"James Touring Service? Anyone been on a tour?"

[abigailcharles002]

You are exactly correct. Unlike many of the other operators, such as Cosol, James personalizes his tours. James is fantastic!!!!!

 

Marty

 

We have book james for our cruise stop in st lucia in January

[Starfire_rules]

I just got off the phone with James confirming our Soufriere Land Tour. He was making sure I got the email confirmation. Unfortunately he has been getting some spam so he is glad I also left my phone number so he could make sure I got it. He ask what we preferred to drink and I mentioned that his famous Rum Punch sounded great and some sodas. I am so psyched!:D

[librayacht]

We will be visiting St Lucia on Serenade in a few weeks and contacted James via his website and mentioned that as we lived on the beach we would like to find a tour which did not include beaches and swimming.

We sent the email on Sunday mentioning our planned dates to be in St Lucia. On Monday evening we had reply which said we would need to book a land tour but it did not tell us how to make reservations.

I emailed back on Tuesday and asked how we would make a reservation, I received an email back saying "We were too long in answering" and "that someone else had booked the date". I sent an email back asking how that could be as it was less than 24 hours. I got a reply telling me to "stop sending spam emails"; that was all it said.

Considering all of the recommnedations for James Tours on this site I am absolutely flabbergasted at this exchange of emails and the final discourteous ending. I would most certainly not book with James Tours if they were the last ones available.

[martyap]

We have toured with James twice and recommended him to a number of friends and business associates. James has ALWAYS answered inquiries in less than a 24 hour period. I know James uses the latest technology to stay in touch with his clients..........James is passionate at providing the very best service he can. I would not hesitate touring with James and I fully endorse him to anyone visiting St. Lucia.......You will not be disappointed!!!!!

 

I too highly doubt James did anything to jeopardize his good standing on this board. James would never send emails that were not courteous and he strives every day to offer the best customer service he can.:):):)

 

Marty

[LookingForward2]

We just booked with James and I must say he answered my emails very promptly.

 

I will add that as soon as I gave him our contact information, he called us that same evening - great up front customer service!

 

I am trusting we will have an exceptional tour as the reviews have stated.

[misand]

We had a fabulous tour with James. He emailed me back usually within minutes of my emails to him. That is the one thing that sold me on doing an excursion with him. I emailed him multiple times asking many different questions and each time he emailed me back in a timely manner. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to anyone or if we are ever back in St. Lucia we would definitely book with him again!

 

:)Misand

[Haysiedaze]

I emailed James and received a response within 4 hrs. He asked for my phone number so he could verify the tour. He called tonight and we booked a private tour with him for Feb 2012.

 

We chose his tour as we were looking to see more than what we saw 2 years ago when we visited St Lucia. We wanted a more personnel tour this time. 2 years ago we used one of the major tour companies (and were very pleased with it) but wanted something different this time. From what I read here and after talking to James I think we will find it. Thanks to all who write their opinions here.

[sippin-time]

Hi there - after reading through this thread, am convinced to try this touring company. We are interested in the "Soufriere Land & Sea Combo and Catamaran" excursion for Nov. 9th, 2011. Has anyone done this particular excursion yet? If so, we love to hear your experiences. :)

 

I have been in communication with James...like everyone said here, he calls to verify, which is comforting to say the least.

 

Anyway, last time we were in St. Lucia, it was 10 years ago (on our honeymoon), so, we are really excited to re-visit this island again.

 

We hope to hear more your experiences. Thank you!!:D

[tabprincess]

I just contacted James Touring by email & got a call back almost immediately to check that my inquiry was legitimate. James said that other tour companies were sending him false reservation requests in order to try to get his customers, so he calls everyone first before sending info or confirming a reservation. When I assured him I was legit, he said he would email me all of the details of the tour and pricing.

 

It's too bad that others have to resort to such methods to get customers. I understand healthy competition, but that is just not right!

[eclipsethecat]

We had been looking at booking with Herods however they took FOREVER to get back to me and then told me they had to have ten people. Needless to say after much research on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor we decided to book with James- I emailed him this afternoon asking him if he had availability and he was in contact with me via phone within 2 hours. He confirmed with me the trip and sent me an email confirmation as well as well as taking the time to ask us what special beverages we would like on the tour. Were looking forward to our tour on the December 1 tour!

