Marriage and Barbados

[cody8200]

I'm getting married to my girlfriend of 5 years this June 2nd. I think I have decided on Barbados as our honeymoon spot. Anyone on the board ever been? If so, anything you can tell me about your experiences would be great. I have never been out of the country and want to have a nice experience. That being said, I can't wait to go.

[JeeberD]

My wife and I went there for our Honeymoon this past August. We had a great time and would love to go again sometime down the road when we have some money saved up. I'll get into details here in a bit, just curious if you know where you're staying yet?

[cody8200]

I'm booking the tickets today. We havent yet decided where to stay.

[Honolulu Blue]

Hmmm, Barbados.

Low sugar/tobacco/hides and food prices, high prices for goods. British colony. Builds up steadily. In 1660, has about 200 soldiers and 2500 people along with two forts. Almost off the eastern edge of the map. Good place to hang out to harass the eastern Spanish Main and the Lesser Antilles, especially with a Letter of Marque. Also good to snag some limey merchantmen/sloops/pinnaces.

Yar. Good luck, matey.

[heybrad]

It was a long time ago that I was there, but I remember the zoo being really cool. We were told to make sure we were around at 4pm to see them feed the monkeys. Right out in the open they'd throw some piles of sugar cane. As we were standing there monkeys were coming from all directions. It was pretty cool.

[JeeberD]

I'll get into details here in a bit...

Sorry, didn't mean to take this long to get back to ya...

The wife and I stayed at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion, just north of Holetown on the western coast. The resort was amazing, though the restaurants were predictably expensive. We stayed in that area most of the time...we took a couple of walks down into Holetown to go shopping (including for groceries...we saved a TON of money buying breakfast stuff and keeping it in the room instead of paying $30 each for breakfast every day) and ate at a couple of restaurants there in town which were really good. One of them was called Olives, and it had fairly typical Barbadian fare. Very, very good. Another one was an Indian restaurant whose name I can't recall at the moment, and it was also quite good, though not as spicy and a bit sweeter than the Indian food we get here. We also ate at the KFC there ( :o ) and at the Barbadian fast food joint, Chefette (http://www.chefette.com/), which was different than American fast food and pretty tasty.

We were going to do a day of sightseeing in Bridgetown, but that got cancelled when what became Hurricane Ernesto went overhead and it rained all day long. We did go to Bridgetown one evening for the [/URL], which was quite fun. It was a buffet dinner and Barbados history/culture show. Drinks are also included in the price, but just be warned that service is rather slow. There's one server to every couple of tables, each table holding 20-30 people. So when you order drinks, get more than one at a time. ;)

On our ride back to the airport at the end of our stay, the driver took us over to the rockier eastern side of the island, and the scenery was very nice. There are tours you can take that will take you over there to go play in the tidepools and such, but we didn't do that. We did, however, swim with the turtles one afternoon, which was fun. Took a speedboat over to an area where the turtles hang out and they give you snorkels and you get a half hour or so to swim and take pics. I managed to get a few good shots myself... :)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/58/237640169_775f342768.jpg?v=0

In fact, you're more than welcome to looks at the rest of the pics my wife took during our stay...

[url]http://flickr.com/photos/meckberg/sets/72157594258491845/ (Bajan Roots and Rhythm show)

One last warning, I don't know if you've read or been told this already, but the summer months are Barbados' rainy season and hurricane season. Now apparently Barbados hasn't been hit by a hurricane in quite some time, but like I mentioned earlier, the beginnings sometimes go over the island and bring lots of rain and wind. Ernesto brought a TON of rain and some very large waves, but it wasn't ever anything dangerous as long as you stayed out of the water that day. The rest of the time we were there we usually had a shower or two, but the rain is nice and warm and we usually stayed in the pool while the rain was coming down.

If you like rum, it's dirt cheap in Barbados. If you like beer, Banks Beer (The Beer of Barbados!) is pretty decent.

