Greetings!

anyone have tips on getting from Seattle to Bonaire?

planning on travelling Dec 19--Jan 3, 2004

have looked at usual internet sites and it's overwhelming...

anyone used a local seattle travel agent to arrange for flights and lodging??

thanks much!

Nhumey

The best I found on Travelocity was $1184 leaving on Dec. 20 at 10:20pm Seattle time and arriving at 3:30pm Bonaire time the next day and returning on Jan 3. It shows 13 hours and 10 min travel time with 2 stops/plane changes, in Atlanta and Montego Bay. This is a Delta code share with Air Jamaica. I did not check AJ's web site. Caradonna Carribean Tours has packages for Bonaire and you may be able to get a good deal for when you want to go. Check them out at http://www.caradonna.com/caradonna/

The QE II usually makes a stop around Xmas/New Years look at http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/36/56974.html#POST100313 scroll down to the 9th entry for a peek.

Linnea's right on...take AJ if you can. Going ANY other way (AA through San Juan) is a MUCH longer trip!

Have fun!

P.S. (Linnea, you still planning on coming to the sept bbq's?)

Yep, one and/or the other, still waiting for B'day party dates from my 'kids'.

ps, you may be cool down there on the coast, but it sure is hot just a little bit inland.

Sounds good Linnea, tell those kids you have PLANS and they better get it together! LOL! I thought of you when I made that post..."Linnea is NOT going to agree about my barely sweating comment!" I think the hottest it has gotten in the house is 85...I'm not complaining until it get's over 90 in the house...and that has only happened a few times in 10 years thank goodness!

Nhumey, we have Seattle to Bonaire - Non Stop - Well sort of!! Our previous trip to Bonaire last October went like this:
Prince George to Vancouver - Overnight
Vancouver/Los Angeles/Dallas - Overnight
Dallas to San Juan - Overnight
San Juan to Bonaire - aaahhhhh!!and same route back.
We have booked this time for February 04 and are using British Airways points but flying with American Airlines (British Airways didn't like that but that's another story).
We are driving the 630 miles to Seattle and overnighting there (because with BA points I couldn't travel to 3 countries - Canada/USA/Netherlands Antilles - go figure!! and besides it's a good chance to check out the BOEING PLANT. In February this is our non stop route:
Seattle to Dallas L 11:50pm A 5:30am
Dallas to San Juan L 9:45am A 4:15pm
San Juan to Bonaire L 6:40pm A 8:40pm
No overnight enroute and same going back. This trip I booked on my own put have always used Sears Travel for all other travel. Get a travel agent to check out this routing. It's difficult from our part of the world to get anywhere fast!

thanks for all the help!
Managed to get flights through TravelTeam in Seattle

You might wanna book your own trip. I'm doing Miami to Bon in January (midweek flight) for like $340 on Air Jamaica. They've got a sail to 8/22 so you might just be better off booking your own flight from seatac to MIA and then doing AJ the rest of the way. AJ also flies out of Ft Lauderdale but i'm uncertain of the prices or schedule

good luck

Unfortunately, the Pacific Northwest is one of the most difficult places to get out of if you're going to the Caribbean. They always want to send us to New York or Chicago first. If you live in the east, it's much easier(and cheaper). I found another "Travel" website the other day and for fun punched in Vancouver to Bonaire. It took about 5 minutes for it to calculate and the price came up at $5200.00 US each. They obviously don't want any business. I'm always on the hunt for the best price and schedules.

We are planning our trip in January and I was overwhelmed as well. Some of us are in OK and the others CA. We all decided to get a round trip to Miami on expedia or orbitz and spend a day on each end of the trip at a Miami airport hotel. Then take Air Jamaica to and from Bonaire . This option was actually cheaper than "redeyeing", gets us there much earlier and will help ensure our gear gets there and that we don't miss connections.
Just a thought.

Try American from Miami to Curacao and then on to Bonaire via Divi or the new Bonaire Excel. Arrival time on Bonaire has been as early as 2pm and not later than 5pm. We have even been able to get in an afternoon and night dive on the first day.

What about going to Aruba and BonairExel from there?

Jake

We are going to Bonaire over Christmas from Eastern Washington via Seattle and after much research I decided "you can't get there from here" but we want to go so bad we made it work. We decided to take the non-stop Alaska flight from Seattle to Miami, spend the night there and then take the AA from Miami to Bonaire via SAn Juan the next day.
Coming home the same route but doing it all on the same day, with a 5 hour layover in Miami..will spend it at the pool on the roof of the airport.
The other option was a redeye to Newark or JFK ( or Houston, ATlanta , Chicago) and then the AJ flight... but did not want to do a red-eye... they are awful.
Good luck, let us know what you decide to do.

thanks for all of the tips!
We were able to get flights from Seattle to Bonaire
with this route--not ideal but we are going!
Seattle--Atlanta (red eye) Delta
Atlanta--Jamaica--Bonaire (AJ)
return we will overnight at an airport hotel in Atlanta

wanted to go Alaska Air to Miami, then overnight in Miami but wasn't able to book it

Here is my travel itinerary from Bend, OR (which is even MORE Complicated than leaving from Seattle or Portland) to Bonaire departing Jan. 24- Returning Feb. 7 (two weeks):

Horizon Air Departing Redmond (OR) on Saturday, January 24 at 2:47 PM and arriving Seattle at 4:00 PM. Horizon Air . Alaska Airlines Departing Seattle on Saturday, January 24 at 6:26 PM and arriving Los Angeles at 8:59 PM.

Air Jamaica Departing Los Angeles 10:25 PM (Red-eye) arriving Montego Bay Jan 25 at 6:50 AM. And that's cool, cuz we plan on having breakfast in some local place not far from the airport. Then Air Jamaica departing MoBay at 12:30 PM and arriving Bonaire 3:30 PM.

Return Flight: Air Jamaica Depart Bonaire Feb.7, 4:10 PM arrive Montego Bay 5:10 PM. Air Jamaica Depart MoBay 5:52 PM Arrive Los Angeles 9:12 PM. Here you have to overnight ( I have friends but the Hacienda Hotel at LAX looks very nice and if you talk to the hotel directly they can get you a room for $52/inc. taxes).

Feb. 8 Alaska Airlines Departing Los Angeles on Sunday, February 8 at 1:57 PM and arriving Portland at 4:22 PM.

- Horizon Air. Departing Portland on Sunday, February 8 at 8:00 PM and arriving Redmond at 8:40 PM.

I got a killer deal for the LA -Bonaire part from:

Beth Watson-Jones divegod@mindspring.com
Undersea Adventures & Ocean Fest
P.O. Box 21766
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33335
Toll Free (800) 327-8150
Phone: (954) 462-3400
Fax: (954) 462-4100

Total: $660 r/t per person. The Redmond, OR- LA r/t cost $276/pp /rt (thru Horizon Air).

Total Airfare: $936 p/p. Probably cheaper if you didn't have to leave from Redmond OR like I did. I definitely wanted to avoid the San Francisco/Chicago/Miami/Atlanta routes due to the crazy weather in winter and Miami just being a plain ol' drag. I'll let you know how smoothly it went. PS-I first flew AirJamaica in 1976, and their service was PHENOMENAL- I hope things haven't changed....