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If you were only going to visit Barbados once, what would you do with your day?

WalleyeLJ

By WalleyeLJ,
in Barbados

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WalleyeLJ

WalleyeLJ

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First time visiting Barbados on Serenade in May, and wondering from those who have been before, if you were only going to visit once, what would be your best recommendation for a day on the island? Any ideas would be appreciated - thanks!

 

L.J.

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aczi16

aczi16

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The first time I was there we had a little tour from our taxi driver and he reccommended Paynes Bay. It is such a beautiful beach! Perfect waves, especially if you have kids, or just want the perfect size not crazy huge waves. Tiger Woods married just around there.. and the Blue Monkey is a great resturant on the beach. I'm pretty sure there are umbrellas/chairs you can rent, but we didnt. There was a whole bunch of activites you could do, like the banana boat rides, jet ski, other boats and more. I really enjoyed that beach. Soon in april I will be going again, but i wanted to snorkel some more, so i was thinking Batts Rock - 10 mintues from cruise dock. Also Fitts Village, Folkstone Marine Park, and Heywoods Park sound very appealing. I hope this helps.

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Andrea0908

Andrea0908

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I feel the same. This is our first cruise to Barbados and not sure what to do for one day. The obvious would be to enjoy the pink sandy beaches of Barbados. We are a family of snorkelers, but not quite sure, with other ports such as St. Thomas, Kitts, Lucia and Maarten, if we wanted to spend the day snorkeling here. We are an active family who enjoys water sports, ziplining, etc. Not so much... history tours, bus rides, etc. Any thoughts or recommendations is appreciated. Thank you. :D

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scottfay

scottfay

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First time visiting Barbados on Serenade in May, and wondering from those who have been before, if you were only going to visit once, what would be your best recommendation for a day on the island? Any ideas would be appreciated - thanks!

 

L.J.

 

 

I would take a cab to Payne's bay, relax on the beach and swim out to the sea turtles. We did that last week, and it was great.

 

Scott

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Andrea0908

Andrea0908

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I would take a cab to Payne's bay, relax on the beach and swim out to the sea turtles. We did that last week, and it was great.

 

Scott

 

 

How were the currents? Did you join in with a catamaran excursion to see the turtles? I've been reading that it's now a law in Barbados that snorkelers have to wear a flag to be seen by jet skis, catamarans, etc.? Can you rent equipment at the Bay? Thanks!

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scottfay

scottfay

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How were the currents? Did you join in with a catamaran excursion to see the turtles? I've been reading that it's now a law in Barbados that snorkelers have to wear a flag to be seen by jet skis, catamarans, etc.? Can you rent equipment at the Bay? Thanks!

 

Yes, we just joined in with the catamaran excursions (even though I did see some turtles even before the catamarans started arriving). I haven't heard about a law saying you had to wear a flag. So, I guess it wasn't enforced even if it is a law. I did wear a bright snorkeling vest. The water seemed calm to me, but I'm a very strong swimmer. We had our own equipment. But, I imagine that the places renting jet skis probably also rented snorkeling equipment (although I'm not sure of this).

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Adventures ahead

Adventures ahead

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The first time we went to Barbados we walked out of the terminal and did a private mini-bus/aka van island tour that was not pre-arranged. The driver said to hail down more people to fill the van and the price dropped by $5/pp. It was about 14 years ago and we paid $35 each for a half-day. It went the same places that the ship's tour went for much less, and we had time to go back to the ship for lunch and shop downtown in the afternoon.

 

Years later, we did a two-week land vacation there and went all over the place by bus, including Harrison's Caves, Crane Bay hotel for lunch, the Malibu rum and Banks beer distilleries, a 4X4 tour, a dinner cruise, catamaran swim with turtles, and we tried different beaches.

 

Now we just go to the beach. As we don't snorkel, we like Carlisle and it's close to the ship. Is has white sand and gentle waves, if any.

 

Barbados isn't great for shopping and, in our opinion, the downtown isn't 'pretty' like on other islands. If we had to do it over again, I'd split my day in half and do a quick island tour and a beach, especially if I thought I'd may not get back there again.

 

If you have a chance to try macaroni pie and flying fish, go for it! Then, you know you've been to Barbados!

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lovelyjubbly

lovelyjubbly

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We went to Barbados in Feb 2009 aboard the Emerald Princess, and caught a bus to one of the beaches (Mullins, I think). It was so easy, just go into the Information office at the port and they will direct you to the bus station. It was about a 10 minute walk to the right of the port. When we got there a bus was just about to leave but a very kind lady held it up for us whilst we got our tickets at a machine - easy :D It was about a 30 minute ride along the coast but you could get off where you wanted. I think it was @ $1.50pp each way. No problems coming back, just make sure you leave enough time and take into account rush hour traffic.

