It has been about two months since our family experienced an amazing 14-day Caribbean cruise from Guadeloupe. As you may already know if you’ve been planning a trip between New York and Guadeloupe, finding flights can be challenging, depending on the time of year that you are seeking to travel. We are thankful for Norwegian Air that flies non-stop between JFK (New York, USA) and PTP (Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe), seasonally. Our flight to Guadeloupe this March was within Norwegian Air’s PTP season. However, it was a bit more of a challenge to find return flights to New York because we returned after the season ended. Thanks to Air Antilles and JetBlue, it worked out very well for us. I have an entire blog post to assist in planning flights to and from Guadeloupe, here. Norwegian Air flights from New York to Guadeloupe will generally arrive in PTP after 6 PM, which means that, if you’re planning to sail from Guadeloupe, you may want to fly in a day in advance, and that will then require a pre-cruise hotel stay.

We flew into Guadeloupe on Saturday, March 17, 2018, and our ship, the MSC Fantasia, set sail from Guadeloupe on Sunday, March 18, 2018. So, for one night prior to our cruise, we stayed at Canella Beach Hotel. We arrived at Canella Beach Hotel within about 20 minutes of leaving the airport. The front desk staff greeted us warmly, and spoke English quite well, which made check-in very easy. For our family of five, our pre-cruise stay at Canella Beach Hotel, Duplex 322 and 323, was comfortable and convenient.

Getting To The Port On Embarkation Day

I recently received a question regarding boarding times, distance to the cruise port, and recommendations for getting to the ship on time. The general rule of thumb to address all three of those areas is to pay close attention to the documents provided by the cruise line. Specific cruises differ with regard to the time that guests should arrive to “check in” at the port. Keep in mind, that most, if not all, cruise lines require online check-in which will then produce cruise documents for guests to print and take along to the port. So although I say “check in” at the port, what that entails on embarkation day is usually guests presenting their printed cruise documents, along with their passports, for a fairly quick process at the counter with an agent from whom guests will receive their stateroom keys and a number to be called to board the ship.

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