Barbados Flights Question

[charles88]

Hello,

 

It's our first time booking a cruise and we're not used to holidays where we don't know the flight times beforehand. We're thinking of going on the Britannia from Barbados in Dec 2020 and our closest airport is Birmingham. However if the outward flight times are early we'd likely want to stay in a hotel the night before anyway, and could therefore save the £100pp supplement and fly from London instead.

 

So we are wondering if anyone knows which London airport is used most often by P&O for this flight, and a rough idea of what the departure times might be from either London or Birmingham. Are we looking at 6am, 9am, 11am?

 

Many thanks,

Charles

[grapau27]

39 minutes ago, charles88 said:

Hello,

 

It's our first time booking a cruise and we're not used to holidays where we don't know the flight times beforehand. We're thinking of going on the Britannia from Barbados in Dec 2020 and our closest airport is Birmingham. However if the outward flight times are early we'd likely want to stay in a hotel the night before anyway, and could therefore save the £100pp supplement and fly from London instead.

 

So we are wondering if anyone knows which London airport is used most often by P&O for this flight, and a rough idea of what the departure times might be from either London or Birmingham. Are we looking at 6am, 9am, 11am?

 

Many thanks,

Charles

We are flying out in March 20 to meet Azura and flying from Gatwick.

[wowzz]

Normally flights would be around 9am, give or take an hour. Personally I would still fly from BHX even if it did mean a hotel stay. You need to consider that on your return, if you use Gatwick,  you will have to drive around the M25 in the rush hour with jet lag.  Not a great combination.

[Guest ccpm]

Another vote for BHX. Gatwick itself is a nightmare so very busy. I booked the lounge at extra cost and both times no seats available at 6.30am and almost nowhere to sit in the waiting area. Birmingham is much more civilised and if you use it the extra pay lounge is lovely and always room. Flight is usually 9.30am so you will need to check in from 6.30 to 7 so unless you like to drive you may need a hotel. There are a few available very close. I have used the one on the airport itself and did a stay and park booking.

Edited August 11, 2019 by ccpm

[flapjack62]

We are flying from Birmingham at 10.15hrs, arriving at 15.00hrs. This is in November 19. 

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, flapjack62 said:

We are flying from Birmingham at 10.15hrs, arriving at 15.00hrs. This is in November 19. 

I would take that rather than Gatwick.

[ascot2012]

We fly out from Birmingham this December to join Azura, we are scheduled to depart at 11 am, I think when we were on Britannia in 2016 it was about the same time.

In 2016 we stayed in the Novotel which is just about 2 minutes  walk from the terminal, we had breakfast in the hotel then a short walk and into check in, for us in Nottinghamshire its a lot better than travelling down to a London airport.

[wowzz]

Given the choice BHX is always going to be the better choice than LGW. 

[charles88]

Thanks for the replies. Birmingham is always our preferred airport as we only live an hour away and it's so much quieter and smoother running than elsewhere (we also take advantage of the great Aspire lounge!). I think we will probably give London a miss.

[littleclegs]

We are flying from Gatwick in novemeber to Barbados.  With a £100 per person supplement it is just not cost effective to fly from Birmingham (theres 5 of us). I have booked a suite in the Hilton with parking to stay the night before our cruise for a lot cheaper that the £500 flight supplement.  Our flight is at 9.30am on the Saturday morning. 

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, littleclegs said:

We are flying from Gatwick in novemeber to Barbados.  With a £100 per person supplement it is just not cost effective to fly from Birmingham (theres 5 of us). I have booked a suite in the Hilton with parking to stay the night before our cruise for a lot cheaper that the £500 flight supplement.  Our flight is at 9.30am on the Saturday morning. 

Assuming you are on a 14 day cruise,  you will at least be arriving back in the UK on a Sunday morning, so your drive home should be relatively easy!

[littleclegs]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Assuming you are on a 14 day cruise,  you will at least be arriving back in the UK on a Sunday morning, so your drive home should be relatively easy!

Finger crossed! I am a good sleeper so intend to sleep on the plane and share the drive home. 

[BrianI]

I would not recommend driving from Gatwick to Yorkshire after an overnight flight. It must be about 5 hours driving time. With the time difference you will arrive around 1-2am Barbados time so even if you do get some sleep you will only have half a nights sleep. You have a good chance of falling asleep on the M1. 

Brian

[grapau27]

5 hours ago, BrianI said:

I would not recommend driving from Gatwick to Yorkshire after an overnight flight. It must be about 5 hours driving time. With the time difference you will arrive around 1-2am Barbados time so even if you do get some sleep you will only have half a nights sleep. You have a good chance of falling asleep on the M1. 

Brian

I agree.

We have often flown overnight to Manchester from Orlando where the jet lag of 5 hours and no sleep is tiring.

As a sales rep I am used to lots of driving but our two and a half hour drive home to Durham is extremely tiring and I feel exhausted by the time we get home so 5 hours driving,omg no.