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XTC

XTC

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L.J. , I would highly recommend renting a car on Barbados, we did on our last visit and it was a blast. We stopped at quite a few beaches visited a nature preserve, orchid world, a number of historical sights all before lunch in Bathsheba. After lunch we swung through the middle of the island and made a numbers of stops. Then swung back by the cruise ship just to be sure I could get to it again and then headed north out to Folkstone beach for about an hour and hit the Mount Gay Rum visitors center on the way back to the ship. We had the best time of the entire cruise while exploring Barbados, getting in and out of Bridgetown was the most difficult part but it really wasn't that bad. Once out of Bridgetown it is really very easy to get around.

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petlady7

petlady7

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Hi , We were in Barbados last February and had a great day out with Shasa on his catamaran , we were the only ones snorkelling with the turtles , the ship trips are much busier with many people in the water at the same time , we went on the 5 hr trip including a fab lunch made by his wife , I would highly recommend this trip

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Adventures ahead

Adventures ahead

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We stayed in Barbados for two weeks and did not rent a car. They drive on the left side of the road and getting the hang of that didn't seem relaxing. They also have round-abouts. Traffic always seemed heavy downtown and I think that you pretty much need to drive through there to get to the ship. Of course, a car rental gives the most flexibility but that wasn't our preference for Barbados. We rented an open jeep in Aruba - now, that was a blast! The island is much smaller, they drive on the right and you can't get lost.

 

The buses are good but can be confusing. There are two terminals, one on either side of downtown, and two types: regular buses and mini-vans. The terminal for the regular buses is closer to the ship (we didn't see it). They're cheap and can be fun (you may be the only tourists on the mini van buses). Just talk to the drivers and they'll put you in the right direction.

 

Have fun!

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azcacruzin

azcacruzin

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We were just there last week on the Celebrity Summit. We went on a catamaran snorkel trip with Silvermoon which was great. Afterwards we went into town via taxi and found the old Synagogue which is downtown. It was fascinating. There is a museum there too but we did not go there. Saw tombstones dating back over 300 years. I highly recommend this.

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WalleyeLJ

WalleyeLJ

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We stayed in Barbados for two weeks and did not rent a car. They drive on the left side of the road and getting the hang of that didn't seem relaxing. They also have round-abouts. Traffic always seemed heavy downtown and I think that you pretty much need to drive through there to get to the ship. Of course, a car rental gives the most flexibility but that wasn't our preference for Barbados. We rented an open jeep in Aruba - now, that was a blast! The island is much smaller, they drive on the right and you can't get lost.

 

The buses are good but can be confusing. There are two terminals, one on either side of downtown, and two types: regular buses and mini-vans. The terminal for the regular buses is closer to the ship (we didn't see it). They're cheap and can be fun (you may be the only tourists on the mini van buses). Just talk to the drivers and they'll put you in the right direction.

 

Have fun!

 

We did the same thing in Aruba in 2008 and it was terrific! The only bad thing was that we went on a snorkeling excursion which wasn't great in the morning, so we only had about 4 hours in the Jeep rental. The east side of the island was like being on another planet.

 

L.J.

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  • 4 weeks later...
lacubana1

lacubana1

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We just returned from Barbados last week and it was our favorite port stop. We booked a tour with Glory Tours...the Best of Barbadoes Tour (w/ Sea turtles). Our driver took us to Harrison's Cave, a quick stop at Bathsheba for picture taking, a stop at Sand Dunes for some flying fish and macaroni pie, a stop at Barbados Wildlife Reserve to look for green monkeys (so cute!), then capped off the perfect day swimming / snorkeling with sea turtles. Loved Barbados!

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lovemylab

lovemylab

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We did a catarmaran tour with Silvermoon the first time we went. While it was a lot of fun and made for a relaxing day, we left feeling as though we didn't get to see the island. So if I had to do it again, I'd have done a land based tour on my first trip and saved the catamaran for a later trip.

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cruiseapril

cruiseapril

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A few years ago, we did a ship's excursion with Princess-took a bus tour to:

an overlook of Bathsheba, Andromeda Gardens, St. John's Church, and then Francia Plantation. We drove straight across Barbados from Bridgetown and felt we saw a good bit of the island.

 

This year we are going to Carlisle Bay beach area for part of the day -look forward to returning to this interesting island.

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