Scenic Barbados Tours (NOT Cameron Reid Tours)

[santa24]

I wish our tour had gone as well as others here. We had a tour booked in early February when we docked with the Serenade. Edwin Lovell met us and advised us that he had to attend a "port meeting" that day so put us in the "capable " hands of his collegue. There was only us and another couple from our ship booked. Our first stop was St. James Parish church, then a stop on Cherry Tree Hill, a stop at a small snack bar on the inland roads for a refreshment which we paid for and there certainly was no view. We were offered another church stop but he didn't seem all that interested and didn't offer up a reason why it would be worth seeing. Lots of time in a van with nothing to see. Another stop at Bathsheba where the view was breathtaking but then on to a rather boring cross island trip. We had booked this to go to Accra beach as the final stop but the driver said that Edwin advised we should not go there as facilities for tourists were lacking and he was going to take us to another beach where there were good facilities but the beach wasn't all that good. We didn't recognize the name of the beach so we declined. The other couple requested a drop off in town and we asked about pottery spots. He advised he could take us instead of the beach to a pottery studio but it would cost us more. We asked to be dropped off near the craft shops and would find what we wanted there. We had tours booked at each of the islands and unfortunately this one ranked at the bottom of the list. We hope to go back and have a look at Barbados from a different perspective.

[galliegirlie]

We toured with Eddie last Wednesday while in Barbados. We booked the cruise ship tour (2 +2), but like others have said it ended up being more like 5-6 hours. Since it is a round island tour, there is alot of driving involved, but I felt there were enough picture stops to break up the drive. We had 8 people on the tour, although it started off as 6. When we got to the first church Eddie got a call that 2 people had arrived late (we had left over 40 minutes ago). He must have arranged to meet them halfway, cause when we returned to the van after our tour of the church he was not there! He did not even tell us he was leaving, and we had our bags in the van! He returned about 15 mins later and we went on our way. The full tour included stops at 2 churches, Cherry Tree Hill, a refreshment stop for rum punch/beer (on him), Bathsheba, and the hotel private beach. Eddie is not the most chatty of tour guides, and really only offered up information if we asked for it, but he was plesant and kind. The website itinerary says that Accra beach is the beach visited during the tour, although I think this is incorrect. We were atleast 1 mile north of the main Accra Beach (looked very busy from the street), at the Coconut Court Hotel. We received wrist bands at the hotel to use their beach chairs, restrooms, and access to their bar/restaurant. The private beach was a very pleasant suprise. The water at the beach is very shallow, a little rocky, and had some pretty strong waves near the break water, but it was clear blue and refreshing. We stayed for about 1 hr 45 mins. We asked Eddie to drop us off at Bridge St in town on the way back, so that we could do some shopping in town before heading back to the ship. The walk back to town is not that bad if you are used to walking, however we did get a little sun burnt since we were walking towards the sun the whole way.

 

All in all, for $30 pp I feel this was a great tour and well worth your money including a private hotel beach and a rum punch!

[takevtr1]

Looks like Edwin is getting some pretty good reviews.

I will be there in Aug and thinking about using him for my group pf 7.

 

Do you know if we can get a private tour for the 7 of us?

 

Also, any thoughts on visiting the Concorde plane exhibt? I have not heard anybody mention this at all.

 

Thanks,

Mitch......

[kenrod]

On our port intensive itinerary on board the Carnival Victory, I have found that Barbados was the hardest port to decide what to do. Thankfully, I found this thread and read what other CC members had to say about this excursion.

 

Last night I booked a tour with Edwin Lovell at Scenic Barbados Tours. The price is right, and it is not a long tour, which is exactly what we wanted. Edwin promptly replied to us within 24 hours.

 

I sent him a message from his web site stating that I was uncomfortable paying with a credit card in advance. He replied to me that we could pay after the tour. This is very reassuring. Thanks to all who contributed to this thread.

 

Now I am really looking forward to our stop in Barbados!

[swom]

On our port intensive itinerary on board the Carnival Victory, I have found that Barbados was the hardest port to decide what to do. Thankfully, I found this thread and read what other CC members had to say about this excursion.

