Barbados

We reached a compromise for our day of touring Barbados - one wanted a fully organised tour through Carnival (at an exorbitant price with an itinerary based around carving factories and the like where you’re accosted to buy a bunch of wooden junk that you couldn’t get back through customs anyway), and the other preferred finding a local tour provider once we got off the ship.

The compromise - a (seemingly) reputable local provider we found on the internet that provided a good itinerary for half of Carnival’s cost.

Long story short, they guy didn’t turn up (actually he left the designated pick-up spot at 9:30am because we weren’t there, after having organised to meet at 9:45am …

So Plan B kicked into effect - find a local provider again. At least this time there were safety in numbers - another 7 were in our minibus for a trip around the entire island.

A very picturesque island - beautiful beaches, lush rainforest, sugarcane plantations and much more. The tour itself went smoothly, with only one minor dispute when one of our party wanted to make the 10-minute walk back from the ship to Kensington Oval (cricket ground in Bridgetown for the uneducated), with questions raised as to the likelihood this person could navigate their way back to the ship in time.

Stayed in our cabin most of the night - a combination of poor weather outside and the fact the evening shows are a repeat of those on our Mexico cruise. That has been a minor disappointment - although obviously Carnival assume no-one is crazy enough to take 2 cruises within 2 weeks …

The night did end on a sour note when we stayed up well past midnight watching “Fools Gold” in our room, only for it to cut out and switch to the listings menu after what seemed to be 3/4’s of the way through the movie.

---

---