Author Topic: {Tznius Disclaimer} Barbados 2017 New Years w/ 4K Video  (Read 5321 times)

Offline astrophy

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{Tznius Disclaimer} Barbados 2017 New Years w/ 4K Video
« on: November 18, 2017, 05:35:48 PM »


Last year we took advantage of the amazing JetBlue promotion where they'd match your Virgin America point balance. We took a cheap flight from Long Beach to SFO and obtained 75k points each.

Barbados
Flight: LIAT
Route: SLU-BGI

We found some cheap island hopper flights with LIAT. They were below $100 each. The SLU airport is in the north of Saint Lucia. The tiny airport made departing the country very easy. They have a small cafe for coffee and food and even a small duty free shop.





We hopped into a cab upon arrival to a district called Rockley. I spent some time talking with people who frequently go to Barbados and found that Rockley Beach area was a great place to stay. We spent a lot of time looking at hotels and once again the reviews for anything beyond high end were fairly mixed and prices were inflated for New Years. We ended up doing another Airbnb and were really happy with our choice. Upon meeting our hosts who were retired locals, the owner drove us to the super market and we were able to pick up supplies for the week. Really amazing hosts that we got to know well on a personal level.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5792972

Accra Beach
A short walk from our Airbnb. There is a tiki bar that rents out chairs and umbrellas. Included in the price was a voucher for food and drink you could use at their bar. There were some tiny waves you could have a little fun with. On a good day it would be a great place to take a surf lesson. Definitely worth a trip to visit.







Worthing Beach
Our favorite beach in Barbados. The beach here is fairly empty and lined with mostly houses and not many resorts. In a given hour you might see about 5-8 people walk by. There is a super market within a short walk if you want to grab a hot lunch there to bring with you to the beach.













Crane Beach
Our second favorite beach in Barbados. We took a taxi to The Crane Resort. It's a bit of a drive, but worth it. We had lunch overlooking the beach. I don't recall the price of lunch or drinks, but they did not seem to be inflated. The beach has some rough waves, which are great for bodyboarding/boogieboarding. I'd suggest asking the guys who rent out the boards if you can pay extra and rent some swim fins as you can catch some really fun waves if you have a set of fins. You could potentially surf here if you have some experience, but it's not the best place for surfing. You'll want to go to the other side of the island to catch some good waves. You can rent beach chairs with an umbrella, but be prepared to barter as I think you have to buy a day pass to use the hotel's chairs and have to walk further down the beach to get chairs rented out by locals. There is a place to cliff dive, but I suggest you only try it if you are an experienced swimmer due to the waves.








Catamaran Tour
http://sailcalabaza.com/
We headed up north of Bridgetown for a catamaran tour. The company provides you transportation to/from the boat, food, drink, and alcohol for around $95 a person if you choose not to hire the whole boat. The company we used is rated number one on tripadvisor and they seem to book quickly, so I'd book as far in advance as possible. The tour is a lot of fun. The staff on board a great and know how to give a good time. Swimming with turtles is very hit and miss. You may only have one or two turtles around, but a ton of tourists. If you have experience snorkeling you will find the experience more enjoyable as most people are floating above with life jackets. The ship wrecks are near by. They seem to be vessels that we sunk there on purpose at the end of their life.

































St. Lawrence Gap


This is a great area for bars and restaurants. We ended up going to Beach One for New Years, which had a set menu for around $150-200 pp. The food was really great and the view from the restaurant is beautiful.












Primos
Another restaurant with a great ocean view located in the gap.



Oistin's Friday Night Fish Fry
If you haven't had a $1 van ride in Barbados.. it's worth the experience. If you are lucky you will get stuffed into an overly packed van full of locals that has a sound system that rivals the best night club on the island. While the techno bass shakes every bone in your body you hold on tight as the van flies through the streets at unreal speeds. It was a blast just to get to Oistin's, unfortunately our van ride back was much more tame. Oistin's Friday night fish fry can get packed. It is very touristy, but still fun to do. The food does seem fairly over priced at $12-20, but the food is good. You can check it off your list and say you did it.








Flying back we took JetBlue from BGI-FLL


We asked for the cost to upgrade to the even more space seats at check-in and were upgraded for free. The priority pass lounge at the Barbados airport is decent, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get to the airport early in order to spend time there. When booking the return award flight they for some reason allowed us a 50 min connection in FLL to San Diego. I knew the chances were strong that we'd miss our connection, but decided not to get a later connecting flight knowing that the travel benefits of my Chase Sapphire Reserve would kick in. Sure enough we arrived 15 minutes late and even though JetBlue promised to have someone at FLL assist through customs/immigration and a ride to our next flight... no one was waiting for us at FLL.

The Chase Sapphire Reserved covered:
- Uber ride to and from FLL to our hotel in Miami
- $150 dinner (excluding alcohol)
- Our hotel stay at the Confidante (Hyatt Unbound Collection)
- Breakfast would have been covered by my hotel status, but my diamond status with Hyatt let us eat in the restaurant.
- $65 worth of toiletries from Walgreens

















On the FLL-SAN leg JetBlue upgraded us to the even more space seats:

« Last Edit: November 18, 2017, 09:34:58 PM by Something Fishy »

Offline ludmila

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Re: Barbados 2017 New Years w/ 4K Video
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2017, 08:50:24 PM »
Thanks, Barbados is on my list, nice TR and photos.
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
Pele Good,Maradona Better, George Best.

Offline chevron

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Re: {Tznius Disclaimer} Barbados 2017 New Years w/ 4K Video
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2017, 04:33:57 PM »
AMAZING, Went with @Suave  but weather was crummy in november, must return

Offline mordechain

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Re: {Tznius Disclaimer} Barbados 2017 New Years w/ 4K Video
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2017, 07:39:18 PM »
AMAZING, Went with @Suave  but weather was crummy in november, must return

Offline mgoldhammer18

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Re: {Tznius Disclaimer} Barbados 2017 New Years w/ 4K Video
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2017, 04:11:22 PM »
Nice TR.  Nice video

Offline SuperFlyer

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Re: {Tznius Disclaimer} Barbados 2017 New Years w/ 4K Video
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2017, 06:39:29 PM »
Very  nice report. Thanks for that.