adrouault

Bonjour to all! Currently en-route to JFK aboard the 737-800, just rotated out of PTP 10 minutes ago, and thought I'd write a brief report, since it's a destination not frequently discussed on this site. NOTE: I will be posting pictures this evening, but wanted to get the text written and submitted while on the flight back


Background

Was looking for a spring break destination for diving/beaches, and our usual destination, CZM was showing fares of 1k+ r/t in Y. After a few minutes of searching on Kayak, found cheap flights to PTP on DY for around 350 r/t from JFK. So, we took a chance on a new destination that's relatively unknown by Americans.

Departing Flight

DY6700
JFK-PTP
B737-800
3h45 duration
March 13 2017

Arrived at JFK 2 hours before the flight, to find an almost empty check-in queue. We had our boarding passes within 5 minutes, having prepaid online for the bags. 15Euros a piece. The security queue was lengthy, leaving from T1 at the same time as a KE A380 bound for ICN. But we made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare.
On the plane we went, Seats felt especially narrow, with limited recline, and passable legroom. We paid no mind to this. We were excited to be going on vacation. Bought a decent hot sandwich onboard for 8 euros, and a rum and coke, to get into the tropical spirit.

(Not exactly 8 bottles of Dom from SFO to BKK)

After surfing the web at a glacial pace for a while, the sun was setting, and the fasten seatbelt sign came on. We lined up on final, and touched down right as the sun dipped below the hills.
Once off the plane, it took no time to clear passport control (benefit of a french passport) and our bags were waiting for us when we came down the escalator. Impressive pace, despite the fact that one of them was broken.


Once in our rental car, we got on the road and headed for Deshaies, a small town on the north-western edge of Basse-Terre, the western island of Guadeloupe.


Time on the Island

Hotel:
Langley Fort Royal
Deshaies


After an hour of cruising down the well-maintained roads, we reached the hotel Langley in Fort Royal. Exhausted from these hours of travel (9 hours start to finish), we sat at the beach bar, ate pizza, and drank mojitos. Not a bad way to spend the first evening.


The next morning, we were up bright and early to make the most of the day. The hotel breakfasts were expansive, with fresh, buttery pastries, hot options like eggs and sausages, and good coffee. One unique option at the buffet that I particularly enjoyed was the liver pâté, served on fresh crusty bread.


The days on Guadeloupe were spent exploring the island, driving around and sampling the local food, as well as a couple SCUBA dives.

One ubiquitous dish on the island is acras de morue, salt-cod fritters, usually served with some kind of chili oil. They are truly splendid.
For our four scheduled days in Guadeloupe, we remained on Basse-Terre, the western island, which is lush and green.


I did an introductory SCUBA dive in the town of Deshaies, which was splendid. I couldn't believe all there was to see in the water! I'm currently making plans to go back and continue the SCUBA training there.


On our last day, we drove up to the volcano, Soufriere, where we got a commanding view of the island below. The drive up was on narrow, winding roads, dotted with banana trees.


An early morning departure for the airport on Friday proved not to be early enough. We spent two hours in traffic, behind tractors, trucks, and busses.
Thankfully, Norwegian Air Shuttle wasn't too brutal with the change fee, 50Euros Per person, not terrible. We were able to get seats on the flight today, Sunday.

After leaving the airport, we went into the main city of Pointe à Pitre and found delicious French pastries. We then made our way out of the city, towards Pointe des Chateaux, a rugged headland on the easternmost peninsula. Stunning views of clear water, and crashing waves.


Our real last day was spent driving around the entire island of Basse-Terre, sampling food as we drove. Basically, if we smelled smoky meat being cooked, we stopped. And it proved to be a great way to spend a day. We ate delicious boudin noir (blood sausage), grilled chickens at several shacks, each one better than the prior.


The check-in line at PTP this AM was only being manned by one agent, so it took a while. The security line at PTP took no time, and we soon boarded.

All in all, a great place to vacation. I will certainly be back.

MarkCron

look forward to the pictures, as Guadeloupe is in my plans for a future trip

adrouault

Sorry if this is a luddite cop-out, but here's an imgur gallery with a few images. Sorry, tired.


Let me know if this works.

adrouault

Happy to talk to you about Guadeloupe, BTW.

bebert

the destination seems to be trendy in north america those days
i read recently a very interesting article from the times

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/t...od-french.html

adrouault

With the cheap fares it's an attractive destination. I'd say about 50 percent of the passengers on my flights were French expats living in the US, 1/3 Americans, and 1/3 Guadeloupéen.

MarkCron

Yes, that is the article that got me thinking about Guadeloupe

adrouault

When do you plan on going?

DY's service is seasonal, and ends the last week of April.

MarkCron

not this year. within the next 3-4 years

adrouault

Well, I certainly hope Norwegian keeps their service in the coming years. I definitely intend to go back to Guadeloupe next year, and spend a while there. It's a great place.
If only it was a year-round service! Aside from DY, the only options are flying through ORY on AF from JFK. haha

Did my photos show up ok?

UA1K_no_more

The imgur link works, but no photos seen inline in any post (in case that's what you were aiming for).

adrouault

Perfect. Thanks! Was too tired to put photos inline the post.

In future reports, will try to figure that out.

Vincent Charretier

As a matter of fact, you have 2 other options :

- A weekly direct flight on AA : MIA-PTP (can sometimes be 2-3 times/week). Convenient, but VEEEERY expensive (600€+)
- An almost daily AF flight : MIA-PAP-PTP. Took the flight lately, the 1h layover in the PAP (Haiti) is a REAL pain, and total trip is around 6hrs. But it was 300€ R/T, luggage included.

I did took all 3 options over the years, If going to NYC, DY is the best option, but it's only seasonal...

Bretteee

They also fly to Martinique. I love the Caribbean. My Doctor who is in his 70s says that he avoids Zika risk areas.

will2288

Thanks for the report. I recently went to Guadeloupe with Norwegian from BOS and had a great trip. The island was very nice, and surprisngly cheap.

The flights were very pleasant. I paid less than $400 per person RT for school vacation week flights. They charge $25 for a seat+bag which seems fair, especially as you can choose exit row seats for no additional fee. The FAs were young and cute northern Europeans. The passengers were mostly families, along with a good amount of (I'm guessing) French expats. The new 737 cabin was comfortable and I enjoyed the free wifi and streaming video content. Pitch was great in the exit row, other rows seemed tight.