acebritty

hello, i've been a lurker on this site for a good few months now and i LOVE it. anyways we've just booked a holiday in Barbados for 7 nites in november for me the husband 3 year old and will be 11 month old. we've never been there b4 and am rather exited

the hotel choices were

Allamanda Beach Hotel
Divi Southwinds Beach Resort
Time Out at the Gap
Coconut Court Beach Hotel

i picked the Divi but am questioning whether i made the right choice. we are not too picky but like comfortable surroundings, enjoy a well stocked bar, a decent bit of nite life (stayed at one resort where everything shut down by 10pm).

a bit about me. from bristol england, been living in the us for 22 years my parents are jamaican, husband and parents are jamaican, we planned to move to jamaica but i'm a tad worried about safety so want to explore other islands and get husband to change his mind.

is anyone familiar with jamaica? can you point out the differences between jamaica and barbados? i must say i do love love love jamaica though and usually go every year as we have tons of relatives there. my father is there and husbands parents are going back in a few to retire you get the pic.

this post is a little longer than i intended but hoping for some feedback. thanks!!

Foxy_fromCanada

Hi there,

We were in Barbados in February looking for a place to live, and due to a hotel mixup we stayed at the Allamanda for one night then moved to another hotel. We liked the Allamanda - little kitchen in the room was very handy, although the restaurant at the hotel was fabulous. We also liked that we could get a breeze through the room without having to use A/C. However it's right on the coast road, so was a bit noisy (to be expected). The benefit of that is, of course, being close to lots of amenities.

There is a website with a virtual tour: http://allamandabeach.com/virtualTour.htm

The beach was under construction while we were there. Not sure if that's still going on. I'll be arriving for good in another couple of weeks but haven't been back since February. Also not sure if construction will be done by the time you get there in November.

I'm unable to comment on the other hotels, or the comparison to Jamaica. Hope this has been helpful.

Foxy

acebritty

thank you very much for responding. we made our reservations thru a TA she said we have a few months (as long as avail) to change our minds on the hotel.

g/l with your move

Manx1

We stayed at Divi last year for a week and really enjoyed it. There had been some bad reviews but I couldn't understand why - maybe their beachfront rooms were in bad nick or something. But we had a 1-bed apartment in their main building overlooking the swimming pool (I'd advise going for the cheaper rooms facing over the garden) and thought it was very comfortable, pretty nice decor, small kitchen (the maids actually did the washing up!). No complaints at all, and a good price as well (at least in October).

acebritty

Manx1 the divi does look very nice indeed. we have a 1 bed booked but am not sure of the view. i'm not too fussed about an ocean view so the garden would do nicely specially if it's cheaper

islandmom thanks for sharing some differences between the two islands and the 'heads up' re coconut court. i just emailed the allamanda to ask whether they have bath tubs as i don't think the baby will be too thrilled with taking a shower