[QueenMab]

I sent James an email last night to book a tour for Feb 2nd, and he emailed me back in about 8 hours. Got a call today confirming the booking. I'm very impressed with how prompt he is, and can't wait for the next three and a half months to go by!

[bbflwr]

Just emailed James to gauge availability for a helicopter and land tour of St.Lucia based on comments both on this site and trip advisor. Within less than 30 minutes, James called me to confirm availability. I had a lot of questions and concerns(how big is the helicopter, how experienced is the pilot, etc.) The phone lines kept cutting out but James continued to call me back and sent me the job description requirements for the pilots and full information on the helicopters they fly. We also discussed the tour itself, what we would see, the weather, etc. I have never had a tour operator provide such care and attention to ensuring his potential customer is comfortable with their choice and excited about the service they are buying. Our group of 4 adults is travelling on the Celebrity Summit and have booked a few other excursions on other islands through the cruise line. I can definitely say that all of us are more excited about the tour we will take with James than any of the other things we have booked.

[riley2]

James is amazing! I emailed him this morning to ask about availability for his Soufriere Land Tour next February 1. He emailed me back within two hours!! Sent me an email with all the particulars and then followed up with a phone call. We're booked on the tour and really looking forward to the tour and meeting James.

[beachbaby2]

i'm so confused on what touring company to go with on st lucia...james, cosol, spencer ambrose. it looks like all the tours are very long, with very little time to shop at the end of the tour and get back to the ship. can anyone help me with this? how much time do you have at the end of the tour to do some shopping?

[mad4cruises]

Before we went to St. Lucia, we did a lot of research and booked a tour with James Tours due to the wonderful reviews posted here. However, our experience was very different.

 

The tour was one of the worst we've ever been on. It failed in 2 areas: the guiding of the tour and the itinerary. The tour guide was a young woman who ran out of "commentary" a little over halfway through the tour and barely spoke after that point. The driver thought HE was a tour guide and kept interrupting her speeches. As the day went on, he started ranting about local politics and how awful the island is for those who aren't rich. He was very angry, and we were quite uncomfortable, just wanted to get back to the ship before he totally lost it.

 

Secondly, the itinerary listed on the James Tour web site was not followed. We did not see fishermen repairing nets and building fishing cnaoes or stop for a brief visit to see the dug-out canoes. We did not take a relaxing swim in the lovely waters of the Caribbean Sea. We did not visit Sulphur Springs, the drive-in volcano.

 

We spoke with James at the end of the tour about our experience, and he offered to discount the price which we didn't do. This may be our only visit to St. Lucia, and we had such a negative experience. Nothing can make up for that.

[bbflwr]

I am so sorry to hear you had such a terrible experience. I am confident that it would have been so different for you if you had James providing the tour himself, as we found during our recent trip to St.Lucia.

 

Unfortunately, as small business owners ourselves, we have also experienced what can happen when employees we trusted and trained did not meet expectation or worse, acted in such a way to destroy the reputation we worked so hard to build and because of that I really want to share our experience with James.

 

Our party of 4 docked in St.Lucia with the Celebrity Summit on November 1st. James was waiting for us with a sign and a huge smile and enthusiastically returned our wave as though we were old friends even though we had never met. The special thing about James's tours is that they are personal. Each one is unique to you and your group. He will make suggestions but ultimately, you decide what you want to see and do. We prebooked this tour because we did not want the standard cruise ship tours we had experienced when we booked excursions from the Epic last year but booked a few with the Summit just to see if it was a one off. We tried the "Taste of Barbados" tour the Celebrity Summit offered the day before and we were so bored we cancelled all of the other tours we had booked and decided to take our chances at the docks. (best decision ever)

 

James is proud of his beautiful country and extremely knowledgable about everything from agriculture to architecture. Any questions he did not know the answer to, he found out for us. He made the day about us and ensured our trip was one we would always treasure. We paid $180.00 per person to spend the entire day with James. This included a breathtaking helicopter tour of the island that should not be missed, touring of the city and the sites we wanted to see, an amazing lunch in a place we would never have been able to find nor would have chanced eating at if he was not with us, in an obviously very popular local eatery, way off the tourist path and a beautiful, relaxing hour on the beach before the rain came. The pilot took us where weather conditions allowed and we did not care what was written in a brochure or website, we were just thrilled with the experience we received.

