Monthly Archives: May 2020

Southwest Airlines Is Planning a Caribbean Relaunch

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Southwest Airlines is planning to relaunch a number of routes as the Caribbean begins opening up once again for tourism, the carrier said. 

While the launches are dependent on each individual destination’s reopening plans, Southwest Airlines said it would be resuming service to destinations in both Mexico and the Caribbean. 

For now, Southwest plans to resume service to Havana, Cuba; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Nassau, The Bahamas beginning July 1. 

It should be noted that those Caribbean destinations have not yet officially announced when they will be reopening their borders.

In Mexico, Southwest also plans to resume service to Cancun, along with flights to San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos. 

“Southwest continues to monitor conditions in 14 international destinations on the carrier’s network map and update operational plans,” the company said in a statement.

The flights are available for purchase on the company’s Web site, Southwest said in a statement. 

It will not be a complete relaunch however — routes will be limited, however, according to an analysis by Caribbean Journal.

For example, Southwest will be operating flights from Baltimore-Washington to Montego Bay, and Nassau — not from its growing Caribbean-focused hub in Fort Lauderdale. 

Havana flights will be operated out of Tampa, Fla.

The move comes as other carriers have begun to resume service to the Caribbean, most notably Delta Air Lines, which is set to resume a wave of routes to the Caribbean in June. 

So far, the only Caribbean destinations that officially plan to reopen are the United States Virgin Islands, which is planning to open June 1; Saint Lucia, which has announced a June 4 reopening; and Aruba, which has announced plans to reopen sometime in the second half of June.

For more, visit Southwest. 

— CJ

The post Southwest Airlines Is Planning a Caribbean Relaunch appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Guyana Considers “Phased Reopening” of Airports

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Guyana has drafted a four-stage blueprint for the reopening of the country’s airports. 

The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority has submitted the plan for review with the country’s National COVID-19 Task Force. 

Guyana’s airports have been closed since the early stages of the pandemic. 

The first phase is the planning stage, followed by the resumption of regional travel. 

“Our third phase is really now expanding [the reopening] some more- taking in foreign nationals and this phase runs right through like between August and December,” said Lt. Col. Egbert Fieldm Director General of the GCAA. 

The fourth phase would see an extension of the airports’ reopening into 2021, with what officials called a “possible resumption to normalcy in the aviation sector.”

— CJ

The post Guyana Considers “Phased Reopening” of Airports appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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The Caribbean’s Coolest Tiki Bar Is In St Croix

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The Fog Cutter. The Hurricane. The Chief Lapu Lapu. The Mai Tai. 

These are some of the drinks that have defined the world of “tiki,” the colorful, cheerful, retro culture that for almost 100 years has paid tribute to a romantic notion of Polynesia. 

But what these drinks all have in common is something from a world away: rum. 

For years, the worlds of Caribbean rum and tiki have been connected; the fruit of the sugarcane fields of the West Indies was always the perfect fuel for the “exotic” drinks that first began with Don the Beachcomber. 

And tiki is in the midst of a resurgence, as craft cocktail culture and appreciation for fine rums have reemerged — often finding a meeting point in newly-launched tiki outposts. 

st croix caribbean tiki bar

So it’s only natural, then, that a high-level tiki bar should have found its way to the Caribbean. 

Enter Breakers Roar, the newest watering hole in St Croix, which began life last October on the corner of the boardwalk in Christiansted and now, happily, is open again as the USVI reopens. 

Breakers Roar, set in the ground floor of the King Christian Hotel (which is itself in the process of being transformed by a California-based group), is a beautiful, woody homage both to the old maritime age of the Caribbean and the mystery and wonder of tiki culture. 

It’s no surprise that there’s a long list of artisanal cocktails, joined by a rum list that is among the best in the US Virgin Islands. 

There’s a nice selection of local Cruzans, standouts from companies like Saint Lucia Distillers and Mount Gay and a portfolio of rums from the increasingly popular Plantation, among others. 

Of course, the pandemic has changed things, and that means a slightly different, but equally authentic tiki experience right at the water’s edge. 

“We’re so happy to be open,” Breakers Roar General Manager Patrick Johnson told Caribbean Journal. “We want to provide the community with a bit of normalcy and pleasantness. But we of course fully understand and support the health and safety precautions put in place by the CDC to provide a safe, relaxing environment.”

st croix caribbean tiki bar
The menu, which unfurls like a kind of ancient rum scroll, is the essence of tiki, with a Caribbean accent.

So Breaker’s Roar is indeed open again, for both outdoor and indoor (socially-distanced, of course) drinks and dinner (along with takeout and curbside drive-through).

It’s the latter that is just as big a draw, though, thanks to the culinary talents of St Croix’s buzziest chef — Digby Stridiron, whose creative Asian-Caribbean fusion menu ranges from kimchi queso and chips to jerk shrimp eggrolls and pupu platters.

Stridiron, who has been working with My Brothers Workshop, along with World Central Kitchen, to help feed needy Virgin Islanders in the last few months, said he and his team had been working hard with local farmers and purveyors “to not only make delicious drinks and food but to ensure everyone’s safety.”

st croix caribbean tiki bar
Jerk shrimp egg rolls.

“I expect there to be more changes as the months pass but it will be a growing experience with our community,” he said.

For now, Breaker’s Roar is what tiki has always sought to be: lively, escapist, romantic; the sort of cheeky, breezy fun that’s a recipe for what we all need right now. 

Of course, there’s one cocktail on the list that no tiki bar based in the US Virgin Islands could be without. 

It’s Don Q Crystal Rum, all-spice dram, green chartreuse, pineapple juice, coconut, fresh lime juice and basil.

And you might recognize its name: the Moko Jumbie. 

For more, visit Breaker’s Roar. 

— CJ

The post The Caribbean’s Coolest Tiki Bar Is In St Croix appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Barbados Launches Task Force on Tourism Recovery

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Barbados Tourism Minister Kerrie Symmonds has launched the new Barbados Recovery Tourism Task Force. 

The unit is responsible for managing the island’s tourism sector during the pandemic and its aftermath and “mapping its transformation.”

The unit is being chaired by Dr Kerry Hall, the director of tourism development in Barbados’ Ministry of Tourism, joined by deputy chairman, hotelier Peter Odle. 

Symmonds said the task force had two mandates. 

“One, the management of the COVID-19 crisis, and the second is the transformation of the tourism sector and the tourism industry in Barbados,” he said in a government release. “ In that regard, we feel that we have done an adequate amount of service to the opportunity that now presents itself during this downtime.”

The task force’s work will cover a range of areas, from building out health and safety protocols to developing a “coping mechanism” for those in the sector who have been “emotionally and financially impacted.”

As for the island’s potential reopening for tourism, Symmonds said the first consideration would be ensuring the safety and security of the island’s workforce. 

“Thereafter, we are better able to deal with our visitors and to manage in a structured and phased way the reopening and the re-welcoming of visitors to the island, but until when we get the workforce properly looked after and have a set of safety, health and hygiene protocols in place, that are giving us a degree of certainty, then we cannot get to where we want to get,” he said. 

— CJ

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