What not to miss in Barbados?

[Manda2831]

We'll be cruising the Carnival Victory on her Southern Caribbean itinerary out of San Juan, PR about a year from now with a group of about 40 and I'm trying to put together a packet of information for the people in my group about what we shouldn't miss in each Port of Call. I'm looking for advice from my Cruise Critic friends for this undertaking. Could you tell me what we shouldn't miss in Barbados and why you enjoyed it? Thanks so much!

[davidnsteph]

We have been to Barbados on 2 cruises. On our 1st visit on Dawn Princess in 2005, we took a ship-sponsored tour to Harrison's Caves. The caves were truly awesome, with an infinite number of stalactites and stalagmites of all sizes. The ceilings of the caves resembled a cathedral. We drove through the caves in electric open cars, and got out at several places to appreciate the sights.

 

On our 2nd visit on Emerald Princess last February, we took the Sugar Tour. We visited St. Nicholas Abbey, an old sugar cane plantation, with a Dutch gabled-roof great house. On the day we were there, sugar cane was being harvested and crushed into cane juice. We saw the huge antique diesel-powered cane press in action, saw the rum-making process and sampled the aged rum. We also toured the last cane press powered by a windmill that remains on the island. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at the picturesque Bathsheba coast.

 

We found both of these tours to be equally memorable and enjoyable, and would recommend either of them.

 

DavidnSteph