If you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to try and answer them. I have you and the future wife have a blast there!

[bulletsponge]

Hmmm, Barbados.

Low sugar/tobacco/hides and food prices, high prices for goods. British colony. Builds up steadily. In 1660, has about 200 soldiers and 2500 people along with two forts. Almost off the eastern edge of the map. Good place to hang out to harass the eastern Spanish Main and the Lesser Antilles, especially with a Letter of Marque. Also good to snag some limey merchantmen/sloops/pinnaces.

Yar. Good luck, matey.

and if i remember correctly, the govoners daughter is a hottie! yarr i want to plunder her booty

[Honolulu Blue]

and if i remember correctly, the govoners daughter is a hottie! yarr i want to plunder her booty

They're all right, but I've had better luck in Curacao and Port Royale.

But the real stunners, IMO, are in the French cities like Leogane and Petit Goave. And perhaps I'll tell the story of the girl who broke my heart in Port-de-Paix sometime...

Yarrr! I'm grabbing my longsword and heading for the nearest saloon to find 50 or so trustworthy, seaworthy men. "Take that ship, and she's yours!" I'll be back in about 5-7 years.

[cody8200]

Sorry, didn't mean to take this long to get back to ya...

The wife and I stayed at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion, just north of Holetown on the western coast. The resort was amazing, though the restaurants were predictably expensive. We stayed in that area most of the time...we took a couple of walks down into Holetown to go shopping (including for groceries...we saved a TON of money buying breakfast stuff and keeping it in the room instead of paying $30 each for breakfast every day) and ate at a couple of restaurants there in town which were really good. One of them was called Olives, and it had fairly typical Barbadian fare. Very, very good. Another one was an Indian restaurant whose name I can't recall at the moment, and it was also quite good, though not as spicy and a bit sweeter than the Indian food we get here. We also ate at the KFC there ( :o ) and at the Barbadian fast food joint, Chefette (http://www.chefette.com/), which was different than American fast food and pretty tasty.

We were going to do a day of sightseeing in Bridgetown, but that got cancelled when what became Hurricane Ernesto went overhead and it rained all day long. We did go to Bridgetown one evening for the [/URL], which was quite fun. It was a buffet dinner and Barbados history/culture show. Drinks are also included in the price, but just be warned that service is rather slow. There's one server to every couple of tables, each table holding 20-30 people. So when you order drinks, get more than one at a time. ;)

On our ride back to the airport at the end of our stay, the driver took us over to the rockier eastern side of the island, and the scenery was very nice. There are tours you can take that will take you over there to go play in the tidepools and such, but we didn't do that. We did, however, swim with the turtles one afternoon, which was fun. Took a speedboat over to an area where the turtles hang out and they give you snorkels and you get a half hour or so to swim and take pics. I managed to get a few good shots myself... :)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/58/237640169_775f342768.jpg?v=0

In fact, you're more than welcome to looks at the rest of the pics my wife took during our stay...

[url]http://flickr.com/photos/meckberg/sets/72157594258491845/ (Bajan Roots and Rhythm show)

One last warning, I don't know if you've read or been told this already, but the summer months are Barbados' rainy season and hurricane season. Now apparently Barbados hasn't been hit by a hurricane in quite some time, but like I mentioned earlier, the beginnings sometimes go over the island and bring lots of rain and wind. Ernesto brought a TON of rain and some very large waves, but it wasn't ever anything dangerous as long as you stayed out of the water that day. The rest of the time we were there we usually had a shower or two, but the rain is nice and warm and we usually stayed in the pool while the rain was coming down.

If you like rum, it's dirt cheap in Barbados. If you like beer, Banks Beer (The Beer of Barbados!) is pretty decent.

If you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to try and answer them. I have you and the future wife have a blast there!


Great info man and lovely pics. My fiancee is even more excited!

[JeeberD]

Heh, I forgot the pic of me in my boxers was in there. At least I was still in decent shape then... :o