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Glory Tours


alpoplup
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We have the Best of Barbados booked with Glory Tours and I am considering canceling. We want to see the caves and swim with the turtles, does anyone know of another tour company that offers this? The cost of the tour is $140 per person and for this, you would think they would answer an email. That makes me nervous, especially since you have to pay the full amount up front. Anyone with experience with this tour company or any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks

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That sounds REALLY expensive!

We just booked our tour through Shorefox - it's a 5h tour, sightseeing and beach - with a company called Scenic Barbados Tours. We got a 10% off discount for signing up for the Shorefox newsletter (will be unsubscribed once we're done) and we paid just under $78 for the TWO of us!!!

Maybe look into that instead?

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If you go to the beach by the Hilton I think there are guys who will take you out away from shore to look for turtles. In small boats not that far out. I'm sure you can take a taxi to the caves but it's quite a distance, no idea how much it would cost.

 

We were there for a week last fall and used Glory Tours one day(caves, rum tour, etc etc). For what it's worth I can say they were perfect - on time, nice vehicle, great driver. We would not hesitate to use them again. It would be interesting to know exactly what their "snorkel with turtles" involves.

Edited by bouhunter
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Barbados is one of the best organised cruise terminals in the Caribbean, due to it being one of the busiest. You can get a tour or a taxi at the terminal to anywhere you want to go. No need to book or pay anything in advance.

 

I'm sure that's fine for some, but I prefer to have my ducks in a row beforehand and NOT have to haggle with the locals - I absolutely HATE that!!

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We used Glory last week and were a bit disappointed. I know I will not be using them again and really don't like that they require prepayment. If you have paid I doubt they will refund. Next year we are planning on the Hilton day pass.

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I would love to know what you were not happy with. I booked through Viator and I can get a full refund up to seven days before tour. It is the owners smart comments that bother me. I emailed and she will not respond. This makes me nervous.

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The island is beautiful but we felt a bit rushed to get to all the places. The website said we would have fish cakes and a drink at one stop and did not. The power was out at the lunch location (not Glory's fault) so we went to a side of the road place. We were the only ones on the tour "Beautiful Barbados" and is was just a feeling that the driver wanted to get it over with because he would not be getting a lot of tips. We had done great tours on all the other islands with guides that were proud of their country and shared all kinds of information. This one did not, lots of silent driving. I too had read her "smart" comments and I wanted to give them a chance but for the money I would go with someone else at a better rate.

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We have a tour with Glory on 9/14 and are leaving today. I STILL have not gotten my activity pass. I've emailed twice with no response. I won't have an opportunity to print it out after we leave and they say you can't go on the tour without it. How do I get a refund?

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Refund has to be at least seven days prior to excursion. Show up on time and make sure you have proof of payment. Make the most of the trip and enjoy yourself no matter what. Would love to hear how things went when you get back. She will not respond to an email that she does not want to answer. Never again for Glory Tours.

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FROM THE CAVE WEBSITE:

 

Harrison’s Cave is located near the centre of Barbados in the parish of St. Thomas and is adjacent to the community of Allen View. It is easily accessible from Bridgetown, Holetown, & Oistins by bus, taxi and car.

 

By Bus,

- Bus Fare *$2.00 Bds. ($1.00)

 

Buses leave Bridgetown every 30 minutes. Take the Route 4, Shorey Village bus. You can also take the Route 4, Chalky Mount bus which runs at 8:15 a.m.; 11:00 a.m.; 3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. The journey can last approximately 1 hr.

 

By Taxi and Car

 

Allow approximately 30 minutes driving time from Bridgetown; 20 minutes driving time from Holetown; and 30 minutes driving time from Oistins.

 

TAXI- Fares range from *$35.00 Bds to *$55.00 Bds depending on point of origin.

 

Visitor Tour Rate: Adults US$30.30 / BDS$60.00 | Children US$15.15 / BDS$30.00

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We also did the caves on our own. Got a taxi at the port with another couple who also wanted to go to the caves. Very easy. Once we got to the caves had to wait about 15 minutes for the next tour to start. If you want to do the caves and go to the beach I would get off the ship by 8:30 am so you can get on one of the first tours of the day then have your driver drop you at the beach. I think the taxi was $25 pp/RT + tip. We also considered Glory tours but decided to just wing it instead.

 

When I looked at Glory tours web page it shows the prices in barbados dollars which are 2 for 1 Us dollar, so divide that price by 2.

Edited by tartan cruiser
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  • 3 weeks later...

We had signed up for the Best of Barbados tour for January, 2017 and paid in full. (Against my better judgement.) When our ship, the Viking Star, had a change in itinerary, we needed to move the tour to Sunday, rather than Saturday. I emailed 3 times over the months of August and September with no response. I finally called their office in Barbados and spoke with a very nice young man who said Sarah had been away but was due back at the end of that week. He said there would be no problem with changing dates and went ahead and did it for me.

