Barbados pix & port review

[Bob7]

Here's the link to some shots of Barbados on our Destiny cruise in March:
[url="http://community.webshots.com/user/rob42ca"]http://community.webshots.com/user/rob42ca[/url]

and here's the Barbados part of our cruise review:

BARBADOS

Port side cabins face the dock (industrial view), starboard ones face the bay. There are maybe 30 nice stores in the terminal building, and when you exit the terminal the tour “gates” are on the left, and the $1 van shuttles to Bridgetown are to the right. You might wait 5 minutes for the van to fill, or you can take a $3 p.p. cab to town and leave right away.

The shopping in Bridgetown is expensive and sporadic, even the Net in Little Switzerland was too much, but I found a cheaper one on another street. The nicest place to go is along the water causeway boardwalk that leads to the main bridge at the city center park area with the Big Ben clock. An art gallery in a small plaza wanted $300 for a foot square oil painting that we paid $18 for a similar one in Dominica. There are more vendors on the bridge. But the best shopping was in the Pelican Mall 2 blocks outside the main terminal gates. The shuttle driver will drop you off there, and it was an easy 10-15 minute stroll from there back to the ship, nice breeze off the bay. Perhaps 30-40 stores with a/c in a pretty park setting, colorful local dancers put on a pirate show about 10:30 or 11, lots of art, crafts, some clothing, etc.

Then after lunch we did the Snuba and Boatyard Beach tour through the ship ($99 incl admission for the day to the Boatyard and a free drink), they wouldn’t let us book it privately ($55) because of a deal with CCL. Snuba is diving to a 20 foot maximum while breathing through a regulator on an air hose connected to a floating “raft” that follows you (and 3 others). It was a fun experience, but takes some prep. Ocean Adventures runs the tour from the Boatyard complex which is near the ship.

The tour guys are all fun on the short boat ride to the site, but it’s all business when they prep you. You have to breath deep, not shallow breaths, and you have to blow your ears every 3 feet down to equalize pressure, and they show you how to clear water from you mask while under. The guides have scuba on, and show you signs to communicate while under. They said you have to relax to do all this, and that women are better at relaxing and following directions and signals than men, and are more successful, and sure enough, one guy on the tour kept freaking out and couldn’t handle it, but his wife did fine. If you can’t manage it or want a rest, you can surface and hold onto the raft, and float along with it, still looking into the water with your mask on and see the stuff (like yer wife below giving you the wussie sign). We thought the hoses would get tangled but it seemed to work ok, the divers helped with that.

We snuba’d over 3 small wrecks and some coral, and it’s a way different experience than snorkeling, even being just 10-15 feet down you feel in another world. It’s bright enough for underwater shots, and you can grab the wrecks to stabilize yourself for shots. I wasn’t good at clearing water from my mask, mostly I blew salt water in my eyes which stings, so I surfaced more than some people to clear my mask. This meant I had to re-do the ear pressure thing on the way down, bit of a nuisance. The pressure is about 5 times what you feel going up in a plane, and you have to do it regularly on the way down, or if you wait too long looking at fish etc it won’t work and you have to surface and start over. Surfacing doesn’t affect the others connected to your raft. We had enough air for about 30 minutes, which seemed enough for everyone. We only had 10 brave cruisers on this tour out of 2900 on the ship. We also had a guy and his 12 y.o. son from a resort, and the lad did fine. Free bottled water on the boat, which we used to clean the salt from our eyes and faces as well as drinking. On the way back to shore we all felt like Navy Seals, just a grinin’ and drinking.

Spent the rest of the afternoon at the Boatyard Party Beach ( [url="http://www.theboatyard.com"]www.theboatyard.com[/url] ), music pumping, loungers, umbrellas, friendly beach staff fetching drinks and helping if needed, good snack bar, pretty good booze, patio café area, water trampoline, climbing iceberg, jetskiis, change rooms, lots of people (it’s a fav with the ship crews), great sand, long pier to take a walk out on, lots of hard bodies. Your teens and kids will love to come here, but it you want a quiet beach nearby, face the water and look to your left, and you’ll see more beach outside the Boatyard property, where other cruisers said it’s quiet. In the evening the Boatyard turns into a party bar.

The main nightlife is at St. Lawrence Gap, a 10-15 minute cab ride from the ship, but the locals told us of a nice place in Bridgetown, and I checked it out while shopping. You go across the main bridge at the park with the Big Ben clock, turn right, first building on the right, walk towards the water along the building, turn left, walk past several shops and you come to the Waterfront Café. Pretty location, nice view, evening entertainment. You can sit outside under umbrellas by the causeway.
-Bob

[kjefferson]

Thanks for posting a great review! I loved looking at your pictures!

[BoysSkiMom]

Great review and great pictures. I had been hoping to see what the Boatyard and the Ritz looked like. Thanks so much!

BoysSkiMom

Homelines Atlantic 8/88
Norwegian Seaward 3/89
Celebrity Galaxy 4/00
RCI Enchantment 11/00
Celebrity Summit 4/04

[lv2cruz80]

Which side is portside and which is starboard?


[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff0000&cdt=2005;2;19;23;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Until the Constellation!

[Bob7]

Cruz80, port is left and starboard is right, but the side facing the dock could change in Barbados, depending on which berth the ship took, they're in a U shape.

[lv2cruz80]

Thanks, Bob7. Now I'll be curious for each port we visit.


[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff0000&cdt=2005;2;19;23;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Until the Constellation!

[Bob7]

Hey SkiMom, just for you I added a shot of the Boatyard buildings.
-Bob

[OCruisers]

[B]Bob7 .... Great Photos![/B] Now I have a much better idea of what to expect at The Boatyard. Could you rent floats?

[kitty1]

We went to the Boatyard in the afternoon after getting back from a morning excursion. We had a great time. Should have skipped the excursion and went there for the whole day.

Lots of the crew members from our ship were also there for the day.

[Bob7]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by OCruisers:
_Bob7 .... Great Photos!_ Now I have a much better idea of what to expect at The Boatyard. Could you rent floats?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Wendy and I can't remember seeing any floats, just kayaks and jetskis. But if you want to ask them, they do answer email, their e-address is: [email]boatyard@sunbeach.net[/email] and their website lists activities, it might be there too: [url="http://www.theboatyard.com"]www.theboatyard.com[/url]
-Bob