Why Cruise from Barbados?

[FloridaMac]

Why?

• The cruises cost more
• You have to fly to Barbados and that's expensive
• Cruises from Miami and San Juan cost less
• You can go to almost all of the same ports as you can from Barbados (although not the exact same itinerary)

?

[DunkelBierJay]

I might be wrong, but I think it has something to do with a deal Royal made with the government there after they kindly allowed docking of ships there during the shut down.

[Pooch]

Think OP meant why would one book a cruise out of Barbados not why is Royal embarking from there.  And damned if I know.

[OutToSea]

17 minutes ago, Pooch said:

Think OP meant why would one book a cruise out of Barbados not why is Royal embarking from there.  And damned if I know.

because you can have a island vacation on the front end or back end of the cruise. I do think they are also going to more southern ports that royal does not go to often.

 

[Rackham]

There's several unique ports sailing from Barbados that won't be found on another itinerary from what I'm seeing in the digital brochure. So it's worth it if you're interested in either the ports or sailing something unique with Royal Caribbean. 

[smokeybandit]

Simply, it was a place to put a ship that otherwise would still be in layup.

 

Plus the Europeans can fly directly to Barbados 

[Pattycruise]

My daughter and friends wanted to go because the drinking age is 18.  The cost of the cruise was ok, it was the airfare that made them say no. 

[FionaMG]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Plus the Europeans can fly directly to Barbados 

Often more cheaply and without the red tape of touching US soil (on some of the itineraries).

[Ray]

7 hours ago, FloridaMac said:

Why?

• The cruises cost more
• You have to fly to Barbados and that's expensive
• Cruises from Miami and San Juan cost less
• You can go to almost all of the same ports as you can from Barbados (although not the exact same itinerary)

?

(1) It gives customers different options and you could ask the same question about cruises in med which visit some of the same ports.

(2) You also have to remember that not every RC customer comes from the US! For those in Europe its just as cheap to fly to Barbados as it is Florida. And if adding a few days on at end of vacation personally i would rather be sunning it up in Barbados than Miami but thats just my opinion. 

 

 

[Bazza]

1 - Barbados is beautiful so great to tag on a before and/or after stay

2 - Not only North Americans are allowed to book RCI cruises and actually quite a few of us Europeans like to go abroad too!

3 - Barbados is beautiful so why not??

4 - Got to go to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Dominica, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica & Grenada on a 14 nighter from Barbados on Grandeur earlier this year - could not do that from Miami or other US ports when itinerary was put out.

5 - Not sure mentioned it but Barbados is beautiful!

6 - Plus Barbados has a few great golf courses!

Cost is always a factor but not everybody is flying from the same place....

 

[CruisingOz]

6 hours ago, Rackham said:

There's several unique ports sailing from Barbados that won't be found on another itinerary from what I'm seeing in the digital brochure. So it's worth it if you're interested in either the ports or sailing something unique with Royal Caribbean.

We have cruised from Barbados and loved it. Short flight from Miami, well coming from Australia, that leg was really short for us, haha. The pre cruise time exploring Barbados and chilling out on the beach was fantastic, with so much to see and do. We chose the sailing because of the itinerary, visiting unique islands in the Southern Caribbean. Also the ship was smaller, we were on the Grandeur, which gave us a more traditional cruise experience and the ship could visit and dock at islands which larger ships can not. As an example, in Willemstad, Curacao we docked in the harbour in town behind the swing bridge, as opposed to 25min walk away in the other cruise port when we were on the Odyssey. Personally we prefer the Southern Caribbean islands to Western and Eastern islands, and Barbados allowed us to experience more unique destinations. It is true that the airfare was higher than what we expected, so I can understand how that may factor into peoples decision, but if you have an opportunity to visit Barbados, do it.                  

[Chmusar]

8 hours ago, FloridaMac said:

Why?

• The cruises cost more
• You have to fly to Barbados and that's expensive
• Cruises from Miami and San Juan cost less
• You can go to almost all of the same ports as you can from Barbados (although not the exact same itinerary)

?

I cruised from there in January for me in the UK it was cheaper even with flights 

I went to st Vincent, Aruba , Antigua , Grenada , panama ,cost rica, bonaire , curacao and would have gone to Columbia but got cxd , I did not see any cruise going from the states including all those ports in one cruise.

Also it seems most cruise's from the us include a stop at one of their islands which does not interest me

 

[Matt]

One reason, the itinerary. You're going to different islands than you can elsewhere.

So when you say "You can go to almost all of the same ports", almost is the key word. There's other ports. 

Variety is the spice of life.

[Psycho and Barb]

Because the people are so friendly...Never saw one without a smile and saying hello,

[smokeybandit]

The Barbados itinerary looks great. Just I'd only want to do it if I had 2-3 days on either side of the cruise.  That's just a tough place to get to if you live in the western half of the USA

[KLA]

Barbados is one of the islands that I visited on a cruise that made me say, "I want to come back here and spend some time." 

A cruise with a really unique itinerary is a great reason to do just that! Money well spent, imo. 

[bobroo]

1) Being 2022, the price tag of something is not a determining factor for many, many (if not most) people.

2) The group of people who have embraced cruising the longest and who are the ones who really really know how to cruise are NOT Floridians, it is the British. Barbados is formerly of the British Crown and those ties take centuries to go away. Ask any Canadian about pictures of British monarchy still in Canadian currency even after 100 years of indepencence.

[Ray]

43 minutes ago, bobroo said:

 Ask any Canadian about pictures of British monarchy still in Canadian currency even after 100 years of indepencence.

Slightly different situation as Queen Elizabeth 2 actually owns the land that is Canada. 

[Zacharius]

14 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Plus the Europeans can fly directly to Barbados 

The only flights from Europe year-round are the UK; seasonal Amsterdam and Frankfurt service exist. But otherwise most Europeans would need to connect somewhere anyways, be it in Europe, the US, or Canada. 

[KJones]

9 hours ago, Chmusar said:

I went to st Vincent, Aruba , Antigua , Grenada , panama ,cost rica, bonaire , curacao and would have gone to Columbia but got cxd

That sounds like a fantastic itinerary!

[Chmusar]

15 minutes ago, KJones said:

That sounds like a fantastic itinerary!

especially doing the panama canal(well part of it )

[mills10]

My wife and I have a cruise booked out of Barbados with two other couples.  The two other husbands and I lived in the Southern Caribbean for two years on a church mission.  We all lived on Barbados as well as the other ports on the itinerary.  Yes it will be expensive to fly there, but it is worth it for us to take our wives back to the places that was such an important part of our lives nearly 20 years ago!  We can hardly wait! 

[foxrunner]

12 hours ago, mills10 said:

My wife and I have a cruise booked out of Barbados with two other couples.  The two other husbands and I lived in the Southern Caribbean for two years on a church mission.  We all lived on Barbados as well as the other ports on the itinerary.  Yes it will be expensive to fly there, but it is worth it for us to take our wives back to the places that was such an important part of our lives nearly 20 years ago!  We can hardly wait! 

Welcome!

[FloridaMac]

Yep, I can see what you've all pointed out.  Although you can get MOST of the ports from San Juan, even visit Barbados, you can't hit ALL of the same ports.  The cruises from San Juan are only about $300-500 less for two (balcony) and you still have to fly to San Juan, although for us in the Tampa area it's about $500 less for two round trip to SJ than to Barbados.  Hotels are in the same range of prices both places. So maybe just $800 to $1000 more for the Barbados cruise, which isn't a deal killer.