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Tourist Information
Look in the individual sections of each island to obtain information about the local tourist offices.
Caribbean Tourism Association,
20 East 46th Street,
New York, NY 10164 USA.
Phone no 212 682 0435.
High Commission for Eastern Caribbean States,
10 Kensington Court,
London W8 5DL, United Kingdom.
Tel.: 0171 937 9522.
TRANSPORT
BY PLANE
Coming from Europe there are two routes: the first is to those islands receiving international flights with stops in North America (Miami), Central America (San Juan de Puerto Rico, Caracas and Santo Domingo) and Europe (Amsterdam, Lisbon and especially London) The second is to those islands that cannot be reached through international flights. Islands having international flights with stops are:
To reach other islands, after arriving to one of the aforementioned, you have to take a local airline to them. These airlines have flights to any island, including the above listed (see Connection between islands). If you want to know which places you can reach from a determined island, look in the individual section of each one. Don’t forget flights between islands may change their schedules. When you decide which islands you want to visit, contact a travel agency or an airline to fix the best itinerary.
A good travel agency will help you to plan your trip and find the flights fitting best with your schedule and budget. Prices may change depending on the season, so you better examine them thoroughly, especially considering that sometimes airlines have very interesting offers, and even add charter flights to regular ones; but, during the high season, flights are so full that sometimes it’s difficult to get a ticket. Air France and Aeromaritime offer cheap tickets to Martinique and Guadeloupe from an international French airport.
Cruiser Lines
Most visitors arrive to the Caribbean on a cruiser. Therefore they travel on floating palaces, allowing them to visit many different exotic islands, which makes cruisers a very popular way of traveling. As soon as the ship arrives, tourists land quickly mixing with people of the city. Those wanting to go shopping do not need to rush, because next to the cruiser stations are malls like the Heritage Quay of St. John in Antigua.
The Little Antilles is part of the itineraries of several cruiser lines, though the frequency changes depending on the islands. For instance, US Virgin Islands receive hundreds of cruisers each year, while at other islands never stops one. The best way of planning your trip is deciding first which islands you would like to visit and then to contact a travel agency with cruisers service looking for some itinerary including all or almost all the islands chosen.
The more interesting offers are those of the wholesalers:
Catai (Phone: 91 504 42 54)
Giras (Phone: 902 10 01 00)
Ticket 31(Phone: 91 572 11 14),
Vacation Club (Phone: 91 597 33 30). On the other side, the most interesting cruiser lines are: Latitude 4, Central of Cruisers and World of Cruisers.
Merchant Vessels
Merchant vessels offer a different type of cruise to the most daring travelers looking for new experiences: comfortable cabinets for some passengers, and dinner with the crew. An example are the “banana ships” from the Geest Company, leaving from Southampton in England on a 25 days trip, back and forth. They stop at Antigua, Barbados, Dominica. Granada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Trinidad.
Navigation
YACHTS
One of the most beautiful ways to explore the Caribbean is on board of a private yacht, with a crew or not. The most popular places are The Grenadines and Virgin Islands, near enough one from the other, to ease exploration. For instance, on a three weeks trip you can go from Antigua to the Virgin Islands or from Antigua to Grenada, with the possibility of stopping at the islands down the route. Also you can rent a yacht for a few days; for those preferring to sleep always on land, most of agencies can rent you a yacht for one day.
RENT A YACHT
If you want to rent a yacht with crew included, be sure of your choice before taking a decision. Check if the ship is safe, comfortable and well equipped. Don’t deal directly with owners; you better do it through some yacht rental agency. They will find the appropriate yacht and the crew for you.
Fun Navigation
Many of the inhabitants of the Little Antilles are connected with the fun navigation business, due to the special attraction the Caribbean has over sailing lovers around the world. There are also adventurers sailing on this sea with their families as part of a trip around the world. The true is that those who had sailed once in the Caribbean usually come back. Those wanting to drop their anchor a few days may do it at the anchoring grounds of St. Martin, Bequia (Grenadines), Granada and Trinidad. Along the islands you can find lots of sporting ports equipped with slip docks, anchoring places and ship fixing installations. Some of the biggest ports have dry docks.
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