Barbados Holiday Reviews

Christchurch was a brilliant resort. The beach is lovely, the sand is pure white and the sea is a lovely turquoise. There are some really good bars there, lovely cocktails! Some of the local seafood dishes must be tried also!

We have being going to Barbados for approximately 20 years usually with Virgin, we always stop in The Gap as it is quiet during the day and the nightlife is the best on the Island. We enjoyed going with First choice - only draw back was having to fly from Birmingham Airport instead of Manchester.

The resort was great lots of life on the Gap....at night and fab beaches that are well looked after. Would definately make a return visit to bothe the Hotel and the resort the sooner the better as far I am concerned.

Very good resort with a lovely beach. There are some lovely cocktails available in the bars, great tropical fruit. Lovely and sunny for our whole fortnight, arrived back refreshed and ready for Christmas.

Lovely resort, it felt really safe!!!!! The beach is gorgeous, and they serve up great cocktails and fresh fruit cocktails, bright colours! Really loved it.

First time in the Caribbean and really enjoyed our stay. Really didn't do much, just laid on the beach or by the pool, but came home so relaxed and refreshed. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Didn't really venture outside by the hotel surrounds are lovely. People and locals are really friendly and Taxi service was great too

Beautiful resort, the beach is absolute picture postcard bliss. We ove the local food too, and you must try some fabuilous cocktails. The local people are so nice too and welcoming to their island.

I played the Country Course and toured the new Green Monkey course in the afternoon. It is a quite amazing achievement! over 100 people a day have been working to manicure it and it has now reached maturity in terms of being ready to play. It is the most perfect pasture. Boulders and cliffs have been carefully unearthed - No stone has been left unturned, no turf has been so much loved. It represents one of the finest courses in the world certainly in the top 10. If you think you are a good golfer think again - even the best (Tiger) will have a challenge from the backtees which have been strategically placed to make this one of the most challenging golf expieriences you will ever face .

lovely resort,plenty to do, bars shops and beaches..... bus service fab and very cheap, no hassle from the locals, oistins a good night out as well

Some great restaurants and bars. Taxis are plentiful. No beach to write home about in the middle of the resort but lovely ones just outwith

My wife and I have recently returned from a cruise on Ocean Village and I have to say it was a great experience and probably the most enjoyable holiday we have had for many years. Basically there was nothing negative to say about the ship, the food or the staff. Our cabin, C7, was small but adequate and the important things, for example, a good shower and sufficient storage space were in place. It was good to see that there was a safe in the cabin which unlike many hotels we have stayed in was free of charge.

The food was excellent especially that in “The Waterfront” I found it rather odd that on each table was a notice informing us that we could “Experience Heaven on a Plate” by paying a supplement and eating in “The Bistro” the implication being that “The Waterfront” was not up to the same standard which was completely wrong.

Our major gripes were related to the shore excursions which did not represent particularly good value for money. In hindsight and with some preparation it was possible to make all the excursions that we undertook at a fraction of the cost that we paid Ocean Village. What was especially annoying was that a number of the trips we took included a lunch and since on those days we were not having lunch on the ship, which we had already paid for, it would have been a nice gesture that instead of paying again for a lunch as part of the excursion cost we were given a decent packed lunch and not the nasty chargeable option that was available from the ships reception desk.

One especially flagrant “rip-off “was when we docked in Palma. The daily newsletter stated that Ocean Village would operate a shuttle bus from the ship to Palma Cathedral at a cost of £8 per adult. The map in the newsletter showed a single bus stop in the centre of Palma giving the impression that bus stops were few and far between. My wife and I decided to walk the, according to the newsletter, one and a half miles, into Palma. After over an hour of swift walking on an extremely hot day and being no nearer the town centre – the average walking pace being 4 miles an hour, we decided to give up and turnaround. Perhaps you can understand our annoyance that as we entered the security post at the port on our right we saw a bus stop and a bus that went through the city centre to the airport the cost of this being just over a Euro. Why this vital piece of information could not be included in the newsletter was clearly obvious – the £8 per adult shuttle bus. Fortunately we encountered a group of people who were just setting off on the journey we had attempted and were able to tell them where the bus stop was, much to their delight. Strangely the only free shuttle bus was that available in Palamos when the walk into the city was about 10 minutes.

Having now discovered the delights of cruising we were especially disappointed to hear that Ocean Village would cease operation next year therefore we may try to take another cruise with Ocean Village before the end of this year.

Again, apart from the points regarding the shore excursions, we thought the overall cruise was excellent value for money made more enjoyable by a hardworking and very attentive staff.

Finally a question that even Charlie Carr the captain of Ocean Village was unable to answer and that is what does the large OC painted on the front of the ship mean? If anyone knows the answer to this I would be interested to know what it is.

Be carefull going out at night as their is a lot of mugging and shootings going on, if you do go out get taxi's

Everything there that you need. plenty of bars etc. check out the thecocksinn english bar for cheap drinks.

St Lawrence Gap (or The Gap as it is known locally) is the liveliest resort in Barbados, situated to the south west of the island approximately 10 minutes away from the airport and 15 minutes away from the capital, Bridgetown.

For the "liveliest" resort, The Gap is actually pretty quiet and was almost deserted when we went in June 2009. The area consists of a mixture of hotels, apartments and restaurants with a few shops thrown in - although not very many. Street traders are more common than shops, but there are a couple of supermarkets in the area, as well as a couple of gift shops.

Restaurants range from cheaper burger and chips places (such as St Lawrence's Steakhouse) to classy fish food restaurants such as Pisces. The food was good in all the restaurants that we went into with the two mentioned above being our favourites. Price-wise it's quite expensive, at around $20 Barbadian for burger and chips at the Steakhouse to around $90 Barbadian for a meal at Pisces (each).

If you want to save a few quid, head out for tea early and take advantage of the 2-for-1 drinks offer that they have on in many of the restaurants between 6-7pm.

The people of Barbados are a friendly bunch, often asking if you've had a nice day... and then trying to sell you something! This is no different in The Gap, but a pleasant "no thank you" will send them on their way. There also seems to be a rule in Barbados that if you have a car, you have to be a taxi driver! At night, you'll get asked for a taxi every couple of yards!

My wife and I enjoyed our visit to The Gap, and look forward to going back someday soon. We'd recommend it to anyone!