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September
2010 update
Following work to
upgrade Dominica's Melville Hall Airport, it
was
officially openned for night landing on
Monday 20th September 2010
Dominica has two airports,
Melville Hall
Airport on the north east coast and Canefield
Airport on the south west coast, just to the north of the Capital,
Roseau.
Neither of these are international
airports,
though Melville Hall Airport has the longer runway and can accommodate
medium sized planes. The connecting leg of your journey will be on one
of the inter-island carriers, from either San Juan in Puerto
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Rico or
one of the neighbouring
islands, the nearest being Guadeloupe
then Antigua to the north and Martinique then St. Lucia to the south,
beyond
these St. Maarten to the north and Barbados and Grenada to the south.
If you are planning to visit other islands - Jamaica, Antigua, St Lucia, check out Island Routes Tours for an island paradise adventure.
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GETTING
HERE from
UK:- there are regular fights from Gatwick, Heathrow
and
Manchester to our neighbours,
Antigua,
St. Lucia and Barbados with British Airways, Britannia, BMI and Virgin.
Most travel agents will quote fares of around £450
to £700 return depending on the season, though cheaper
excursion fares may sometimes be found via Teletext,
Cefax, Sunday Telegraph etc. and can be arranged over the phone
using your credit card. Dominica is 4 hours
behind
GMT (5 hours behind BST). Flights generally
leave London's Airports mid morning, arriving Antigua mid
afternoon. Your connecting flight is
usually
arranged on Air Liat and takes only 35 minutes.
Flights from UK are usually in the daytime and return
flights are overnight. Try the Caribbean
Reunion Club if booking your flight online or compare prices with travelsupermarket.com.
Another option is to
fly
from either Orly or Charles De Gaul Airports in Paris to our nearest
neighbouring
islands, Guadeloupe or Martinique, which remain Departments of France.
Consequently these are regarded as domestic flights
and are often cheaper than those from London. Air France and various
charters
fly regularly, also giving you the opportunity to do some duty
free shopping in France on your return.
If you would like to buy
travel insurance
without wishing to purchase this from your UK travel agent, check out
this
provider: Essential
Travel - UK travel insurance
Even though
Barbados is a little
further
away, there are often very cheap excursion
flights
on offer from the UK.
Nov 2011 update:-
After a long period of roadworks, the section of the Imperial Road
between Canefield and Pont Casse has now re-openned and is much
improved. Work is now in progress to the eastern section between Pont
Casse and Hatton Garden, this sometimes requires a diversion through
the Carib Territory, which adds approx. 30 minutes to the journey
between Melville Hall Airport and the capital, Roseau.
GETTING
HERE from
EUROPE:- Paris
is also a main point of departue for visitors from all over EUROPE.
Depending on
your arrival/ departure times from either Guadeloupe or Martinique you
may prefer, instead of flying, to take the fast catamaran ferry to
Dominica
(max. sailing time 1hr. 45min). These do not, however, sail on every
day of the week (see schedules below).
Due to a weak US$, your
€'s
will now go much further.
GETTING
HERE from
NORTH AMERICA:- the most frequent route used
by visitors from USA is on American Airlines and their subsidiary, American Eagle via San Juan (their 'HUB'
for the Caribbean and where you pass through U.S. customs). The cost of
flight
tickets for this option, however,
can vary
tremendously, depending on the time of
year
and how far ahead
you book - AA policy seems to be to
increase
the fares as the number of seats available on any particular flight
diminishes,
so the earlier you book the better. As landing and take-off
times
at Dominica's airports are currently still limited to daylight hours,
connecting
times from some western States may necessitate an overnight stopover in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. Worth noting - Air Liat also has late afternoon
flights from Puerto Rico, so if you are travelling from the western
States
and arrive too late for a same day AA connection, you could book Liat
instead
for the final leg of your journey. Jet Blue also fly to San Juan and
some Caribbean islands. Other options you may care to
explore:
charter flight destinations from the USA include Barbados, Grenada and
St. Maarten and possibly our closer neighbours, Antigua and St. Lucia,
though the connecting leg to Dominica will be on local (non U.S.)
carriers,
which U.S. travel agents seem reluctant to utilise. Air Canada has
regular
direct flights from Montreal to our nearest
neighbours, Guadeloupe or Martinique (you can connect from Toronto
at no extra cost). There are also direct flights from Toronto to
Antigua
from where your connecting flight is
usually
arranged on Air Liat and takes only 35
minutes. Those wishing to take out suitable travel insurance may try TravelGuard.com cruise insurance.
If your agent can offer you
an economy fare
to any of our neighbouring islands, but
is unable to arrange the connection to Dominica, then we
will assist in arranging and
booking
this for our clients, for which there will be a 7.5%
surcharge.
L'Express
des Iles
is a fast French owned catamaran ferry service, linking the islands of
Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia. Sailing times shown
in
the tables below are generally applicable all year round. Occasionally,
during the busier periods, additional sailings may supplement
these.
Caribbean
Ferries was a new similar service introduced in 2002 but lasted
only 3 years.. |
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latest schedule update - Feb 2011
Schedules
below are often interrupted for maintenance during
off season. Last year L'Express
des
Iles had it's ferries in dry
dock for annual maintenance from 21
Sep to 12 Oct 2010
At busy
periods there may be extra sailings or scheduled times may change
Please note
that
the sailing
times displayed below could change at
any time.
