Just back from a 2 week stint & was impressed with the new non stop red eye service. We departed on Feb 17th (after first having a nice dinner at our local Italian Rest.)& returned on Sunday. The flight out of Newark was delayed for about an hour when some papers had not been signed, the flight back out of Bonaire was flawless. I must confess that in 20 years of traveling to Bonaire, this was the easiest we've ever had it! I'd certainly hate to see this flight canceled.

My advice for BT's departing from the NY-Newark area is to patronize the red eye flight. The planes appeared to be full & I suspect that if the profit continues they will also put on a Weds flight as well to capture the market for a 10 night stay. Non-stop without question is by far the best way to travel..

Vince, you are right about the non-stop being the best way to go.
We go out of Houston and as long as that option is open that is the way we will continue to go.

Vince, Is that restaurant near the airport? Looking for a good evening meal in the area before the flight. We have a long layover and are touring Ellis Island in between.

Newark is best known for it's Spanish/Portuguese and now, Brazilian rodizzio. These are a 15 minute drive from the airport (where these no fine dining in the area!). They are within a few blocks of the train station, although that's a $28 roundtrip.

Here are some that get good reviews:

Don Pepe, 844 McCarter Hwy., Newark, NJ 07102 (MY FAVORITE)
Fornos of Spain, 47 Ferry St. , Newark, NJ 07105
Brasilia Restaurant, 132 Ferry Street , Newark, NJ 07103
Brazilia Grill, 99 Monroe St. , Newark, NJ 07105
Iberia Peninsula, 67 Ferry St. , Newark, NJ 07105
Iberia Tavern & Restaurant, 82 Ferry Street , Newark, NJ 07105
Spain Restaurant, 419 Market Street , Newark, NJ 07103

Thanks Sue, But my "motion-sick rules to live by" include no new or unusual food. Add to that, no booze, hydrate and get plenty of sleep and I'm good to go. Vince's Italian is good, 'cause I am!

Judy,

The Iberian places specialize in Paella, which shouldn't be too unusual, as it's just lots of rice with either seafood, chicken and/or sausage. They also have great steaks & fish/seafood. The rodizzio places are just grilled meat & lots of it.

I don't know any good Italian restaurants 10-15 minutes from the airport.

How are you getting to Ellis Island? I would assume renting a car & driving to Liberty State Park to get the ferry. Just make sure you have good directions or a GPS, a few wrong turns from there will put you in not some of the nicest places in Jersey City.

So sorry Judy but the Italian rest. I referred to isn't really anywhere near Newark Airport.. We usually park at the Airbrook lot in Ridgewood (Bergen County) & then take the shuttle to the airport. I find it to be much easier & more economically feasible then long term parking at Newark.
However Sue has provided some excellent Spanish & Portuguese restaurants above. Never ate there but the "Ironbound" section of Newark is well known for great Spanish/Portuguese cuisine.

Seems like you can even get to Newark airport via Amtrak, then switch to the monorail for getting to proper terminal in the airport. Has anyone from New England done this yet? It's quite feasible given the red-eye flight times.

Tom - I have a business trip in a few weeks that I'm coming back into Newark in the AM and will take the monorail to the NJ Transit into NYC. I'll let people know how it goes. I've taken the Long Island RR from NY Penn Station to Jamaica (NY) and switched to the JFK AirTrain, which was very easy.

Good news all around. We will fly out of Newark in May for two weeks. Can't wait. cb

Sue, We've booked a room at the Springhill Suites on the far north-east side of the airport. We planned on a taxi to Liberty State Park for Ellis Island. Is that thinking a mistake? We'll be there for the afternoon and then take the night flight.

Judy - email me if you want more info, but here are some random thoughts:

- You might be better off renting a car for the day instead of the hotel. (which is a very short distance from the airport if you are a bird, but the access roads are nuts and it could take 10+ minutes to get there. On the other hand, the rental cars are accessed via the monorail.) This also might be cheaper than the hotel room, plus taxis. Liberty State Park isn't hard to get to from Newark Airport

- I've never seen taxis hang around Liberty State Park looking for rides, so that might be an issue.

- You will have some freedom getting dinner if you have a car. Another place to visit if you have time to kill around Newark Airport is the Jersey Gardens outlet mall, not that you really want to buy stuff and take to/from Bonaire.

Have a good trip. I'm jealous. Just back 10 days and already planning 2008.

Vince, have you heard any rumors about Continental adding a Wednesday flight, or is that just a hunch on your part?

This Continental flight sounds so ideal. And we could fly out of either Houston or Newark.

Sorrows..Well I guess at this stage it really is rumors (or wishful thinking)
.I have no inside info from Continental. From sources on the island whom I've spoken to, it's being bantered about & being compared to Continental's operation out of Houston where I'm told they recently added a Weds flight to capture the "10 day vacationer market". Many people can't get away for 2 weeks but there are many who can stretch it out 10 days.
Bottom line, the planes on the Newark route appear to be filled to capacity & that's certainly a good omen for the additional flight at some point in the future.

No, the Houston red-eye is still Saturdays only.

But I like your wishful thinking. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Continental can also opt to use a larger aircraft for the route. Currenlty it uses the B737-700. They also have B737-800 and B737-900, which have larger capacity.

Boy, that is great news about the red eye. But do you have problems getting into your room in Bonaire. When we have arrived in the past near 11pm it was difficult to pick up a rental, and a problem to get into our room.

But the non-stop flight is nice. Last time we flew through San Jan on American and our soft luggage was gone through both coming and going. Lucky for us it contained only our clothes. THe hard luggage had the dive gear.

The new airport security is a windfall for the theives of the world, and there are an awful lot of dishonest people now.

Jackie..welcome to the board. I guess the answer to your question depends on where you are staying.. We arrived on the island about 05:15 several weeks ago & the car rental office was opened a little before 06:00. We got our car & then went to Belmar where they stored our luggage in he office. We then went out & did some shopping, had a nice breakfast & when we got back at about 10:00 our room was ready for us to move in..
The non stop flight is great. If it costs a bit more, rest assured it's worth it for the convenience & lesser probability of lost luggage issues.

I checked Continental prices on-line this week and was pleasantly suprised on the rates, about $100 less the the AJ quote. Nice!
That was for April travel.

Lorraine..Personally, I'd grab it then. No comparison between AJ & Continental.

Folks I recently read an article about trip insurance and it specifically mentioned that Air Jamacia Airlines as one to buy trip insurance for. The article sounded like the Airlines is in financial trouble. Thought I would pass this on the readers of this link.

Jackie

Jackie, there was talk of AJ demise 2 years ago when we booked our trip-from-hell. We bought AJ tickets and they gave us to AA. I went to BWI personally to pick up the new tickets (1 1/2 hour drive) and was extremely unimpressed with the operation, to say the least. Never again!

I also think it helps if you book through one of the dive travel agencies. I did it all myself last time. Never again!