BGI arrival time before all aboard is close!

We land on Barbados at 3:20pm on the day of departure on March 5th on Delta from Atlanta. There was no flight option on Thursday or Friday. All aboard is 5pm and I've read that BGI arrival is pretty smooth so if all goes well, no problem. We do have travel insurance so worst case we catch a flight to St Lucia the next morning. But wondering...should I be nervous?!!!! :eek:

That's cutting it really close! We've been several times in the last few years and have spent as much as an hour and a half getting through customs. Cab ride to the pier is another 35-40 ish minutes.

You might check out the Fast Track service, which is a meet and greet thing, supposed to speed you faster through the lines for a fee.

Good luck!

I would do anything I could to arrive a day earlier, especially that time of year when there might be winter storms upsetting the whole network of flights. Even if you have to take an indirect flight on Friday, I personally would do it. I have been on several Windstar cruises where passengers missed the embarkation and had to scramble to try to catch up with the ship. Such a shame to miss part of the cruise and to endure the stress associated with it.

You have to be onboard by 5:00 at the latest. I am not sure how this will be likely with your flight. You need only one little thing to go wrong to miss the sailing.

You have to get off the plane, clear immigration, wait for your bags, walk through customs, get a cab and get to the ship. You could be stuck in immigration if there are a lot of flights landing when yours does. Last Saturday, there were thirteen flights that landed between 2:50 and 3:50.

Check your travel insurance policy, because many of them will not provide coverage because your arrival time is so close to the sailing time.

There are many flight options on Thursday and Friday. Just not on Delta. Look at AA.

Yes, you should be very nervous.

Thank you all for your advice. I listened!! We're going to fly on Friday through Miami on American. I feel much better. I could feel my anxiety rising!!!

Thank you all for your advice. I listened!! We're going to fly on Friday through Miami on American. I feel much better. I could feel my anxiety rising!!!

I am so glad. All that stress is no way to start a cruise. Have a great trip!

I am so glad. All that stress is no way to start a cruise. Have a great trip!

I agree completely.

Flying into Barbados the day before eliminates the anxiety and better, gives you the pleasure of starting your cruise holiday on that beautiful island getting a good night's sleep and having a nice leisurely drive to join the ship.

I know we can embark at 1pm but what time do you all head to the ship? 12:59???!!!

You definitely did the right thing by going in to BGI early.

We took a chance on our Dec 26 Windstar cruise out of Barbados by flying in the day of (which we avoid in general). The day before was Christmas, we had plans, and a nonstop (on Delta out of JFK) using miles due in to BGI at 1:30, and (like you), I figured we could always just hop a flight to St. Luci if we missed sailing out of Barbardos.

Well, during Christmas dinner at my sister's, I got a text update that our flight the next day was going to be delayed 3 hours (it ended up being a 5-hours delay). I called the Windstar afterhours number (yes, on Christmas day), and a real human (and a very pleasant and helpful one) immediately picked up! She emailed with the ship, and also checked how many others were on our flight (only 1 other couple - uh-oh). Also, the ship would only be able to hold for an hour after the 6pm scheduled departure. Things weren't looking good. Delta couldn't get me there, even flying out Christmas night (it was the holidays, after all). We ended up buying 2 seats on the Jetblue nonstop for a pretty penny (at least we weren't paying for another set of flights because of using (and getting returned) miles). By the way, flying to St. Lucia is NOT an easy thing to do, strange as that seems. The flight connection would've meant we couldn't get there until after the ship would have left St Lucia.

The Jetblue flight was due in at 2:30 (already cutting it close) and it also left (1 hour) late. Customs at BGI was a cluster. We finally got through, and Windstar had a private car waiting for us (we had paid for WS transfers) to take us to the port. I was never so relieved to board a ship! Yes, we had trip insurance through my Chase Sapphire Preferred, but it does not cover non-weather-related air travel delays.