 

Last night I booked a tour with Edwin Lovell at Scenic Barbados Tours. The price is right, and it is not a long tour, which is exactly what we wanted. Edwin promptly replied to us within 24 hours.

 

I sent him a message from his web site stating that I was uncomfortable paying with a credit card in advance. He replied to me that we could pay after the tour. This is very reassuring. Thanks to all who contributed to this thread.

 

Now I am really looking forward to our stop in Barbados!

 

Just remember you are doing a tour on "island time" so don't be surprised if the tour last longer than stated. In case you had other things you wanted to do.....I know when we took his tour, it was a longer tour than we had signed up for....not that I'm complaining....:D

[kenrod]

Roger Wilco swom.

 

I realize the island timing. I just didn't want a full day tour because we would be taking quite a few of those on our itinerary. Just the highlights and a little beach time for our day in Barbados is fine.

[kenrod]

We took Scenic Barbados Tours on Wednesday, April 28, 2010. There were some folks on our tour that we had met on our tour in Dominica, as well as some folks who we toured with in St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten afterwards.

 

We met Edwin outside of the port gates at 9:30 am. There were several tour operators vying for "walk-off" passenger tours, but they all seemed to know Edwin and pointed us in the direction where Edwin would be.

 

Edwin picked us up and we had a full van. He started off with the statisitcs of the islands such as population, area, local currency, history, etc. Edwin also told us that this day was "Heroes Day" a national holiday, so most residents had the day off and were at the parks and beaches playing cricket, having a barbecue, and doing family things as we would do at home.

 

We drove north along the west coast past all the rich houses, resorts and condos. Edwin pointed out the Sandy Lane Golf Course and Resort where Tiger Woods got married.

 

Next we went to Holetown, where Edwin told us that the river is where the British first landed, and that the river resembled a "hole" in the bay. Nearby we stopped at St. James Anglican church where he explained that the church was made of hand cut coral, and that it was the first church in Barbados. Inside, we were met by some custodians of the church who gave us brochures of the church, told us the history and answered any questions we might have had.

 

Following the church, we made our way up to the interior of the island. Edwin explained why the "Chattle" houses were built on cement blocks. The people owned the houses, but not the land. Chattle is a movable posession so the homeowners could move their houses if they chose to do so.

 

During our travels, Edwin also explained that every parish (or county) had a church. For example in St. James Parish, there is St. James Church, and in St. Andrew's Parish there is St. Andrew's church.

 

We drove by Freedom Village, which is the oldest town in Barbados, established in 1832. It is a former plantation owned by Samuel Rock. Rock owned a lot of slaves at that time. Rock pledged that when he died he would give the land to the slaves and that they would be freed. The slaves expedited Rock's demise by poisoning him then divided up the land. Such a pity because in 1834, slavery was abolished.

 

We drove by some sugar cane fields and a flower farm on our way to our next stop. A spectaular view of Mount Hillaby which is the highest point in Barbados at over 1,100 ft (343 metres). There we also had a view of the Atlantic coast of the island. There is a little gift shop and a refreshment stand, and there is also a monkey if you wanted to pay and take some pictures of it.

 

Next we drove down to the Atlantic side where we passed by the Chalky Mountains. Edwin explained that this mountain is where the materials for pottery come from.

 

The Atlantic side is too rough for swimming. There are signs posted all along the coast warning would be bathers not to swim there. Edwin explained that in January/February every year the Leatherback Turtles come to the Atlantic beaches to lay their eggs. Also at the same time the Loggerhead Turtles make their nests on the Caribbean side.

 

Along the Atlantic coast we arrived at the town of Bathsheba where the beaches had those mushroom shaped rocks that I have seen in pictures here on Cruise Critic. We stopped several times for photos then went up the hill for a panoramic shot of the town and beach.

 

Our next stop was St. Andrew's church where there was a breathtaking view of the Atlantic coast from on top of the hill. This is that church with the graveyard and the sundial that once again I have seen in pictures on Cruise Critic. I have to admit, the sundial was a little disappointing. The pictures I have seen of it made the sundial look bigger than it actually was. No biggie though, it is just an observation of mine.

