St. Lucia Private Bamboo Rafting Experience

Posted By : _andialexandria
This was an excursion that was set up for us through Sandals Regency La Toc and it was our favorite excursion of our trip! The guide was so kind and knowledgeable, he brought us a coconut, some fresh mangoes and other refreshments on the raft. Captain Lazo was the guide we had and he was incredible. He even sent us home with small palm frond bookmarks he made on our way back up the river. This is a must do excursion!
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Posted On : 2024-05-03

Posted By : Susan_D
As a cruise only TA, I book excursions via Viator as I don't like cruiseline shore excursions and want to provide excellent recommendations to my clients. This excursion was a mess from the get go. They provide no meetup details ahead of time. As I still hadn't received any communication from them 72 hours prior, I reached out to them via the Contact Tour operator option on the Viator App. I tried again 24 hours prior as I still had no contact. I received a message back someone would reach out to me. I reached out again day of as I still had no meetup details. Turns out they tried contacting me via WhatsApp, which I don't even use. Not sure why they'd reach out that way instead of the Viator contact messaging system. They were calling me on the app, I was on a cruiseship, and again, don't have WhatsApp. I kept messaging them via the app advising them I was on a cruiseship and that I didn't have WhatsApp and to please just send me a message. Again, they tried calling via WhatsApp. Finally a driver called my cell phone. He tells me to answer his whatsapp calls, to which I explain I can't as I don't have it. I said just text me the information. He then advises me that pick up time is at 10:30. My tour is at 11:30. I explain to him my tour is at 11:30 and the ship doesn't even lower the gangway until 10:30. Nowhere in the description of the tour doesn't it indicate an hour prior to tour for pick up. Nowhere in the description does it indicate they will contact you via WhatsApp and you need to have it installed. I then request to cancel my tour stating there is zero chance I can meet them at 10:30. After more ridiculous attempts by them trying to contact me through WhatsApp, Daphene started messaging me via Viator. She tells me if I can be at the Diamonds International at Pointe Seraphine Onzi will meet us there and take us on the tour. My husband and I were already pretty frustrated by everything, but we agreed to go ahead with the tour, as we didn't have anything else planned for our day in St. Lucia. We walk to the pick up location (a 20 minute walk as our ship berthed at a different spot). We get there, and no one is waiting there. I message Daphene again... and she tells me they will be there soon. I get a call from a driver who says he is at Columbian Jewelers next to our ship. I advise him we were told to meet at Diamonds International. So he tells me he will drive over and call once he is there. About 10 minutes later I get a call and I see him in the parking lot. We walk over and I ask him his name and he tells me JD. I said I'm supposed to be meeting a Onzi. He tells me he doesn't know who that is. I confirm with him he is with the Bamboo rafting tour and he tells me yes. So we get in and start the drive to the location which he informs us is 30 minutes. I then get another message from Daphene telling me the driver ran into traffic issues due to police and would be picking us up soon. I tell her I'm confused since I'm already in the car. About another 10 minutes go by and I get a call from another driver saying he's at Diamonds International and he can't find me. I'm baffled. I tell him we've already been picked up and on the way. Daphene sends me two more messages, one that I'm with the wrong driver, and then another saying JD is one of their drivers and to have a good time. So we get to the location and meet a woman at the check in counter for a lack of a better description. She explains the waiver we need to complete and tells us the tour is 1.5 hours. That we will go down the river and head to a beach. We will get 15 minutes at the beach to walk around or get in the water if we chose, and then we would head back. Great. She starts to walk us down to our rafts. She stops at a coconut tree and says well there is your guide up in the tree. He is cutting down coconuts. We stood there about 5 minutes or so and she decides to go ahead and walk us down to the rafts. We are waiting down there for about another 10 minutes, having small talk waiting for the guide. He finally comes down and then it takes him about another 10 minutes to get the raft ready, change out his bamboo pole, get the life vests, etc. We finally get on the rafts. The guide is informative. He chops open two coconuts and has a drink the water... They're not good so my husband and both put them down. (now this tour also indicates there are snacks and bluetooth - neither of which were offered and as far as I could see, not even available). We catch up to another raft of another couple. They have champagne glasses drinking champagne on their tour. The were by the rooted trees in the turn around spot, they go past us, and we ended up passing them a few minutes later. We then head to the beach. We get to the beach, we get off the raft and a local approaches us trying to sell us his fruits. We decline as its not something we are allowed to bring back on the ship. There is a huge blue fishing net strewn across the beach. We no sooner try to navigate the fishing net that we are now being waved down by our guide saying we have to leave, our driver is waiting for us. We weren't even on the beach for 3 minutes. There is a guy in a little motor powered boat there now too. We are told to get back on the rafts, and our guide throws the guy in a boat a rope... we are then towed back to where the tour started. We are LIVID now. Not only were we not even out for 1.5 hours, we didn't have the 15 minutes on the beach, and we were towed back because our driver was waiting... which by the way was the driver who brought us there, so yea - he was waiting... Nobody said a word to us when we got back - like how was your tour, - nothing. We just got back in the car and drove back to the port. Please do yourselves a favor and skip this tour. It is not well ran, they do not provide what they indicate is provided and they are an operational mess.
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Posted On : 2024-04-29

