We have reservations at Lion's Dive for our first trip to Bonaire for Dec. 23 thru Dec. 31, 2005 with 3 days in Curacao Dec. 31 to Jan 3 2006. The 3 days in Curacao are due to the high cost of hotels and flight schedules in and out of Bonaire. We are now reconsidering our plans. The reason is the extremely high cost of getting to Bonaire from Miami. In checking rates with AA this AM cost is $1515.00 for the two of us round trip to Curacao, now we have to add in another $200 plus to get to and from Bonaire from Curacao. If we have to pay this kind of rate due to our travel budget, we would not have much of anything left to spend on diving, food and misc. expenses once we get there. In trying to get to Bonaire from Miami round trip the rate was $1650.00 for the two of us. Flights to and from are fast becoming a real pain from both the availability and cost standpoint. Sooner or later this is going to start to hurt tourism on Bonaire as alot of us just don't have this kind of money. Which in the long run will also affect the lives of the Bonaire people.

How is everyone else dealing with this issue? Are you also rethinking your travel plans or just biting the bullet and paying the high prices for flights?

Suzanne

Suzanne,

Try this. Spirit Air flys out of Lauderdale and Miami to San Juan, They are a GREAT small airline. Ed and I have flown them many times from NJ to Florida and South Carolina. They have EXCELLENT rates. Then fly AE to Bonaire from San Juan.

Best of Luck and Enjoy!

Liz

Suzanne,

You may also want to work with a Bonaire-oriented tour operator. Some of them have bulk contracts with American and can offer you a better package deal than if you book everything separately (they typically are forbidden from selling air-only service by their bulk contracts). Just a thought...

Jake

Suzanne, I know of one island based travel agent. Ann Phelan. Her email is ann@bonairewindsurfing.com.

Good luck !

Suzanne, I just bit the bullet after cancelling my reservations with Air Jamaica (they gave me a full refund) and rebooking on Continental from Newark to Aruba, and then Bonaire Express. It will cost us an additional $300 to get there. :-(
We've been dreaming of diving and vacationing in Bonaire for years, having seen every last thing there was to see in Cozumel (which is still a good deal, but different from Bonaire). Paradise comes at a cost, I suppose. I dont think it will be long before someone else snatches up the market there.

Thanks everyone for your advice. We will do more checking for rates & flights, we really do want to make the trip as Bonaire has been a dream destination of ours for a long time.

Thanks again and if anyone has anymore advice please post it as its all very helpful to all of us first timers.

Suzanne