Cruises out of Martinique or Guadaloupe

[dssking]

MSC has amazing itineraries out of these two islands, however, it seems that it's a small fortune to fly there from

Toronto (I've looked at Buffalo too).

 

Does anyone have tips on flights?  Perhaps to another island, then jump across?

[ult_]

I just finished a cruise out of Guadeloupe and agree the itinerary is amazing. We made our way to Miami and then took an Air France flight to PTP. A couple other options:

• I believe there are direct flights out of Montreal (AirTransat?)
• JetBlue has a direct flight JFK to PTP
• Fly into dutch side of St Martin (SXM) then there are multiple flights a day from the french side (SFG) to PTP

Its worth the extra travel cost. Most cruises out of Florida get repetitive and in the winter sometimes the first 2 and last 2 days are not even that warm. Not a concern at all when going all the way to Guadeloupe or Martinique.

[reedprincess]

20 hours ago, dssking said:

MSC has amazing itineraries out of these two islands, however, it seems that it's a small fortune to fly there from

Toronto (I've looked at Buffalo too).

 

Does anyone have tips on flights?  Perhaps to another island, then jump across?

Alternatively to above (all excellent suggestions), fly into St Lucia and take the ferry (Express Des Isles) to Martinique.. (or fly, but expensive!)

[mef_57]

I spent one long miserable Ottawa winter looking at flights that were either direct from Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto for winter get aways.  I also like the MSC or Costa cruises out of these two ports and agree that flights can be pricey.  Also, not all are reachable every day of the week.  When I looked at 'island hoping' it wasn't very feasible as it tended to add yet another night's accomodation costs and vacation day, which for a solo traveler just kept making the effort too pricey and time consuming.  That being said, do check Air Transat and Air Canada puts out their ebook of flights that lists direct flights and what day of the week they fly to 'wherever'. Westjet also provides 'where we fly' information.

I don't think the prices vary that much, but you do need to work in extra hotel nights and whether you want to embrace the plan and add land travel to whichever port you use. 

I think these itineraries are ones that benefit from early bookings.  I rarely see them on sale.  With the tendency to low cruise costs on MSC, the flight prices may still be easily absorbed into the per day cost.