Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Another great job Jarvis. Grenada next please
Excellent helpful, informative service provided throughout.
Oscar was great and sorted out some very good hotels
A great travel agent who sorted a problem out straight away. Highly recommend.
Brilliant service as always. Many thanks.
All your reminders were most weicome,
I have been booking with Jake for the last 22 years and have never been disappointed. I have always received 100% attention as if I am his only customer. I have recommended him to all of my family and friends and they too only use him.
Lloyd was great - even callingl the night before wishing us a good trip. I recommended him to my friends currently on holiday in Barbados and they have nothing but praise for him.
Great service and competitive pricing. Loved the app!
Brilliant as always
Always boast about the service I receive from DialAFlight
Excellent communication. Reid helpful as ever. Trip to Barbados went very well. Thank you.
Very efficient and always on hand to answer queries
I liked the fact that you checked to make sure I did everything I needed to do and made sure everything was OK
Shelley was fantastic and helpful and communicative. Great service!
Great service - will definitely be using again
Disappointed by the Barbados government tourist tax on the hotel room amounting to 24 US $ per day. I think this is excessive.
Fairmount in Barbados not fit for purpose - totally overpriced and not 5 Star. Everything else perfect thank you
First time I’ve used DialAFlight and Will certainly use you again
Declan, Paul and Orlando worked tirelessly for many months to help me with this holiday which was complex. Declan was kind, generous with his compassion and could not have done more to help me. Customer service and care are the most important elements to me. To feel comfortable and supported these days is rare.
Excellent service as always - many thanks and look forward to our next one
All went well - Virgin were great and the hotel did what they said on the box. Very happy with it.
Great service. Helpful staff. Polite and knowledgeable. Thank you very much!
Stacey Rayner looks after all my personal and business trips and I cannot express how amazing she is ... from recommendations on hotels, flights and excursions everything is spot on! On top of that she always fights for the best deals (including room upgrades and best flight times). Thank you for another great trip
Excellent service as usual from DialAFlight. Sadly the holiday didn’t match up - the answer to a different question!
Everything was first class.
DialAFlight met all our needs however we did have one or two issues with Sandals and Virgin.
All good, thanks
Great customer service. Will recommend to friends
Consistent quality service.
They look like wind-up toys. Marching one after another, with clockwork regularity, a stream of baby turtles, miniature flippers whirring into life, emerge from their sandy nest.
Nothing draws the crowds quite like these hatchlings. Word spreads quickly among the dinner guests at Sandals Barbados resort, and soon a sizeable gathering is crouched on the beach.
Sadly, it doesn’t quite play out like Planet Earth. As more and more turtles try to escape into the moonless night many lose their bearings and veer towards the hotel lights. There is a lot of cooing among the frocks and the golf shoes, as we all trip over ourselves in the dark trying not to tread on them.
Sandals staff wisely usher the crowds from the beach as the survivors are packed into boxes, ready to be released when the sea is quieter. Ninety-two, someone counted. 'We always know when the babies have hatched,' I was told. 'It’s the only time the buffet is ever empty.'
Escaping to Barbados for a week or two is the stuff of dreams, so excitement levels are understandably high. The attentive all-inclusive service, fabulous food and comprehensive luxury is enough to keep many within the hotel grounds for their entire stay.
The soft sand of the adjoining Dover Beach is a wonderful place to relax and there are innumerable activities to burn off the calories, from yoga at sunrise to lessons with tennis pros.
COASTAL CRUISE
For those looking to explore the island's platinum west coast, a catamaran is a must.
The boat is crewed by larger-than-life characters such as Brian ‘deAction Man’ Talma, who serve up a sumptuous spread of jerk chicken, flying fish and exquisite rum cake, while doubling up as ocean guides. We stop for a spot of snorkelling with hawksbills and green leatherbacks – fully-grown relatives of the babies I saw hatching at the hotel, and dive down to submerged wrecks moored to the sea bed.
The shoreline is fanned by palms guarding the palatial villas of the rich and famous.
There is little rising beyond the tree line: the island is effectively a large slab of coral dangling from the south-eastern tip of the Antiles. The flat topography makes it ideal for agriculture, sugar production in particular, which was especially appealing to the British who colonised Barbados in 1627 and didn’t let it go until independence more than 300 years later.
Getting around is relatively straightforward – even strapped into the back of a jeep on one of the island’s eccentric safari tours. The mood is certainly buoyant – there’s something about bouncing around uncontrollably that makes people inexplicably happy.
The tour highlight is Bathsheba on the east coast. Atlantic-facing, the turbulent waters favoured by local surfers have churned up huge coral boulders, which sit shrouded in sea mist like guardians to an ancient kingdom. It is a world away from the raked sands of the west coast villas and offers the luxury of isolation and a landscape of breathtaking beauty.
FRIDAY FISH FRY
Friday night and nearby Oistin’s fish market is heaving. The resort runs a free shuttle bus to this island institution, where row upon row of food outlets serve everything from ‘dolphin’ (not the porpoise but a fish called mahi-mahi) to lobster, all grilled or fried in delicious spices.
Hundreds turn out to eat and dance to the carnivalesque soca music, performed live in the centre of the market.
Barbados is fertile ground for musicians: they crop up here like sugar cane, moving with effortless rhythm, emanating sounds as sweet as molasses. After a rum punch or two I’m soon swaying along awkwardly to the upbeat vocals of raw Rhianna hopefuls.
Next morning, with a sore head, I find myself in the capital Bridgetown, listening to a stout, elderly gentleman and gazing longingly at the shade afforded by his wide-brimmed fedora.
You are standing, says Maurice Greenidge – eminent local historian and my guide to the city – on sacred ground; 1652 is the year, and on this spot rum was born. Barbados loves rum.
I scan the colourful facades of the old harbour market. Carlisle bay sweeps away to the former British garrison. Bright colours blur with the sound of car horns; music is beating underneath it all, and the heat settling down from above.
It is easy to while away the time here at a luxury all-inclusive resort. But venture beyond and you will quickly realise that life in Barbados offers so much more, paradise included.
First published in the Mail Online - May 2017
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