[degsr]

www.jamestouringservice.com

[sippin-time]

Hey there cruisers - we were booked thru James for the Land, Sea & Catamaran tour since we read so many good things about this big Steelers fan. We were on St. Lucia (one of our very favorite island) 3-4 weeks ago and were really looking forward to this visit since it has been 10 years for us.:)

 

Admittedly, James was very responsive to my emails and yes, he did call a couple of times to confirm (although, he didn't ask what we wanted to drink, lol). All our ducks were in line and we were on schedule to dock at St. Lucia. Then the unfortunate happened....since it was just my DH and I going on this excursion, we were handed off to another vendor, not to another worker of James Touring, but another entirely different vendor who was not contracted or even affiliated with the James Touring Services. Clearly, having only 2 passengers were not profitable enough on this particular day for this man, which I can understand. So, we were passed on to someone else. This is even after he confirmed that we would be touring with him, except for the catamaran part, which we agreed.

 

Unfortunately, we can't give James Touring Services any review as we were never given the chance.

 

St. Lucia was our favorite island and we were looking forward to a great experience on it. To be passed onto another entirely different vendor without even any consideration was rather unprofessional. Even after we told James that we would like to go with him, we were still handed over to another vendor. I think that if he didn’t have enough people to do the tour that we booked for, he should have told us sooner rather than on the day of the event. I would have had more time to plan and go with another company.

 

If you’re traveling with a large group, am sure you won’t have this problem. But, for those who travel alone or with just another person, be sure to tell him what you want upon your booking with him;)

 

Am not trying to put anyone out of business. I hope this is just an isolated incident and not something that occurs frequently. I hope that James Touring does well and continue to thrive. My suggestion is he just need to plan out his excursions more efficiently, staff his driver(s) accordingly and work with his clients better to serve & satisfy them.

 

Fortunately, the vendor that we did go with turned out great! "Valerie" with Carnival Cruise Catamaran (she has nothing to do with Carnival Cruise Lines) and her driver was "Teresa" (one of the best island driver we've experienced) (BTW, I have info on Valerie if anyone wishes to obtain it, just PM me). She took us (and 6 other passengers) to see the Pitons, the volcanoes, thru some small villages and to a hill-top restaurant with the most wonderful view of the harbor of the Pitons, called Villa Des Pitons in the town of Soufriere. I won't go on about Valerie here as it is not an appropriate thread, I get it, lol.

 

Good luck on your visit , St. Lucia IS A VERY BEAUTIFUL ISLAND, we will most definitely return to it someday!!

Wish we were there still :)

[reedprincess]

i'm so confused on what touring company to go with on st lucia...james, cosol, spencer ambrose. it looks like all the tours are very long, with very little time to shop at the end of the tour and get back to the ship. can anyone help me with this? how much time do you have at the end of the tour to do some shopping?

 

Most of the West Coast tours are fairly long, usually around 6-7 hours depending on stops and time at beach, etc. Depending on what time your ship sails you would have anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours usually to shop. The operators are very clear about what times the ships leave and about getting their guests back in plenty of time for some shopping in the port area. St. Lucia is not known as a shopping mecca, so not really sure what you are wanting to shop for- but both docks have duty free shopping along with souvenir shops, etc. There is also the craft market about 10/15 minutes walk form each dock. There are also vendors along the way during the tour for island souvenirs.

Hope that helps! all the tours are similar in where they visit, the difference would be in mode of transport and what is included in the price. someinclude lunch and drinks and extrance fees, some just drinks and entrance fees, some are down by land back by sea, some are land both ways. Each one is a little different by the above details and the personalities of the drivers and operators! They all give a great tour, you wouldn't go wrong with any one.

Enjoy your visit!

[Kadams2]

Unfortunately, we can't give James Touring Services any review as we were never given the chance.

