Finally Arrived in Barbados Despite the NYC Snow!

It’s been one of those days. A blast of snow, sleet, and ice hit New Jersey on Friday. My husband was out snowplowing the driveway and walkways at 5:00 a.m. (Sorry to all our neighbors for the excessive morning noise!) The storm had been so bad, our dead end street wasn’t yet plowed by the designated pickup time for our car to the airport. Yes, we had to hump our luggage down the street – across heaps of snow and ice – to get to the main road where our taxi was waiting. Phew! Nice start to the day, but at least we were heading to the Caribbean!

Prior to leaving for the airport, I called American Airlines several times to confirm that our flight would depart from JFK to Barbados. They indicated that not only was the flight leaving, it was on schedule. Terrific! Well, the 1-(800) operators don’t always have the most recent information from the field. We arrived at JFK and waited in the check-in line for 105 minutes. This left us only 20 minutes before takeoff! With no time to stop to grab breakfast, we raced through the terminal and boarded the airplane.

Just as we finished stowing our carry-on items, the flight attendant announced that due to yesterday’s weather, numerous planes were in front of us for de-icing and we wouldn’t take off for at least an hour and a half. Oh boy. Ground crew did escort a few of us off the plane so we could stock up on food. That was a wise move since we eventually sat on the tarmac for FOUR more hours! We didn’t take off until 2:30 p.m. (We should have landed in Barbados by that time!) It was not a fun day, but we made it and we’re now here in beautiful Barbados!

View from our oceanfront room at the Coconut Court Beach Hotel.

Since we booked this cruise at the last minute, the Accra Beach Hotel — Windstar’s preferred resort — was completely booked. Instead, we took a room at the nearby Coconut Court Beach Hotel. The hotel consists of 77 rooms and offers a small pool and Jacuzzi, a restaurant/bar, beach volleyball, table tennis, and pool tables. There are also several activities scheduled throughout the day.

Coconut Court's beach and pool area (see far right).

The room we booked is air-conditioned, clean, and spacious with an oceanfront view. French doors lead to a small balcony overlooking the gorgeous beach. Internet access is included in the room rate (about $180 U.S./night). It's so nice to be able to check e-mail and post to our blog from our room.

We just had a lovely late dinner at The Deck Restaurant (open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.). The food was quite good (grilled king fish) and the service was excellent.

Overall, the hotel is nice for the price, but I wouldn’t stay here for a week. (No room service or in-room minibar and a way too-firm bed led me to this decision.) But, if you’re coming in to Barbados and need a room for the day or one night, this is a solid choice. Coconut Court has a prime beach location – a nice calm stretch of it – and you can easily walk to the Hilton from here.

Tomorrow we board the Windstar Wind Surf!

Photos © Leonard Hospidor. Please do not use without permission.