Barbados

[candoo]

Me and Mrs candoo are blessed with a few squid to spend, thinking about Barbados because we want a good all inclusive deal without chav factor. A bit of sun worshipping and luxury are important.

Say we were to budget about £5K for a 10 day trip, any recommendations or reasons not to go?

Time of year? On interwebby thing it says avoid September, this is about the time we want to travel, we could push out until November.

Any help appreciated!

[intortola]

September is height of the hurricane season and the forecast for this year is for it to be very active, many restaurants, hotels and bars are closed during hurricane season throughout the Caribbean. Barbados has some very nice resorts but so do some of the smaller islands, check Anguilla, Tobago, St Kitts, Virgin Gorda etc. If there are no storms then late September onwards is actually a really nice time in the Caribbean, its quieter and the real summer heat and humidity is going. With the forecast not sure i would risk it for a special holiday,most of us try to escape the hurricane season here, not come to it! Enjoy whereever you decide.

[Justin Cyder-Belvoir]

You could have a look here (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g147313-d148625-Reviews-Couples_Negril-Negril_Jamaica.html) it's on a great beach and there are 3 flights with VS and 3 with BA weekly.

Alternately, this (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1184698-d651208-Reviews-Verandah_Resort_Spa-Saint_Philip_Antigua_Antigua_and_Barbuda.html) gets pretty good reviews and the island is gorgeous.

Finally, I can highly recommend this hotel (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g147343-d270565-Reviews-The_BodyHoliday_LeSport-Castries_St_Lucia.html) on St Lucia the food is great and your wife will love the treatments; drawback is the long ride from the international airport. If you fly to ANU and get a connection it takes you to Castries airport, about 10 minutes away.

[Der absolute Hammer]

Prices in the Caribbean tend to be very seasonal and often almost double in high season.
Hotel prices in Barbados, for example, increase over British school holiday holidays. You do not want to go there then anyway, even at half terms. British schoold children are worse than he French when it comes to making noise at the pool at 05.00. Also,if you ask them to please moderate the noisem they usually tell you to fork yourself or they steal your towels later on in the day. Nasty things, British children!
Barbados lies to the east of the hurricane belt and is usually unaffected by the hurricanse which do hammer the rest of the islands in September.
October/November is probably indeed your best times - the later the better for the weather but watch the shoulder prices.

On a budget of £5 for ten days, that gives you about £3.8 excluding the air fares or $5.7. Everything in the Caribeean is worked on US$ althouth Barbados has its own dollar and the eastern Caribean has its own dollar.
Do not worry. The good old greenback will see you right, just watch the exchange rates.
So on about $500 a day, American plan, which is bed, breakfast and dinner, in Barbados, I would look at:

Treasure Beach. (Manager is Hamish Watson) Criticism that clientell tend to be return Poms or Irish is correct. It can be very clique.
This is one of their sites....Rates, Packages and Value Added Specials (http://www.treasurebeachhotel.com/rates.html)


Cobblers Cove. (Manager has just changed I think). My favourite, have not been there though for about five years. No chavs though.

Trip Adviser is not bad as a hotel guide for these places.
If you call them direct, you may get a discount.

I think that on St Lucia, the drive from one end of the island to the other is more than a drawback, It is a little like jungle exploration. Someone used to run a helicopter shuttle between north and south. I do not know hat happens to that.

If you want the ultimate that still respresents value for money then go here...

Welcome to Petit St. Vincent Resort | A Private Island Resort in the Caribbean (http://www.psvresort.com/)

Closed in September/October, which tells you something.

I have been here several times. The connections are fine except that Union Island had no night flying so you may have to spend a night in Barbados if your UK flight is late. Haze Richardson (US fighter pilot Vietnam) died last year but the place still soldiers on. It is just soooo relaxing. You don't really notice your fellow guests but they do tend to be Americans, which is fine for me because I am a gun toting Republican.

And of course, if you want something a little moe original. I have heard that La Republica Domenica is fantatstic and I have been to Cuba which is well worth seeing but avoid Varadero if you don;t like chavs.

That gives you soemthing to go on I think.......Now for flat fishing....the Bahamas, but that's another story....


If you go to Barbados I suggest that you do not rent a car except by the specific day. Whatever hotel you stay in will be able to do thatv for you. the east coast, Sam Lords etc is worth a day self drive trip. Bridgetown is not relaly woirth the bother, but you will. But take the buses, they are cheap, frequent, safe and above all, fun.
Just watch out for Rasta, especially on the beaches - the Jama-cans as ever in the Caribbean are the problem for local law enforecment in drugs, money landering etc.

An after the thought. There used to be a pilot who advertised his cottage/ baby villa for rent at the backof the BALPA magazine. I don't the man but I believe that the cottage was just up on the beach from Cobblers Cove-near the shebeen at Speightstown. R=The shebeen is now a much up market larny residential complex but the cottage still may stand. Have a look or maybe soomeone who reads this will pick up on it.???

[silverelise]

There is luxury and there is luxury. If you remember that you are not going to a "first world" location and can put up with the odd power cut and the odd bit of p00 flowing across the roads when it rains then you will have a great time. And when it rains - it really does rain. Not for very long but very hard.

Get a hire car - the roads are like ice rinks even in the dry. Lots of fun.

Best time to go is this month especially if you are a motorsport fan. The Barbados Rally Carnival is a fantastic event. The UK competitors have just shipped their cars this week.

Even though you're going all inclusive make sure you get out and about don't be slaves to the hotel. Plenty of great places to eat and drink.

Good places to go out in the evenings too. If not down the strip then the Boat Yard or Harbour Lights.

Learn to drink rum (preferably XO) and play dominos - you will make a heck of a lot of new friends!

I have a lot of friends living there, one of them flies helicoptor tours, let me know if you need any info.