Small Group Taste of St Lucia and Chocolate Making Workshop.

Shore Excursion Review

We booked the St Lucia Shore Excursion: Small Group Taste of St Lucia and Chocolate Making Workshop while sailing on the Celebrity Edge. Here’s a quick 90 second summary:

Our tour met at 12:15 pm on the pier. The tour does not include lunch. I recommend eating a big breakfast or heading to the Mast Grill for a burger or a hot dog at 11:30 am. The buffet doesn’t open until 12:00 pm.

We left for the buses at 12:30 pm. It was about a 3 minute walk to the bus. Our group of thirty split into two groups of fifteen. The bus ride was about 35 minute through city traffic and winding roads up the mountain.

We arrived at Howelton Estate. It’s about 25 steps down to the main house where the workshop took place. It is a standing workshop. Another guest grabbed a chair for part of the class. The class was about 45 minutes and included an explanation of the chocolate making process. Then, we used our mortar and pestle to grind cocoa nibs, cocoa butter, and powdered sugar into a dark chocolate bar.

While the chocolate was hardening, we had about an hour to enjoy one included soda, water or rum punch. Beer was available for $4. A beautiful gift shop is upstairs and our guide led us on a short tour of the gardens. Bathrooms are available.

We left the Howelton Estate for a short drive to Pink Plantation - a beautiful 158 year old house and garden. Chewie gave us a great overview of the plants and fruits. This had a lot of standing and some walking on gravel filled walkways. You could sit in the house if you didn’t want to listen to the garden tour. We were served lemonade made from sour oranges, salted cod fritters, and fried bread. This also had a beautiful gift shop. We were at Pink Plantation for about 40 minutes.

The ride back to the pier took about 20 minutes. We had a lot less traffic on the way back.

I recommend this excursion. It’s a great half day option if you enjoy learning about food. Our guide recommended a mud baths excursions or a Pitons cruise for future visits.