St Lucia, Caribbean

Viator is not a tour company. They are a 3rd party reseller (not unlike Expedia) that sells tours by the actual companies. However they are worldwide and generally reputable. I prefer dealing directly with the tour companies and cutting out the middlemen. YMMV.

Iwould not really recommend a DIY driving around the island by yourself. The roads aren't the best, signage isn't great, and the most interesting sights are quite some distance from the cruise port. If you don't want to take a cruise excursion (and I completely understand that), then I suggest a tour with one of the independent tour companies. We've done tours with Cosul tours twice, and were very pleased both times.

You might want to look at the Ports of Call forum on Cruise Critic (look under Ports of Call, Carribean, St. Lucia). Also check the Roll Call for your ship's specific sailing to see what your fellow cruisers have organized for private excursions. ( On Cruise Critic go to the Roll Call forum, select your cruise line, select your ship, then select the specific sailing).

In addition to CJean’s excellent advice, I can also vouch for Cosul’s tour. We took it in January of this year. It varies from what you laid out, but it covers a lot of ground and offers a lot of variety.

We have used Viator many times, especially in Asia, Australia and places were we have difficulty finding tours. Viator allows you to book a tour, usually for about the same as that local tour company would charge without having to recruit others to join a tour.

St. Lucia is one of our favorite Caribbean islands.

Thank you CJean, Bets, geovagriffith.
I'll check out Cosul, and the Cruise Critic forums.

I was there last January and the driving is straight forward. I’m assuming that you will arrive in Castries. The main issue is getting out of Castries on the main road South. Outside of that I believe there is one key junction. Overall, if you have driven in other countries and know how to read a map you should have no issues with driving on St Lucia

+1 for CJean. I haven't gotten carsick since I was eight years old. But on the drive back to the airport in St. Lucia (a beautiful place), I started to feel uncomfortable because of the long time going up and down and around curves. Another reason to take taxis is to be really sure you don't miss the departure of the ship due to navigation error or rental car breakdown.

Tim, oh my lord did you ever bring back memories - and not the good kind. Even though I'd taken my Bonine, those twisty, turny, hilly roads almost did me in. Thank heavens the tour stopped fairly frequently, or the motion sickness would have really impacted the day.

Though anyone getting sick has my sympathy, I do want you to know that not everyone gets sick on those roads. Only one woman in our van was unwell, but she had a migraine coming on. My husband and I were fine. Cosul's tours have a lot of stops.

Thank you everyone for your insights.
Yes, on a previous tour in Dominica, one of our daughters did get sick with all the ups and downs and arounds on the road. The driver stopped and suggested we pick up some lemon grass along the road. It worked.
We have booked a private tour with More Than A Cab.
Looking forward to sunshine and warm weather.