Timing of test and Barbados

That's very interesting to know - thanks very much indeed. We are in Barbados for 11 days so we might take a look at a "room only" place for a few nights until we are free to go, then switch to Sea Breezes for the rest of the time so we can enjoy the full beach/all-inclusive treatment. We were indeed looking at getting ourselves one of the Luxury rooms so we'd be pretty unhappy to be lumped in a standard room having paid for the good stuff.
Very useful advice indeed thanks once again!

No worries. Let me know if you have any other questions. In general, we really liked the Sea Breeze. The Luxury Collection rooms are absolutely amazing, one of the best we have stayed in (the bed in particular was amazing). We had no trouble with getting loungers and there is plenty of beach. And we were never lacking in drinks (and in general they use top shelf liquor). They also have sailboats on which they will take you out as well as other toys for the ocean. But no motorised sports. And there is plenty of different spaces to hang out in to give you a sense of variety

My only two negatives were the lack of the spa and the food. It might change by the time you get here, but at the moment there is only one restaurant open. In the evening, it was a la carte during the week and buffet during the weekend. When it was a la carte, the food was really delicious but they try to make it fine dining all the time and the menu was quite limited. While there was something I could always eat, sometimes I wished there were more "comfort food" options for when I wanted something simpler. Also, dinner would often take a long time (one night way too long) and there isn't an option for something more quick. The food during breakfast and lunch is always buffet. Breakfast hardly varied (although it rarely does). Lunch was "ok" but not nearly as good as dinner. It also could have used more variety but at least there was always burgers and pizza.

Still unless you primary focus is food (which it is for me a bit), I wouldn't hesitate booking here. The services was generally consistently excellent and friendly and we definitely relaxed.

That's great info, thanks so much. We're still a little undecided about whether to stay in a "basic" place to ride out the quarantine, and if we do, do we book two days, three days, four days, and so on (rhetorical question of course). We have 11 days but of course would rather spend as little as possible of it quarantining. Lots of decisions to be made. Do you mind if I ask for an account of how the second PCR test was done? Did you end up bookings yours through Waves when you arrived there?

One reason we booked with Waves is that the Treasure Beach person arranged everything for us. We did end up paying £150/person but was worth knowing that everything was in hand and I didn't have to think about it. They arranged it with Platinum Services Limited who sent a swab person to come to our hotel room at 930 the day after we arrived. We received our results (including the paperwork) at 11AM the next day. Apparently there is only lab on the island who processes all of the results.

I'm not sure if Sea Breeze would arrange for you but you could always call. If you do stay at a cheap self catering hotel, I would call Platinum Services and arrange yourself and make sure you get them to send you paperwork as soon as. For some reason Sea Breeze (and people who stayed at the Crane that we spoke to) were told it takes 48 hours to get paperwork after result but that was not our issue.

Note if you stay at a cheap self catering, more than likely you will be stuck in your room and not be able to leave. One thing we liked about Treasure Beach is that we could go to the pool and gym. At Sea Breeze you would get the pool but not the gym.

If you are considering Waves/Treasure Beach, I have the number of the manager there. Speaking to her in advance made a huge difference in giving me the confidence that everything would be all right.

Thank you once more! Having a peruse around it looks like Southern Palms Beach Club allows you use of a pool and a restaurant while you wait (plus mini golf and an outdoor gym!). That might be a worthy place to stay for a few days while we sort out the second test. Sounds like Platinum Services are a winner then!

Sounds like a plan! Let me know how you make out

We literally arrived back this morning. I have to say the Virgin crew did an amazing job in making our flight as enjoyable as it could be with the new restrictions. Particularly in Upper they make an effort to provide as much of an Upper service as they can.

So - we're nearly free in Barbados.
We had our COVID tests done on Friday at the London General Practice - efficient, and very pleasant people
Results were out on Saturday - clear
Flew out here on Monday - airport procedures for quarantine well organised and efficient
Staying at Hilton - can use upper pool, and Waterside restaurant, but not others (there's room service as well)
THis morning phoned Barbados Health, who organsed a sanitised taxi to collect us and take us to the Polyclinic
for our second test.Taxi was $100 Barbados return. But having the Barbados Gvt second test saved us $135 each (US) on having a private doctor visit the Hilton
Getting results tomorrow - nd hopefully free after that!
Whoopee!

Peter

..and at 0930 this morning we got an email saying we were still negative, and thus we’re free!

Yippee- off to Primo in the gap to celebrate tonight, then starting diving tomorrow....

