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Long haul,is it worth it?


yesididit
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Love Britain in spring and summer but come winter thoughts of the Caribbean get stronger every year. I get seriously itchy bored let me off on short haul, even a 2 hour flight door to door takes all day and leaves me dreading the whole thing. Yet the pull of the land of the coconut grows stronger. How on earth do you cope sat on a plane all day? I can only sleep in a bed. Thought of landing back in uk early morning after sleepless night is horrible, then driving home. I struggle coping with red traffic lights so any delay would finish me off.

Is long haul as bad as I imagine? House door to cabin door, 15hrs?

Would have to be Britannia, only for dancing in the under used Cyrstal room:cool:

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My wife and I did a one week Caribbean fly cruise for the first time last December. Our flight was from Gatwick early on the Saturday morning so we got the coach from Bristol on Friday afternoon. The coach took 5 hours! Then overnight at Gatwick before 9 hour flight. Coming back we arrived at about 6 am and then waited for coach at 9am. No way would we want to drive after that flight. Home by about 2pm. As much as we both really enjoyed the time away it felt like two days travelling to get there and another two days to get back. We both said we wouldn't go again unless for at least two weeks. The flights consisted of lots of films, music and reading for us! Yes it's boring but that's the 'price' for good weather I guess !

 

 

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I really hate flying too so we do the transplant if cruise.get the flight out of the way first which also means no overnight flight home.this march we are joining Britannia and have decided to fly premium class which I hope will help and as it's only one way only £149pp rather than 299

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I really hate flying too so we do the transplant if cruise.get the flight out of the way first which also means no overnight flight home.this march we are joining Britannia and have decided to fly premium class which I hope will help and as it's only one way only £149pp rather than 299
sorry that should read translantic !!:)
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We also did the Transatlantic (Twice) to do same as Ann and avoid the flight back home.

We stayed overnight at Manchester Airport at an Hotel also to avoid travelling very early morning.

Those two hours asleep we gained by doing so make all the difference.

As for the aircraft you have films music ,magazine and a couple of meals to pass the time, which we found seemed to pass the time away faster than expected.

Before you know it your there ,no airport ,down the plane steps ,onto a waiting bus and your next stop your on the ship. Consider yourself "Transplanted" from the cold into the sunshine.

 

note

You may have typed in error Ann but it's a good description ;p:D:D

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I'm my opinion it's not worth it but a lot of people would disagree. Another thing to bear in mind is that on the way back you have to check out of your cabin first thing in the morning but your flight might not be until later in the day. In our case the flight was not until the afternoon so there was a lot of hanging around at the airport before we could even get our flight. We did a 28 night round trip to the Caribbean from Southampton after this which was so much better! Good weather from about day 3 onwards. Obviously that is not possible for everyone with work/family commitments but if you can manage it, I would definitely recommend!!

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I don't think going for just a week is worth the hassle. Regardless of the flight, the jet lag will lose you the first two days. 14 days or more is fine. Take lots to read on the plane, catch up on films, and fly premium economy if you can.

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For added interest study world cruises, first or last leg. These are sometimes cheaper and you can book independent flights well ahead and get a cancellable one then if the cruise leg drops in price you are in. Stay a week at the far end.

 

RegardsJohn

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I too hate that overnight flight back from the Caribbean landing at Gatwick at 5.30am last time - to make matters worse the plane stopped miles from the terminal so we had to be bussed from the plane. Problem was it was a freezing cold February morning and the steps they wheeled to the plane were iced up so dangerous to use the steps! So we had to wait while someone found salt to de-ice the steps. Then we had to wait while the salt worked and the steps were made safe. By the time we got to our taxi our poor driver had been waiting over 90 mins. At one point he had given up and gone and got some breakfast!

 

The next time we were really spoilt. We did a back to back so we flew out to Bridgetown, joined Azura and did a 14 night Caribbean cruise, back to Bridgetown and then had about 3 or 4 more stops in the Caribbean and then sailed back to Southampton - was it wonderful! No jet lag. Arrived back home - we live very near Southampton - about 9.30 in the morning ready to face the day ahead instead of longing for sleep. The journey back was amazing - the Bay was fine and the day before we docked in Southampton we were sat on the balcony in the sun! We arrived back in Southampton to discover they had several days of sunshine - April 9th we got home. Mind you the next time we did the same thing and arrived back on April 9th it was snowing - so you never can tell!

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The flight to the Caribbean is not that bad - you have your lovely cruise to look forward to. It's the flight back overnight that's so awful. Landing in the freezing cold at Gatwick at 5.30 am not having slept at all on the flight is dreadful.

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The flight to the Caribbean is not that bad - you have your lovely cruise to look forward to. It's the flight back overnight that's so awful. Landing in the freezing cold at Gatwick at 5.30 am not having slept at all on the flight is dreadful.

I think the return flight is where PE comes into its own - much more chance of at least getting a little nap than back in economy.

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If you wish to avoid the dreaded overnight flight back, You can always spend an extra night at a hotel post cruise and then fly back in the morning. There are several cities that offer early morning departure from the US landing in the UK early in the evening the same day.

 

 

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If you wish to avoid the dreaded overnight flight back, You can always spend an extra night at a hotel post cruise and then fly back in the morning. There are several cities that offer early morning departure from the US landing in the UK early in the evening the same day.

