tinfoilrcr

I've searched the forums and haven't found anything recent on the topic, so thought I would post my question here.

Looking at travelling to Virgin Gorda for a vacation this coming February to celebrate my wife's birthday, and looking at my different options of getting there from NYC.

My understanding is that I can do one of the below (please add if you are aware of additional options)

1) Fly NYC-SJU and then book a separate ticket for SJU-VIJ (Air Sunshine or Charter) or SJU-EIS (Cape Air/Seabourne)

2) FLY NYC-STT and then book a separate ticket for STT-VIJ (Air Sunshine or Charter).

QUESTION: Would I need to reclear customs and security in STT? I've only ever flown into STT as my final destination and am aware that passengers are more or less funnelled out to baggage claim.

Also is there any benefit to one way vs the others? My initial thought is to fly into STT and then continue on to VIJ as its a short 15 minute flight, thus making the small aircraft more palatable to my wife (she is not fond of prop planes). However, if we need to reclear customs and security this would add a significant time allowance that we would need to plan for, so want to ensure I plan it for the easiest overall route.

Thanks in advance for your help.

slawecki

you can take the ferry from st thomas to bvi. we have taken it twice, long time ago. was a delight. would do it again, rather than a wee putt of a plane.

jerry a. laska

If you thinking that you have to clear customs after your NYC-STT (or SJU) flight then no. You would need to clear customs in the BVI upon arrival at either Virgin Gorda or Beef Island. On the return from the BVI you would have to clear US customs in either STT or SJU. Since the VIJ airport reopened, I have made the connection through SJU and been happy.
See also these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/carib...gorda-stt.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/carib...?highlight=vij

tinfoilrcr

Thanks for the response. I had thought about the ferry, but my main issue is that the ferry to Virgin Gorda from St Thomas is not very frequent, and appears to only run on Tuesdays, Thursday, and Saturdays which wont work for my days (arriving Friday, leaving Wenesday) and it is also almost 2 hours from Charlotte Amalie to Spanish Town. The other option would require to different ferries (to Tortola and then to Spanish Town), and this doesn't seem like a great use of time.

THanks, again, and please keep the suggestions coming.

tinfoilrcr

Thanks! Especially appreciate the confirmation that I shouldn't need to clear customs in STT. As I mentioned my experience has always been funnelled straight to baggage claim, and I haven't seen anyone gain entry to the terminal while de-planing.

Also - thanks for sharing the links. They were helpful. They had dealt with the flight back through STT, where (as expected) passengers needed to clear customs and security, but hadn't dealt with the flight down which had made me curious.

Appreciate the help.

mkt

I'm a very regular visitor....

NYC-SJU/SJU-VIJ is always a nice option. If you fly AA, I believe that they offer codeshare on Seaborne Airlines (but book soon - according to my friends in the airline, the VIJ routes aren't doing well and will be getting cancelled). Otherwise, your only option is SJU-VIJ on air sunshine.

Conversely, you could fly SJU-EIS, and take the ferry from Beef Island to Virgin Gorda. You've got a few options on this one - Seaborne, Cape Air, Air Sunshine, Liat.

Or, the adventurer's choice - SJU-STT, you can do this on B6, Seaborne, Sunshine, and Cape Air, and then:

the light choice: STT-Virgin Gorda on taxi + direct ferry

or the heavy choice: STT-Tortola on Taxi + Ferry, and another ferry from Tortola to Virgin Gorda.


I've done ALL of these, and my preference is to land directly in VIJ, followed by EIS + ferry. I only choose STT if there is absolutely no other alternative.

Seat13F_AC_CRJ

JFK-SJU-EIS on one ticket AA+Seaborne. I did this route in June.

Lovethecabin

We are doing PHL-sju-vij in February. I booked us airways code shared with cape air to virgin Gorda.

We travel to the VIs every year. The SJU airport can be a mess so I would try to avoid any flights that require you to claim baggage and re-check luggage and do security.

A couple of years ago, we flew to sju and did a private charter to virgin Gorda and the return as well. It was fantastic. We used island birds. I have heard great things about fly bVI as well.

You need to know what you are getting into with flights from STT as well as sju. Air sunshine is known to do stops en route to VG and the schedule can be creative after the fact, like stopping in culebra and STT on the way to EIS and finally VG on a flight schedule to be direct to VG.

I think seaborne was landing at EIS and shuttling passengers via ferry to VG for their flights advertised at sju to VG. (We flew seaborne from sju to stt in February and liked the flight)

We looked very hard at arriving in STT vs. sju for our upcoming trip. It came down to the multi flights per day in and out of sju vs. limited options for STT. The STT options restricted us to travel times that were less desirable.

Dohms water taxi is a good option to VG if flying into STT works for you. It is about $1,000 each way. I was quoted $1'500 for an air charter one way for the same route.

We visit the usvi more than the bVI. If we can't get direct flights to STT, cape air from sju to STT is a good option as they have more daily flights than seaborne or air sunshine.

Where are you staying? If at little Dix, I would use their air options.