What‘s Included

Meeting and Pickup

What To Expect

Reviews

• Rip Off

  martinh760,

  Dec 1, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  1.00

  Disorganized Rip-Off This review refers to the "Private Guided Tour with Beach Stay and Lunch" offered by the company in Barbados for a hefty €388. Basically, hardly anything from the description was adhered to. We had asked if we could start an hour earlier – they could have communicated beforehand that everything would be closed at that time. The driver arrived 5 minutes late and simply seemed annoyed. Normally, you are first given an explanation of the tour's itinerary and asked about your preferences, and offered water – none of that here! According to the guide, the "top attractions of the island" apparently only consist of hotels, shopping centers, and two obelisks; those were the only things pointed out. In general, we just drove past everything, didn't stop anywhere, the day's schedule wasn't explained, and absolutely no appreciation for the island or the guests was conveyed. According to the tour description, we were also supposed to go to a museum – that wasn't offered either. We were speechless that it actually happened like this – Barbados has so much to offer, but not even the absolute standard sights like the Rihanna Memorial or the cricket field were visited. We were then driven to St. Nicholas Abbey without prior notice – which is actually quite nice, but we had to pay an additional 70 USD ourselves for the guided tour there; otherwise, we wouldn't have seen anything at all. The point about the secluded beach with Simone's Bajan Kitchen was also canceled without prior notice. Since that was the only thing that was specifically advertised, my wife booked it especially for that reason. Nice people cooking on a quiet beach – what could be better? We had said that we are vegetarians, and since Simone doesn't cook anything vegetarian (which isn't true, there would have been rice/beans and salad), we were therefore driven 45 minutes further to the completely overcrowded Savyy Beach Club. Of course, we only found that out when we were already there. If you go directly there from the ship, you only pay $25 for sun loungers, a drink, and transfer – that's what we had originally planned, until my wife gave me this "VIP" trip as a birthday present two weeks ago. This gift turned out to be a complete disaster because we didn't even see the absolute standard sights on the island and ended up at the worst section of the beach (an unsecured area for swimming, as all the watersports providers are there - it's better at the other beach clubs, only one rum punch included, no other soft drinks). Instead of being with a nice, local cook on an almost empty beach, we were there at the busiest time and were fobbed off with one free drink, standard food from a food truck, and the statement "you can choose your sun loungers" (there were only two left in the second to last row). The highlight was the "VIP transport" from the beach club back to the ship: we were left alone at the beach club during our "VIP trip" and were supposed to take the regular shuttle bus from the beach club back to the ship. Then a taxi driver tried to rip us off there. That's what VIP treatment looks like at Island VIP Concierge. Oh yes - while every taxi driver in the Caribbean usually has a cooler bag with chilled drinks, our wonderful driver had to stop at a gas station for 10 minutes to get two bottles of water. I wouldn't call that VIP service! What we saw: the coastal road, the self-paid, overpriced distillery, a viewpoint (right next to the distillery), and an overcrowded section of the beach where people were constantly smoking marijuana while doing watersports. Others from our ship paid 100 USD for the same route, including explanations and a nice taxi driver. We specifically chose a company from Orlando because top-notch service is usually offered in the USA - we've been to the USA countless times (especially Orlando, Miami, Naples) and I wonder how they expect to succeed with service like this. After this experience, I took a closer look at this company, and it's quite telling that there's only one review with real pictures (and a completely different guide and service received at the time) on GYG, and another one that's completely meaningless. Otherwise, the company's headquarters are located in a private house in a rather modest neighborhood in Orlando, and the website and all services are advertised exclusively with stock photos. So be careful! After the tour, we complained about the services – we received a brief response from the owner saying he would get back to us, but now, 10 days later, there's still no further response.