Any ideas for touring island on my own with a local resident or independent guide.

[pinkaboo]

We will be visiting Barbados in november, we really didn't want to take a ship tour or get a private driver. Does anyone know if there are any tour guides or locals waiting for the ship passengers when they get off the ship to show them the island? When we were in curacao, as soon as we walked off the ship we saw several signs and had several people asking us if we wanted to tour their island for a small fee of $15.00 or $20.00 per person. We decided go tour with a woaman and her daughter and they gave us a fantastic tour. Her Van was air conditioned and there were 5 other people in her van and we were not crowded at all. That's the only type of tour that I am interested doing since we've been to several of the ports many times over. Her tour consisted of sightseeing the island, sighseeing two of the beaches for pitcure taking only, the distillery, the historic area which consisted of Jewish historical area along with the historical slave areas, The tour also consisted of a short stop for shopping and then you could choose to be let off in town or back at the ship. They were very knowledgeable about their island. The entire tour took about 3-4 hours and it was one of the best paid tours i've ever taken. So again, that's the type of tour we're looking to do, something very simple but yet covers all of the basic sights and stops. Any suggesstions or names to look for?

[cinnam0n]

Contact Cameron Reid - his info is at his website, scenicbarbados.com. He is a very nice man who gives private, customized tours of the island for very reasonable prices. If you call or email him and let him know what you are interested in and how many in your group, he will quote you a price and arrange to meet you when you dock. We enjoyed him very much!

[texancruzer]

We also used Cameron Reid....he was great.

 

$ 150.00 for 4 adults for basically the whole day and he took us around the whole island.

 

Worked out to $ 37.50 pp. :D

[SuCan]

We've used Glory Tours in the past, they were excellent. http://glorytours.org/home.html

[pholter]

We've used Glory Tours in the past, they were excellent. http://glorytours.org/home.html

 

I totally agree!! We did the Best of Barbados and it was outstanding!! :)

[rjscott]

While I also highly recommend Cameron Reid, the O.P. did ask about finding a tour at the pier as they disembark in Barbados. To that question, I'd say yes there are plenty of drivers available to take you around the island, and will stop at sights you wish to see or do their "standard" tour. On one of our visits to Barbados, we did just that, we hired a driver at the cruise terminal. I did have a few stops in mind, and we did those and left the rest to our driver to show us his island. The only issue we had was that he had a very strong accent and spoke rapidly and so was sometimes difficult to understand. We did not have this problem with our driver, Herman, with Cameron Reid, but that could just be the luck of the draw, I suppose.

 

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[floridalady]

what was considered the whole day?

 

We also used Cameron Reid....he was great.

 

$ 150.00 for 4 adults for basically the whole day and he took us around the whole island.

 

Worked out to $ 37.50 pp. :D

[floridalady]

i was told 125 for 4 people

[CrusinAgain]

I was told $125 for 2 people so obviously the 125 is the mininum he needs. I was hoping we could go with a group but he hasn't responded to my e-mail about that.

[rjscott]

When we hired a driver thru Cameron, it was not per number of people, but for the driver/car for a set number of hours.

[floridalady]

serious question-anyone who has used cameron----how long till he got back to you via email?

[cinnam0n]

I just looked back in my email from March, and it was usually the same day I wrote him, later in the afternoon - sometimes the next day. But before I contacted Cameron, I was corresponding with some other tour operators, and they told me that there are frequent outages in their internet service on Barbados. How long has it been since you wrote to him?

[CrusinAgain]

Well I emailed him again today since my last e-mail was two days ago.

[floridalady]

I just looked back in my email from March, and it was usually the same day I wrote him, later in the afternoon - sometimes the next day. But before I contacted Cameron, I was corresponding with some other tour operators, and they told me that there are frequent outages in their internet service on Barbados. How long has it been since you wrote to him?

It's been 3 days.I wrote him before and it took 4 days to get back to me.

Thanks for responding.

[floridalady]

Well I emailed him again today since my last e-mail was two days ago.

oh so you have not heard from him either??????

I ask several operators questions and they answer one and leave me hanging with the rest and I have to write back and ask again and again.

 

How many hours was his tour????????????anyone know???????!

[CrusinAgain]

No, I only heard from him the one time which was pretty much a response prepared for every e-mail.

 

Would like to know other tour operators to try other than the over $100 for a party of 2. Surely there are operators like the rest of the islands that start booking couples until they are full.

[floridalady]

No, I only heard from him the one time which was pretty much a response prepared for every e-mail.

 

Would like to know other tour operators to try other than the over $100 for a party of 2. Surely there are operators like the rest of the islands that start booking couples until they are full.

 

Tell me what are you looking to do and how much do you wanna spend?

When are you going?

[CrusinAgain]

We are going to be there 12/5 and just a tour of the island is what we are looking for. The tours at St. Martin and St. Thomas were $25 and now we are up to $35-$45 each for the Southern islands so we can't go any higher than that.

 

How about you?

[floridalady]

We are going to be there 12/5 and just a tour of the island is what we are looking for. The tours at St. Martin and St. Thomas were $25 and now we are up to $35-$45 each for the Southern islands so we can't go any higher than that.

 

How about you?

 

 

I am going next year 2008 for thanksgiving...I got time to look..lol.

I was quoted 320 dollars for a 4 hour tour----not even the whole day...lol.

I am looking to see the sights and hit a beach.

 

If I find anything i will let you know.

[cinnam0n]

If you search this forum you can find lots of info about tours. I know there is Glory Tours (http://www.glorytours.org) and we used Boyce's tours (http://www.boycestours.com) a few years ago. We chose Cameron this time because for the 5 of us, he was less expensive and we wanted to customize our tour ourselves. I believe all the pricing for these companies is on their websites, and I'm sure if you just google barbados+tours, you can easily find others.

[floridalady]

If you search this forum you can find lots of info about tours. I know there is Glory Tours (www.glorytours.org) and we used Boyce's tours (www.boycestours.com) a few years ago. We chose Cameron this time because for the 5 of us, he was less expensive and we wanted to customize our tour ourselves. I believe all the pricing for these companies is on their websites, and I'm sure if you just google barbados+tours, you can easily find others.

 

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THESE NAMES.I appreciate it.What did you think of Boyce?What did you do?Private or group?

Thanks again,

nancy

[cinnam0n]

We did a private half day tour (for 2 people) and enjoyed ourselves very much. It was $40pp, but that was in 1999. When I got in touch with them this past spring, their prices had gone up considerably. They are a very reputable company, though, and have been established in Barbados for a long time.

[warmwatersailor]

I would also recommend Bajan Tours, unfortunately I do not remember the cost but the service is excellent ..... and it is very easy to understand what their drivers are saying!

 

Call Sean at (246) 228 6000, sorry, don't have an e-mail address for them.

[Aplmac]

I am going next year 2008 for thanksgiving...I got time to look..lol.

I was quoted 320 dollars for a 4 hour tour----not even the whole day...lol.

- that sounds like 320 local dollars (Barbados Dollars) - equivalent to U.S.Dollars 160.

Check which currency you're being quoted in, okay?

 

Sheesh if my car's a/c was workin a lil better than it is,

I'd jump into this, and give you guys tours you'd never forget!

[Laughing Gull]

I just tried to look up Cameron Reid's website scenicbarbados.com and there is only a page saying "this site has been disabled".

 

Has anyone been in contact with him this week? Maybe I should try contacting the others like Glory and Boyce?