What to do in Barbados Waiting for an Afternoon Flight?

[sparkles]

We’re interested in a fall cruise that ends in Barbados. Unfortunately the earliest flight doesn’t leave until 4pm. Hanging around the airport doesn’t sound like much fun. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

[sparkles]

I posted this here because I’m looking at the Quebec City to Bridgetown cruise on the Serenity, I’ll try posting on the Caribbean forum.

[USCAdventurer]

you could go on a tour of the Mount Gay Rum factory.  or you could check your bags somewhere and go to the beach for awhile.  just my thoughts.

[crickette]

or you could book another leg and go back to Florida!

[ryndam]

Try a day pass. ResortPass.com offers various resort day pass options.

 

Rob

[sparkles]

Thanks All for the suggestions. The problem is mostly with our luggage. I looked for places to check our bags but couldn’t find anything. I looked for day passes but didn’t see any with luggage storage. We don’t want to rent a car, that’s a disaster waiting to happen for us to drive on the left! 

[sasejm]

We were on a cruise from Miami to Barbados in November and were scheduled to fly out on the 4:15 PM AA flight to Miami. Rather than sit in the airport all day, we took a private island tour from the cruise terminal. The driver had a van, and all our luggage fit into his van. He dropped us off at the airport around 2:00 PM, which gave us more than enough time to check in at the airport. I believe the cost for the private tour including dropping us off at the airport was approximately $300.00.

[sparkles]

Thanks sasejm! Do you happen to remember the name of the tour company?

[sasejm]

53 minutes ago, sparkles said:

Thanks sasejm! Do you happen to remember the name of the tour company?

I don't think Cruise Critic rules will allow me to provide travel company information. If anyone knows otherwise, let me know. I searched for private tours in Barbados and then looked for reviews of that tour company. What was nice about having a private tour was you could advise the driver what you wanted to see or not see, and he would fashion a tour around your interests. 

[sasejm]

1 hour ago, sparkles said:

Thanks sasejm! Do you happen to remember the name of the tour company?

Hi Sparkles - I found a link to the Cruise Critic "Guidelines" regarding providing information about tour companies. Here is the link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/guidelines/#:~:text=Cruise Critic has strict guidelines,all of our message boards.

[sparkles]

1 hour ago, sasejm said:

Hi Sparkles - I found a link to the Cruise Critic "Guidelines" regarding providing information about tour companies. Here is the link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/guidelines/#:~:text=Cruise Critic has strict guidelines,all of our message boards.

Ah yes, I’d forgotten about that. I’ll look around. Thanks!

[oakridger]

You can name the tour companies you used on your Roll Call.  Just not Travel Agents.

 

Example: "I went on Jane's tour in Tahiti. Jane'stour.com" or the like.

 

~Nancy

[Psoque]

We haven’t been to Barbados recently, but there are a few very nice gardens you could visit there.  You might be able to hire a driver to pick you up at the ship and give you a tour of some of the gardens before dropping you off at the airport.

 

The gardens we enjoyed in Barbados include:

 

Hunte’s Gardens (Highly recommended…one of our favorite gardens anywhere!)

Andromeda Botanic Gardens

Welchman Hall Gully (more of a protected mini-forest)

Orchid World

Flower Forest

 

 

[saatuk]

Two ideas.

 

Hire a taxi.  When I was last there two years ago it was about $40 per hour.

 

Not sure about Crystal, but many/most cruise lines offer a tour for people with late flights that does some scenic things and drops you and your luggage at the airport. 

[daleandrews]

Some years back we did the island tour with eventual drop off at the airport.  It worked out well.  As I remember we bargained for the tour with a driver who was lined up at the terminal.  Sometimes cruise companies will offer a transfer to the airport that includes some form of island tour.  I don't know if Crystal plans to do this but would not be surprised.  Incidentally, we are booked on that Quebec City to Barbados cruise next fall.

[sparkles]

On 1/18/2024 at 3:00 PM, daleandrews said:

Some years back we did the island tour with eventual drop off at the airport.  It worked out well.  As I remember we bargained for the tour with a driver who was lined up at the terminal.  Sometimes cruise companies will offer a transfer to the airport that includes some form of island tour.  I don't know if Crystal plans to do this but would not be surprised.  Incidentally, we are booked on that Quebec City to Barbados cruise next fall.

Hi Dale Andrews - I was emailing with a personal cruise consultant at Crystal. I told her the problem with booking that cruise was that we don’t want to spend a whole day at the airport. She didn’t suggest any solutions so I figured they must not offer any transfers that included tours. I’m still looking at the day pass at a hotel option, but even if I find one I’m not sure I can convince my DH to go for it. Especially since the flight home includes an overnight connection. 🙄  I don’t give up easily though.

Edited January 20 by sparkles

[PaulMCO]

It will really depends on the port and what kind of zoo it is.  There were 2 other big ships in port (4000 passengers each).  We were there last week and the process was get off the ship, and board a bus.  Arrive at a side terminal where immigration was located, clear immigration, get luggage, stand in customs line and clear customs.  For most -- get on bus with luggage and transport to the main terminal.  Catch taxi.

 

We were allowed to stay on the ship until 9:45 and arrived at the airport at 11:30 just in time for the start of check in.  At 12:15 in the lounge,  Our flight boarded at 3pm (3:42 depart)- AA to Miami.

 

Cruise line (Explora) - had a 1/2 day tour and cautioned us on this because it was schedule to return at 1:45 to airport but could be delayed because of the port issues.

 

My suggestion would be to be flexible and plan on doing siteseeing with taxi  if time allows, as port conditions could vary.

[Roland4]

40 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

It will really depends on the port and what kind of zoo it is.  There were 2 other big ships in port (4000 passengers each).  We were there last week and the process was get off the ship, and board a bus.  Arrive at a side terminal where immigration was located, clear immigration, get luggage, stand in customs line and clear customs.  For most -- get on bus with luggage and transport to the main terminal.  Catch taxi.

 

We were allowed to stay on the ship until 9:45 and arrived at the airport at 11:30 just in time for the start of check in.  At 12:15 in the lounge,  Our flight boarded at 3pm (3:42 depart)- AA to Miami.

 

Cruise line (Explora) - had a 1/2 day tour and cautioned us on this because it was schedule to return at 1:45 to airport but could be delayed because of the port issues.

 

My suggestion would be to be flexible and plan on doing siteseeing with taxi  if time allows, as port conditions could vary.

One thing that may work to our advantage is that Serenity and Mein Schiff II are the only ones in town that day according to the harbour schedule, and the Mein Schiff is doing an overnight to the 19th.