Barbados Arrival

HI flying out in a few weeks to Barbados to catch the ship.

soemone told its best to stay on the aircraft till last as they put last few passenger in smaller buses and taxis which end up getting to the ship before the big coaches as they can use the back streets.

Any body any thoughts on this.

Mark

HI flying out in a few weeks to Barbados to catch the ship.

soemone told its best to stay on the aircraft till last as they put last few passenger in smaller buses and taxis which end up getting to the ship before the big coaches as they can use the back streets.

Any body any thoughts on this.

Mark

Might be the case, but I've only ever seen small buses waiting. It's not a long transfer as I remember (around 30 mins?) following the coastline for part of the way and going through Bridgetown. We found it interesting.

I guess if this does happen though, you could get a head start on registration at the port but the last taxis/small buses to leave would have to make up a fair bit of time to beat the first few coaches which leave the airport and given the length of transfer and decent roads I would imagine it wouldn't be that easy.

I think there is only the main coastline road from the airport to the port, if there are back roads I'm not sure they would be any quicker or your back would survive the pot holes.

I would also be surprised if P&O don't stipulate the main road must be used by drivers.

I would still get off the plane as normal and if you want to be last, wait with your luggage in the customs hall - you could get off last but your luggage could be first on the carousel anyway.

HI don't have to wait for luggage its taken straight to the ship

coach takes direct from plane.

mark

At the end of the day the waiting to board on arrival at the port is very short as you only have to register. (Not like Southampton when you wait in the lounge). And after all what is the rush as you will still be waiting for your luggage to appear in your cabin. You are on holiday so relax, take in the weather and go with the tide!!!

HI don't have to wait for luggage its taken straight to the ship

coach takes direct from plane.

mark

Ok, regardless I think you are gambling on something that probably won't happen to try and save a few mins, as above, go with the flow...

We have been on larger coaches and the smaller ones and it didn't really make any difference.

The smaller ones did seem to try and take shortcuts down very bumpy side roads, but given the traffic the difference in arrival times is minimal.

Molly

We have cruised out of Barbados 8 or 9 times and I swear we have never taken exactly the same route to the port more than once. Last year as I got of the bus I said "good short cut" to the driver, he was very pleased that I noticed.

In short I don't think it is important when you get off the plane and which bus you get, its all down to luck.

We got off the plane and got on one of the first buses and were one of the first to get to the ship and went straight through check-in and straight on board the first time. the 2nd time got on one of the first 5/6 buses and got to check-in to find that check-in had a few 100 passengers from the plane before us still in line for check-in so I wouldn't gamble on waiting for the last bus because you never know what's at the other end!!!

It also depends if there are other planes in at the same time when we got there last year Gatwick was already in and Birmingham arrived almost as soon as we did .As others have said not a bad transfer and in the lap of the gods how long to check in.

It varies - we have always been in Premium seats so have been among the first to get off the plane and on to the first coach to leave - sometimes a small minibus - have got to the port and entered the empty arrivals hall, checked in and on the ship extremely quickly.

Earlier this year we were again on the first coach to leave the airport and to arrive at the dock. Unfortunately there were passengers from the two flights that landed just before us so there were queues - long queues. It must have taken us around 45 minutes before we got to a check in desk. So my advice would be to get the port as quickly as possible and hope! I certainly wouldn't wait for the last coach/minibus to leave the airport - if we'd done that last time goodness knows how long we'd have been waiting.

Still, you are on holiday, you don't have to go inside the airport to retrieve your luggage so smile and just think of all those lovely days ahead of you!

There is no patten as to which bus you get to transport you to the pier. These buses etc. have been toing and froing all day to service the P&O arrivals and departures. There are just so many variables dictating what you travel in. Twenty years ago we would take the coast road through Oistins and the Gap St Lawrence; far too congested these days.

Cb