Barbados Flight Questions

[simonpjd]

I apologise for this as I know it has been discussed before. But we had not booked a cruise then out of Barbados. We are sailing next spring.

 

1 How long before sailing do you get flight details.

2 Is it a charter or scheduled flight. If scheduled which airline.

3 When flight info comes through do you need to call to reserve seats or are they automatically allocated.

4 Is it possible to get an upgrade to premium economy or it's equivalent.

5 If so what is the approx cost - a ball park figure is fine - and do you need to be a bit sharp to get them.

 

Thank you

[BrianI]

Flight details are usually issued about 12 weeks before departure.

 

They are usually dedicated charter flights and they use Thomson and Thomas Cook. There have been reports of a small number of people booked on scheduled flights, BA or Virgin.

 

With a charted flight, you dont see your luggage until it arrives in your cabin and you board a small coach on the tarmac to be wisked out of the airport straight to the ship. With a scheduled fight, you have to retrieve your luggage in the terminal and go through immigration and then get on your coach

 

There is a charge for reserving specific seats which you can do on line when flight details are issued. Otherwise take your chance on being allocated a reasonable seat.

 

You can ask for an upgrade to premium. I think you need to do this when you book your cruise so if you have not done this, you should do it now. I believe the cost is around £250 but it may be more for next year.

 

Brian

[sagaris]

Hi SimonPJ,

 

When we have flown to Barbados it has always been a charter flight usually Thomas Cook or Thompsons.

 

The flight details are shown in your cruise personaliser and you can pre-book seats approximately 5 weeks before through the personaliser at the moment it costs £15pp each way.

 

You can pay to upgrade to premium economy, I think it is somewhere in the region of £250pp, not sure if that is return or one way. As we have never taken this option I am not sure how to do this, but I think it is done via your TA.

 

Molly

 

Snap you beat me by 4 minutes

Edited February 11, 2014 by sagaris

[annieuk]

You should have been asked when you booked if you wanted Premium Economy - you need to do this as soon as possible if you want to upgrade - the Premium seats go fast. We had our flight details nearly 6 months before the cruise - keep checking your Cruise Personaliser. Specific seats will be available to book about 9 weeks before the flight - they appear at midnight around 9 weeks to the day of your flight.

 

I would always opt for a charter flight - preferably Thomson as we find it superior to Thomas Cook. Your luggage disappears at the airport and you don't see it again until its delivered to your cabin. When you get to Bridgetown you go down the steps of the aircraft, straight onto minibuses to go to the Port. You don't set foot inside the airport, no immigration - it's fantastic. If you go schedules then you have all the aggro of going through immigration, collecting your luggage and then taking it to the minibus, not worth it in my opinion.

 

It's a very slick operation by P&O.

[NauticalMiss]

I apologise for this as I know it has been discussed before. But we had not booked a cruise then out of Barbados. We are sailing next spring.

 

1 How long before sailing do you get flight details.

2 Is it a charter or scheduled flight. If scheduled which airline.

3 When flight info comes through do you need to call to reserve seats or are they automatically allocated.

4 Is it possible to get an upgrade to premium economy or it's equivalent.

5 If so what is the approx cost - a ball park figure is fine - and do you need to be a bit sharp to get them.

 

Thank you

 

We booked TA on Azura last November; we flew home. The premium flight was an additional £125 each. The flight was chartered (Thomas Cook), although as we were booking just 9 or 10 weeks ahead, there was the option of a scheduled flight, B.A. I think. We have since booked another Caribbean cruise on the Azura; premium flights on a chartered airline, Thomson was intimated at the time of booking; return flights cost £299 each. If legroom is important to you (for us it is a deal-breaker i.e. no legroom, no cruise), then I would book sooner rather than later, for peace of mind. I was advised that full flight details would be available approx 3 months beforehand. You can book seats via Cruise Personaliser. Hope that helps.

[Mr Blue Sky]

Flight details are usually issued about 12 weeks before departure.

 

They are usually dedicated charter flights and they use Thomson and Thomas Cook. There have been reports of a small number of people booked on scheduled flights, BA or Virgin.

 

With a charted flight, you dont see your luggage until it arrives in your cabin and you board a small coach on the tarmac to be wisked out of the airport straight to the ship. With a scheduled fight, you have to retrieve your luggage in the terminal and go through immigration and then get on your coach

 

There is a charge for reserving specific seats which you can do on line when flight details are issued. Otherwise take your chance on being allocated a reasonable seat.

 

You can ask for an upgrade to premium. I think you need to do this when you book your cruise so if you have not done this, you should do it now. I believe the cost is around £250 but it may be more for next year.

 

Brian

 

Hi, Upgrade on the charter flights are currently 249 per person return,

priority boarding, free drinks, and slightly more legroom, to pre book

seats 8 weeks before departure its about £30 each rtn, you receive

a email approx. 3 months prior stating when these will be released

to book your seats if you so require, these are paid on that day once

you select your seats, you do have the option for schedule flights

but the only downside is you are not meet directly on the tarmac

with the mini buses and you have to go through Barbardos Immigration

which as on previous beach holidays is dreadfully slow has taken

us 2 hours before collecting cases, where on charter cases are checked in at UK and next seen in cabin.

 

Mrs Blue Sky

[alvin moondust]

I suppose it depends on your budget and how tall you are if you are thinking of an upgrade. For me the only real benefit is extra space and there is not a lot of difference, Its a couple of inches legroom, but if you are over six foot then that may be important to you.

We decided that that the £500 cost would be better spent on board:D on treats like access to the Thermal suite, and few bottles of bubbly:)