Looking for Tour of Island

[CrusinAgain]

We are looking for a good tour operator to see the highlights of Barbados. We are not interested in snorkeling or beach going but want to see the true Barbados. Who would you recommend?

 

Also want to do some souvenir type shopping. Is there some there at the port?

 

Thanks to all who can help.

[cinnam0n]

Contact Cameron Reid at scenicbarbados.com. He is a very nice man and will customize a tour of the island according to what YOU would like to see. His email and phone are on his website. We really enjoyed our day with him.

When you get into port at Barbados, there is a cruise terminal that you must walk through that has various little shops for souveniers, etc. There is also a little straw market set up outside of it. It's only a 5 minutes cab ride to the downtown area, also. We have found that Barbados isn't as good as St. Lucia or Antigua for the inexpensive (translate = cheap) souveniers, though.

[rjscott]

I second the vote for Cameron Reid. We had a very nice driver, Herman, and after taking us to the spots we wanted to see for sure, we let him take us to areas he thought were worthwhile.

[LuvMyVette]

HI

DH/I will be in Barbados in December. I do have a few questions regarding Cameron if you don't mind answering them.

• Cost per person?
  
• Payment in cash?
  
• Deposit needed?
  
• Minimum group of people for tour?
  
• Length of tour?
  
• Is the van baby seat friendly? (We're trying to adopt a baby and not sure if we'll have a baby with us during this cruise. Trying to make sure that the bus/van has seatbelts to strap in the car seat.)
  
• Best spots in Barbados to visit?
  
• Where would we meet Cameron at after we get off the ship?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you!

 

Sea ya!

[cinnam0n]

Well, I can answer some of these questions. Regarding cost and number of people, that would be something only Cameron could answer and would depend on what you want to do. He will do anything from just taking you to one place that you want to go to, to an entire day tour covering most of the island.

We had been to Barbados once before, and had gone to several botanical gardens (the Flower Forest, Andromeda Gardens, Welchman Hall Gully) and to a beach. This time we really wanted to see the Wildlife Reserve (http://www.barbadosmonkey.com), which is in the northern part of the island. We also found a lighthouse when doing some research on the internet that we wanted to go see and photograph. So I emailed Cameron and told him what we wanted to do and he quoted me a price. There were 5 of us and it was $30 pp. This was for about 4 hours or so. We met him right outside the cruise terminal (you must pass through it when you get off the ship) at 9:00AM. I imagine the cost would depend on the number of people, so as I said, you would have to discuss that with him. His van was very nice and modern, with regulation seatbelts, so a car seat wouldn't be a problem. We did not need to make a deposit and paid him in cash at the end of the tour.

Barbados is a nice island. The western coast is very "caribbean" - calm and peaceful beaches. The eastern coastline is rocky and more spectacular (because it is basically the Atlantic, and not as sheltered) I, for one, love the views on the eastern side. We traveled up the eastern coastline and back down the western side on our trip in March. The western side is the one with the resorts, etc. You will enjoy your trip there, I think!

[rjscott]

Cameron has several drivers who work for him, and he also does tours himself. Cameron was there, just outside the cruise terminal, to meet us and to introduce us to our driver. The size of your group will help him determine what size vehicle you'll need. Cameron and I emailed back and forth a few times to determine what sights we could see in the period of time we were allowing for our tour. He based the price on the time we would be spending with our driver. We did run over almost an hour, but the driver did not charge us extra. If you don't have specific sights you want to see, Cameron does have "standard" tours he does. So, as suggested, contact Cameron directly and get the current info from him.

[cinnam0n]

Yes, these drivers are very knowledgeable and very proud of their island. If you let them know the type of things you are interested in, they are the best ones to get recommendations from. We went overtime, too, and Cameron also stopped a few places along the way that we hadn't planned on stopping but that he thought we might be interested in.

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks so much everyone. I have e-mailed him and awaiting his response. In the meantime can you tell me what are the highlights we should see and not miss? I have no idea what to tell him we want to see.

 

Also thanks for the tidbit regarding the souvenir shopping.

