Hi! We cruised on Holland America's ship Ryndam to the southern Caribbean recently and set port at Barbados for one day. We had previously arranged to have someone from Glory Tours meet us and give a personally designed tour for the entire day.
We walked out the port and met our driver just outside the gate. We got to Harrison's Cave before the ship's shore excursion to that attraction even left the port. Afterwards, we went on to Flower Forest and then Orchid World. Hubby and I enjoy photography and had many photo opps at these stops.
Later, our driver took us to the east side of the island and stopped at some very picturesque areas. Lunch was whatever I grabbed from the ship's buffet that morning and drinks we had in our stateroom's fridge.
We drove on to the Barbados Wildlife Reserve, saw many animals including the "elusive" Barbados green monkey. It was a neat experience and we got lots of pics of the animals.
After a rum punch, provided by our driver, we started our way back to port, stopping at the oldest church on the island, whose name I forgot.
We returned to port about 4:30 p.m., an hour before we were due to depart. Though this private tour was expensive, it was well worth the money, to us. Usually, we are the last ones back on the bus of a guided tour and feel we are being hurried. Not so on this excursion. We ambled about and then told our patient driver when we were ready to leave. It was nice not having to keep constant track of the time.
For those who are planning a cruise, I would suggest searching for independent tour companies instead of the shore excursions offered by the ship if you want something tailored to your own specificiations and want to maximize your time at any given port.
