Last day of cruise and flying home

[Essexlass2]

oooh brill, I hate having to worry about excess luggage!! might slip a few extra pairs of shoes in ..... dont worry I wont tell, especially not the hubby! ;)

 

Before you slip the extra shoes in, do remember that they will weigh your luggage at the UK airport on your way out to the Caribbean :eek:

[CASPALL]

I think theyre sailing out there Essexlass 2

 

If you ARE sailing out then remember to have warmer clothing with you for the first few days

We did this cruise 3 yrs ago and had a lot of bad weather - P&O sold a lot of fleece jumpers and jackets,hoodies etc as people just never considered it could be bad. Im not trying to be negative - the sun might shine all the time!

We went out at end of Oct and had to wait overnight to sail from Southampton as it was so stormy.

An umbrella might be useful too as the Caribbean is good for the odd heavy shower.

APart from all this you will get as brown as berries and love every minute of your cruise!! :)

Caryl

[sunjelina]

Yes we are sailing out. Good advice Capsall! I did think that maybe the first few days would be quite cold and thought that I would pack for the first few days as if I was in UK. Is it warm in the cabins and around the interior of the ship? Hopefully do a few indoor activities during these days. Thanks for the advice!

[Essexlass2]

Yes we are sailing out. Good advice Capsall! I did think that maybe the first few days would be quite cold and thought that I would pack for the first few days as if I was in UK. Is it warm in the cabins and around the interior of the ship? Hopefully do a few indoor activities during these days. Thanks for the advice!

 

Yes, the interior of the ship will be kept at the usual temperature we always enjoy wherever we are in the world. Enjoy your cruise Sunjelina!

[sunjelina]

Thanks Essexlass :) I really cant wait now that I have got all those niggling questions and doubts out of the way. Really looking forward to our first cruise and judging by how many times people cruise on here, I doubt whether it will be our last!

[Devon Doll]

Each time we have travelled back from Barbados we have booked the Business Lounge - very civilized; comfy seats, food and whatever you want to drink. Its usually very busy in the main hall, so doing this ends our holiday in a relaxing way!

[UK Cruiser2]

Each time we have travelled back from Barbados we have booked the Business Lounge - very civilized; comfy seats, food and whatever you want to drink. Its usually very busy in the main hall, so doing this ends our holiday in a relaxing way!

 

How do you book this,is it directly with the barbados airport website?

[micky most]

Sunjelina who are you flying with as We did the Ventura Transatlantic last year early November.We had to go through immigration on the last day being the Friday morning.That was an early start!but was done in the Havana club on the back of the ship.Had to queue at 7 am in morning then met Barbados immigration staff who Checked passports and we were given a pass for the day,We then had to go to the baggage hall on dock to claim our suitcases,and even though we queued and were near the front of the queue and were promised our suitcases would be easy to find in deck order in the warehouse once allowed to move there was a mad rush and we ended up with many others at the back and were pushed about by eager other cruisers who even though they came into the queue half an hour after us early risers they HAD TO BE FIRST TO GET THEIR SUITCASES WHICH WERE NOT IN DECK ORDER BUT CHAOS TO LOCATE ALL MIXED UP..and then the other cruisers pushed in before us and others to get their plane tickets grrrr...at the temporary check in .and our suitcases WERE WEIGHED BUT We were booked on a BA Flight so depending on what flight you have booked, you may not have to do anything like this. This year we are booked on Transatlantic on Azura in November and are flying with Thomson so hope for a better experience on the fly back day.The short time we had we shopped in the dock area shops.There as others have said are no toilets on the buses to the airport.We waited on ship and watched the screens for our transfer time,then as we got down by the buses some were tiny and they crammed on people really tight so we refused and after some discussion with the rude Barbados staff managed to get on a bigger bus with legroom similar to a coach in uk but still years old and tatty.Although the commentary from the friendly driver made up for this.He felt sorry for us only having a few hours in Barbados but gave us a running commentary tour on way to Airport which again as other have said is not a great experience.As the shuttle buses arrive they have to Queue in a road opposite the airport and are taken in by turn as room arrives.Then you have the mad Queue to get into the terminal and some of their staff needs lessons in manners.Grantley Adams airport not the best place to fly from Maybe we mad to do it again this year? SUNJELINA YOU WILL ENJOY THE CRUISE WE are on our third on AZURA in November....all the best

[kersh]

mickeys most,

You were most unfortunate and at no time after in excess of 10 Caribbean fly cruises with PO Have we ever experienced anything like that.

 

In the past flying with a scheduled flight have not been offered by PO they were all charter flights. No collecting of luggage involved either way. No passing through immigration at Barbados airport, all done on ship. The buses from the port are staggered so we have never queued at the airport on the bus. Small queue to get through security but nothing more than at Manchester airport.

 

We have queued on the buses to bard ship once landed and arrived at the docks but that was because one flight was early and another late so there was a clash of times.