 

St. Lucia was our favorite island and we were looking forward to a great experience on it. To be passed onto another entirely different vendor without even any consideration was rather unprofessional. Even after we told James that we would like to go with him, we were still handed over to another vendor. I think that if he didn’t have enough people to do the tour that we booked for, he should have told us sooner rather than on the day of the event. I would have had more time to plan and go with another company.

 

Am not trying to put anyone out of business. I hope this is just an isolated incident and not something that occurs frequently. I hope that James Touring does well and continue to thrive. My suggestion is he just need to plan out his excursions more efficiently, staff his driver(s) accordingly and work with his clients better to serve & satisfy them.

 

Hi all,

this is sippin-time's other half, Kevin

 

at risk of losing a few points at home, my conscience dictates that I chime in here to say that I respectfully disagree with my loving wife's comment in this situation. :o

I believe that James Touring Service did in fact provide the services that we were promised as well as ensuring our well-being, safety, and enjoyment of the island: St. Lucia being the best location in the world in our opinion (that we DO agree on) :)

 

I, being a business man myself, understand the realities of 3rd party contacts and subcontracting, so I had no quelms whatsoever when we were told that we would go with a different lady for our tour. And as it turned out, we had a FABULOUS TIME! Tammy thought that we should have had James do our tour no matter what the circumstances were, but I think the entire incident was a non-issue personally.

 

In any case, I just felt hat the words outlined in red above were too harsh and most certainly subjective in nature. These tour operators are all extremely hard-working people and I have a great deal of respect for what they do on a daily basis to make our vacations that much more enjoyable. I personally give James a thumbs up and hope you will too :)

 

Tammy gets home at 5:00...pray for me :(

 

j/k :D

[eclipsethecat]

This tour was a horrible nightmare from the beginning to the end. My husband and I are not picky people who complain however at the end of this tour I went back to the cruise ship and cried because

I felt so taken advantage of and stupid for booking and then paying for this tour. I got over it after I

realized there was nothing I could do and did not let it ruin my trip however I want to spare others from

going through what we went through, especially when there are other tours that offer better options

at the same price. Please also note that I realize James cannot control the weather or other people- my

complaints are about the way he handled both of those things.

 

We booked James Touring based on reviews on Cruise Critic. I emailed him and he responded right back

with an email and a phone call just like the other reviewers on there mentioned. He then confirmed

the tour and what we would be doing as well as asking what kind of softdrinks we wanted (which were

not there by the way when we were on the tour,) and then told me that if I posted on cruise critic that

he emailed me right back, and called right back and others booked he would give me my trip for free. I

posted on cruise critic what he asked and to my roll call. The upfront service was good. Everything from

there was downhill.

 

The day we arrived in St Lucia we found James waiting for us. He immediately told us that the tour

would be in a different order than on the sheet and that we would not be able to go to the volcano

 

because it was all flooded out and dangerous- he said other tours would go and get stuck and we were

being safe not going. We agreed that that was fine- that the order was different of the stops and that

we would not visit the volcano- not that we wouldn’t do anything listed on the tour sheet- that was not

brought up. The other people signed up for the tour never showed up (which he complained about to

us.) He then convinced a group of 8 adults to come with us for the tour. Anyways, we were loaded into

one van with this rowdy group- they were looking to drink and that was about it- they kept saying they

were promised by James unlimited rum punch- which was fine- it was their trip- however James didn’t

honor their desires either. They were only concerned about drinking and James assured them that there

would be unlimited rum punch. After we got going James picked up the other van (the yellow one,)

and his assistant (Cherry) who he told us not to ask questions of because she was in training was going

to ride along with us. He kept telling us how he was doing us a favor getting us out of the van with the

older people who wanted to party and that he was concerned we would give him a bad review. This was

a reoccurring concern of his- that he didn’t want a bad review- towards the end, and especially when

he still charged us almost full price for the tour it was extremely annoying and made me feel like he was

patronizing me.

