thanks so much for the recommendation.

[lhall85917]

I sent Cosol an email Friday night and had a response from him the very next day. He was very professional and explained how long the tour would be, the places we would visit and some of the delicacies we would eat and drink. He confirmed that space was held and said he would be available that day. Not sure if that really meant him or his team. But we are all set for our tour in August.

 

Thanks so much for the recommendation.

You'll have a great time! There are no guarantees that you'll be with Cosol, the day we went he split people up as we were there waiting. We were lucky to end up with Cosol because we booked long before he had a price change and he made sure to find us and let us know the new price. My husband, who is always looking for a bargain - LOL, said he was fine with it as long as we could be in Cosol's van for the day!!

[eskov]

Don't worry too much about being in a particular van - all the drivers are excellent - we had his brother yellow bird -

[djcruise35]

We also had his brother yellowbird who was friendly and he even asked us if we wanted more time on jalouise beach instead of going to the volcano so he is very flexible also and a top guy!

 

I thought the tour was top class and very reasonable for the money paid, he stopped for drink and toilet breaks when we asked.

I spoke to other sea princess passengers and they went on tours no way near as good as cosol tours!:)

[dchip]

Cosol and Yellowbird, they were both wonderful. All Cosol's drivers are very informative and personable. We met several other drivers at one of the stops. They were great.

 

Cheers, Denise

[J & G]

Thanks, pahorner and cinnam0n, for the info on the dolls. We will be on the lookout for them. They sound really cute.

 

We are touring this coming Friday with Cosol...can't wait! Yippppppeeeee!!!

[ellbon]

i did Cosol tour in April. it was great. Most of the cruise critic roll call was in one van. I wanted him but got another great driver. I would of enjoyed more time at the beach too. but we had hours of great touring. I knew our rum stops were long due to the fact we had some good drinkers there. I understand my van drank them out of the beer for the day. I was too busy drinking rum. the homemade rum was unreal.. would love some of it today.

 

you really msut do his tour..it might be longer than 5-6 hours so plan on not shopping much. which worked out for me.

[tonytowbar]

wont go into all that cosol does on his tour, but you can't go wrong.

transport A1,

and the guy has charm and wit by the bucket load.

only 10 of us on my trip but everybody thought it was top notch.

all the highly rated reviews he has,

would make me just book his tour without asking any questions as i know i would be in for a great time.

[J & G]

We are back and our tour with Cosol was good. There were no ships in port on the day that we toured with him, so we (DH and myself) had him all to ourselves. While the tour was good, we did not do all the stops or sample all the treats that are reported by others.

 

We did go to the botanical gardens, waterfall, volcano, and Jalousie Beach all included in the price ($75 per person). The gardens are very nice and the beach is pretty. On the way back to our resort, he stopped at a place that we requested that is not on his regular tour, and is sort of out of the way. We really appreciated that and it made up for whatever we had missed.

 

I felt that Cosol was a little disengaged or preoccupied, and was sort of "going through the motions" a lot of the time. I think maybe in a group he is more "in his element".... Throughout the tour, he spoke in a very loud voice as if the van was full of noisy people. We were sitting right next to him, so that seemed a little strange. We referred to it as his "tour guide voice". He told us several times that he is the best and that everyone on the island knows him.

 

We did make a few trinket and souvenir stops, which were OK, but nothing that we didn't see at other places. He told us to bargain, but we didn't do that much....our fault.

 

All in all, it was a good tour, but I think it might have been better if there had been more people along.

[shorjai]

We are back and our tour with Cosol was good. There were no ships in port on the day that we toured with him, so we (DH and myself) had him all to ourselves. While the tour was good, we did not do all the stops or sample all the treats that are reported by others.

 

We did go to the botanical gardens, waterfall, volcano, and Jalousie Beach all included in the price ($75 per person). The gardens are very nice and the beach is pretty. On the way back to our resort, he stopped at a place that we requested that is not on his regular tour, and is sort of out of the way. We really appreciated that and it made up for whatever we had missed.

 

I felt that Cosol was a little disengaged or preoccupied, and was sort of "going through the motions" a lot of the time. I think maybe in a group he is more "in his element".... Throughout the tour, he spoke in a very loud voice as if the van was full of noisy people. We were sitting right next to him, so that seemed a little strange. We referred to it as his "tour guide voice". He told us several times that he is the best and that everyone on the island knows him.

