Securing an Affordable Crop Over Package!

Every year around the beginning of March my inbox is flooded with queries from potential revelers. Quite often, it’s the first time that they are attending the Crop Over festival and the process of planning is uncertain and filled with worry. Relax, with a little bit of planning your trip to Barbados and the Crop Over Festival will be exciting, hassle free and most importantly affordable. I recommend that you break your trip down into the following areas: Airfare & Accommodation, Costume/Band and Entertainment/Hospitality to insure that you tackle each phase in a reasonable time frame and you are able to easily assess the cost of each.

Airfare & Accommodation

Three to six months before your travel is the ideal time to secure airfare and accommodation, especially if you’re staying at a hotel or guest house, while friends and family can always find somewhere for you to crash, hotels especially those in the most convenient and accessible locations will quickly sell out. With airfare, early booking can give you access to a discounted rate, the earlier you book your airfare the more likely you are to get a lower fare class, the more seats on the plane that are sold the higher the fare class will be. Airfare and accommodation are good services to seek from a package provider; the provider will receive discounts that are unavailable to individuals.

AIM: Book Airfare and Accommodation 6 months in advance

Costume/Band

For many the Kadooment Day celebrations and especially the jump-up to spring Garden are the highlight of their Crop Over trip. Identifying the Costume band that you are interested in jumping with is important, some of the more popular bands have limited availability and are in high demand. To improve your chances of securing the costume you desire it’s best to plan in advance, look through the previous bands and identify those which most appeal to you. The most popular bands will give priority to their regular customers, so be prepared to complete their registration process as soon as it launches. In cases where the registration cannot be completed online, you should identify a surrogate (friend or even a business) who can act on your behalf.

AIM: Research Costumes early, identify the band you prefer and pinpoint the launch date. Be sure to register on the launch date. 3-4 months in advance

Entertainment/Hospitality

Determining the best parties to attend and other activities while on the ground is often the simplest of the three areas. With the exception of parties which are a set number of days before Grand Kadooment (Grand Kadooment is the 1st Monday in April, with some parties traditionally on the Fri, Sat, Sun. before), the dates and cost of parties of many parties are not known until a month before the event. Take advantage of the late announcement to find exactly the parties you want to attend, don’t fall into the trap of attending parties with just the people you know from home, look for parties where you can see your favourite performers live and where you can meet new and interesting people.

AIM: For average parties don’t stress tickets, for popular parties 2 weeks advance purchase online

Don’t forget, the purpose of any Crop Over Trip is to have fun and to enjoy the experience of unique summer festival.