 

We drove to the Catholic Church and took pictures, we then saw the park for the Nobel laureates and

then drove up to the wood carving factory but only after stopping for gas. I thought it was strange that

he did not fill up before hand thus wasting our time. After the wood place (at which James was standing

off to the side having a very loud argument over the phone with someone about money (which made

me uncomfortable,) and we were left with Cherry who couldn’t answer any of our questions,) which was

basically a spiel for us to buy things- we didn’t see anyone making anything and Cherry commented it

was sad that we didn’t buy anything, we met the other van at a supermarket. They were demanding the

rum punch that James promised them. It turns out he had one small jug of punch- my husband and I had

one small cup each and while we sat at the supermarket for 30 minutes the other van bought rum which

James then mixed in his punch! It made me so uncomfortable to hear James argue with the guy about

the rum (the guy wanted James to give him a $10 discount because he was promised unlimited rum

punch,) that we didn’t have anymore. We had two beers and a coke between the two of us for the rest

of the day. There were only 12 beers and they ran out quickly, especially with the other van. Certainly

not “unlimited” refreshments.

 

I sat in the van and patiently waited because I thought that after all this nonsense we would be on our

way. The sun was still out at this point and James drove us up to where the Lady’s Slipper was. This

was essentially the last thing we saw on the trip. We did nothing that was noted on the itinerary after

this. As we were about to leave a woman in the other party decided she wanted to go shopping. We

were already way up in the mountains but we drove back down to the village by the cruise ship to go

shopping. I thought that maybe this was on the way to the plantations etc. so I didn’t say anything. We

spent literally an hour at the shopping place because the other people wandered around. Meanwhile

we stood outside in the hot humid mist waiting to go being harassed by people walking by asking us if

we wanted to buy weed etc. It did not make me feel comfortable. James and Cherry were nowhere to

be found and I would have been uncomfortable if I was a woman standing there alone- thankfully my

husband was with me. We finally loaded up the van and it started raining. James told us he couldn’t take

 

us anywhere near the volcano because we would get stuck- I did not know this meant that at 11:30 the

tour was essentially over. If I had known what would happen next I would have asked him to take us

back to the ship. I thought we were finally on the way to the banana plantation and other sites on the

sheet promised as part of our tour.

 

After the other party got back into the vans we drove up to an expensive area overlooking the bay (I

do not know what this area was called.) The other party was getting rowdy, screaming and saying lewd

things. (I would like to point out again that I know James cant control the weather or the other people,

I do not fault him for that but rather the way he reacted to it.) They wanted to go to Red Hook so we

started on our way there. All the while James was in phone contact with the other van’s driver and the

people wanted to stop again for more punch (why the cooler was just not put in their van so we could

separate from them I have no idea.) We stopped again on the side of the road and sat there. Meanwhile

the weather is getting worse. We sat and James said oh I will take you up to see whales. We drove about

20 minutes up to this point- it looks like a place that is being developed, and he said oh walk up there-

you can see the shore but no whales because it was raining too much- by now I was doubting there were

ever whales to be seen. We walked from the van to the point- dodging mud puddles, used condoms,

condom wrappers, beer bottles and needles. We were obviously somewhere that people go to be out of

the way and do illegal things.

 

The view was not that great and I was soaked, cold and starting to get very very angry. By now it was

12:15 or so- I still had the hope that the fresh mango, bread and cheese were coming- we kept passing

stands selling those items so I thought that maybe he would stop and get us something. I was starting

to get mad however when it became obvious to me that he was wasting time in order to say he gave us

a five hour tour. The way we took back, which took us to the same exact place took almost 45 minutes.

We went in and out of little alleys. We then pulled into a Costco type parking lot and sat for 30-45

minutes. James kept saying “Oh you aren’t going to give me a bad review are you,” and complaining

about the other van. By then it was 2:00 and he started driving us back to the pier.

 

By the time we got back to the pier I was in shock. I could not believe that we had just spent the whole

day touring nothing and then PAYING for it! I was expecting James to say, oh you know, this was

horrible, don’t pay me anything however he only offered to give us $5 off and a free tour “the next time

we come to the island.” I will never return to St Lucia and even if I did I would not trust this man to take

a tour with him again. Having no choice (what was my husband going to do- tell a man twice his size he

wasn’t going to pay?) my husband gave him $100 and we walked back to the ship. After we got back

to the ship I pulled out the paperwork that detailed what we were supposed to do on the excursion

and cried- no mangos, no sugar cane, no fresh bananas no bread with cheese. (James did however

get himself a hot dog at Costco- I was surprised he didn’t eat it in front of us to be honest.) I felt like

a fool. I felt stupid and like I had been taken advantage of. To make things worse, we ran into people

the next day who did the Cosol tour the same day we were in St Lucia (so the same weather conditions

and everything)- they went to the banana plantation, the volcano, tasted fresh fruit and fish and had a

great time- all for around the same price. They said the roads were not washed out and that they had