 

Generally it all runs very smoothly. Some prefer to fly schedule but you do pay for that by having to collect own luggage both ways and go through immigration and check in.

 

I am convinced you will have a better experience with Thomsons although the flight may not be as comfortable or the service as good. Once off the flight it will all go very smoothly. This is one area PO really excel at.

 

Sue

[micky most]

Thank you Kersh for the reply just to confirm we sailed out and flew back not the other way around:)

[kersh]

Thank you Kersh for the reply just to confirm we sailed out and flew back not the other way around:)

 

Hi, yes sorry just re read your post. We have done the TA both ways and also fly out fly back. If doing a TA our preference is to fly out and sail back as it gets the flight out of the way, then 4 Caribbean islands and can relax all the way back. Although would love to be on 1 st Nov cruise.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Sue

[sunjelina]

Hi, thanks for the information. It sounds really stressful!! I had read quite a few posts on here saying how smoothly the last day went so I am sooo confused now. Our return flight is with Thomas Cook, I really do hope that there is not too much fuss on the last day! I was hoping like previous posts have said, not to have to mess around with luggage until we arrived back in Manchester. Oooh I thought I had it all planned out and now Im not so sure :/

[CASPALL]

We have never had a problem flying back from the Caribbean Sunjelina

The only thing that gets you down is the disappointment of leaving the cruise and ending up in Barbados airport, knowing you have a long flight ahead and a chilly morning awaiting you in the UK after all that Caribbean sun

Please don't fret. people don't post on here with the ordinary happenings and sometimes things just don't go the way you want. The more you travel, the more likely this will happen.

A wonderful experience awaits you.

Have fun

Caryl

[annieuk]

If your return flight is with Thomas Cook it is a chartered P&O plane so your luggage will be collected the night before and you won't see it again until you reach your UK airport - so stop worrying!! The only people who had the experience mentioned on this thread with having to sort out cases at Bridgetown airport were those who flew on a scheduled flight - some people were on those as the P&O charters were full.

 

Just another tip. We have now been on more than half a dozen fly cruises to the Caribbean and on several of those it has been raining on the way to the airport to fly home. I learnt the hard way on our first cruise. I had packed a red jacket of mine next to a cream jumper of my husbands. We had soft sided cases and the case must have stood outside on the runway as it got wet - and yes the red jacket bled onto the cream jumper - I was not popular.

 

So now I always line the cases with polythene - I use one of those covers the dry cleaners use, cut up the sides and line the bottom and sides of the case and put another one on the top of the clothes. Since that first cruise I have been amazed how many times it has rained as we left Barbados - we have been at different times from January to March - so just to be on the safe side use some polythene.

 

Apart from that you will have a splendid time -and don't worry. Before too long you'll be doing a second cruise and then you'll be an old hand! Have a wonderful time.:)

[sunjelina]

Phew!!! Thank you both for the reassurance. Just done a bit of research on here and came to the same conclusion, no messing about with luggage :) I love the polythene tip, would never have thought about that, thank you both again!

[vizzog]

Sunjelina a little weather info from last Nov crossing

This is from a post I did a couple of weeks ago for someone else asking about the Transatlantic and the weather across.

I have been on Azura a few times so any questions please ask.

We did the 3 week Transatlantic on Ventura last Nov, first time on a transatlantic and we loved it so much we have booked a transatlantic for this Nov.

Here is a brief over view of what weather/conditions we experienced last year (I write a diary)
First day after leaving Southampton we were off the Brest peninsular, weather scattered clouds 10 degrees ok for a bracing walk on deck!

Day 2 Off the coast off Northern Spain went across BOB without realising during the night, weather scattered clouds and sun 13 degrees ships course will take us down the coast of Portugal today (Our first port on this cruise was Madeira)

Day 3 South of Lisbon heading southwest 1000 miles from Southampton now. 11am the sun is trying to shine it is a 'balmy' 17.1 degrees now the Oasis pool is filled dare I go for a swim?

Day 4 Funchal today weather fine rain and showers but 20 degrees, now have shorts on although a waterproof jacket to!

Day 5 2700 miles to Tortola! weather 18 degrees broken clouds and showers still travelling more westerly than south at the moment so not level with the Canary Islands yet so expecting it to get warmer once we turn more southerly.

Day 6 Getting much warmer now nearly 21 degrees at 11am and sunny

Days 7-10 Hot 27-30 degrees and sunny most of the time, balcony too hot to sit for long....

First port of call Tortola cruised 4059 miles from Southampton, typical Tortola weather heavy showers and sun but 28 degrees!

We then had two weeks in the Caribbean...

This year there is no 3 week cruise (shame.. ideal length we thought) so have booked a back to back so we are on-board 4 weeks as we feel just the two week crossing not long enough once you reach the Caribbean.
We thoroughly enjoyed the crossing not rough at all (hope its the same this year!) it gave us a chance to unwind and relax

[sunjelina]

Thank you for that info Vizzog, I will print it off and it will help me pack accordingly :)