BARBADOS-Thought and opinions.......
 

Hello,

Been there, done it and got the t-shirt!

Before I express my opinion about Barbados, it would be great to hear your experiences about the island. :thumb:

But I will pronounce myself about one thing before anything else: Virgin Atlantic.

DONT FLY Virgin Atlantic! It is the worst airline that has ever set foot on this planet! Cattle class applies very well to this airline, amongst a lot of other less savoury words!

Anyway spill your guts on 'Bados!!!

:luxhello: :luxhello:

I fly Virgin.... Premium Econ at all times, I'd NEVER fly cattle class with ANY airline!!

Virgins Check-in/Chill-out is a load of bollox though, it's their way of ensuring that the bags are all at the airport ready for the aircraft while maximising the use of less 'taxi's' for the passenger to airport runs!

I've been going for 15 years, and I've seen the island change somewhat, but for a cheap holiday somewhere fun with great food and beaches I rate it highly!

Do you stay in the same place each time?

Are the changes you have seen for "better"?

J

Move around a fair bit... depends what mood I'm in.... it used to be all sugar plantations and beach bars a few years back... but as the prices come down the tat increases....

The locals have been replaced by street vendors and 'businessmen' who've an eye on the contents of your wallet rather than the quality of the service being offered....

Still I suppose you get what you pay for....

I flew brittania to Barbados and stayed in club rockley as my ex's sister was getting married there.Was a nice little place with a nice golf course running right through it (guess where i was for 2 weeks) had a couple of nights in St Lawrence and a few day trips to Bridgetown even hired a taxi for a day which worked out about £20 all in great value for money.What i did notice though is that it was rarely sunny,always overcast but very hot and humid.I can't wait to go again

Ah..........the quality of certain things was an issue in my opinion.

I've been 7 times and stayed at the same hotel Fairmont Royal Pavilion
We love the Island and my son has grown up thinking its his second home.

The only mistake I made was not buying a place over there.
The traffic is getting heavier every time we go over.

We Fly Virgin Premium

Premium makes a huge difference to how you arrive... and start your holiday.... :thumb:

I also kick myself for not buying 15 years ago.... 5 bedroom villa (with freeform pool) for 65K.. :lol1:

:mad: Don't know why I'm feckin laughing!

Ive been once :)

Tied up Shallow Draught, Bridgetown, 1996 at the end of a race across teh pond on a Swan 65 .

I was hence dispatched to the middle of the island by taxi ( christ church ? ill have to look it up ) to repair a sail (personally),whilst crewmates were recieved at the local yacht club .

Got back 11pm via public transport - but the party was over :(

Boat was moved to Carlisle Bay after that (anchored) and after one LATE night party at the 'night-owl' ,towards Sandy Lane, we had to swim back to the Boat :eek:

Still it was a very moist 86 degrees most of the time so no harm done

Id have to say my Da was right the place looks a bit like a tropical Cornwall - probably cos its upwind of the rest of the islands by 100mile

id go again just to windsurf off the atlantic ( undeveloped side) :thumb:

Beautiful place that BBD is :cool: White sands, lucid see-through waters to see the turtles making love! :luvlove:
Unfortunately, I can't digest Caribbean food ( Yums and raw banana dishes are too much :( ), and the American restaurent serves one meal for four! The Indian one is a fake, as the Carib waiters wear Saris and Turbans without fekking trousers and petticoats :mad: So, the best things are the tamarind and green apple juice. :cool:

I love the place :thumb:

So the fodder is better or worse than anywhere south of Bradford ? :Suspiciou

Regarding flights, anything called Virgin is bound to be a serious bullsh!t and airy-fairy, if it has been going for a while.

Try BA next time :norty: :D

What???

Bradford is not to be even compared to a natural heaven like BBD, unless you run a restaurent there, pretending to be an Indian and wearing no flipping trousers :mad:

Sure will do!

Be a bit cold this time of year woudnt it !

Flights every day :thumb:

Check in at 4.30am, fly out of Heathrow at 6.30am, Fall asleep all the way, wake up at 1-ish, look down through the window, what do you see? Heaven! Pure heaven!!! :luvlove: Look at the face of the air attendent, they are all dead cute- male or female. And, they all wear trousers :thumb:
Get to BBD, oh, the heat gets me going! I don't give a flying fook to that preserved Concorde at the BBD airport, allI want is that tamarind juice on the beach!!! :notworthy:

Try BA next time. They are the least bumpy and most caring flights :thumb:

I got a flight outta of there ( wasnt Ba) to Miami - and there was an admirable lack of trouser i can tell you :D - Vicious taxes for leaving tho :eek:

It was good to hear your opinions and thoughts, so here I go!

Went to the south of the island, Silver Sands, which is the place to go for windsurf and kitesurf. The beach was amazing if not small, and the water was great.
Shame we could not use the beach thanks to all the idiot kitesurfers (sorry to those who actually do it!) that were trying to chop everyone on the beach in half with those high tension cables holding the sail.......anyway it was fun enough watching the windsurfers do their stuff.

We had a car and did most of the island and found it quite a place of contrasts. The west coast had small beaches that were unusuable thanks to the hotels planting themselves on the sea, and the amount of people on them. The east had some really nice beaches but they were impossible to swim at because of the hardcore sea and all the rocks on the breakpoint. The south was great as they had quite a few beaches with a lot of space, shade from all the trees, and just the right amount of movement to be entertained.
The access to the beaches was easier in the south too.

The food was great IMHO when you could find a place that did local and not yank food in massive doses! They also know how to use that heavy duty RUM of theirs, of which I am a fan (in fact more than Havana Club), in cocktails quite well.

People were generally very polite and corteous, except for the useless drunks who were always trying to get some money for more booze by selling anything that was not stuck to the ground! Come to think of it once we bought a big lobster from a guy in the area we were staying (fresh) for a good price and it was good!:norty:

Prices are ok, could be a bit cheaper not only for us but the locals too!

As far as the traffic goes, they sure had a lot of it for such a small place, but on the plus side I saw every MY of Subaru over there (every day), including a lot of SWs. On averge about 15 a day................

The island could have had a more organized and ecological tourism industry to say the least, it was a very nice place to go to but I imagine the place a few years ago must have been really amazing.

I want to go back, after having experienced all the places we did, it is easy to pick the places you want and have the holiday tailored to your needs!

Loved the place! :thumb:

That RUM was heavy!!!!

Time flies when you are having Rum! :D :D

BA arrived around 2.30 everyday.......earlier than (Slut) Virgin!

True! That's why i can't remember the landing times precisely :lol1:

Or where one landed! :lol1:

No, no.

I did work that out where I landed, as Snoop Dogg with a holy cross earring came to collect me in usual white taxi :thumb: and took me to my beach house about three hours later than expected :mad:

:D

Haha! Driving and texting is the new sport in 'bados nowadays!

Mount Gay Rum was the name of the hellish drink! :notworthy :notworthy

Well cheap too :D
I am not into hard drinks, but the partner was ecstatic to find that cheap as chips Gay drink :thumb: :D

Have you noticed scoobs there? Dual shaded neon coloured scoobs; driven by Fiddycent lookalikes? :cool: :D

Loads of Scoobs there, could not believe it! My wife was getting a bit tired of it, sort of like: "Hey look another ........Yes I know another Subaru!"

Loads of white Scoobs, and Wagons.

They like there rallys too

These were the people who sponsered our race across :thumb:

So apart from terrible flights with Virgin, and being out of your tree on rum, is it worth going? :D