 

On our way back to Bridgetown, Edwin explained that the biggest fast food chain in Barbados is "Chefette", with its 14 locations around the island. McDonalds tried to get a foot hold in Barbados, but that franchise didn't last. We passed by the former McDonalds in which the building still looks like a McDonalds, but it is now a real estate company or some sort of financial institution (I can't remember which). KFC is now making some headway for the fast food competition in Barbados. It seems that KFC is opening up locations next to Chefette, similar to what Starbucks has done to smaller coffee shops back at home.

 

We were given the choice of either going to Accra Beach or to the Coconut Court Hotel for the beach portion of our excursion. No one on our tour had a preference. Edwin made some phone calls to ask how rough the waters were as well as how crowded Accra Beach was, due to the national holiday. It was decided that we go to the Coconut Court Hotel and spend about 1-1/2 hours there. There, we could use all the hotel beach chairs and amenities, with the exception of the swimming pool. Since the beach was on hotel property, we were given a wrist band, and there were plenty of chairs to set up under any of the many palm trees.

 

After the beach portion of our tour was finished, Edwin took us downtown and explained a few of the sights there. Since it was a holiday, downtown Bridgetown was practically empty. We also had a request from one of the passengers to visit an old Holiday Inn from the 70s, which is now something else, but still as elegant as she remembered. Edwin was alway flexible in stopping for anything if it was requested.

 

Then we went to the port where we were dropped off inside the gates and right at the buildings where the Carnival Victory was docked at 3:00 pm. We paid Edwin in cash after the tour.

 

All in all, our tour took about 5-1/2 hours in total. It was supposed to be 2 hours of touring and 2 hours of beaching. In fact it was more like 4 hours of touring and 1-1/2 hours of beaching. Still, we had plenty of time to spend on the ship before we left port at 4:30.

 

Edwin Lovell is very knowledgable and thoughful guide. He is also a humble and polite man. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour that he gave us. His price of $30.00 per person ($15.00 for our 6 year old) was well worth it. I left Barbados with a greater understanding of the country, and I was able to see a lot of the sights that I have seen in pictures here on Cruise Critic.

 

In short, I highly recommend Scenic Barbados Tours as your excursion in Barbados. It is the personalized service, the knowledge of the sights/history/island facts, a combination of touring and beach time, and of course the price, all of which makes this tour a great value in my eyes.

[airlink diva]

Thanks for the info Kenrod!! I'm in the process of looking at tour options in Barbados and viewed their website!!

[lrtjs5]

Just got back from our Victory cruise today. We had Scenic Barbados booked. It was pouring down rain. We decided to show up anyway so we headed down to deck 0. There we got in line to buy ponchos and finally got off the ship. We were 8 minutes late due to the rain and there was no one there. A man told us Edwin Lovell was gone. He called him on his cell and he said to get a cab to take us to the church which was the first stop. No cab driver would do it! There were not but about 5 or so standing around but no one would take the job. I would think he could have waited longer than 8 minutes due to the heavy rain. I have never been late to an excusion before.......so we just went back to the ship and saw nothing but rain.

[kenrod]

What a shame about the rain, and more importantly about Edwin leaving you behind. I really can't believe that he didn't wait a few minutes! I mean, you reserved a spot(s) on the tour, Edwin knew you were coming. The least he could do was wait a few more minutes.

 

Very sorry to hear about that.

[lrtjs5]

I must admit I was very disappointed! I saw nothing of Barbados, just bought a pretty mug there at the port. The few people standing around did not seem to want to help at all. Hopefully we will get back to Barbados again someday.

[lrtjs5]

I got an email from Edwin and he offered to take me for free if we ever get back, that was very nice. I do not blame him but the others standing around who would not take us to meet him.

[takevtr1]

I just finished booking with Edwin for our Aug 3 visit via the Serenade of the Seas.

 

He has been really good in taking ALL my e-mails, of which there were plenty from me.

 

lrtjs5,

Sorry to hear about your experience with Edwin. Hope it was just one in a 100 experiences that people talk about.

 

I will post a review upon our return.

Mitch.....