My husband and I are going to Bonaire from Charleston, SC in May. We booked our travels through Caradonna Travel and are staying at Buddy's. We are flying on Dutch Caribbean Airways from Miami to Curacao and then from Curacao to Bonaire. I have not heard of this airlines or any feedback about it. Has anyone out there flown on this airline or have any feedback?

Is this the former ALM? Carole

If it is ALM.........be afraid; be VERY afraid! We too are heading to Bonaire in May through Caradonna

We travel up to Baltimore from our hub in Virginia and hop on Air Jamaica. ALM has burned us badly and I know we are not alone; we got paid but never again will we use them whether old name or new! Last we heard they were going defunct. Maybe the new name is their Chapter 11 desgise?

I am very surprised that Caradonna would use them since they are fully aware of their condition and the mucho problems. Caradonna highly recommends Air Jamaica now as they run a firt class operation. I do, however, understand that Air Jamaica doesn't service the whole USA with connections, etc. though. We're blessed to be close to BWI

Have a wonderful trip! When will you be there? We arrive May 4th!

Julie,

DCE is a recent name for ALM, which has been/is in transition. Some flyers have had trouble with ALM, as you can read by doing Keyword searches here, but then you will find almost as many complaints/happiness with AJ and AE.

Caradonna is a very professional and experienced operation and will not knowingly book you into danger of an unpleasant trip--their business depends too much on your good experiences.

That said, DCE/ALM/??? is probably the third choice of experienced travellers to/from Bonaire. It is my last choice. :–)

Thanks for the feedback. The ALM messages sound pretty scary. We travelled to Honduras and flew TACA which has about the same reputation and got lucky with a long but uneventful trip so maybe we will get lucky. We are arriving on May 8th and are soooo excited. Haven't been diving in about 2 years. We got really good vibes from Caradonna so I guess we'll just take our chances on DCE/ALM. Maybe we'll carry on regulators/bathing suits and any other necessities???

Julie,

I would very much recommend carrying on any and all things that you can. We always carry on regs, bathing suits, BC's, cameras, meds and on and on; basically whatever will cram into that roller carry on! Good luck with your ALM flights. We took ALM (All Luggage Missing) the first 7 years to Bonaire but now......no mas! I think the majority of us who got burned have moved on to bigger and better things.

I had to laugh at your post mentioning TACA (Take A Chance Airlines....LOL) We have friends who've done that and it was quite the experience. It scared us off from ever going there athough each of us has different experiences all us divers tend to think alike!

My husband and I will be at Buddy's in our same old room in building 1! Hope to see you there......safe travels

I have heard of lots of problems with ALM, but I am happy to say that the two times we used them, we had no problems, other than a 20 minute delay. I've read of problems with Air Jamaica as well, so I think it's just a matter of luck.

We just flew ALM (Dutch Carribean Express) leaving Miami March 16 straight thru to Bonaire. Left on time and NO problems.Carried our dive equip because you can live on Bonaire naked (Sorobon) but NOT without dive equip! All our luggage made it fine. Leaving..........we arrived at airport 2 hrs early for 10:40 a.m.flight but were told after waiting quite a while that the plane wouldn't leave till 1pm. As it happened we left at 12:30 and had beautiful flight. This time we checked our dive stuff and everything made it fine. This was March 23. In June of 2000 we flew ALM from Miami after booking through Caradonna and stopped in Curacao both ways. Also great flights, not late either. I would not hesitate to fly ALM again.

Cindy - thanks so much for the positive feedback. It is good to hear that someone out there had a good flight on ALM/Dutch Caribbean. I now have not lost all hope. Although just last night we made sure our dive gear could fit into our two carry ons - don't care about spending a week without clothes but cannot go without the dive gear!!!!