EMBARKATION VIRGIN ISLANDS

How do we improve the quality of your vacation? Here is a guide as to what arrival point you are looking at to begin your Dream Sailing Vacation in the Caribbean Virgin Islands.

There are more flights into St Thomas and from many locations in N. America fly directly into St Thomas.  The size of the airline is bigger, so there are more holiday makers onboard with you!  It is cheaper to fly to St Thomas U.S.V.I. Every charter yacht which begins in St Thomas will always sail into the British Virgin Islands.  "ALL, sail into the British Virgin Islands." There are no exceptions. This is not the arrival location Barrington-Hall Guests are directed to for embarkation.  Read carefully the advantages of the Beef Island arrival point.

BEEF Island Tortola needs an extra flight on a smaller air plane (American Airlines) from Puerto Rico, but this arrival point, is the jugular vein of Paradise.  The cost is roughly $120 per person and it is an extra hassle to change to another plane, but when you consider your vacation,  it is cheaper and saves valuable holiday time standing at customs during your paid vacation.   St Thomas is a state of the U.S.A. so you need to clear out of the U.S.A. and when you sail into the British Virgin Islands you need to clear into customs and immigration, this means a stop at a designated point such as West End or Jost Van Dyke,  Tortola. 

This your captain can take care of for you,  but it has taken valuable time in paradise to do.  Now when you leave the British Virgins and enter the U.S.A, again it is law that every person entering America go physically to both customs and immigration, this entails standing in lines and these lines are not like an airport line, where everything is done with speed because there is another air line arriving. 

This is a sailing border crossing and guess what ?  There is no rush to get you done so stand in line and wait.   We estimate that guests will be hassled for three quarters of one day, during their paid vacation ($1,000 per day), plus there are fees to be paid at both entry and exit points.  

Now you are doing exactly what you have paid to get away from?  Please do not be put off by this point.  St Thomas is a wonderful second option for many guests.  We are aiming at added quality for our guests and are merely pointing out the difference.   Kindly keep in mind that we are not saying that Beef Island is the only way to go, we are providing quality information and you can decide which route is better for you and your vacation. Some guests refuse to change flights after a long flight, so St Thomas is where they are going to begin their vacation.  Some guests have frequent flyer miles which are honored into St Thomas, so this is where they are going to arrive.  Some guests have friends in St Thomas so this is where they are going to arrive. Information is the key to your vacation, communication is another key. 

To clear up points which are not understood, kindly call our toll free number  800-478-2029. One of our consultants will answer your call personally. Here is the real difference between one arrival location and the other. What other companies do is their business, but we would like you to have a choice. 

Beef Island arrival:  All captains meet our guests at the airport on arrival.   Within 10 minutes you can be onboard your yacht, it is just a 100 yards walk to the jetty where your yacht is moored.  Never during this whole vacation do you need to walk through customs and immigration lines once onboard.  100% Of your vacation time is enjoyed sailing. 

When we look at the cost of you standing in line at customs as well as the time needed to sail into the British Virgins (although this is a gorgeous sail) the rate to fly to the mother load of Paradise for each person seems small.   There are super ferry services between the islands, as well as private ferries, so we have many options which include charter planes for those short flights, to consider.  Planning needs discussion and once we get to these details we would have covered this on the telephone.