Help - why the Caribbean?

[Presto2]

Help

 

I am going round in circles trying to think of a special cruise for 2024 - probably 30th and retirement (?)

 

We have looked at so many cruises on so many cruise lines as a special cruise - Cunard, Celebrity - and ports of call (most with places we have been to before but awesome and could be repeated).

 

I keep coming back to the Caribbean for Spring 2024 on Britannia ....

 

Hubby has been to Barbados -- I love Death in Paradise, but have never been before ------- and love RUM!

 

You can read our cruise history below to see what we like.

 

Can anyone who has done a 2 week Caribbean cruise with PO tell me why I should DO this cruise - 

Britannia 2 week, aft cabin we love, £6100 with £600 on board spend

 

If we do it we will move the Christmas one booked for Christmas 2022.

 

Help

 

[Cathygh]

It's a few years since I did a Caribbean cruise so there will be pax on here with more recent experience. So there's lots of beautiful beaches and opportunities for diving and snokelling, if that's your thing. It's not ours, so we did a rum tour in Domincan Republic. This was excellent and at the time they were not exporting the rum to the UK, but that might have changed. We did a chocolate farm tour in Grenada and a historical tour in Antigua to Nelson's House. In Tortula we picked up a tour outside the port, with a very entertaining guide who took us around the island. There is not much to do in the port there. In Aruba we went to see the pelicans and I think in Bonaire and Curacao we did our own thing. 

A choice between the Canaries and the Carribean is really a personal choice. I have been to the Canaries several times. They are not known for their rum, but I have enjoyed the tours to the volcanoes. There generally seems more to do than in the Carribean but that's my personal opinion. The flight to Tenerife is clearly much shorter than to Barbados and there is no jet lag. If going to the Carribean is a once in a life time thing then go for it, as there are lots of ways of going to the Canaries and you can go all year round and I see you have been there before. I hope that helps.

 

[Presto2]

Many thanks for your info :-) Would be once in a life time but we said that about cruising !!!!!!

[jaydee6969]

15 hours ago, Presto2 said:

 

 

Hubby has been to Barbados -- I love Death in Paradise, but have never been before ------- and love RUM!

 

 

Death In Paradise is filmed on the Guadeloupe islands.  When we eventually cruise the Caribbean we will try and select  a cruise that stops there.  Not many do.

[ann141]

We have done 2 cruises on Britannia round the Caribbean and loved them both .We find the cruise very relaxing as islands are fairly close to each other and you can usually just wander off by yourself at each port.You may need a taxi to go to a nice beach but there are lots of minibus taxis waiting to take you to the beach or for a tour of the island. We love the wildlife and the scenery and the weather is usually great- warm but not too humid.

[wowzz]

I think you should ask yourself why you should NOT do a Caribbean cruise. The only negatives I can see are the relatively long flight times (but not that long compared to, say, flying to Singapore) and jet lag. Everything else is a positive.

We did a DiP tour on Guadeloupe when on Arcadia. The town itself is extremely small. 10 minutes and you have seen it all !

[Bill Y]

17 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Help

 

I am going round in circles trying to think of a special cruise for 2024 - probably 30th and retirement (?)

 

We have looked at so many cruises on so many cruise lines as a special cruise - Cunard, Celebrity - and ports of call (most with places we have been to before but awesome and could be repeated).

 

I keep coming back to the Caribbean for Spring 2024 on Britannia ....

 

Hubby has been to Barbados -- I love Death in Paradise, but have never been before ------- and love RUM!

 

You can read our cruise history below to see what we like.

 

Can anyone who has done a 2 week Caribbean cruise with PO tell me why I should DO this cruise - 

Britannia 2 week, aft cabin we love, £6100 with £600 on board spend

 

If we do it we will move the Christmas one booked for Christmas 2022.

 

Help

 

I note that you are well travelled around Europe and are surprised that you have not ventured further afield, you are considering a fly cruise so are prepared to fly. You mention a special cruise and retirement so are you constrained by only being able to be away for two weeks?

 

Most cruisers have visited the Caribbean at least once, some go every year for the winter sun. It’s certainly a popular destination. P&O do the Caribbean well, their fly cruises use charter planes and have arrangements that bypasses most of the airport formalities, after a long flight its good just to walk down the aircraft steps and onto a small coach then straight to the ship, hold luggage is unloaded from the aircraft and taken directly to the ship, so you check the luggage in at the UK airport then the next time you see it is outside your cabin. The cruises are port intensive, if that is what you like rather that lots of sea days, so you will have ticked off a few islands. Tours are easy to arrange on the dock there are plenty of taxis drivers and small coach operators touting for business. Rather than taking a taxi for two if it’s a popular tour (around the island etc) ask to share you get a better view from a twelve seater van than a car, As people stream off the ship normally it does not take long to get a small group together. The beaches are normally away from the port but there will be lots transport available a lot cheaper than the P&O transfers.

