One day in Barbados
 

I'm taking a cruise and have 1 day in Barbados. What should I do and what it is the best way to do it?

Bridgetown is a nice city but bustling and not known for great shopping. Suggest getting out in the countryside by hiring a taxi to avoid the crowds. Highlights are Harrison's Cave, Flower Forest, Sunbury Plantation, and the animal preserve. To see what staying on the island would be like, head for lunch at Coral Reef Club (the class act resort on the island) You can snorkel from their beach. See www.barbados.org and www.coralreefbarbados.com

Thanks so much. We are also stopping for a day in St.Thomas, St.John and St. Lucia and I've never been to any of these places. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

An interesting day trip on St. Lucia might be a boat ride along the west coast to the little town of Soufriere, where you take a van to a tropical garden with streams and waterfalls fed by the volcano, lunch at a local restaurant, a visit to the (active) volcano, then snorkeling off a beach on the way back.
Assuming you have one day for STT/STJ together, there is great shopping in Charlotte Amalie. However, a more authentic day would be to take the short ferry ride to St.John where 2/3 of the island is a national park. You can take an island tour over a couple hours and check out the beaches/snorkeling on the north shore. They are some of the most gorgeous beaches anywhere, with no development to be seen. In fact, when you logged onto Fodors Caribbean Forum here, the photo middle-right on the page is of Trunk Bay Beach on St.John. There is a snorkeling trail around the tiny island just off the beach. Or head for Caneel Bay Resort. It has 7 beaches. You could have lunch at their main restaurant on their main beach and beach/snorkel there.

For the day in Barbados I highly recommend making the most of it with an island safari island tour, it's a great way to experience the food, natural and historic areas of about 9 or 10 of the 11 parishes in Barbados, plus the opportunity to go to the beach and do a bit of island shopping. For more info google "island safari barbados".

Hope you enjoy:)