Just sit right down and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip... Almost a 3 hour tour, but not quite. When planning a trip or tour we all know that when things go right, they go right. The real test though is what happens when things go wrong, how things get handled...
GENERATIVE AI SUMMARY (Grok3):
My wife and I planned a semi-private tour in St. Lucia on Valentine’s Day, our first visit in three years, excited to explore beyond our resort, Windjammer Landing. However, the tour operator, Nexus, didn’t offer pickup at our property, so we chose Bay Gardens Beach Resort and Spa for a 6am pickup based on the initial confirmation. Confusion arose when an unnoticed email updated the time to 7:40am, leading us to arrive early via taxi ($20), only to find the resort closed and the pickup likely at Bay Gardens Inn instead.
After redirecting our taxi to the Inn and confirming our new location with Nexus customer service—complete with a Google Maps pin drop—we waited. By 7:50am, no jeep arrived, and despite another call to customer service, we were left hanging until 8:10am. Frustrated, we abandoned the tour, enjoyed breakfast at Ti Bananne Bistro, and took a $20 cab back to Windjammer, salvaging the day with friends at the beach and pool, though out $40 in fares.
Nexus and Viator/TripAdvisor took no accountability for the mix-up—despite our calls, emails, and efforts to coordinate—claiming the driver was at the “pre-established pickup” and denying a refund for the $150 tour. Communication breakdowns, from unclear pickup times to unresponsive drivers, soured the experience. I’ve disputed the charge with Wells Fargo and plan to leave reviews, but I wouldn’t recommend Viator, TripAdvisor, or Nexus—too many missteps turned a hopeful outing into a costly hassle.
MY ORIGINAL SOMEWHAT VERBOSE REVIEW:
My wife and I recently were in St. Lucia for the first time in three years, and looked forward to getting off our resort for a semi-private tour on Valentines Day.
What happened though, was something different.
To start, the tour operator/Nexus did not offer our property as a pickup (Windjammer Landing). We had our Tour advisor call to see if they could get us here, but he was unable to arrange that. So, the reservation stated a 6am pickup and we chose one of their offered pickup sites at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort and Spa.
Now that is what I set my reminder for, but subsequently they sent an email stating the trip began at 7:40am, not 6am. I did not see so needless to say we arrived very early at the property by taxi ($20). The security guard at the property said they were not open, and that likely we were to be picked up at the Bay Gardens Inn which is on Castries Gros Islet Highway. Sooooo being noobs to the tour we had the taxi drop us there and immediately called the Nexus customer service number. After an initial disconnect we reached an agent, explained what happened, and told him we were at the Inn now, not the Resort. He confirmed that and said we were all set, and just to be safe I also sent an email with a screenshot of our location on google maps with a pin drop.
Fast forward to 7:50am and we had not yet seen the jeep and I again called the customer service number, was disconnected, but then reached an agent who listened to my story and said he would get with his team. 20 minutes later we gave up, at 8:10 we gave up. We walked to Ti Bananne Bistro for Breakfast, and after a short stroll hired another cab to go back to Windjammer ($20) and spend the rest of the day at the beach/pool with friends.
Now, a number of things could have happened on this expedition. Nexus could have responded to the Windjammer representative and agreed to pick us up at our resort, which was not an option online; but no. The original confirmation might have stated 7:40am instead of 6:00am. Or, I might have seen the email updating the pickup time from the original 6am to 7:40am, but I didn't. Or the Nexus customer service agent we spoke to a full hour before pickup might have updated the driver operator of our new location, which is what he confirmed to me on the phone. (they always say "recorded for quality assurance, would love to have those recordings for this review...). Or maybe they would have forwarded the email with our pin drop screenshot. Or perhaps the driver of the jeep (no more than 6 passengers) would have had all of our information as provided to TripAdvisor, to Nexus, and would have called or texted us; nope. Or the driver could simply have driven by the other to Bay Garden locations to check, since three "hotels" all called Bay Garden are all within 3 minutes of each other; didn't happen.
Rrrr, but we made silk out of the sow's ear, and mistakes happen, I'm out $40 in taxi fares, but we had an early start, breakfast, and I nice stroll. And later that day I let Nexus know we did not receive the services and would like a refund.
Now, Viator/TripAdvisor/Nexus might have acknowledged that my wife and I had spent two hours on Valentines Day sitting at a different resort waiting to be picked up, having called and emailed their service multiple times to ensure coordination. They might have accepted some culpability for how poorly their reservation system, customer service, and driver/operator communications are setup. But what they did instead was say "our driver was at the pre-established pickup, so no refund for you". Visions of Saturday Night Live and the Soup Nazi.
So now I'm a little put out and I've disputed the payment to Viator (TripAdvisors travel subsidiary) for $150, going to drop a few reviews, and will wait to see what Wells Fargo can do for me.
Would I recommend Viator/TripAdvisor/Nexustours? "Negative Ghostrider, the pattern is full".