Category: Island Life

Frontier Is Adding New Nonstop Flights to Punta Cana

Frontier Airlines is ramping up its expansion to the Dominican Republic with a new route from Miami to Punta Cana, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

Frontier will be launching new twice-weekly flights between Miami and Punta Cana beginning on March 8. 

The nonstop flights will be operating on Mondays and Fridays. 

“We eagerly look forward to welcoming additional service by Frontier Airlines,” said Lester Sola, director of Miami International Airport. “We deeply appreciate their growing commitment to serving Miami-Dade County and to safely helping our passengers return to air travel.”

The beach at the Hard Rock in Punta Cana.

The announcement comes after Frontier launched service from Miami to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in December. 

“We’re thrilled to continue our exceptional growth at Miami’s convenient airport with new nonstop flights to Punta Cana,” said Daniel Shurz, senior Vice President of commercial at Frontier Airlines. 

The news comes as Frontier just announced another new Caribbean launch from Miami, with new service to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. 

“These new flights will offer unparalleled affordability and access between Miami and two beautiful destinations in the Caribbean. Additionally, the flights will maintain Frontier’s high health standards, including required mask wearing, temperature screenings and enhanced onboard cleaning,” Shurz said. 

The Dominican Republic has been open for tourism since the summer, with a unique travel protocol that combines rapid breathalyzer testing of a random selection of travelers at the airport (between three and 15 percent of passengers) with complimentary insurance coverage. 

For more, visit Frontier

— CJ

The post Frontier Is Adding New Nonstop Flights to Punta Cana appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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In St Barth, a Classic Caribbean Beach Villa

Before St Barth was St Barth, they used to come to this beach and fish, boats out in the morning and simple life on the sand. 

Corossol is another side of St Barth, where the turtles roam the back streets and the only sounds on a weekday afternoon are waves and youthful laughs. 

And even now that St Barth is St Barth, Corossol hasn’t changed; it’s still the essence of the French Caribbean: the colors, the quiet; the cool. 

The beach in Corossol.

And this beachside villa is right at the heart of it: the Habitation Saint Louis. 

You walk through a tiny private pathway just across the beach, navigate your way up a winding, lush garden, nod to the turtles and there it is: a vibrant beach villa that’s a portal to the perfect Caribbean beach vacation. 

caribbean beach st barth villa

As in the best St Barth villas, the days here gravitate toward the indoor-outdoor kitchen, where you can bring back the best from the market and enjoy St Barth’s gastronomy with a brilliant view of the sea. 

caribbean beach st barth villa

Or you can call Marco and arrange for it to all to come to you, thanks to WIMCO’s unmatched concierge service. 

Like the best views, it’s one you can watch, a patron in a natural gallery, gazing as the sea and the fishing boats dance.  

The lush path down to the beach.

And then there’s the pool and wide entertainment deck, the perfect place for endless afternoons and the hour of the ti’ punch. 

caribbean beach st barth villa

This is the real St Barth, an authentic way to experience the timeless charms of this island, where Corossol becomes your own private beach town. 

In St Barth, they call it “L’Art d’etre Une Ile,” the “art of being an island.”

And this is the art of island living. 

For more, visit Habitation Saint Louis

See more in the latest CJ Video.

— CJ

The post In St Barth, a Classic Caribbean Beach Villa appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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In St Thomas, Kayaking Through the Mangroves

“You always have that feeling of joy,” Sybille Sorrentino says, gazing at the wall of green just across the water. “It’s a three-by-two-mile sanctuary.”

We’re at Virgin Islands Eco Tours, set on the southeastern coast of the island of St Thomas, an operation that has been running kayak tours for 25 years. 

And from the moment you turn off Route 32, you feel it, too. 

Paddle a minute or two off the dock and you’ve entered the frontier; you’re no longer in St Thomas — or so it seems. 

This is the Mangrove Lagoon, and it’s one of the most spectacular settings in the Virgin Islands, a breathtaking natural gallery of mangroves and tiny cays abutting the ocean’s edge. 

And what’s wonderful how accessible it is, equally enjoyable for the novice just off Highway 32 and the advanced kayaker. 

And the choices are vast: you can explore the mangroves on your own and then discover the underwater habitat snorkeling; you can take the full journey to nearby Car Cay, where you’ll find volcanic cliffs — and even join a hermit crab race.

“You have that sound of the ocean and the waves, you have tidal pools, you can reach in the water and pick up starfish and octopus,” Sorrentino says. 

Or you can return at night and kayak under the full moon. 

No matter when you go or how you do it, it’s one of the truly great experiences in the USVI — an instant adventure in a rarefied place. 

Sorrentino says the mangroves have never looked better, a renaissance in green just a few years after Irma and Maria’s devastation. 

“It’s growing back so nicely now,” she says. 

st thomas mangroves
The new Bikinis Dockside Bar and Grill.

Of course, there’s an added bonus here, thanks to the recent debut of the St Thomas outpost of St John’s Bikinis on the Beach. 

The STT edition is already one of the island’s best waterfront dining settings, with an excellent menu by Chef Sam Maricchow, whose culinary experience includes stops at Coki Beach and the Ritz-Carlton, St Thomas. 

In other words, there are quite a few ways to find joy here, just off Route 32. 

For more, visit VI Eco Tours

The post In St Thomas, Kayaking Through the Mangroves appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Frontier Launching New Nonstop Flights to St Thomas

As demand continues to grow for the US Virgin Islands, another carrier is expanding its service to the Caribbean destination. 

Frontier Airlines has announced plans to launch a new nonstop route between Miami and St Thomas beginning in March. 

The new service, which will operate on Sundays and Thursdays, is set to begin March 7. 

That’s along with soon-to-debut service on Frontier from Orlando to St Thomas, with twice-weekly service that will begin Feb. 19. 

“We are once again thankful for this partnership with Frontier as the carrier works to meet existing and create new demand for travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands with affordable fares,” said US Virgin Islands Tourism Commissioner Boschulte. 

st thomas flights miami frontier
Magens Bay in St Thomas.

The US Virgin Islands has been open for tourism since September, with a region-leading travel portal that has been an exemplar for safe tourism reopenings in the Caribbean. 

It’s yet another new route for Frontier at Miami International Airport, part of what the airline’s senior vice president of commercial called “exceptional growth at Miami’s convenient airport.”

Indeed, Frontier has been steadily ramping up its Caribbean network out of Miami, including recent expansions to destinations like San Juan and Cancun.

Every traveler aged five and up who enters the US Virgin Islands is required to use the USVI Travel Screening Portal and submit a negative test result taken and received within five days before travel. 

Notably, as a US territory, the USVI is exempt from the new CDC requirement of negative tests for travelers returning home to the United States. 

— CJ

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