For most vacationers, visiting the Caribbean means going to one island and staying there. Now some airlines are making it easier to sample more than one of the region’s isles on the same trip.
Air Jamaica, for one, has come up with a couple of special deals for travelers.
“We want people to think of the Caribbean as more than one destination,” said Allen Chastanet, vice president of marketing for the airline.
Under the airline’s Island Hopping program, travelers can visit two islands for the price of one.
A vacationer can fly to Jamaica, stay a few days, then continue to any of the other islands served by the airline–Barbados, Bonaire, CuraCao, Grand Cayman, Grenada, St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos or the Bahamas. Travelers pay only the fare to the most distant destination; no charge is made for the Jamaica stopover, except for air-related taxes, which are about $100.
Among those who use the program are honeymooners. “They fly into Jamaica with the wedding party for the ceremony, then go off on their honeymoon to another island,” Chastanet said.
One scenario: For $849 per person, double occupancy, a couple can spend an all-inclusive three nights in Jamaica, plus another three all-inclusive nights in St. Lucia. Price includes flights, hotel, meals, most sports facilities and entertainment, but not taxes.
Air Jamaica’s Caribbean Hopper program permits even greater exploration, enabling travelers to visit an unlimited number of Air Jamaica destinations out of Jamaica for 30 days. Cost is a flat $550.
“Students and Europeans like it. So does anyone with time to spend in the Caribbean,” Chastanet said.
Some golfers, for instance, use it so they can play courses on several islands, he said.
So far, the number of people who choose either island-hopping program remains small, Chastanet said. But the idea of enabling travelers to visit more islands in the Caribbean has received encouragement from other airline executives.
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“Anyone who experiences two islands is likely to come back again,” said Jennifer Carlson-Linskey of Leeward Islands Air Transport. “The islands are so different.”
LIAT, a longtime player in the Caribbean, has a 21-day Explorer air pass ($300 plus taxes) that enables travelers to visit three islands. It is $300, plus taxes.
For wider ranging travelers, LIAT offers a 30-day Super Explorer ($575, plus taxes) that permits unlimited travel to any of the 20 islands the airline serves between Guyana and the Dominican Republic.
BWIA, a major Caribbean carrier that also has provided inter-island flights for many years, also offers two air passes.
Meanwhile, American Airlines, which dominates Caribbean air service, is restoring some of the Caribbean flights it dropped last month, but most of its flights depart out of San Juan.
Easier, and perhaps less expensive, is to investigate the many small airlines that make inter-island flights.
Windward Islands Airways, for example, serves eight isles out of St. Maarten. Air Sunshine goes to Vieques, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Tortola and Virgin Gorda out of San Juan.
Trip tips
Determining what airlines serve a specific Caribbean island is easy enough once you’re there; simply check out the airlines at the airport or talk to people involved in tourism. It’s harder from the U.S. You can visit the Web sites of the island or click on www.see-caribbean.com or www.caribbean-connection.com. Be warned, however, that the information on those sites is not always accurate, complete or up to date.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])