 

a safe delightful trip. I was heartbroken. I feel so stupid that I spent $100 to basically sit in a Costco and

supermarket parking lot and visit a place used for partying, drugging and sex. Please please do not use

James Touring for your tour service in St Lucia- I am still furious that I wasted a day of my vacation and

paid $100 of my hard earned money on that man and his tour.

[SBthud326]

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience, but ours was wonderful. I cannot help but wonder how much better your day would have gone had you actually spoken up for yourself and not let others dictate your experience?

 

We went last thurs, Dec 7th with James and he was fabulous. When we got off the ship, he was waiting with 4 others and we joined them to wait for another group of 4 that was supposed to join us. He was very conscientious about the time, since he told us to be off by 9am and we had a long way to go, he made sure that we left at 9am. He had someone stay to wait for the group in case they got off late and missed us (which they did at 10am :eek:) and they would have been able to join us. But since James didn't wait, they decided not to do the tour. It astonishes me sometime how some people can only think of themselves.

 

We were able to see the fishing villages, waterfall, volcano and banana plantation because that's what we told him we wanted to do and the weather cooperated. On our way to the locations (especially the waterfall and volcano) we got to see some of the destruction from the recent weather and flooding in the villages. Believe me, if he told you it wasn't safe to do those things, it definitely wasn't. The waterfall had only been opened either the day we were there or the day before because it had to be dug out again.

 

We had a wonderful day, and while the locals were rather pushy with their attempts to sell you things, James was very good about keeping them away from us and we only had to deal with them if we wanted to. He also pointed out the items that were locally made so if you wanted to buy something and help the island, you didn't end up buying something from China!

 

We had plenty of rum punch and Piton beer for our group (and the 3 of us in my little group are all solid drinkers). One of the other couples really wanted to do a catamaran sail (it was their 25th anniversary) and James set that up for them as well. Our driver was Sherman (not sure on the spelling) and he was funny as well, and as knowledgable as James about the island if you asked him a question.

 

Overall we had a fantastic time. I think sometimes people expect too much from one person. He can't take everyone personally (and while I would have been bummed had we not had him, it would have been ok because I understand that) and a family off the Miracle that was in port that day complained to him that they set up the tour only because they wanted to go with him and he didn't take them and they were seriously angry. COME ON PEOPLE. You're on a vacation, relax, have fun and try to make the best of whatever it is you're doing. And I knew with certainty that at any time we could have spoken up and he would have changed the itinerary for us to make sure we got to do what we wanted (and he did ask us multiple times if there were other things we wanted to do or places we wanted to stop at).

 

I would and will absolutely recommend James to anyone who asks, we had a wonderful time. He and his driver were knowledgeable about the island, knew everyone at every place we stopped at, we never had to wait in a line, we got to try some fantastic island food, and the weather cooperated. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

[eclipsethecat]

Normally I would usually give vendors the benefit of the doubt but in this case I think he downright took advantage of us. He knew that he was going to not have to give the other party anything other than a place to drink out of the rain so he decided not to waste the gas giving us a tour separately, despite the fact we were in a different van and he had that option.

 

I did not say anything because I didnt realize what was happening until it was too late- I did not know that we werent going to any of the stops because he never mentioned it to us- he just kept driving us to different parking lots.

 

"You're on a vacation, relax, have fun and try to make the best of whatever it is you're doing. And I knew with certainty that at any time we could have spoken up and he would have changed the itinerary for us to make sure we got to do what we wanted (and he did ask us multiple times if there were other things we wanted to do or places we wanted to stop at)."

 

Youre telling me you would have been ok paying $50 a person to basically sit in two different stores parking lots and go to an overlook that was littered with used condoms? I dont know about you but I work hard for my money and we consider going on a vacation a luxury. $100 was a lot to be driven around to Costco and a supermarket. We werent given anything that was promised. Nothing. He didnt even make an effort to try to make it right.

