Walking and Getting taxis in Bridgetown near Atlantis Sub/Carlisle Bay

[JSar]

So... in Barbados kids and I decided to do both the Submarine and the Shipwreck Turtle Snorkeling tours. I know we will see a lot of the same things, but usually when we have done "submarine" tours in the past... they are fake submarines that just go a few feet below the surface. We figured this is a great chance to do a deeper dive since we don't scuba dive (and while I can swim, I am not comfortable free diving deeper like my husband always did)....

 

Anyhow... trying to find a way to schedule both was much harder than it should have been! The only way to do it was to book the Submarine tour through NCL (because from the very day they posted tour times for our date... most of the times are listed as "sold out"... I assume it is because the various cruise lines have a hold on all of the seats). Anyhow... I could do the 9am submarine tour leaving the ship at 8:45 and returning to the ship at approximately 11:15. Then there were really only 2 good options for Snorkeling at the shipwreck site AND a chance to swim with the turtles (hopefully... if the turtles cooperate). So... there was one company that did a noon-ish tour, but it was only 1 hour on the boat....  and then another that has a 13:30 tour that last 1 1/2 hours... which gives us 2 hours to get back to the boat. This option also gives us a chance to grab some food either on the ship or along the way between the submarine ride and the snorkeling tour.

 

So, after the submarine... obviously we can take the shuttle bus back to the ship with the shore excursion, grab a quick lunch on the boat, and THEN head to Carlisle Bay for the snorkeling tour boat. OR... we can just tell the tour guide that we won't bother heading back to the ship and just head down to Carlisle Bay, grabbing some sort of fast food along the way. I have looked at google maps... and for MY family... it is a pretty easy walk distance wise (I think it was under 4km which is nothing for us). I know there will most likely be taxis at the cruise port... BUT..... 

 

Has anyone walked from Atlantis Sub down to Carlisle Bay? Is it a pleasant enough walk or crazy traffic? Will there usually be taxis outside of Atlantis sub if we don't want to go back to the ship first and decide not to walk? It would be kind of nice to get to the beach area faster so we can relax by the beach a little before the snorkeling tour.

 

Likewise.... I know I SHOULD have plenty of time to walk back to the ship, assuming the snorkeling tour ends on time. But if it doesn't... are their usually plenty of taxis waiting to take tourists back to the ship? The person I emailed at Tranquility Tours did say that sometimes their are taxis at Savvy... but is that something we can usually count on? 

 

Just trying to make sure we have contingency plans so we don't miss the ship should something go wrong!

 

 

[PORT ROYAL]

8 hours ago, JSar said:

So... in Barbados kids and I decided to do both the Submarine and the Shipwreck Turtle Snorkeling tours. I know we will see a lot of the same things, but usually when we have done "submarine" tours in the past... they are fake submarines that just go a few feet below the surface. We figured this is a great chance to do a deeper dive since we don't scuba dive (and while I can swim, I am not comfortable free diving deeper like my husband always did)....

 

Anyhow... trying to find a way to schedule both was much harder than it should have been! The only way to do it was to book the Submarine tour through NCL (because from the very day they posted tour times for our date... most of the times are listed as "sold out"... I assume it is because the various cruise lines have a hold on all of the seats). Anyhow... I could do the 9am submarine tour leaving the ship at 8:45 and returning to the ship at approximately 11:15. Then there were really only 2 good options for Snorkeling at the shipwreck site AND a chance to swim with the turtles (hopefully... if the turtles cooperate). So... there was one company that did a noon-ish tour, but it was only 1 hour on the boat....  and then another that has a 13:30 tour that last 1 1/2 hours... which gives us 2 hours to get back to the boat. This option also gives us a chance to grab some food either on the ship or along the way between the submarine ride and the snorkeling tour.

 

So, after the submarine... obviously we can take the shuttle bus back to the ship with the shore excursion, grab a quick lunch on the boat, and THEN head to Carlisle Bay for the snorkeling tour boat. OR... we can just tell the tour guide that we won't bother heading back to the ship and just head down to Carlisle Bay, grabbing some sort of fast food along the way. I have looked at google maps... and for MY family... it is a pretty easy walk distance wise (I think it was under 4km which is nothing for us). I know there will most likely be taxis at the cruise port... BUT..... 

 

Has anyone walked from Atlantis Sub down to Carlisle Bay? Is it a pleasant enough walk or crazy traffic? Will there usually be taxis outside of Atlantis sub if we don't want to go back to the ship first and decide not to walk? It would be kind of nice to get to the beach area faster so we can relax by the beach a little before the snorkeling tour.

 

Likewise.... I know I SHOULD have plenty of time to walk back to the ship, assuming the snorkeling tour ends on time. But if it doesn't... are their usually plenty of taxis waiting to take tourists back to the ship? The person I emailed at Tranquility Tours did say that sometimes their are taxis at Savvy... but is that something we can usually count on? 

 

Just trying to make sure we have contingency plans so we don't miss the ship should something go wrong!

 

 

If wishing something less convoluted and no faff, getting a full day luxury experience with lunch, drinks, snorkel, turtles, shipwreck, etc.. on a pax limited Cat…. Do seriously consider 

 

Elegance

https://www.elegancebarbados.com

Or

Silver Moon.

https://silvermoonbarbados.com

Or

Calypso

https://calypsocruisesbarbados.com/

 

Note to self..  Check the Cat operator’s start times with one’s ship’s docking time…..

Edited September 28 by PORT ROYAL
Predictive

[JSar]

2 hours ago, PORT ROYAL said:

If wishing something less convoluted and no faff, getting a full day luxury experience with lunch, drinks, snorkel, turtles, shipwreck, etc.. on a pax limited Cat…. Do seriously consider 

 

Note to self..  Check the Cat operator’s start times with one’s ship’s docking time…..

Thanks. Yes... looked into them. But kids want to get a chance to do a deeper sea dive on the submarine too and their times don't work with the submarine. Maybe next time...

 

And yes...always check ship time with local time and confirm the "all aboard" time. I do change time zones on this trip, but I think all (or at least most) of the islands are on the same time zone so I am hoping the ship does change to at least the most common time zone - I would think they would to avoid confusion on EVERY port day. The other ships I have been on have changed to local time.