Boston-Barbados

[djg541]

Were considering doing SB Barbados 14 day cruise in March '20 departing Boston and looking for feedback on air.

Looks like only American and Jet Blue service Barbados. American via Miami and Jet Blue via JFK, although Jet Blue does have direct service on Saturdays,but thats the day of cruise and Boston weather in March can be dicey.

Any experiences or advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

DJG541

[princeton123211]

56 minutes ago, djg541 said:

Looks like only American and Jet Blue service Barbados. American via Miami and Jet Blue via JFK, although Jet Blue does have direct service on Saturdays,but thats the day of cruise and Boston weather in March can be dicey.

You are correct with all of this-- only nonstop is the Saturday JetBlue service. Only other thing I can think of is you could take the direct United flight from EWR and take the train back up to Boston from the Newark Airport station. It most likely wont be that much quicker (if at all) than a layover at JFK but it gets you out of a second flight and south of potential winter weather. 

[cuddles115]

I assume your'e thinking of the late March cruise.  Jet Blue is notoriously delayed. But, flights are rarely cancelled. The ship leaves Barbados around 11 PM waiting for all flights from the UK which come in the evening. Thus, any delay from Jet Blue can be considered. Especially, in view of the fact that the plane  stays overnight in Boston and  the chances of delays coming from previous airports are nil. Thinking of getting to multiple airports(JFK) only increases the possibility of delays.  I would contact Seabourn Air. If the price is competitive, they will be able to transport you from BGI to the ship and, from what I'm told, can factor in any possible delays or cancellations. In summary, I would go with the Saturday JB flight and check with the flight info via Seabourn.

[tv24]

We are booked on a Seabourn crossing departing from Barbados in late March, 2020.  We have to get from San Francisco to Barbados to pick up the ship, which was discouraging and sort of defeated the purpose of the crossing, which was to avoid complicated and long air travel.  But in the end, because we dearly wanted to return to Seabourn, we bit the bullet and bought air tix San Fran to Miami to Georgetown, Barbados.  It will be a long day and the lay over in Miami is very short.  Worrying about the possibility of missed Miami connections or lost luggage, we decided to arrive 2 days before the Seabourn departure.  Never been to Barbados before so we will just enjoy a little sight seeing.  Still would have been way happier if Seabourn departed from somewhere in Florida.

[markham]

Yes, Barbados is badly served by the airline industry. And with American Airlines the dominant carrier things are pretty awful since they had been using many 737 Max jets, withdrew them, changed schedules and disrupted lots of travelers’ carefully planned routings. American has a strangle-hold throughout much of the Caribbean but I am guessing that San Juan, Puerto Rico would be far better for starting and ending cruises.

 

That said, there are worse airports. We added a week to our upcoming Ody cruise in order to disembark in Barbados rather than St Martin, our original disembarkation port.

 

Anyway, have a great time during those 2 days. We concur about the “2 day rule” given   the risk of delayed luggage. Grrrrr.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Edited October 12, 2019 by markham

[wripro]

In a case like this I would seriously consider shipping your luggage to the ship so if there's a flight or some other problem you won't be without it. I do this nearly every time now and consider it the best money I spend. Nothing like walking through the airport luggage free.

[rallydave]

11 hours ago, tv24 said:

We are booked on a Seabourn crossing departing from Barbados in late March, 2020.  We have to get from San Francisco to Barbados to pick up the ship, which was discouraging and sort of defeated the purpose of the crossing, which was to avoid complicated and long air travel.  But in the end, because we dearly wanted to return to Seabourn, we bit the bullet and bought air tix San Fran to Miami to Georgetown, Barbados.  It will be a long day and the lay over in Miami is very short.  Worrying aHbout the possibility of missed Miami connections or lost luggage, we decided to arrive 2 days before the Seabourn departure.  Never been to Barbados before so we will just enjoy a little sight seeing.  Still would have been way happier if Seabourn departed from somewhere in Florida.

Hope you are booked to Bridgetown which is the Barbados airport as Georgetown is in the Cayman islands.

[tv24]

9 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Hope you are booked to Bridgetown which is the Barbados airport as Georgetown is in the Cayman islands.

 

9 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Hope you are booked to Bridgetown which is the Barbados airport as Georgetown is in the Cayman islands.

 

9 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Hope you are booked to Bridgetown which is the Barbados airport as Georgetown is in the Cayman islands.

Ooops Yes it's to Bridgetown.  You had me in a mini-panic.

[rallydave]

14 minutes ago, tv24 said:

 

 

Ooops Yes it's to Bridgetown.  You had me in a mini-panic.

Wasn't' trying to panic you.  Just wanted to make sure you didn't miss the ship.  Flew out of there last November on an AA Max 8 after an Odyssey TA.  Kind of a strange airport with checkin outside. 

[2SailingNomads]

We find it easier to get to St. Martin as opposed to Barbados as Delta has service to St. Martin.  However have never left from St. Martin, via air, instead we board the ship.