 

In my mind the main point is, and the reason I will continue to try to provide fair reviews of tours and tour operators is that tour operators especially in different countries other than where you are from are basically taking care of you for that day- you pay them to have them show you in a safe manner the areas promised. Ive never been to St Lucia before so I couldnt show myself around. That lack of trust was violated. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had young children on the trip as it was disgusting and not something I would want kids exposed to.

 

Finally, I dont buy the explanation that areas were flooded as someone else from our group on our Thenford Grey trip (which was in contrast an EXCELLENT tour,) in St Kitts said that the exact day we were in St Lucia they were in St Lucia and took a tour of the island with another tour company and did all the things mentioned. Any reasoning behind not taking us are excuses.

[martyap]

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience, but ours was wonderful. I cannot help but wonder how much better your day would have gone had you actually spoken up for yourself and not let others dictate your experience?

 

We went last thurs, Dec 7th with James and he was fabulous. When we got off the ship, he was waiting with 4 others and we joined them to wait for another group of 4 that was supposed to join us. He was very conscientious about the time, since he told us to be off by 9am and we had a long way to go, he made sure that we left at 9am. He had someone stay to wait for the group in case they got off late and missed us (which they did at 10am :eek:) and they would have been able to join us. But since James didn't wait, they decided not to do the tour. It astonishes me sometime how some people can only think of themselves.

 

We were able to see the fishing villages, waterfall, volcano and banana plantation because that's what we told him we wanted to do and the weather cooperated. On our way to the locations (especially the waterfall and volcano) we got to see some of the destruction from the recent weather and flooding in the villages. Believe me, if he told you it wasn't safe to do those things, it definitely wasn't. The waterfall had only been opened either the day we were there or the day before because it had to be dug out again.

 

We had a wonderful day, and while the locals were rather pushy with their attempts to sell you things, James was very good about keeping them away from us and we only had to deal with them if we wanted to. He also pointed out the items that were locally made so if you wanted to buy something and help the island, you didn't end up buying something from China!

 

We had plenty of rum punch and Piton beer for our group (and the 3 of us in my little group are all solid drinkers). One of the other couples really wanted to do a catamaran sail (it was their 25th anniversary) and James set that up for them as well. Our driver was Sherman (not sure on the spelling) and he was funny as well, and as knowledgable as James about the island if you asked him a question.

 

Overall we had a fantastic time. I think sometimes people expect too much from one person. He can't take everyone personally (and while I would have been bummed had we not had him, it would have been ok because I understand that) and a family off the Miracle that was in port that day complained to him that they set up the tour only because they wanted to go with him and he didn't take them and they were seriously angry. COME ON PEOPLE. You're on a vacation, relax, have fun and try to make the best of whatever it is you're doing. And I knew with certainty that at any time we could have spoken up and he would have changed the itinerary for us to make sure we got to do what we wanted (and he did ask us multiple times if there were other things we wanted to do or places we wanted to stop at).

 

I would and will absolutely recommend James to anyone who asks, we had a wonderful time. He and his driver were knowledgeable about the island, knew everyone at every place we stopped at, we never had to wait in a line, we got to try some fantastic island food, and the weather cooperated. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

We had the same great experiences as you did on our two trips to St. Lucia and our two tours with James. We recommend him 100%. Our best friends have James booked in January.

[SBthud326]

Once again, I'm sorry you did not have a good experience.

 

I did see firsthand damage from the weather and flooding, now I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of all the washed out areas on the roads from slides and the crews trying to repair them.

 

No, I would not have paid $50 for the tour you received. I'm sure I work just as hard as you do for my money and have one income to cover my expenses including a student loan payment that exceeds my rent by quite a bit. I saved up for quite a while for this trip and as such, I would most certainly have spoken up at any point during the tour to let him know that I was unhappy and to give him an opportunity to fix it. He can't read your mind and if you don't speak up until the end and just go along with everything........I'm sorry but I don't feel bad for you.

 

That's the beauty of this site, you get everyone's experiences so one can decide for himself or herself what to listen to.