Thread: Martinique - St Pierre & Botanical Gardens Tour

We did not dock at the pier down town. Instead we docked at the freight pier where they are attempting to set up a few facilities or 2 cruise ships. It is the Quaides Tourelles pier and we were told that at end of our tour we could shop at the Sea Explorer right by the ship -- it is 1 shop. You can not walk from town from here -- too far. It is approzimately 4 Euro's per person to go to town which is about 1 1/2 to 2 miles winding through the freight area and the streets. We had pre-booked the St Pierre and Botanical Gardens tour at $89 per person. In the 80's we had done a similar tour. The tour left at 8:45 and was suppose to be 4 hours long which meant that we should have been back at the pier by 12:45. Our first stop was at the Balata Church where we had 10 minutes to take pictures - no problem. Our second stop was at the Botanical Garden of Balata. According to the map and the oral directions that we were given we were to spend 20 minutes here. As we got off the bus, our guide decided that we had lots of time and could spend 40 minutes here. He also was our guide through the gardens but because there were 53 of us he had to keep running back and forth to describe all the flowers and plants to us. Far too many people in the group. When we finally golt to the end of the garden tour some people wanted to use the restrooms (understandable) and visit the gift shop. One and 1/2 hours later we were finally on the road. Our bus driver decided to step on the gas peddle to try and make up some time. About 10 minutes after we left the gardens we came upon a road construction area were they were resurfacing both sides at the same time. This is only a 2 lane road and once in a while they would open 1 lane and let some cars go through - we were told to pull off the side of the road. After sitting there for over 20 minutes, our bus driver started beeping his horn and pulled out right in front of some cars. It was a tight squeeze past the road grader and trucks delivering the asphalt. Now that we are behind on our time schedule we quickly went through Morne Rouge (Red Hill) which was destroyed on Aug 30, 1902 killing 1000 inhaitants. Today it is known for its spring water bottling factory, tropical flowers and market gardening productions.

When we got to St Pierre we were supposed to have been there for 40 minutes. Our time was chopped down to 10 minutes in the museum. There wasn't even time to stop at the old theatre that had been destroyed by the volcano and the underground dungeon was that "Cyparis" the prisoner was - only survivor - 30,000 died. Then it was back on the bus and LeCarbet, Bellefontaine, Case Pilote and Schoelcher were just a blur as we passed through those towns.

As we rode through downtown Martinique we were stunned to see the lovely park, La Savane, next to Fort aint-Louis, with its vendors and beautiful trees being torn apart. The park has a fence encircling it and there are huge holes and huge mounds of dirt. Our guide wasn't even sure what was going on with the park.

We arrived back at the ship at 1:24 (all aboard was 1:30) giving us no chance to see that one duty free shop by the ship. The crew was already lifting up the gangway as we got there.

Was this tour worth the $89 per person -- NO!! Less time was needed to have been spent at the gardens. The majority of us were more interested in St Pierre -- that was the principle reason we booked this tour.

Soiunds like there are some really neat things to see in Martinique, but that you had some severe limitations placed on you in tring to see them!

Good information - both about the places of interest and the mishaps that occurred on this particular tour. Sounds like overbooking and poor planning on the part of the tour operator.

You mentioned a mountain and also a prison where many perished. Were these events related? Did they tell you what was the cause was in each case?

Frus to you for an in depth first hand report of this excursion!

This was when the volcano erupted in 1902 and thousands died in St Pierre.

Thank you

Originally Posted by Krazy Kruizers

Was this tour worth the $89 per person -- NO!! Less time was needed to have been spent at the gardens. The majority of us were more interested in St Pierre -- that was the principle reason we booked this tour.

Thanks ... most of all for the "Bottom Line": NO! All of us other cruisers going there always need to know when a tour is NOT worth the price!

Originally Posted by Krazy Kruizers

We did not dock at the pier down town. Instead we docked at the freight pier where they are attempting to set up a few facilities or 2 cruise ships. It is the Quaides Tourelles pier and we were told that at end of our tour we could shop at the Sea Explorer right by the ship -- it is 1 shop. You can not walk from town from here -- too far. It is approzimately 4 Euro's per person to go to town which is about 1 1/2 to 2 miles winding through the freight area and the streets.

Not what I wanted to hear because I LIKED that Town Pier ... but, very good to know! Thanks for telling/warning us!