 

Thansk so much! :)

[granddutchess]

We toured with Cameron Reid when we were on Barbodos the first week in July on AOS. I contacted him and noted what we would like to see on the island as well as beach time and snorkling. He went out of his way to make it our day. Cameron is such a fine gentleman. We went to the Nature Preserve to see the Green Monkeys, did some swimming at Malibu Beach and toured what seemed like the whole island. I would not hesitate to recommend Cameron.

[cinnam0n]

CruisinAgain, it all really depends on the kind of things you like. Something that helps us is to look at the shore excursions that our ship offers. We rarely do the ship-sponsored tours, but looking over them gives us an idea of what there is to do. If we see something interesting, we try to find out about it on the internet. Like I said in my prior posts, we did sort of a "botanical" tour on our first trip to Barbados, but we also got to see a lot of the island. We had really wanted to see the green monkeys, so opted to go to the Wildlife Reserve this time. It was incredible! People say that Harrison's Cave is awesome if you like that kind of thing, but I know it is temporarily closed and I'm not sure when it's scheduled to re-open. I think there's a thread about it here. If you're a beach person, there are plenty of those, and I'm sure Cameron knows the best ones. There are craft centers, rum distilleries, museums, several lighthouses - you just have to decide what you want to see.

[rjscott]

Here's a good website to look at the various sights/places of interest on Barbados: http://www.barbados.org/do.htm We've been to Harrison's Cave, Gun Hill Station, Bathsheba, the Wildlife Reserve, and some very beautiful beaches. On our tour with Cameron Reid, we had told our driver we wanted to go to a local kind of place for lunch. He took us to Round Top. We had some of the local specialties, like flying fish. The restaurant was right at the water's edge, in a beautiful setting.

[CrusinAgain]

Oh well, I need more choices of tour operators since Cameron got back to me and the tour is $125 for 3-4 hours of our choice. I don't understand how everyone else got it for $35. $125 is out of our range for 2 people. I guess if we can't find anyone we will have to just check out the port. Bummer.

[jimc_usa]

Oh well, I need more choices of tour operators since Cameron got back to me and the tour is $125 for 3-4 hours of our choice. I don't understand how everyone else got it for $35. $125 is out of our range for 2 people. I guess if we can't find anyone we will have to just check out the port. Bummer.

 

Mabe he needs more people for the tour and the price pp would come down.

[CrusinAgain]

Mabe he needs more people for the tour and the price pp would come down.

 

I e-mailed him back with that. Normally the tour operators we have dealt with on other islands schedule you at the group rate and they will pick up others as the date gets closer.

[cinnam0n]

Have you been on the Roll Call thread for your cruise? That's a good place to get someone to join your group. Our price was $30 pp, but as I said, there are 5 of us. Even if you can get another couple, that would get the price down considerably.

[floridalady]

We toured with Cameron Reid when we were on Barbodos the first week in July on AOS. I contacted him and noted what we would like to see on the island as well as beach time and snorkling. He went out of his way to make it our day. Cameron is such a fine gentleman. We went to the Nature Preserve to see the Green Monkeys, did some swimming at Malibu Beach and toured what seemed like the whole island. I would not hesitate to recommend Cameron.

can you tell me anything about malibu beach---how was the water...crowds,bar...any food.....clean??????

[CrusinAgain]

Have you been on the Roll Call thread for your cruise? That's a good place to get someone to join your group. Our price was $30 pp, but as I said, there are 5 of us. Even if you can get another couple, that would get the price down considerably.

 

Yes for a good 8 months now. So far most seem to like beaches. Hopefully Cameron will be able to get a group going since he seems so popular that shouldn't be a problem.

[floridalady]

Here's a good website to look at the various sights/places of interest on Barbados: http://www.barbados.org/do.htm We've been to Harrison's Cave, Gun Hill Station, Bathsheba, the Wildlife Reserve, and some very beautiful beaches. On our tour with Cameron Reid, we had told our driver we wanted to go to a local kind of place for lunch. He took us to Round Top. We had some of the local specialties, like flying fish. The restaurant was right at the water's edge, in a beautiful setting.

what did you think of harrisons cave and what is your favorite beach -one with calm waters

[floridalady]

can you tell me anything about malibu beach---how was the water...crowds,bar...any food.....clean??????