Monkey Tour in Barbados?

[Caribbean Here We Come]

We'll be going on the Golden's "Classic Caribbean" on August 8. Any suggestions for the best shore excursions in those ports? There are so many great ones to chose from! We are planning on doing the 4 wheel drive tours in St. Lucia, Barbados & Antigua. In Antigua, we are considering the Land Rover tour instead. Also planning on doing "Scenes of St Lucia", "Snorkeling with the Stingrays" in Antigua, Duck Tour in St. Martin. For our day in St. Thomas we think we'll take the ferry on our own to St. John & do a taxi tour of St. John. Any highlights or things of interest? It will be myself & my Mom traveling together. I'm 35 & she's in her 50's. We're both very much into nature & excited about the beautiful scenery we'll be seeing! Happy cruising to everyone & thanks so much for contributing to the message boards!!

[cherylm]

Hi. I don't know if there is any specific monkey tour, but we took a cab to the Monkey Reserve. It cost abaout $60 for three of us roundtrip. We did see lots of monkeys, but they only come out mid afternoon. The second time we were there, we had rented a car and the monkeys never showed up. I saw your post under under topic . Have you checked out Antigua Adventures? It is a great tour and you see alot, but mostly by water. We were booked for it, but the tour cancelled as they said the water was too rough. It did not look rough to me at all, but they are the experts and I appreciate them not taking us if we would not like it.

[Senga]

I agree with your thought of doing St. John on your own but there is really no need to take a taxi tour. We did this last time and discovered the very nicest parts of St. John are seen on the jitney from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay and the drivers are more than willing to stop for photo opportunities. Part of our review: "Take a taxi from the pier ($2.50 ea.) to the ferry dock in Charlotte Amalie and go to St. John, U.S.V.I. ($7.00 ea. return). When you dock it will be a $3.00 ea. taxi ride from Cruz Bay to Trunk Bay then $4.00 ea. admission. You can rent beach chairs for $5.00 with a $25.00 deposit. If you like beaches I guarantee it will be the highlight of your trip."

 

In Barbados we did a private taxi tour and I have printed part of my review:

"Ordered a bouquet of tropical flowers, complete with bamboo vase, for $15. at the Exotic Blooms cart in the port terminal which we picked up on our return to the ship. We only wanted to visit the Barbados Wildlife Reserve but were paired up with another couple from the ship who were visiting Barbados for the first time and wanted a little tour. We were quoted $60. for return transportation to the Reserve for 2 so $80 total for the 4 of us for 3 ½ hours (9:50-1:20) was reasonable. Our 78-year-old driver Vernon was a friendly old guy and a very safe driver. We were advised by the ship’s Concierge that we might not see any green monkeys, which was our main objective, but she assured us the scenery was lovely so we decided to take our chances. Admission to the Reserve was $11.50 U.S. each and the only green monkey we saw was an orphan named Pedro. We would not even have seen him if I hadn’t struck up a conversation with one of the friendly workers. We saw deer, agoutis and lots of turtles. I would not recommend a trip to the Reserve. The highlight of the tour was a view of the Atlantic from Cherry Tree Hill."

 

I have pictures posted at: http://community.webshots.com/user/sengamilne if you're interested.

[Caribbean Here We Come]

Thank you Cheryl M & Senga for the great feedback on the ports. Senga, when were you in Barbados at the Monkey Reserve? Did you go on a tour with Princess? I'm concerned about there not being any monkeys there now that I read your post. Were there other animals or plants? Thanks again for the info!!

[Senga]

We were there in March and went early in the day. I have heard that the monkeys return to the Reserve in the afternoon so I don't know if timing would make the difference. They point out it is a reserve, not a zoo, and the monkeys are free to come and go. As noted in my post, "we saw deer, agoutis and lots of turtles" which I could easily see at the zoo at home.

[Caribbean Here We Come]

Thanks for the info. I think we might change it to the Natural Wonders tour. Do you know anyone that went on that?