Barbados Excursion - swimming with turtles

[flapjack62]

Hello everyone :)

 

We are booked on to the Transatlantic Southampton to the Caribbean on Azura this October. We will be travelling with my daughter and her boyfriend. They are very keen to do some kind of snorkelling trip where they may be able to see some turtles and it looks as though Barbados will be the best place to do this, however ... we will be disembarking in Barbados and flying home later the same day so our time will be limited.

 

I have seen that there is sometimes a P&O excursion offered whereby you can snorkel and see turtles and this is commonly around 3 hours in length.

 

Has anyone been on this excursion and can tell me whether this is appropriate for someone who is going to be heading to the airport after lunch? Would we be able to do this trip and be safely back at the ship in time to make our coach to the airport? :confused:

 

Thanks in advance.

[Host Sharon]

Try asking in the Ports Section flapjack62. You may have more luck.

[Midsomer Madness]

My husband is doing this excursion this year and for some reason the excursion is at 12 noon. If its the same later in the year you would not have time for it before heading to the airport.

 

However when we did this trip on previous cruises it was at 9.00 a.m so its possible you could fit it in, although unless we had a very late flight I don't think we would risk it.

[NauticalMiss]

We did this excursion on our last day in January. There was plenty of time after the trip for showering and lunching prior to debarking.

 

The only problem we had was that our hand luggage could not be be left in the theatre until 8:00am at the earliest; but we had to be on the excursion coach by 7:45am. So we asked if we could drop our hand luggage off earlier so that we wouldn't have to take it on the excursion, but those responsible (the entertainment team, I think) refused. The purser could not persuade anyone and was very embarrassed to have to tell us. In the event, we took hand luggage on the trip; it got wet and one of my tops for the return flight was ruined and could not be worn again.

 

Although this was a 'local' issue, I have fed it back to P&O Head office so hopefully it will be different in future.

[jeanlyon]

We did a private excursion with Glory Tours - all round the Island and then swimming with the turtles which was excellent. Only 8 of us in the bus and much cheaper than P&O

[flapjack62]

Many thanks to everyone for feedback on this. It is encouraging to think that with a 9.00am excursion we could potentially manage the snorkelling, I guess we will have to wait until the times are released to make a decision.

 

Jean, was your excursion with Glory Tours on the final day? How did the timing work around getting to the airport?

 

Many thanks :)

[geecee1]

We did a private excursion with Glory Tours - all round the Island and then swimming with the turtles which was excellent. Only 8 of us in the bus and much cheaper than P&O

 

 

 

Agree. Private can be cheaper than booking with P&O. We did one with Tiami(hope that is the right spelling). Great way to spend a few hours! They even dropped us on the beach at Sandy Lane!!!!!

[jeanlyon]

Sorry, mine was Caribbean and back from Falmouth! But I'm sure if you go here you can find out http://www.glorytours.org/tours.html

[jeanlyon]

Prices on Glory Tours look more expensive than when I did it though!

[flapjack62]

Thank you everyone! :)

 

I have contacted Glory Tours and they are able to offer us a tailored excursion to swim with Turtles for around £30pp which I am sure will be less than booking with P&O.

I am going to wait until flight times are confirmed before confirming the booking with them but fingers crossed we will be able to fulfil my daughter's dream before we fly home :D

[Holly24]

Hi, when flying out of Barbados depending upon P&o charter or schedule flight you may have to participate in the immigration checks first thing in the morning before they let anyone ashore, and double check flight times. We have done a few of these sailings and Barbados traffic can be tricky sometimes to get to the airport, one year it took us 45 mins to get to the airport and another year it took well over an hour. They also vary the waiting times at the airport depending upon the traffic, anything from an hour to two and a half. And if you are on a scheduled flight this may be different again. I don't want to be a scaremonger I'm sure you'll look into all this. I hope you have a wonderful time. H

[Whatshallicallmyself]

If you are stopping at grand turk this is a good place to snorkel, people saw hump back whales on their way to the reef and lots of fish and turtles.

[flapjack62]

Hi, when flying out of Barbados depending upon P&o charter or schedule flight you may have to participate in the immigration checks first thing in the morning before they let anyone ashore, and double check flight times. We have done a few of these sailings and Barbados traffic can be tricky sometimes to get to the airport, one year it took us 45 mins to get to the airport and another year it took well over an hour. They also vary the waiting times at the airport depending upon the traffic, anything from an hour to two and a half. And if you are on a scheduled flight this may be different again. I don't want to be a scaremonger I'm sure you'll look into all this. I hope you have a wonderful time. H

 

Thank you Holly, I shall certainly bear this in mind before organising anything. :)

 

If you are stopping at grand turk this is a good place to snorkel, people saw hump back whales on their way to the reef and lots of fish and turtles.

 

Sadly, not calling at Grand Turk (although I would love to!), our ports are Ponta Delgarda, St Maarten, St Lucia, Grenada, St Kitts and finally Barbados. I am not sure any of these other islands will offer the same turtle opportunities that Barbados does ... would certainly be helpful if they did :rolleyes: :D

[mollymoomoo]

We have just come back from Barbados on Sunday after being on the Ventura. We went to the Boatyard which was only about a ten minute drive by taxi. The sand and sea were lovely. There was a boat coming up to the beach to take people out to the turtles. The bar there also had a sign up saying free visits to the turtles, not sure how that worked though as we didn't do it.

[Blodders70]

Our bus driver told us that Friday can be hectic so the drive to the airport will take longer so on Saturday departures, the drive doesn't take so long!

 

We did the turtle swim on our full day in Barbados so no advice but I would highly recommend it!

 

Enjoy your cruise 😊