 

If you like the sound of the Caribbean go for it, its another part of the world ticked off. As P&O offer fly cruises at an industrial level there are often good bargains, but if you are still working you may not be able to take advantage, so if it’s a cruise you fancy at a price you like go for it. If you are able to be away for longer there are other special and exotic options but the Caribbean is a good start.

[Presto2]

Many thanks for that. We have tended to be restricted to where we go as we are currently tied to school holidays and most cruise lines do the more exotic stuff in term time. It will be a whole new world for us. To be honest looks like we are going to change that cruise .. just fussing about a cabin now. 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Presto2

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Presto2 said:

just fussing about a cabin now. 

 

Can I strongly suggest you fuss about the flights as well - ideally you want to fly from a local airport, and I strongly recommend Premium Economy seats, although they come at a price (£409 each, from memory)

[Presto2]

How do you book those?

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

How do you book those?

Book through whoever booked your cruise. But, they go fast !

[Presto2]

Just now, wowzz said:

Book through whoever booked your cruise. But, they go fast !

We booked direct so will have to sort it ourselves 

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

We booked direct so will have to sort it ourselves 

Call P&O  - they will be able to book PE for you. But, you will have to pay again, (£79 each?)if you want to choose your seat, when bookings open up, 14 weeks prior to departure. 

[sandancer]

1 hour ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

Death In Paradise is filmed on the Guadeloupe islands.  When we eventually cruise the Caribbean we will try and select  a cruise that stops there.  Not many do.

I have yet to find one that does.

[Bill Y]

31 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

We booked direct so will have to sort it ourselves 

If you can’t get PE its still worth going on the charter IMHO. We had lunch with a couple who could not get PE on the charter and expressed their dissatisfaction to P&O who then booked them on BA, they had a terrible ordeal at the airport terminal with all the passengers from the scheduled flights flooding in. I don’t think that they were looking forward to the return ordeal, they were quite jealous.

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, sandancer said:

I have yet to find one that does.

Here are some to start with

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/pointe-a-pitre-port-941

[Presto2]

Well thank you everyone. We have just moved the cruise from Azura to the Caribbean in January 2024.

Aft cabin E deck so we are more than happy. Many thanks for the heads up re the flight seats WOWZZ we had no idea about those.

Anyway, have paid £6696 with £600 on board spend for the cruise including the premium seats for the flight so are well happy with that. Off to change my signature now --- excited already !!!!!

Thank you everyone 🙂 

[wowzz]

22 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Well thank you everyone. We have just moved the cruise from Azura to the Caribbean in January 2024.

Aft cabin E deck so we are more than happy. Many thanks for the heads up re the flight seats WOWZZ we had no idea about those.

Anyway, have paid £6696 with £600 on board spend for the cruise including the premium seats for the flight so are well happy with that. Off to change my signature now --- excited already !!!!!

Thank you everyone 🙂 

Pleased you got sorted. We are in an aft cabin on E deck as well, but are going in early December 23, so, as you would expect, paid a little less than you.

[Presto2]

Just now, wowzz said:

Pleased you got sorted. We are in an aft cabin on E deck as well, but are going in early December 23, so, as you would expect, paid a little less than you.

We are E741 - we normally have F729 but it was taken. 

Shame we miss one another but you can be our source of info before we go 🙂

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

We are E741 - we normally have F729 but it was taken. 

Shame we miss one another but you can be our source of info before we go 🙂

Just checked - we actually are on D deck !

[Presto2]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Just checked - we actually are on D deck !

Close 🙂

[Fionboard]

1 hour ago, sandancer said:

I have yet to find one that does.

P&O cruises from Southampton do but obviously longer ones.

[Bizzie07]

4 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Well thank you everyone. We have just moved the cruise from Azura to the Caribbean in January 2024.

Aft cabin E deck so we are more than happy. Many thanks for the heads up re the flight seats WOWZZ we had no idea about those.

Anyway, have paid £6696 with £600 on board spend for the cruise including the premium seats for the flight so are well happy with that. Off to change my signature now --- excited already !!!!!

Thank you everyone 🙂 

Hi,  If you don't mind could you tell me how much it cost to upgrade to premium seats.  Thanks

[Presto2]

5 minutes ago, Bizzie07 said:

Hi,  If you don't mind could you tell me how much it cost to upgrade to premium seats.  Thanks

It was £204 pp each way.

When we considered the price of the cruise and the on board spend (and as it was a special cruise) we thought 'what the heck'. When we looked at the benefits it seemed the best thing to do as it is a long flight and the perks seem really good.  Hubby needs extra leg rooms seats so perfect for him. I don't and can lie down in the extra space 🙂 🙂 🙂 

 

She didn't ask about the seats when booking - if it wasn't for WOWZZ I don't think we would have known anything about it. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Presto2

[Bizzie07]

Just now, Presto2 said:

It was £204 pp each way.

When we considered the price of the cruise and the on board spend (and as it was a special cruise) we thought 'what the heck'. When we looked at the benefits it seemed the best thing to do as it is a long flight and the perks seem really good. 

Thanks for that.  My daughter are her boyfriend are going to the Caribbean for his 30th and I was going to upgrade them as a present so that is good to know.