TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI Opening December 1st 2020 to International Tourism

SusanZ...Totally get that. Especially right now. Just thinking in the weeks to come any info regarding who's open would obviously dictate our itinerary when we get there on Dec 4th. Looking forward to seeing your beautiful islands for the first time!

In a normal year, everyone starts opening mid-October. Since we've all been without income for many months, everything I can imagine will be open by December 4th. Do you have something in mind you're concerned about? I can ask around if I know what types of places you're think of.

Jason-- well it largely depends on restrictions, We are all assuming its a full opening. But is it?I really don't know. Assuming there are charter yacht guests, Foxy's will definitely be opening. We found it comical when tourist board would call us back in April/May and as us when we were opening. Our confusion mainly has to do with the types of activities \we can host, how to market events responsibly and how to execute them. Most things on JVD, Foxy's included is open air so I feel like social distancing won't be overly difficult but it still poses some challenges. We get tons of calls about NYE but really have no idea if we can have the party or what that will look like.

Great point on restrictions. I sure wish we knew more! Since the OP is a charter guest, I guess I was answering based on charter boats operating. Assuming that's true, I can't think of much that would be closed. Even the smaller inside places like Banana's in CGB are already open. Around CGB, the only things I can think of currently closed are Quito's (opening soon) and Bananakeet. Even Anegada has lots of places already open and the rest will certainly open assuming there are charter guests.

"You can check in but you can't check out?"

There has to be a song in there somewhere.

Where is LandCrab when we need him?

Thank you both, Jason and Susan. That def gives us more confidence to head down. We are targeting the standard establishments that most charters do. (Soggy, Foxy's, Myett's, Banakeet, Calwood's, Pirate's Bight, Willy T's, and Cooper Island beach Club) We are very used to the dining and social restrictions up here in San Diego (where our numbers are very good) so it wont be a big deal to have some of those same guidelines in place come December in BVI. I cant imagine how hard it's been for the local economy...hang tight, we're on our way!

Eagles? That ad for the Roach Hotel? Maybe clicking one's heels three times will do the trick.....oh, wait that's from some movie!

Anyone hearing when the BVI will actually publish the rules to enter and exit. If it’s just the airport it will slow things quite a bit. Airfare for the week before Xmas is 304 to STT and 1000 plus to EIS.
G

With change fees being waived, I would highly recommend changing tickets to SJU where the flights to EIS are more plentiful and less expensive. They won't last long but there are options....

I sometimes try SJU and then a small airline to Beef. I can usually do points to SJU , then pay a premium for the short flight over, but overall not terrible. I just had to cancel my November plans in which i paid 400 RT SJU to Beef, but my NYC to SJU was non stop and points only.... Hope I can something similar when I rebook my charter.... after 4 cancelled Vaca's this year, I am not rebooking until January when i see what has transpired after a months time open. Hoping not like USVI that shut back down for a little while.

To try to bring in tourists..and us "residents"..on December 1 without getting the ferries running irom StT is utter stupidity.'Nuff said..

Agree with Mal.....sticking with STT at this point and will opt for VI Airlink if we have to on 12/3....

You’d think they’d figure out something - what are customers of CYOA going to do if they want to visit the BVI on charter post opening??? Or any other USVI-based boats?

IATA is pushing for rapid testing at international airports for passengers before boarding the aircraft.

Goal is to adequately reduce risk to the recipient country so that they can open up to travelers.

Warren - so we would test in Miami for the flight to St. Thomas? Sounds like a good idea!

We moved our TMM charter from May to Dec 6. TMM called this week and thinks we will be in and ferries should be running. We really hope so. We booked flights this summer from ATL to STT but can adjust if we can just go. We have always chartered in late spring/early summer and December should be a treat.

On the test, our daughter traveled earlier this month to Croatia for a mission trip. She took 2 Covid PCR tests that week. One 3 days before the flight and the other hours before the flight. That allowed her to have a negative test report for the travel and then the other negative test results emailed to her. The recent test allowed her to enter the country with no quarantine or restrictions.

That’s great - BVIYC said the same thing - they think ferries will be running.

What TMM boat are you on? We start our trip 12/5 - we are on Beneteau 41 Nicola - maybe we will see you guys out there.

We will be on Tortuga, a 46' Lagoon. We originally tried to get Warrens boat Scuba Doo again like 2 years ago but it was booked for the orginal time we wanted to go.

It will be exciting to be on an almost brand new boat this trip! We will look for you.

I had a funny feeling you were going to say that! David and Wendy are good friends of ours - looking forward to seeing their new baby out and about! Let’s share a cold one somewhere!

Winterstale, my husband and I had Nicola a few years back and loved it. The hydrauic swim platform was great and the boat was very comfortablel and easy to sail.. Enjoy your trip. I see that it has been quite a "trip" to get there!