Posted By : Cristina V
We booked the Rum and River cruise experience and had a delightful time. We were picked up from and dropped at our villa in Soufriere, about a 50 minute drive from the experience. We first stopped at the distillery for a cool (though relatively brief) overview of the rum making process and equipment. The tour ended at a self serve tasting of the local rums. The experience in total lasted about an hour. Next we were driven to the bamboo rafting spot nearby. Our raft was driven by Alan - Captain Love! He was a great guide, telling us about local history and the trees/wildlife. Halfway through, he stopped at a beach for some relaxation time. We brought our own lunch and ate a picnic. A truly unique and creative local experience!
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Posted On : 2024-04-27

Posted By : Apharna_K
Our guide was fantastic! Informative and fun relaxing little challenge. The chocolate was yummy and it was great to experience the chocolate making
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Posted On : 2024-04-21

Posted By : Victoria_B
The mangrove and conversation with our guide Captain Joe! This attraction is a new venture and we wish them the very best!
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Posted On : 2024-04-20

Posted By : Chasare_A
Great experience and highlight of my trip. Thank you to everyone that made this experience memorable, shout out to lady that helped with the waivers, the men on the rafts and both our drivers. Everyone was friendly and looked out for our group of 4 girls. Would book again and again!!
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Posted On : 2024-04-18

Posted By : Jeremiah_J
Fantastic Experience! Allen, or Doctor Love, was our guide for the trip and he did an Amazing job! We were picked up from our Airbnb in Soufrière by an amazing driver who went out of his way to ensure we were comfortable for the trip. Bathroom facilities and a special beverage were waiting for us when we arrived. The trip was everything and more than we hoped for. Would definitely do this excursion again.
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Posted On : 2024-04-04

Posted By : D3403SWcaitlinw
Husband and I did the Romantic Roseau River Rafting trip from our Sandals Resort for our honeymoon. It was AMAZING. Captain Lazarus guided us down a serene river while we ate fruit and sipped on champagne. After we had a delicious meal on the beach (it was basically just us and the chef. It was perfect) highly recommend!!!
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Posted On : 2024-03-24

Posted By : Erskinemay
This is a really special thing to do - don’t miss it. You are rafted down the beautiful and very gentle river for about an hour or more to the sea by an enthusiastic and, knowledgeable and hard working “Captain” (in our case the excellent Captain Noel). After walking around the beach you return to your raft which is then towed back up river to where you began. Cold drinks are provided and all you have to do is sit on the very low seats and enjoy the ride. You will get wet feet, either on the raft or when you disembark at the beach, and watch out for smaller valuables like iPhones slipping through the gaps in the bamboo rafts - Those are the only things to think about as you have a wonderful St Lucian experience. There aren’t any reviews yet as this is a new start-up. I predict a great future for this wonderful local business.
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Posted On : 2024-03-24

Posted By : patlT8220TN
Fantastic experience, super relaxing and packed with fun facts. Would recommend to any 1st timers to St. Lucia. Captain Choo 101 is The Man.
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Posted On : 2024-03-21