Waves Hotel, Barbados is on the popular West coast of the island, about 3 miles North of Bridgetown and overlooking the blue Caribbean and with its own beach – an ideal break in warm sunshine (80’s every day) to escape from the long English winter. The facilities include a spa and two swimming pools (but the gym has been closed). From the beach it was possible to hire jet-skis and take a catamaran trip to swim with the turtles in a nearby bay.
This was a very good value Virgin Holidays ‘inclusive’ holiday package, particularly with the hotel offering three excellent restaurants (one of them Italian and another with an Oriental menu) and the hotel’s head chef deserves star billing. In a 10-days holiday, there was never the need to go out to one of the many local eateries ‘just for a change’. There was musical entertainment each evening (although it was too loud for some of the Silver Travellers on a couple of occasions!) The ‘inclusive’ rate covered not only the usual rum punch, but also the table wines and anything from the fully stocked bars. There were also complimentary treatments in the spa.
The ocean view rooms are recommended – otherwise, many of the 70-plus rooms are across a busy road in an attractively presented but separate building, which also houses the spa, a swimming pool and the East restaurant. Apart from the inconvenience of the split location, the only ‘negative’ to note was the lack of training of some of the reception staff (which no doubt management will be working on).
There was a good programme of tours and visits to other parts of the island, including the very different scenery of the East (Atlantic ocean) coast, the Sunbury plantation house and the smaller towns of Oistins, Holetown and Speightstown which all provide different aspects of Barbadian history. As an alternative, it was a great experience to use the frequent local bus services (just 2 Barbadian dollars per person), which stopped at the hotel door.
