Business in the Caribbean

Old Apr 17, 2019, 7:09 am
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Business in the Caribbean

I did have a search for this one but couldn't find any decent threads.

The wife and I are angling for a couple of weeks at a decent all inclusive in the Caribbean in Jan/Feb/Mar next year - Ideally flying business. I've been keeping an eye on pricing, which recently actually increased, on the Jan/Feb flights and everything on BA holidays. Does anyone have any idea what are the best timings to book to maximize the savings on this? Is it a case of, the same price all year round, so book whenever you can? Or are these resorts/routes sometimes included in the BA summer sale?

Any insights much appreciated,

GabrielExea
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 7:13 am
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Jan-Feb-March are prime peak for the Carribean - so even sale prices (if they appear) won't be all that low. Flights are packed, resorts are charging their peak prices: it's just not a good time for deals in that region. Try November or April...
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 7:14 am
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Caribbean routes in J are often included in BA sales. but often just one or two specific places. PUJ and KIN have come up a few times. NAS was in the last one I think. Obviously no guarantee that your particular choice of destination will be included in any future sale.
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 7:22 am
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Thanks fruitcage - That is a good datapoint, even if I can't expect a specific route to come up. Equally thanks ratypus. I know it's peak, alas that's when the missus wants to get away from the winter gloom, so peak prices I shall have to pay!
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 7:32 am
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Miami was £1499 in the last sale. ( Currently available at £1666)
From MIA, avios redemptions are good value on AA
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 10:20 am
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I recently flew LGW - BGI, UVF - LGW with BA for £1,300 in a sale

Outbound daytime flight was WT+, return nightime flight was J.
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:02 am
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Thankyou Agent69 - That is very helpful indeed! Will have to see what I can rustle up in June...
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:08 am
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KIN tends to be cheaper, IMO, as it’s a long way from the nice places on the North coast. More a Family&Friends destination than most, but still only an hour or so by road to Ocho Rios.
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:13 am
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That's my view T8191 - Looking at some of the Sandals resorts in Jamaica, they seem to be the best bang for your buck per se, particularly Ocho Rios. However, at the moment the Y to J delta is more like £1400 PP which is a bit steep in my opinion. Will be interesting to see if this settles down in the sale at all.
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:18 am
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Sandals Royal Plantation was our No. 1 choice until a couple of years ago. But they had some serious plumbing issues, so we’ve moved on to other islands..

I guess we paid sub-£1500 pp for J over the years we went there. Our best was £999
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:20 am
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I feel it is unfair to say that and not tell me where you are going instead!
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:32 am
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As fruitcage says PUJ & KIN are usually cheapest.

We usually go late Oct - the past few years PUJ has been about £1300. This year KIN was cheapest at £1200ish - we eventually booked CAN, which was out of our price range in the first sale of the year, but came in at £1350 in the second sale.
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:46 am
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We've seen Jamaica (LGW to Kingston) for 1300 pp in business in peak season but that was a few years ago,
Now we regularly book at T-355 and use a companion voucher to get 2 business returns for £1000 (500 each) and stay at our favourite all-inclusive near Ocho Rios.

Part of the problem is BA is reducing business capacity through the 777 refits from 48 to 32 seats - but realistically it's just 29 seats as one seat is used for crew rest plus some lucky person will have snapped up the 2 J reward seats. More WT+ but less J means fewer seats in cheap fare buckets and less good value fares at sale time.
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 11:48 am
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Originally Posted by T8191
KIN tends to be cheaper, IMO, as it’s a long way from the nice places on the North coast. More a Family&Friends destination than most, but still only an hour or so by road to Ocho Rios.
It's not an hour trip in the Friday rush hour even with the new expressway given the roadworks on the west side of Kingston - more like 3!
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Old Apr 17, 2019, 12:13 pm
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Originally Posted by GabrielExea
I feel it is unfair to say that and not tell me where you are going instead!
This year is St. Lucia, to a different, small, hotel . Still working on 2020

Originally Posted by firstlight
It's not an hour trip in the Friday rush hour even with the new expressway given the roadworks on the west side of Kingston - more like 3!
Accepted ... we fly midweek, but it’s still a PITA to get to the toll road during the normal rush-hour, thanks to BA’s scheduling. OK ... 2 hours?
MBJ was easier ... about an hour along the coast road.
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