I waited a week and emailed Sarah again. This time she responded and I received an updated "Pass" right away. I mentioned there had been questions re the lack of response on Cruise Critic and she might want to assign a staff member to monitor emails when she is away. Now looking forward to our full day tour and will let everyone know how it goes. The previous positive reviews here on Cruise Critic are what kept me from just canceling all together. Thanks everyone!

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  • 4 weeks later...
The island is beautiful but we felt a bit rushed to get to all the places. The website said we would have fish cakes and a drink at one stop and did not. The power was out at the lunch location (not Glory's fault) so we went to a side of the road place. We were the only ones on the tour "Beautiful Barbados" and is was just a feeling that the driver wanted to get it over with because he would not be getting a lot of tips. We had done great tours on all the other islands with guides that were proud of their country and shared all kinds of information. This one did not, lots of silent driving. I too had read her "smart" comments and I wanted to give them a chance but for the money I would go with someone else at a better rate.

Glory Tours "smart comments"-- That is why I haven't booked yet. TripAdvisor reviews seem generally favorable, but any critical remark is met with argument. She should realize that criticism is not the same as complaint, and that critical remarks can help her. They help customers know what to expect. A customer who knows what expect is less likely to complain, e.g. about food might be only so-so at lunch. Also a pattern in critical remarks can help her fine tune the tours.

 

The Little England tour seems to cover exactly what I'm interested in. (Hunte's Garden, Bathsheba, Cherry Tree Hill) But I'm just not sure. Maybe a taxi tour would be worth a little extra cost. Or splurge with a private guide for the day.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

We've just returned from our Viking Oceans Caribbean cruise and I wanted to be sure to share our experience with Glory Tours' "Best of Barbados".

 

+ Harrison’s Cave; snorkeling with turtles.

- No monkeys and time too short at Welchman Hall Gully; wasted time driving for only 15 minutes at Bathsheba; awful lunch at Pirate’s Cove.

 

There were only 6 of us in a very comfortable van. Our guide was pleasant and professional. “Rattled off” history and other information on Barbados as we traveled between sights but we didn’t feel his heart was in it. A few times he even repeated himself. We were dropped off at Harrison’s Cave, Welchman Hall Gully, and Pirate’s Cove for lunch and snorkel with turtles. He made sure we gained entrance at each stop but then disappeared until time for us to leave.

 

Harrison’s Cave – We arrived early and were on first tram into caves. Very different from the caves we’ve seen in the U.S. but just as beautiful. Tip – You don’t need a jacket (it’s not cold) but a rain hat and bag for camera would be useful (lots of drips).

 

Welchman Hall Gully – Our guide made it a point to say he couldn’t promise we’d see monkeys and we didn’t. Saw where they were fed earlier in the morning. Only a brief glimpse of them in the trees on the road back to Bridgetown. My husband saw one, but by the time I looked it was gone, of course. Would have liked more time at Gully and a guided tour rather than just being handed a brochure with numbers and names of what we would see. Wasted time just looking for numbers on the various trees and really didn’t know what we were seeing. Didn't get to the end of the path before we had to turn around and head back because we ran out of time.

 

Then we took off on steep and bumpy back roads to Bathsheba. Our guide/driver laughed that it was a special “short cut”. Still took a lot of time and even though the coastal scenery was beautiful, we only spent 15 minutes for a photo op there before getting back in the van for the long drive on to Pirate’s Cove.

 

Lunch at Pirate’s Cove was a buffet with main courses which looked like they had been sitting awhile. Light in building was low so hard to see what we were getting and servers not very pleasant. Only edible item was the macaroni and cheese. Ate outside at picnic table under pavilion where we were found by our "turtle crew". Beautiful beach. We were picked up in a flat bottom boat. Just had to wade out to about our knees. Cruised up the beach and dropped anchor for snorkel with turtles. Our “captain” and his “mate” were lots of fun and the turtles were awesome. Just four of us by that time (2 others left us before lunch) so very uncrowded around our boat. Got “up very close and personal” with 5 different turtles.” When we finished, Glory Tour guide was again waiting to take us back to ship which was very close by at that point.

 

I’m glad we got to see more of the island and the Glory Tours driver/van was certainly convenient. Don’t feel we were treated to the “Best of Barbados” though.

 

Our friends went through Costco tours for just Harrison’s Cave. It turned out their vehicle was Glory Tours also. Perhaps we would have been happier with one of Glory Tours shorter excursions. Didn’t have an opportunity to discuss all the options though as communication with owner was poor prior to the tour. The only thing that went smoothly was payment. This was the most expensive excursion of our cruise ($140 each) which had to be paid in advance. Guess what I won't do again?

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