Flight

Originally, we had planned to go to Negril, Jamaica this year and we had our flights, seats and hotel reserved. After I had my Heart Attack in October, that totally changed our plans and we decided to go back to Barbados. It was more as a comfort thing, so when we rebooked our flights, seats and hotel it was impossible to get seats together. Actually, as it turned out, there were empty seats on the plane, so we did end up sitting together and with nobody beside us. Westjet charged us $150 a person for changing our flights which made it more expensive to fly this year. To confuse matters more I started on a Insulin Pump Jan 3rd and I have to give credit to Canada and Barbados Customs people, who were very understanding and didn’t give me a hassle, which made my trip less stressful.

Arriving in Barbados

We arrived a ½ hour early which was great and as usual there’s some paperwork to do before you land in Barbados. You get a form to fill out on the plane. Customs was quick and we picked up our suitcases and went outside to grab a taxi to Pirate’s Inn. It cost us 37 BDS plus tip to get to Pirates Inn.

Our Room

Check in was quick, we didn’t have to wait as Sarah took care of everything. They even had six cold ones waiting for us in the fridge as we had requested, knowing we would be arriving late. Our room was number 63 on the second floor overlooking the pool. The room was long and kind of narrow entering from the kitchen. It had a flat screen TV which you had to punch in the channel numbers instead of using the arrows on the remote to get certain channels. They did have a room safe which is always nice. The room had a bistro set on the balcony which we promptly moved into the room and moved the plastic patio chairs to the balcony (they need another table for the room).

The problem we had with the room was no hot water. Seems like a problem we always run into while in Barbados, but they did fix the problem the third day of our trip by turning on the heaters two hours earlier at 6:00 am.

The room was always kept immaculate by the Housekeeping staff. I have to give the hotel staff credit for one thing, if you had any problems with the room, burnt out light bulbs etc., they where there promptly to fix it.

Pirate’s Inn

Pirate’s Inn is a small complex consisting of 22 Apartments and Studios. The front staff, Janet, Sacha and manager Renée take great care of you. The cost for our room was $128 US a night tax included. They gave us one key which we dropped off at the front desk before we left the resort. They have a box behind the desk where you can leave your key and pick it up when you return. The resort a has a small pool, which was well kept, pretty busy most of the time and had enough sun loungers for everybody. The area surrounding the pool was cork type flooring which was nice to walk on. The restaurant is connected to the pool area and was staffed by Sarah, Pat, Tony and Ian. The restaurant food and service was great. While we were there, Friday nights were Pirates night, a fun night, put on by the Hotel to give their clients a change of pace. Happy Hour was of course a busy time happening every night from 6-7 pm. The area surrounding the pool and restaurant was always well kept.

Outings

The location of Pirate’s Inn is excellent as you are within walking distance to restaurants, Accra/Rockley Beach, convenience stores, banks and the South Coast Boardwalk.

We walked the Boardwalk and Accra/Rockley beach almost every day (3.5 miles). After our walk we would go back to the hotel pool for a rest and to keep cool in the afternoons.

We did go to Bridgetown twice for a quick tour and some shopping, where we also learned about Barbados bus system and the free market area around the terminal.

Restaurants

I ate all my breakfasts at the Pirates Inn, consisting of either cereal and a fruit bowl, poached or scramble eggs, toast and sometimes with chicken sausages. We also ate a lot of our suppers here. The food and variety was good.

We had supper three times at Blakey’s down the street. Sandy loved the Pizza, and the Pasta dishes were very good too.

Bert’s bar was also an establishment that we went to twice. We booked it for an Ottawa, Toronto game when we went for one of our walks, it can get quite crowded for the games. We arrived with me being all dressed in my Ottawa Senators garb for the big game. Too bad they lost.

We went to the gap once to eat at Cafe Sol. We had great seats in their new location overlooking the bay with a good possible view of the sunset but it was hindered because of the clouds. Food and the Banks were good.

We went to Tapas for a 6 o’clock setting for Sandy’s birthday. The place was nice with a great upstairs corner seating which was good for a few sunset pictures including one of a cruise line. The food and atmosphere was great. Also it didn’t hurt having two shooters delivered to us before we left. While we were leaving the establishment we were surprised as Steve, Pauline and a couple of their friends started singing Happy Birthday to Sandy.

Shakers Bar and Grill is a small restaurant down the road from Pirates Inn, which is a small husband and wife restaurant with good food and great staff. We met Pat and her husband Vincent for a nice supper, remember to make a reservation as it is small place.

Carib Beach Bar was kind of a stumble on. We originally went to Crystal Waters, but found it too busy and couldn’t find our friend that we were looking for, so we walked back up to the main road and saw a sign for Carib Beach Bar, so we went there for Happy Hour and supper. We will have to go back next year for sure.

Warning

Note of caution when travelling in Barbados, it is unfortunate but I had a Heart Attack (blocked stent operated on March 7, 2012) at the pool at Pirates Inn. The staff was fantastic, so professional and knew what to do. When the Ambulance arrived they were also very professional and reassuring. The problem was when we arrived at the QE Hospital, the Triage Nurse did not know what a stent was and also lost my blood from the Ambulance attendants. It took almost 12 hours to see a doctor. I watched the conditions some Bajans had to go through, 2-3 to a cubicle, sad. As it stands now the hospital does not accept insurance, but I hear there is a deal being arranged between Barbados, Canada the UK and US to allow for the use of insurance. Medical services are not expensive in Barbados the total came to $402.51 Canadian Dollars, I guess you get what you pay for.

Flight Home

We left the room at 6 am and headed straight for the airport as we had paid for everything the night before. Ian the bartender, handyman and taxi driver (Mr. Do IT All), drove us. The stores were open for the final souvenir shopping. There was not much in the way of food kiosks open but we were able to buy a couple of muffins and water.

This was our first time with connecting flights in Toronto, so knowing that we might not leave on time in Barbados we were a bit nervous, but everything went fine. When we landed in Toronto we rushed to get our suitcases to put my rum and Banks beer in for our connecting flight to Ottawa. We had time to kill before our next flight so we stopped at an Irish bar in the departure area for a cold one.

Final Statement

Considering what we went through this year and last year in Barbados, we will be going back to Barbados next year, hopefully with me in better shape than this year and hopefully no problems next year. We will be staying at Pirate’s Inn again because of the good location and friendly staff. I don’t know if we will be flying Westjet again as their flight times are terrible. We will have to look into Air Canada or some other airline.