For more
accurate
information visit
the L'Express de Iles
website
Select from the
top
tags - Horaires, which will
bring a pop-up
window
with
a calendar,
which you can navigate month by month. Select either départe or arrivée
GUADELOUPE / DOMINICA
 |
Point-A-Pitre |
Roseau |
Roseau |
Point-A-Pitre |
| Monday
(lundi) |
- |
- |
3.00pm |
5.30pm |
| Tuesday
(mardi) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Wednesday(mecredi) |
8.00am |
9.45am |
-
|
- |
| Thursday
(jeudi) |
- |
- |
3.00pm |
5.15pm |
| Friday
(vendredi) |
8.00am |
9.45am |
- |
- |
| Saturday
(samedi) |
- |
- |
10.00am |
11.45pm |
| Sunday
(dimanche) |
10.00am |
11.45am |
- |
- |
DOMINICA
/ MARTINIQUE / ST.LUCIA
|
Roseau
|
Forte-De-France |
Forte-De-France
|
Castries |
| Monday (lundi) |
-
|
- |
-
|
- |
| Tuesday (mardi) |
-
|
- |
-
|
- |
| Wednesday(mecredi) |
10.15am
|
11.45am |
1.30pm
|
2.50pm |
| Thursday (jeudi) |
-
|
- |
-
|
- |
| Friday (vendredi) |
10.15am
|
11.45pm |
1.30pm
|
2.50pm |
| Saturday (samedi) |
-
|
- |
-
|
- |
| Sunday (dimanche) |
12.15pm
|
1.45pm |
3.00pm
|
4.20pm |
|
Castries
|
Forte-De-France |
Forte-De-France
|
Roseau |
| Monday (lundi) |
-
|
- |
8.00am
|
9.30am |
| Tuesday (mardi) |
-
|
- |
-
|
- |
| Wednesday(mecredi) |
4.00pm
|
5.20pm |
1.30pm
|
2.50pm |
| Thursday (jeudi) |
-
|
- |
1.00pm
|
2.30pm |
| Friday (vendredi) |
4.00pm
|
5.20pm |
-
|
- |
| Saturday (samedi) |
-
|
- |
8.00am
|
9.30am |
| Sunday (dimanche) |
5.00pm
|
6.20pm |
-
|
- |
| Fares from
Roseau, DOMINICA
to... |
€
single |
€
return |
| Point-A-Pitre, GUADELOUPE |
€64.50
|
€99.90
|
| Forte-De-France,
MARTINIQUE |
€64.50
|
€99.90
|
| Castries,
ST.LUCIA |
€64.50
|
€99.90
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Note:
Reductions:
Local agent
in
Dominica:
Local agent
in
St. Lucia:
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Passenger's Port taxes have to be
added to the above
fares
Children under 2 : 90%
Children from 2 to under 12 : 50%
Youths (under 26), senior citizens
(60 and over) : 10%:
Whitchurch
Travel Agency
Old
Street Roseau
Cox
& Company Ltd.
William Peter
Boulevard, Castries |
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May 2011 commentary - uncertain times ahead.
Still
fresh in our minds is the world financial crisis of late 2008, in
response to which those who engineered it were rewarded with key
government posts in the new
US
administration and the governments of both
Britain and America rewarded the 'banksters' with a 'bailout' -
essentially a carte-blanch gift of trillions of £'s and $'s of
tax-payer money, so they could continue their crooked practices until
the next crisis, which may be looming very soon. Since 2008 there
has been belt tightening amongst vacationers and world travel has
become more difficult and more expensive.
Air Liat, our local Caribbean air taxi
service, currently enjoys little competition. There are fewer direct flights between St. Lucia
and Dominica nor
does it utilize Dominica's west
coast Canefield Airport
(the
only passenger service now using this airport is Coastal Air, which flies
just twice a week between Dominica
and St. Croix).
In early 2011 WinAir
resumed flights between St.
Martin and Dominica,
then in May announced
their suspension. The only carrier to bring medium sized passenger jets
into Dominica's Melville Hall
Airport is American
Eagle, a subsidiary
of AA, who use San
Juan as their 'Hub'
for the Caribbean.
Changes to their timetables,
however, have resulted in fewer travellers between USA and Dominica
being able to make a same day connection. Travellers from the UK to the
Caribbean
have been burdened by a higher tax charge than to other
world-wide destinations despite public protests and petitions
containing thousands of signatories. The French owned L'Express-des-Iles ferry
service, linking Guadeloupe,
Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia, has
reduced it's service to St.
Lucia and when boats are in dry dock for
maintenance for about 6 weeks in the summer, sailings to Dominica are
suspended.
In
a nutshell - the future of tourism in the Caribbean looks uncertain, as
the soaring gold
price bares testimony to the weakness of the dollar and the USA
announces that it has reached its 'debt ceiling'!
Fasten your seat belts - the roller
coaster ride is about to begin.
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Where to
Stay in DOMINICA
Roseau
: Around
Roseau : Roseau Valley
+ Laudat : South : West
Coast : North Coast
: East Coast : Interior
Home
: Introduction
: Scuba + whale-watch
: What to do + see : Birdwatching
+ Botany : Car Hire : Property
 
We accept
payment by Mastercard and Visa credit cards
Due
to difficulties experienced with American Exress in Dominica, we
have
suspended use
of this facility until merchant conditions improve
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Examples
of private, furnished
accommodation available for short term holiday rental
most of
the above offer attractive
discounts for extended stays. Click on image for rates, details
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Contact
us for further information
Tel: (767) 449 6233
Nature Island Destinations Ltd.
P.O. Box
1639, Roseau,
Commonwealth of Dominica,
West Indies
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