Marisol - we’ve been with BVIYC for 10+ charters now! We chartered Tootsie back in 2014 - same exact layout as Nicola - LOVED the boat. Fun to sail and super comfortable for 2!

Yes Winterstale, we have been with BVIYC for at least that long too. And we also sailed Tootsie! I guess we have the same taste in sail boats. I sure wish that I had my next trip booked. Longing to get back. Best wishes for a great trip.

The CDC has released some new Covid 19 data. Hopefully it will help the BVI government in their decision to reopen. The new numbers are in line with the flu. Just booked a 16 Dec trip!
G

The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has released an update to their research on the fatality rate associated with COVID-19. The CDC first posted this data on May 20, 2020, with the understanding that the parameter values would be updated and augmented over time. This update, dated September 10th, is based on data received by CDC through August 8, 2020.

A quick summary of COVID-19 survival rates is shown below. The summary is based on the CDC table provided at the end of this report.

CDC COVID-19 Survival Rates

Age 0-19 — 99.997%
Age 20-49 — 99.98%
Age 50-69 — 99.5%
Age 70+ — 94.6%

I saw those last week.

I'm VERY comfortable getting back to a normal life with those odds!!!

However, the BVI and any country, obviously will do what they do...???

Can you please post a link to the data?

Dan

Johns Hopkins, whose data is beyond the influence of elected officials, has the US COVID death rate at 2.9%. The flu fatality rate over many years averages 0.1%. Unless you believe in conspiracy theories, this is different than the flu.
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

This has NOTHING to do with the BVI.. As stated previously, this is not the place to quote all these various Covid stats. Plenty of places to do that other than here.

Still waiting for the BVI to get their act together and publish all the fine print to the dec 1 opening. I have tickets on AA that day to STT. It's about time that they stop worrying about midwifes and go to the more important issues like their economy. Also stop the fighting with the governor.. it's ridiculous.

This morning the premier has written to the UN about the governor bringing in the UK military ship and wants the UN to intervene. Seems to me lots of issues are being brought up to hide the mismanagement going on.

Premier Andrew Fahie has put Britain on notice that he will be escalating to the United Nations what he described as an “act of aggression” by Governor Augustus Jaspert towards his government

We are flying in on 12-02-20 for a 12 day charter and are counting the days. If anyone is concerned about the Ferry service they may want to look into a private water taxi. We use Ocean Dreams and they are first class. They have a 39 foot center console with 1200 horse power that is a blast.

Unless they open the ports for ferries, water taxis will most likely not be able to operate.

Jason--that's what I was thinking.. As of now, I really think people need to be thinking about flying into EIS, as booking air into STT right now seems very risky, unless you can CANCEL and get your money back. I haven't been following it that closely, but I think most airlines are allowing changes without change fees still, but what happens if the new fare is LESS than the old one?? Say that one decides to just fly into SJU and purchase a different ticket onward? If that ticket costs less than your original flight to STT, will you get money back?

There are lots of moving parts, but there won't be any boat traffic between the USVI and the BVI unless Customs and Immigration is re-activated in ports and harbors. Throughout the Covid-19 " lockdown" the only C&I ( point of entry) was EIS. It will be some more " wait and see" before we know how any testing/extra questions/required documentation at entry to the country will be handled.

Yeah, everyone is sick and tired of wait-and-see. It's called Island Time or " soon come". Part of what we go there to love and experience.

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There is an alternative to fly to STT and use VI Airlink to get to EIS. Looking at a random day in mid-January, it looks like they have 2 flights/day planned; 9:50am and 4:00pm. $151 per person.

Jason--OK, thanks for that correction.

Your idea of flying to SJU is still the best option and is what we're recommending to anyone booking rooms before February. Many more flight options from SJU. From what I can tell, the VI Airlink flight only carries 9 passengers so not much capacity but if you're locked into STT for some reason it's an option.

OK, thanks for the additional info.

Carol,
We canceled our June flights and got UA credit. We rebooked for January on UA for $200 less per ticket.
That left over credit is still out there and we have two years to use it. That will not be a problem.

OK, I figure it depends on the airline, as to what they are doing NOW, for people booking now.. I would always also prefer my money back, versus a credit, but we don't fly that often either.

We will fly into STT , I think, no matter what. We have enjoyed overnights at Emerald Beach at both ends and it breaks up the trip from the West Coast..and most certainly enjoy food in Oceana or Frenchtown ( French Quarter Bistro). Hoping the ferries will run but we will splurge for VI Airlink otherwise...after Irma and Covid we are so far down the financial road that a few hundred extra $$ is worth it at this point of life ( our relatives may not agree!!)