Boarding in Barbados?

[OceansOfTravels]

Hello,

 

I have always wondered what it is like to board in Barbados. I took a cruise on the Carnival Liberty in march 2015, and we had passengers board in Barbados, but only 65 I believe. What about when ships like the TUI Discovery or P&O Britannia come in? Where do they go through check-in? Is it hectic? How long are you likely to wait? Are there porters for your bags?

 

Thanks for the info in advance! :D

[Eboracum_d]

We have done various P and O cruises from Barbados though on smaller ships than Britannia.

 

Basically the system is that you check your luggage in at the UK airport and you next see it in your cabin.

 

On arrival at Barbados airport you completely by-pass immigration and customs. The buses to transfer you to the ship are literally on the tarmac.

 

So the buses obviously arrive at the ship one at a time which to some extent eases the flow through the embarkation check in. If there is a delay they will leave you on the coach ( which hopefully is air conditioned) until they are ready to process you.

 

I believe for the bigger ships they overnight in Barbados and spread the disembarkation / embarkation process over two days which minimises the check in process.

 

 

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[OceansOfTravels]

We have done various P and O cruises from Barbados though on smaller ships than Britannia.

 

Basically the system is that you check your luggage in at the UK airport and you next see it in your cabin.

 

On arrival at Barbados airport you completely by-pass immigration and customs. The buses to transfer you to the ship are literally on the tarmac.

 

So the buses obviously arrive at the ship one at a time which to some extent eases the flow through the embarkation check in. If there is a delay they will leave you on the coach ( which hopefully is air conditioned) until they are ready to process you.

 

I believe for the bigger ships they overnight in Barbados and spread the disembarkation / embarkation process over two days which minimises the check in process.

 

 

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Wow! I think it is cool how you can easily bypass immigration and whatnot considering you must be British. Kind of like us with Puerto Rico I guess. Now let me ask you, if you wanted to, could you check into the ship, and then go off into Barbados? I imagine many want to see the island a bit.

 

Does this only work with chartered flights? Could you fly a non-chartered flight on British Airways for example and be able to still bypass all the immigration and head straight to the port?

[Eboracum_d]

Wow! I think it is cool how you can easily bypass immigration and whatnot considering you must be British. Kind of like us with Puerto Rico I guess. Now let me ask you, if you wanted to, could you check into the ship, and then go off into Barbados? I imagine many want to see the island a bit.

 

 

 

Does this only work with chartered flights? Could you fly a non-chartered flight on British Airways for example and be able to still bypass all the immigration and head straight to the port?

 

 

 

 

Hi

 

No it won't work if you make your own way to Barbados on a non-chartered flight -- indeed unless there is some transport provided in your cruise passage you will have to get to the ship by taxi.

 

 

Once you have checked into the ship you can certainly get off so long as you are back half an hour before the scheduled sailing time. It's about a half hour walk into the Town Centre

 

 

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