Montego Bay with Thomas Cook flights

[jtsbusiness]

Hi. We are flying to Montego Bay on 27 March at 9.45 from Gatwick for cruise on Sea Princess and wondered what the airline is like? Can't we really book our seats until we arrive? What kind of meals/drinks are included? Seat room? (and anything else of interest!). We return overnight arriving back at 8.00 am so does this differ from the day flights?

 

We are thinking of staying overnight at Gatwick, so can anybody recommend a good, but inexpensive hotel that would be suitable, and for car parking?

 

Finally, has anybody else done this eastern caribbean cruise and can recommend tours either on the ship, or self organised tours. Our last cruise was in the med. and we were amazed at how much cheaper it was to organise our own tours using public transport and/or taxis. However, this cruise is to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, so we really want to make it special without breaking the bank!:rolleyes:

 

Thanks for reading this and hopefully for giving help and guidance

 

Jan

[deramy]

Hi, we are also flying with TC in November from Gatwick to Montego Bay to sail on Sea Princess and I would be interested to find out about pre booking seats, luggage allowance, etc.

 

Any advice on this would be most helpful.

[woozlebear]

Hi, we are also flying with TC in November from Gatwick to Montego Bay to sail on Sea Princess and I would be interested to find out about pre booking seats, luggage allowance, etc.

 

Any advice on this would be most helpful.

 

 

I can recommend The Sofitel Hotel at Gatwick North not cheap but you can walk to the terminal. Car parking is on site or meet and greet and can be booked through FHR or Holiday Extras.

 

Susan

[deramy]

Thomas Cook flights depart from the South Terminal so I believe the nearest airport is the Hilton Gatwick (expensive though at £122 for two for one night!) This hotel is connected to the South Terminal by a covered walkway.

[jtsbusiness]

Hi

 

If we don't get any replies, perhaps you would let me know how you get on with the flight, and I would be even more interested in the cruise also.

 

Hope you have a great time.

 

Jan

[deramy]

Hi Jan, I certainly will post a review when we return. Getting really excited now and counting down the days! Not sure if you already are aware but Sea Princess has just been in dry dock for two weeks being spruced up so she should be looking good for us!

 

Hope you have a great holiday too!

[Globaliser]

If you're going to stay at Gatwick, the extra cost of staying at one of the on-airport hotels may well be worth it because of the ease of getting to the terminal. In fact, depending on timing, you may be able to get up, pack your bags, check them in with the airline, and then come back to the hotel for breakfast before checking out of the hotel and boarding your flight.

 

http://www.holidayextras.co.uk is sometimes one way of getting a lower price than you can get directly from the hotels.

 

I think that there may be a Yotel already in operation at Gatwick, if you really need budget. The plan was for that to be inside the South Terminal.

 

The transit between the North and South Terminals is currently out of action because it's being replaced over the next year or so. So be aware that if you need to transfer between the terminals, there's a replacement bus service. But reports suggest that it is running well and generally not much slower than using the transit.

[iamwhatiamnot]

Hi. We are flying to Montego Bay on 27 March at 9.45 from Gatwick for cruise on Sea Princess and wondered what the airline is like? Can't we really book our seats until we arrive? What kind of meals/drinks are included? Seat room? (and anything else of interest!). We return overnight arriving back at 8.00 am so does this differ from the day flights?

 

We are thinking of staying overnight at Gatwick, so can anybody recommend a good, but inexpensive hotel that would be suitable, and for car parking?

 

Finally, has anybody else done this eastern caribbean cruise and can recommend tours either on the ship, or self organised tours. Our last cruise was in the med. and we were amazed at how much cheaper it was to organise our own tours using public transport and/or taxis. However, this cruise is to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, so we really want to make it special without breaking the bank!:rolleyes:

 

Thanks for reading this and hopefully for giving help and guidance

 

Jan

 

 

Hi

 

We stayed in the Sofatel overnight a few years ago and done the car parking package they offer. I seem to remember that we done a google search just putting in airport hotels and free parking service. It was priced very reasonably if you take into account the cost of airport parking. The hotel is a short walk via internal bridge into the airport. It was all extremely easy you just drive to the hotel let reception know and they take your car away and on return deliver it to you on arrival. The evening meal is not included nor is breakfast in the deal we had so we just popped over to the airport and had a quick bite there.

 

Thomas Cook have desk open all the time and you can check your luggage in the evening before and get your boarding passes so in the morning you just go straight to passport control. Fantastic.

 

Also if you ring Princess (and they are very obliging) they will give you your booking ref and you can then get onto the airline and pre book seats we did this. By the way we were on Sea Princess and had the most fab holiday ever. Check out www.seatguru.com for the aircraft you are on to get the best seats also they will give lots of info on the seats before you ring Thomas Cook. Food on the airline was the same as any airline it fills a gap in ones tummy and is normally edible. The hostesses are generally very nice and helpful.

