Today is our last port day and it's always a bittersweet day for me (well, not as much as tomorrow will be) and we are in Barbados.
As per usual, up at 7am, in the Windjammer at 8am and off the ship at 9am. The crowd at Windjammer at 8am versus 9am is incredibly different and 8am is much better. I think I've said this in past cruise reports but I'd like to see more variety in breakfast. Unlike lunch and dinner, the breakfast spread has been exactly the same every day.
We got off the ship a little before 9am for our tour we had booked with Tyronne Griffith tours, which was coordinated by people on Cruise Critic. Because we all booked as a group on Cruise Critic, we were able to get the per person rate down to $25 per adult (kids free) and free water, beer and rum punch.
We met the driver right at 9am and after sorting through some paperwork issues we were on our way. They managed to cram 12 of us in one van, which while theoretically possible was not comfortable. In addition, the air conditioning was not as cold as we would have liked.
The tour itself was informative and timely. It took about 4 hours and took us all over Barbados. Our driver was quite good and pointed out every detail on the island. We went to historical places of interest as well as scenic points.
The hit of the tour was when we stopped to feed the local wild monkeys. Aside from disturbing the monkey's natural way of feeding, it was an undeniably cool opportunity. Our driver had a bunch of bananas that he cut up and gave to us to feed them. It felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity.
As I said, the tour took us all over the island and we definitely saw a lot for the price. At the end we had the option to go to the beach or go back to the ship. We opted to go back to the ship to try to let the kids nap.
Overall, I found the tour good although I think personally I don't love group van tours. After doing this sort of tour in St. Thomas on a previous cruise and this tour, I'm beginning to think I'd prefer a more personal tour (albeitly at a higher cost). Everyone I spoke with seemed to mostly enjoy the experience.
After getting back to the ship we walked through the shopping plaza at the pier. Of course, it's tourist trap stuff and given its lack of air conditioning, I can't say it's worth more than a walk through. However, there is free WiFi provided there so I guess I can't slam it too much. If you happen to be there, go to the Barbados Tourism Office because it's air conditioned, has the best WiFi signal and has chairs for you to sit down (and electricity to charge your devices).
Back on Jewel of the Seas, we tried...and failed to get the kids to nap. So we had lunch in the Windjammer and then relaxed in our stateroom during the afternoon. It was a nice opportunity to enjoy our balcony, which we probably have not spent enough time on this cruise.
We got ready for dinner and had a few extra minutes so took some professional photos with my daughter near the Centrum. I have hopes they came out well enough to warrant buying.
Dinner was in the main dining room and I really love how our wait staff knows us so well that they are starting to bring us food and drinks without asking and it's exactly what we wanted. Frankly, this is the best wait staff we have had in a number of years. It's kind of amusing since they admitted this is their first or second week working together. My hat is off to Leao and Silveno.
A quick note on the main dining room menu, the escargot has been replaced on the menu by the scallops. On our February Freedom of the Seas cruise, the escargot was still on the menu despite not being available but it's now removed. RIP little (tasty) buddies.
Spreaking of the wait staff, I have to bring up a pet peeve of mine which is the head waiter. I know they work hard but more often than not they just end up coming over to essentially kissing up. Sorry, I don't need to tip someone just to have someone talk to me and my kid. Granted it's not a lot of money to tip but when I don't have special requests for the head waiter, it kind of bugs me. Especially when we didn't even meet our head waiter until the second or third night.
Anywho, we went for a walk around the ship on deck 5 after dinner, which the kids loved. The front deck and helipad were blocked due to high winds (or at least, I am assuming that is the reason).
We went up to the Windjammer to have more of their sushi but I'm sorry to say the sushi tonight tasted pretty awful. It was great the other night but today it was lackluster. Oh well, better luck tomorrow!
My wife and Sarah went out for a girls night out so nothing else exciting happening for me. Tomorrow is our last day (boo!) and it's our one and only sea day. Looking forward to some pool time and sleeping in! Gotta have priorities.