 

We did make a few trinket and souvenir stops, which were OK, but nothing that we didn't see at other places. He told us to bargain, but we didn't do that much....our fault.

 

All in all, it was a good tour, but I think it might have been better if there had been more people along.

 

 

you paid 75 dollar ??? i made a reservation with him and its $55 dollar per person. even on his website its stated $55 dollar...

[J & G]

you paid 75 dollar ??? i made a reservation with him and its $55 dollar per person. even on his website its stated $55 dollar...

Maybe because it was just 2 of us.... I didn't check his website. I contacted him directly. With the price of fuel and a full-day tour, we didn't feel cheated. We didn't get all the treats that everyone mentions, but it was still OK.

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Just got back last night from my cruise. Cosol and his brother YellowBird really know how to give a great tour and they/we were treated like VIP's the entire day. There were 68 of us from cruise critic alone. Enjoy!:D

[anvil218]

I would also checkout Modestetours.com if you have any doubt. Jefferson Modeste can be reached by his website. Very Good

[AMommyof2]

I keep reading about how wonderful the Cosol tours are. I looked at his website briefly and I noticed it mentioned "special pricing for children". However, I have not read a single post about guests taking their children or prices/age limits for children. Have any of you been on a Cosol tour with your children? If yes, did they enjoy it? What was the cost for children?

[pwkreis]

I keep reading about how wonderful the Cosol tours are. I looked at his website briefly and I noticed it mentioned "special pricing for children". However, I have not read a single post about guests taking their children or prices/age limits for children. Have any of you been on a Cosol tour with your children? If yes, did they enjoy it? What was the cost for children?

 

 

We were on this tour in March. I think the reduced rate for the kids was $35.

 

Question - how old are your kids you are taking? It is a LOT of time in a van on very winding roads. (my daughter who doesn't normally get motion or car sick threw-up in the van :eek:) We were there on a Sunday so did not stop at the bakery since it was closed.

 

This was awesome all inclusive tour for adults, but I would not recommend it for children. On a positive note - the swim between the Piton was amazing!

[Newfiegirl08]

I have been looking into booking with Cosol for next month due to the great reviews but I really don't want to tour for 5 to 6 hours...are all the tours with Cosol that long?

 

Thanks in advance.

[NickAndysMom]

We will be in St. Lucia in February. Our ship will be departing at 3:00, so we should plan to be back on board by 2:00. Will we still be able to do a tour with Cosol? We definitely want at least 1.5 hours at the beach. Just want to be sure his tour will fit with our schedule.

[lambs2]

We had our Cosol tour on March 20 with a bunch of CCer's from the NCL Jewel although DH and I had booked with Cosol on our own. Can't say enough wonderful accolades about our day. We started with a rainy morning and Cosol personally having to "rescue" me from an old lady pestering me about something (not sure what as she appeared intoxicated). Cosolo had to physically remove her hands from me and move her to the other side of the road as she was cussing him out the whole time! Anyway, the day only got better and better from that point. The sun came out and we explored the wonders of St. Lucia and the glorious Pitons flanking Jalousie Beach. WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!!!

[Grits53]

How much time are you allowed for snorkeling?

[humefan]

We just returned from the Adventure of the Seas 6/22 Southern Caribbean Sailing (myself, DH and two teenagers) and we took the Cosol tour based on excellent reviews on this board. I have to say that it was better than any cruise affiliated excursion of this type. Cosol himself was our driver and he is a smart and engaging host. There were only about 12 of us in his van and we got to stop at a banana plantation, volcano, waterfall and the Hilton Jalousie for a little over an hour of beach time. The beach is between the two Pitons and it was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever visited. The entire tour was a full day. We were treated to a breakfast stop with a great buffet sampler of native dishes for our van and two other Cosol vans that accompanied us. We later had a lunch stop at local bakery where we had delicious hot bread and cheese. We were offered beverages (beer, rum punch, soda, water) at every stop along the way. More important than the refreshments was the sightseeing itself. Cosol is an excellent host, full of charm and interesting information about everyday life on the island. We were not herded around and really felt the personal touch. Book this tour!!

[jmps]

How much time are you allowed for snorkeling?

 

You get to stay at the beach for about an hour. There is good snorkeling off to the right side.