Introduction
Barbados has a wealth of natural beauty, attractions, and seemingly never-ending stretches of white sand beaches, surelyamongst the best in the Caribbean Sea. The island’s countryside changes from the rolling hills and big waves on the Atlantic east coast, to the flatlands and gorgeous tropical beaches on the Caribbean west coast.
During the 18th and 19th centuries the island was operated as a large sugar farm under British rule, and you can still see a few original plantations reborn as museums detailing the daily lives of the slaves working there.
Nowadays the people of Barbados are called Bajans, and the ancestors of the original plantation system live in general harmony with a representative government.
Barbados is the easternmost island in the Caribbean and is often spared the terrible effects of the area’s tropical storms because the island is located past the principal hurricane zone. On average a hurricane only hits the island about once every 25 years.
These advantages make the island a favorite cruise ship port-of-call, and in recent years, partly thanks to the well used close by international airport, it has also become a busy starting port for cruises.
Take A Tour Around Barbados
Broad Street
The main street of Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. It consists mainly of tax free shops, banking offices, large chain stores, and bars. Also worth a visit is Swan Street which has many cheap clothing stores
Harrison’s Cave
Barbabos’s number one tourist attraction. Get on an electric train and voyage through a fascinating subterranean world.
Sunbury Plantation House
A Plantation Great House whose rooms are all available for tours. The 300 year house is steeped in history, with old prints, fascinating handwritten accounts, characterful funiture and a small museum of of horse carriages.
Welchman Hall Gully
The lush tropical gardens are filled with tropical specimens – here before the British arrived in 1627 – set amid natural caves.
Beaches
The island’s beaches are open to the public. Just a mile from the cruise terminal are the beaches of the Gold Coast. Payne’s bay is good for swimming. Next to Paynes bay is Fresh Water Bay, with a beautiful threesome of beaches, Brandon’s Beach, Paradise Beach and Brighton Beach .
Mount Gay Rum Distillery and Banks Beer Tour
Get in the Spirit with a tour and sampling at Barbados’s top distillery, then travel to the Banks Brewery to enjoy the local beer.
Available Cruises
Due to its ideal position at the middle of the Southern Caribbean, Barbados makes an excellent choice as a departure port.Cruises available include the Greater Antilles (Jamaica), the Windward Isles (Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia, St Vincent), the Leeward Isles(St Barts, St Martin, St Kitts, Nevis, Guadeloupe, Trinidad, Tobago), the Netherland Antilles off the north coast of Venezuela (Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire) or even the Brazilian Amazon.
See cruises from Barbados for detailed cruise departure information.
Cruise Ship Terminal
The Port of Bridgetown (also called the Deep Water Harbor) is positioned in Carlisle Bay on the Western coast of Barbados. Bridgetown port handles all of the country’s cargo ships, and many cruise ships. Built in 1961, the Deep Water Harbour was created by a manmade breakwater. In 2002 the main approach channel and the inner docks were dredged to enable bigger cruiseships to call. Since the dredging project the port has experienced a large amount of growth in goods and cruise ship traffic.
The official port website is Barbados Port Inc.
Between the quays and the port entrance sits the new cruise terminal, officially opened in 1994. It acts as the centre for services for cruise passengers and crew arriving at Barbados. The cruise terminal houses the normal departments to handle cruise passengers, including Immigration, Customs, Health Center, Animal Quarantine, Post Office and the Barbados Tourism Office. Also you’ll find cafes and bars, a business center, and an net cafe. The cruise terminal has a large amount of space filled by shops, with more than twenty duty free outlets with lovely jewelry, attractive china, electronic goods, and Bajan craft outlets.
Cab services and car rentals failities lie just outside the cruise terminal main entrance.
Getting To The Port From The Airport
Grantley Adams is 21 kilometres from the Port of Bridgetown. The airport is flown to by planes from North America, Europe and elsewhere in the Caribbean. The journey from airport to the cruise terminal is usually by taxi, and takes around half-an-hour. The cost is around fifty Barbadian dollars.