 

We have done most of the island in the caribbean and apart from a couple have loved them all. We do not do organised trips but prefer to just get a taxi (which are all outside the docks waiting for you) and tell them to take us to XYZ place. Once you have got your taxi it is yours for the day. Agree a price first thou. They are very geared to the ships comming in and will give you a guided tour on your way and if you end up at a beach they sit on the wall and wait for you. It's like a personal cheauffer for the day (without the limo). This is how they make their living and they are all extremely proud of their island and will tell you all about their family. If you do this make sure it is a recogonised taxi (do a google search on the the island you are visiting on the web and it will give you how to see if your taxi is legal). Always pay in US Dollars and try to give them the right money plus a tip of course cos if you don't you get their local money back which is not inter-changeable on other islands.

 

On board check out the night club we had some amazing late nights in their and the senior staff seem to assemble their after their duty finishes to let their hair down.

 

Have a fantastic holiday I know you will cos it's a fantastic ship if you want any more info email me at joannelawrence@hotmail.com

[jtsbusiness]

Thank you everybody.

 

Been on to Princess and they say that as it is a chartered flight they allocate seats on arrival and unable to prebook.

 

The girl from Princess thought it would be an Airbus A330, but looking on seatguru they only have A320's! She did specify that it was a 3 3 3 seating, so sounds as if it is a different plane to those on seatguru.

 

Looks like it will have to be a wait and see!

 

Thanks Joanne for all your helpful advice. Looks like we will be booking lots of taxis.

 

Does anybody have any idea as to what happens on embarkation day? We arrive at Montego Bay at 7am and out flight does not leave until 4.55 pm. Are we left to our own devices or are trips allowed?

 

Our itinery is:

 

Samana, Tortola St Maarten, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada, Bonaire, Curacao, Grand Caymen and back to Montego Bay.

 

Any must dos/must sees or keep away froms????

 

Any helpful suggestions gratefully received. We are semi-fit/active but my husband does tire easily and not 100% fit.

 

Thanks again for everyone's helpful advice. Sofitel Hotel seems very popular.

[jtsbusiness]

Sorry that should have read disembarkation day!!!

[Globaliser]

The girl from Princess thought it would be an Airbus A330, but looking on seatguru they only have A320's! She did specify that it was a 3 3 3 seating, so sounds as if it is a different plane to those on seatguru.

It will be an A330. Thomas Cook (UK) operates 6 A330-200s. I can safely say that it must be one of these as it certainly won't be an A320 (or A321) for a flight of that range.

 

You might want to have a look at this page to give you an idea of what the layout looks like: http://www.seatplans.com/airlines/Thomas-Cook-Airlines/seatplans/A330-200-20

Our itinery is:

 

Samana, Tortola St Maarten, Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada, Bonaire, Curacao, Grand Caymen and back to Montego Bay.

 

Any must dos/must sees or keep away froms????

Your best bet is to go to the Ports of Call forums for these ports, and also to the Roll Call thread for your cruise. You'll get more answers there than here on the air travel forum.

[jtsbusiness]

Thanks. Do you know if there is any part of the plane that suffers from engine vibration? We heard that some airbuses suffer with this?

[jtsbusiness]

HELP I seem to be having problems with the ROLL CALL. Our cruise is not listed on the front page, and I am sure there must be other pages, but cannot access them. I have put our date into a search, and it brings up totally inconsequential references. Is there a magic formular for accessing this?

[Globaliser]

When you get to the Sea Princess roll call forum, go to the bottom of the page. There you will see a section called "Display Options". In the third of the drop down boxes ("From The"), select "Beginning" and then click the "Show Threads" button. That will set the forum to display all its threads, so that you can find your roll call thread.

 

If you go to your User CP (link near top left hand corner of every page), then to Edit Options (from the list on left hand side of the User CP), you can alter your default setting for every forum. Go to the "Thread Display Options" section, then change the "Default Thread Age Cut Off" drop-down setting to "Show all threads", then go to the bottom of the page and click the "Save Changes" button. Then you will be able easily to see every thread on every forum, without having to change the setting for each forum each time.

 

You should of course be looking for a thread for the sailing on 27 March 2010, as that's the sailing date of your cruise. (That's the date you give in the first post in this thread, but your countdown clock says 26 March 2010.) But as the ship picks up every 7 days, alternately in Montego Bay and Barbados, it might be worth also looking for a thread for the 20 March and 3 April 2010 sailings, as those who start on those dates are likely to be sharing half of your cruise with you.

 

Can't help with "engine vibration", except to say stay away from the engines if you're worried about it. But I've never heard of there being a specific problem with vibration.

[jtsbusiness]

Thanks Globaliser. Found that really useful.

Jan