Peter

We went to Primo on our last night. Was delish. Would recommend the barracuda

Got a trip planned for December
we have already booked Southern palms which seems a suitable option.
We do still need to a covid test arranged however we live in northern England ,but are prepared to travel to guarantee a bit of sun

You can get a home covid test and fit to fly cert from Alldaydr.com. It’s £135 with code : FLYALLDAY .
This are the same tests that the nhs uses and UEFA for testing players. X

Just be careful. Barbardos explicitly will not accept self-administered tests so excludes home kits. Also, it must be a PCR test and must come with a certificate from an accredited lab and with your passport number. We did actually hear a couple of people got away with the NHS tests when they arrived but personally I wouldn't risk it unless Barbados explicitly changes their rules

Agreed about home tests and Barbados. They will NOT accept them. It's hardly surprising when you think about it.
You could put the swab up your granny's nose, or even worse your dog's !!!

And make sure you get not just a certificate, but the tester's affiliation / certification

Peter

Forgot to post an update!

Open tickets rebooked for Barbados for a week and a half! Managed to get Economy Delight outbound and Upper on the return for a touch over £1k each which I thought was a great deal given it's right before Christmas. We're booked to depart on a Sunday so went with Screen4 for a test on the Thursday beforehand. We noticed they had a place in Harlow for tests and given we're based in Cambridgeshire that's not an arduous journey. Thanks to everyone for their advice on not using home testing kits, we'd have likely fallen foul of that.

As for hotels - well Sea Breezes is out, by the time we came to book the price had shot up by around £1k pp so we had to go back to the drawing board. In the end we've got Southern Palms Beach Club as our quarantine hotel for three days - they allow uses of a pool and a restaurant which should be a pleasant place to acclimate while we wait for the test. Hopefully by then we'll have the all clear and from there we walk the 500m to the Sandals Barbados for the remaining 8 days. Honestly it looks nicer than Sea Breezes, guess we'll have to see if it stacks up.

Fingers crossed now that all can go ahead as planned and this can be the one holiday I actually do get to go on this year!

Morning all. Thought I'd revive this thread. My lady and I had our Covid tests done yesterday morning for our Saturday departure.

Screen4 in Harlow was a bit of a tinpot affair, looks like they've rented a tiny glass room in some old 1960s office block. Oh well - as long as they can provide us with a desirable test result and it's all above board then it will do!

Has anyone had any luck using the tracking information provided? They left us a note with our names and a barcode number but no information on where to look them up. There's nothing on the Screen4 website and entering the number into Royal Mail and DX drew up blanks.

Fingers crossed that we receive our test result tonight!

Hopefully this new private CV19 testing facility will ease some of the hassle of locating and attending a PCR test;

https://www.businesstraveller.com/busin ... -heathrow/

Hopefully this new private CV19 testing facility will ease some of the hassle of locating and attending a PCR test;

https://www.businesstraveller.com/busin ... -heathrow/

Don’t bank on it. The same company runs the testing centre at Gatwick, which appears to have been a bit of a shambles thus far.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-engla ... x-55235679

We came in on VS131 on Saturday 19th Dec. Just a few notes for anyone else on the way out here - including on the longer timing with the 2nd test results ;

- Our first PCR test was with Midland Health in Birmingham - expensive but excellent service (inc same day results, if needed).
- T2 check in was a little more crowded than expected but all went smoothly.
- The Plaza Premium lounge was okay but no clubhouse. Main issue was it was very busy, to the extent that we left as didn't feel comfortable. There was a big line outside waiting to enter and not good on the mask front, including people asleep with no masks.
- UC crew were awesome , really handled it all well. Cabin looked to be about 75% full, with a few late upgrades. All well managed from a covid POV.
- Arrivals at BGI was busy, lots of paperwork to show and long line for the health check. It's worth considering using one of the fast-track services - we booked with Platinum ($56 USD each) and were through inside 30 mins , with the main wait being for bags.
- Duty free is open at BGI in luggage hall.
- We were in the Hilton for quarantine hotel - all pretty well organised, with about half the hotel assigned for pre-test guests. The upper pool area and the area around the fort/coastline give quite a bit of space and worked well, despite being busy. There is an outside bar until 7pm and one pre-test restaurant for breakfast that has to be booked or you have a long wait. Evenings are quiet, as it's back to the room and room service only. We found it best to order in the fort just before the lunch menu changed at 6pm so we could eat outside and take our rum punches back to the suite.
- The main thing I'd advise is that it's now taking a lot longer for the 2nd Covid tests than before, when 24 hours or less was typical for private or free tests. Now it's got much busier, 72 hours or more is common at the free government centres (you just need to pay for approved taxi there and back), and we met a couple who were waiting 4 days. We paid for private tests with Platinum ($200 USD each) and it was still 48 hours. The hotel recommends Belle-Med ($150USD), Coordinated Health Services ($150USD) and Urgent Care Mobile ($200USD). the hotel advise to expected 2 days for private test results to come back and 3-4 for free tests. Both free and private go to the same lab but I guess the private ones get some priority in the process.
- Otherwise, it's still paradise here - they are really doing a fantastic job on the covid protocols and mask wearing is more common than in the UK where so many seem to do the minimum.

Hope this helps and happy to answer any question for other Vfyers on the way over