Hi there,
My husband and I have a windjammer cruise booked for Oct that departs from Grenada and we live in southern California. Does anyone have any ideas how best to get there? Everything I looked at has 2-3 stops and takes an entire day and night to arrive into Grenada about 9PM. I do have Mastercard and American Express points (enough for 2 roundtrip domestic flights within the US) so perhaps we should fly to Miami (?) and try to fly the next day to Grenada but flight prices are still rather expensive. Does anyone have any suggestions? We could fly from Orange County, CA (SNA), Long Beach, CA or Los Angeles (LAX). To top it off, my husband really wants to fly first class (I'd rather save the $$)as he's never done this and wants to badly. Yikes! Help please!!

My condolences. Getting to GND is a challenge from the east coast; it's even tougher from the west. But, it's well worth it.

We typically fly American, but their flight to GND from SJU doesn't typically leave til 6 p.m. or so. So, rather than endure a long layover at the airport, we make a point of staying in San Juan overnight -- it's a great town, with fantastic hotels and dining -- and it's a great way to ease you into the Caribbean. American looks to have a few routes (via MIA or DFW) that get you to San Juan from LAX on the same day.

Also, be sure to look at Air Jamaica. I believe they fly to GND from JFK. I've heard mixed reviews, and I don't know how many stops are involved, but it's worth checking.

I feel you...we are going on the Clipper in Sept for our 3rd trip on it. It takes that week to recover from actually getting to Grenada! We live in Texas and it is a 12 hour ordeal to get there as well. I haven't bought tickets yet, but we will most likely leave Houston at 7am and arrive in Grenada at 8pm. The one and only American Eagle flight to Grenada arrives daily in Grenada at 7:55pm.

We do know people that live in Cali and to get to Grenada, they always recommend a red-eye if possible and make the layover in San Juan. In San Juan, you can pay a day rate at the Intercontinental Hotel and use their facilities or you can tour Old San Juan.

One year we did take Air Jamaica and we loved it. Unfortunately, they have pulled out of Houston, so that is no longer an option. AJ is jet service while American Eagle is prop jet, so if you can find AJ to Grenada, I would go for it. By the way, the American Eagle flight doesn't really have a first class section, all the seats are the same, small!

Be sure to arrive on Grenada on the Fri or Sat before you sail. Not only is the island a wonderful place to spend a good amount of time, but you want to be sure to be there by 5pm Sunday, which is boarding time. Many passengers meet at local watering holes prior to boarding and get to know one another, so it's a good time to be had.

It's going to be pretty expensive no matter which way you go. Our tickets from Texas are around $750 each and I've never paid much less than that. I promise, the trip is worht it!

Thanks for the advice. I am curious what airline Caribqueen is taking from Texas to get to Grenada for the Clipper sailing in Sept? Have you made reservations yet? I do see that Air Jamica goes from Miami changing planes in Montego Bay and arrives into Grenada at 4:40PM. However, they don't seem to have the return flight. Weird! My husband thinks we should perhaps go to Miami and spend the night and then from the East Coast travel to Grenada but it is hard finding flights even from Miami to Grenada and the return. I wonder what other west coasters do besides spend an afternoon in Puerto Rico? Any other suggestions?

I'm taking American Airlines, my only option. It's cost prohibitive for me to take Air Jamaica (around $1400 EACH!), otherwise I would be on AJ. I have not bought tickets yet, probably will sometime this week. I do think your only option will be to spend some time either in Miami or San Juan. I would choose San Juan.

I don't know if this makes you feel better or worse, but even East coasters have to spend the bulk of their travel days in San Juan when flying on American. I went to Grenada last month and decided to find ways to make the extra time fun. On the way down I left the airport and had a leisurely lunch out on the beach at Numero Uno Guesthouse--spent 3 hours outside on a glorious day, did some people watching, read a book, enjoyed some good food including mango sorbet that was heavenly!

On the way home I decided to do a one night stopover in San Juan that gave me time to explore Old San Juan some more and was also a gentler transition between two weeks on island time and getting back to the faster pace of real life at home. San Juan definitely has a nice urban feel but since I'm still on vacation it's a lot of fun. Maybe one or both of these options would work for you.

I too am flying into Grenada mid Sept to board the Yankee Clipper. Like the others have said the best option is a connection into San Juan. I fly from Pgh and it is at times an overnight connection or a fairly long layover in SJU. Dependent on what time you arrive in SJU there is the option of connecting on LIAT. The flight is earlier in the day than the American Eagle and would be dependent on your arrival time. There is a direct flight on AirJamaica out of JFK I forget which day of the week ?Wed or Fri. Call AJ if you want to try that option. I haven't booked yet as some of the discount flights take you thru Trini and I don't want to do that if possible. Ditto all that's been posted by the others. Been doing this for many years. I think the least amount of travel time is around 10 hours. Bring a good book or try to catch up on sleep.
The trip is worth every bit of the aggravation.