Thursday, April 7
- When we woke, the ship was docked in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. We bid a fond farewell to cabin 920, our home for the past 9 days, at 8:00, joined our next door neighbours for breakfast and then proceeded to deck 3 to depart the ship. We were shuttled to the Barbados immigration building where we retrieved our luggage and then cleared Barbados customs. The entire process was very fast and efficient (another advantage of small ship cruising) and we were on our way to take a taxi to our hotel.
- After doing some research we had booked the Coral Mist Beach Hotel (http://www.coralmistbarbados.com) for our one-night post cruise stay in Barbados. We thought it would be a good choice, based on reviews and its beachfront location midway between the Bridgetown and the airport. Taxi there was $20 USD. Luckily, the hotel was not full and we were able to check into our room within about 20 minutes.
- We were very impressed with the Coral Mist. It is located on a beautiful sandy beach along with a number of other small hotels and apartments. Our room was truly beachfront, the waves breaking just metres from our balcony. We have stayed in many great resorts in the Caribbean and this is the only place where I can say our room as truly “beachfront”. The hotel would also be ideal for those wanting a long stay as it has a fully equipped kitchen and there are supermarkets withing walking distance. The hotel is very clean and well maintained.
- As a caution, the hotel is located on the south coast and the seas there are generally rough, so nut ideal for ocean swimming. Some people were swimming though and the hotel has a nice pool.
- We spent a relaxing day on the beach and reading on our balcony. The hotel has a restaurant/bar and we enjoyed dining there that evening with fresh fish and some wonderful chicken in rum sauce. Barefoot dining right on the beach – how can you beat that!