Flights and Ferries

We are doing our 7th catamaran charter May 19-27. We are chartering Scuba Doo a Lagoon 450 from TMM this time. It's our first time with TMM, but I see great reviews. We are doing a sleepaboard Saturday night and hope to get off the dock before noon the first day. Our desired Sunday night destination is Jost. Thinking Jost, CGB, Scrub, Anegada, North Sound, Cooper, Norman if the wind blows our way. I have 2 questions for the board. 1: We might have one couple join us on Sunday. They don't know their flight schedule. They both work for AA and plan to get on the first flight they can. If their flights arrive to STT after noon, can they ferry to Jost to meet us? I see that the old STT to Jost ferry schedule seems to be down, but how much a pain would it be to do Roadtown and then taxi to West End for the Jost ferry? Or does AA code share with someone so we can pick them up at Beef? 2nd question: We depart on Sunday. My normal schedule is to be the first on the fuel dock, check out, then pack and shower and get a noon ferry for a 3:30 flight. My flight home from STT this time is at 2:30. Will a noon ferry cut it too close? The only other options I currently see are 9AM ferry's Any suggestions? Thanks

All I can say....I booked my flights for May and July almost 9 months ago and the flights have changed over 6 times. There has been no consistently with reservations...very frustrating indeed.!!

I'd check on Scrub. I don't believe the marina is open to visitors.



Too close for comfort. Possible? Maybe. But too many things can go slightly wrong and you're screwed. Will C&I on the ferry dock in CA be operating at full speed and where are you in line? Then it's only a few minutes to STT but good luck getting the taxi driver to budge until he's filled every one of the 12 seats in that van. Now you arrive at STT. Depending on the airline they won't check you in unless you are there a minimum of 2 hrs before. If you've already checked in on-line and you have no luggage that's not a problem. But you still have to get through Immigration and security and again you have no idea how long that will take. Could be 5 minutes could be 45. If you miss the flight you might be there for several days or have to take a flight to somewhere you don't want to go. All of the flights are pretty much full these days. So is it worth the stress? That's up to you. You might get lucky. I'd take the 9.00 ferry and take it slow. Get some early lunch and get to the airport in plenty of time. You don't really want to end your vacation in a panic. Done that once and it was no fun!

That is the exact reason we charter Sat - Sat with an over night in STT. No stress and another day to relax and shop.

For our trip next month, I had a lengthy conversation with AA about the requirements at STT since their website info was unclear to both me and the AA person. My understanding from this was that you need to checkin online at least three hours before departure. Then you need to check your bag and/or get your boarding pass 90 minutes before departure. I should have pursued clarification about requirements if you have a digital boarding pass and no bag to check. Assuming RTFF is running at noon (which I plan to confirm with them), I plan to checkin online from Tortola and take the noon ferry.

On departure...

Agree completely.

We hate to return early but we've been very lucky for several years but it can get very stressful and it was no fun - it can stress you out completely! Lately we've been leaving earlier and we've still had close calls with ferries canceling or long lines. Too many cab rides to West End, customs then Red Hook to just barely make the flight. I've bribed the taxi to just take us NOW and we've done our personal "song and dance" at the airport to get on the flight because we were late. It worked but it wasn't fun.

No way to end a vacation. We are lucky that we have our home on Tortola and stay for long periods of time..but now we always leave the day before our flight back to California. Get the mid morning boat..nice lunch. Check into Emerald Beach. A cold one at the beach bar..nice dinner and a good night's sleep.

We have a STT->CLT return flight on Delta 6/24 at 2:24pm. Planned to take the 9:00am RT->CA (should be plenty of time no?). Do we need to go ahead and purchase RTFF tickets now or wait until arrival? (just not sure how things are operating post-Irma).

Dont buy tix in advance..ever. Take the first boat going and that might be at 10..not 9 as it was the other day. If you are flying AA and they tell you to be at the airport three hours ahead of your flight..you do the math. Maybe you'll be OK with Delta. Bon voyage!

Yeah the STT->ATL was originally 3:45pm and they changed it on us to 2:24pm. Ridiculous. Other ferry/water taxi options available post Irma?

http://www.bestofbvi.com/info/bviferry_sttCA_tortola.htm

We'll also be headed to St. Thomas on 6/24, but staying overnight at Emerald Beach before flying home.

Doesn’t AA still code share with Seaborne?

Manpot, why do you fly STT instead of EIS?

TIA

$$$

For us, it has come down to reliability. We find that a mainline flight from the US to STT combined with RTFF has consistently gotten us to Roadtown more reliably than connections via either SJU or STT to EIS. IMHO, Seaborne is a huge question mark currently with its bankruptcy and subsequent sale to Silver Airways. Time will tell and we'll keep an eye on it to possibly try next year. Cape Air is far more reliable, but seats are more limited. For us it still comes down to a mainline flight to STT and RTFF to Roadtown.

I've priced out flights into STT and EIS. As Manpot indicated there's a pretty sizable difference in $$$. We're coming down in July and this time, taking Dolphin Water Taxi to avoid the hassles and time constraints of the ferry. Additionally, they'll bring us directly to the Sunsail base. Dolphin's pricey, around $700 for 5 people, but the fare into EIS is roughly $300+ more per ticket, so we're still saving $800 and getting door-to-door service.

Thanks for the replies, all makes sense. I may be a somewhat unique situation as we lived in Baltimore and found it to be basically a $ wash in airfare between a non-stop Southwest flight BWI>SJU and then Seaborne to Beef, using the "corporate" account, vs other options such as BWI-MIA-STT. After factoring taxi, ferry and time, flying in to Beef seemed a no brainer for us and it was a joy to land at EIS and clear customs at the airport as opposed to the ferry dock. We've since moved to Jacksonville and looking at planning a family trip for my parents' 50th anniversary and I'm at a loss to figure out the best plan. So far, It's still looking like a Southwest flight JAX-FLL-SJU and then one of the puddle jumper's to Beef may be our choice. Otherwise, it seems it's AA Jax-MIA-STT, which still seems pricey. We could also theoretically drive and fly out of TPA, MCO, FLL, or MIA, but the cost/time equation still has me leaning SW into SJU.

Anyone else in N. Fl care to share your preferred route? Don't mean to thread-jack...

Thanks!