 

 

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Problem is that most fly/cruises use charter flights that don't allow that sort of flexibility.

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It's a very personal thing but for me the flights are not worth the end result. I am exactly like you and get twitchy legs and bored on even short haul and on the longer flight I was absolutely desperate to get off the plane by the end of the journey.

 

 

There are good films to pass the time but it's the being stuck in one tiny space for hours on end that got to me (and we flew business class with just two seats in our row so it was as good as it got).

 

 

The Carribean is pretty but not worth the long journey IMO.

 

 

As other have suggested flying one way and coming back over the pond may be the answer as at least you get the bad bit out of the way and have a holiday to look forward to.

 

 

The Plane journey back was the killer for me as I knew what was coming second time around.

 

 

If it's just sun you are looking for what about the Canaries?

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Love Britain in spring and summer but come winter thoughts of the Caribbean get stronger every year. I get seriously itchy bored let me off on short haul, even a 2 hour flight door to door takes all day and leaves me dreading the whole thing. Yet the pull of the land of the coconut grows stronger. How on earth do you cope sat on a plane all day? I can only sleep in a bed. Thought of landing back in uk early morning after sleepless night is horrible, then driving home. I struggle coping with red traffic lights so any delay would finish me off.

Is long haul as bad as I imagine? House door to cabin door, 15hrs?

Would have to be Britannia, only for dancing in the under used Cyrstal room:cool:

 

We have been doing 2 week fly cruises to the Caribbean for 20 years so as you might expect I think the journey is worth the reward, 2 weeks of great weather in February.

 

I can only say how I cope with the flight, a variety of things to do. Reading, quizzes, watch a film and a sleep if you can. The other thing I try to do is ignore time, don't look at your watch, don't check the flight map, just ignore time and it will pass. If you get an earlier flight you can be unpacked and having dinner by early evening.

 

Homeward bound is a bit more difficult, easier said that done but some sleep is ideal. On the last 3 trips we have been home around 9.00am and that is with a 3 hour drive.

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It's a very personal thing but for me the flights are not worth the end result. I am exactly like you and get twitchy legs and bored on even short haul and on the longer flight I was absolutely desperate to get off the plane by the end of the journey.

 

 

There are good films to pass the time but it's the being stuck in one tiny space for hours on end that got to me (and we flew business class with just two seats in our row so it was as good as it got).

 

 

The Carribean is pretty but not worth the long journey IMO.

 

 

As other have suggested flying one way and coming back over the pond may be the answer as at least you get the bad bit out of the way and have a holiday to look forward to.

 

 

The Plane journey back was the killer for me as I knew what was coming second time around.

 

 

If it's just sun you are looking for what about the Canaries?

Perhaps I'm unusual, but I look forward to the long flights, as long as it is not in economy! Sitting in a nice comfy seat, catching up on films I've missed, with wine and food served at regular intervals - what's not to like? Give me 9 hours of that to the Caribbean compared to 4 hours stuffed into easyJet to the Canaries any day!

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We always do these flights in premium economy and find for us it makes the long flight bearable. I don't think we would ever do one week we have always done two as has been mentioned there is some jet lag when you arrive in the caribbean.But it is our favorite destination love the laid back way of live there.

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I only do long haul with a few days in a hotel at each end - eg 2 nights Singapore, cruise to Cape Town and 3 nights there. For the Caribbean I prefer to sail out and back, but that does of course take longer.

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Perhaps I'm unusual, but I look forward to the long flights, as long as it is not in economy! Sitting in a nice comfy seat, catching up on films I've missed, with wine and food served at regular intervals - what's not to like? Give me 9 hours of that to the Caribbean compared to 4 hours stuffed into easyJet to the Canaries any day!

I can only agree with your comments! :)

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We flew 21 hrs from Adelaide to London to join Azura for 20 nights in July just gone. Flight was tough, but so worth it. On the way home we had 3.5hrs on the Tarmac before we took off from Heathrow due to medical emergency That was hard.

 

I have to get up every hour or so and have a walk around. Helps with the achy legs. Can't sleep no matter what but I found listening to my fav music helped me zone out. And focusing on the fantastic holiday I was about to have/or have had.

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Perhaps I'm unusual, but I look forward to the long flights, as long as it is not in economy! Sitting in a nice comfy seat, catching up on films I've missed, with wine and food served at regular intervals - what's not to like? Give me 9 hours of that to the Caribbean compared to 4 hours stuffed into easyJet to the Canaries any day!

 

I wish I was like that but I can't sit for all that time, I just get stir crazy and claustrophobic.

 

I agree re Easyjet but it's better with an operator that offers extra space seats etc.

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I love Caribbean cruises I've done 5 so far. What we do is fly out economy and fly home business class (you don't have to fly same class both ways)

 

Economy seats are compact, but you are flying during the day so not too bad. You have movies & TV shows to watch. Dinner and a snack to eat and a drink service.

 

We also love Miami so depending how many days off I have we will spend a couple of days each side of the cruise in South Beach.

 

Flying to Miami, there is not much jet lag but is coming home.

 

That's why I recommend business class. The seats convert in to a bed so you are lying flat, even if you can get 2 or 3 hours sleep stretched out it helps.

 

This time we are going to do a B2B which will have a quick turn around. I also recommend at least arriving the day before your cruise. A lot of the hotels at Miami airport offer free shuttles from airport and to the Port of Miami

 

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