Disembarkation times?

[chefchick]

I am in the planning stages of a January 2013 voyage on the Spirit and have a question. It is scheduled to arrive in Barbados at 4 AM. The flight home I am looking at departs at 7:50 am. How early can you disembark? We were in Barbados once before but I do not remember how far away the airport is from the port? 30 mins? Are cabs readily available early in the morning?

 

My other choice for flights departs at 3:00 pm, but has a VERY short connection time in MIA. I know that, in general, disembarking from a small ship is much quicker than a mass market one, but what has been your experience with early flights like this when it comes to Windstar cruises?

 

Thanks.

[stcruise]

Last year on the Spirit, those of us with 7:50 AM flights were scheduled to disembark at 5:00 AM. Because of my concern at getting a taxi that early in the morning, we just used Windstar's transfer service (and it appeared everyone else with an early flight did also). We normally don't purchase the transfers, but in this instance at that early hour we felt it was the way to go. I believe it was $29 pp.

[6rugrats]

Did you go back and read the answers when you asked basically the same question on the air forum board?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1656340

[chefchick]

6rugrats

 

To be fair, the question that I asked on the cruise air forum was in regards to flight connection times in Miami, NOT disembarkation times from the ship. I am hoping to get the earlier flight and therefore was wondering if anyone had personal experience with disembarking that early.

 

Whenever someone posts a snarky answer to someone's question on these boards like you did above, I've never understood why you bother? If I'm wasting your time, then dont read it! (Funny, I've always thought you had helpful things to say in the past...)

 

Anyway, STCruise - Thank you. Looks like the transfer might be the way to go. I am suprised that it was quite THAT early though, does it really take 50 plus minutes to get to the airport?

[stcruise]

I don't remember exactly how long it took to get to the airport, but I don't think it was 50 minutes. However, as is usual with groups, it was probably closer to 5:20 before we headed out to the airport. Once there, everything went very smoothly with no problems. The wait to board our flight wasn't too bad; of course, I was half asleep!:D

 

We were having difficulties getting flights back to Boston. Our choice was the early morning flight and get back that day, or the afternoon flight and stay overnight in Miami. If the flights were not so difficult, this is an itinerary I would gladly do again!!

 

I know you will enjoy it. Of all the caribbean cruises we've been on, this was our favorite by far. Not sure if you are planning on doing any excursions, but there is one that I would highly recommend you take if it is offered - the snorkeling trip in the Tobago Cays. It was definitely the highlight of our trip. The snorkeling was excellent and included an area with lots of turtles. This photo taken by one of our friends gives you an idea of what to expect.

[6rugrats]

6rugrats

 

To be fair, the question that I asked on the cruise air forum was in regards to flight connection times in Miami, NOT disembarkation times from the ship. I am hoping to get the earlier flight and therefore was wondering if anyone had personal experience with disembarking that early.

 

Well, to be totally fair, this was not meant to be snarky. Many people seem to never go back and read the answers they received when they ask the same question on different boards; simply pointing this out if you hadn't noticed you had some replies.

[chefchick]

Fair enough. I guess that is the inherent problem with message boards. Sometimes you cannot tell if someone is being snarky or trying to be helpful.

 

I still believe that even if I HAD been asking the same question on 2 different boards, I might have recieved different perspectives and therefore had more information to help make my final decision.

 

And even though you were not intending to be mean, "the snark" is alive and well on Cruise Critic and I just don't understand why some people need to be that way.