Who Has Shipped Packages to the BVI ?

[weedster]

We are planning a vacation.... aka bareboat in june.

We are trying to plan out some details and are considering shipping some items which we cannot bring on the plane as carry on. Things like suntan lotions and my wifes favorite shampoo.

Today I checked some shipping rates.... OMG!! 25 pounds from california to Road Town.... and it was 275 bucks!!

Does anyone else have a better option? This was a fed Ex rate and a little cheaper than DHL... but what the heck man!!

Anyone?

Louie

AND btw. thanks for all your hospitality. you guys are AWESOME!!!

[John A]

Sounds a bit high to me. What was the length of delivery?

[avb3]

What about the post office? You can also call a freight forwarder, but at 25 pounds, there is not a whole bunch of commission in it for them. What about UPS ground? Fedex ground? Greyhound works well also.

There are lots of choices. I just checked the U.S. postal service, and CA to FL under 70 lbs you can ship for $30.00

[Blue Stocking]

Living in Bermuda, I can tell you its that part of the route over the ocean, outside the continental U.S, that is the killer.
We say that we buy that 727 every day.

[Zanshin]

You can get most things in the BVI so shipping might not be necessary. That having been said, it will be cheaper to get items here as baggage or unaccompanied baggage with your airline than with a delivery company such as FedEx or shipping - remember that you will have to deal with customs and duties if you ship whereas you probably won't need to do that if you take it with you.
You can send item USPS "poste restante" to a post office in St. Thomas and pick them up there (particularly useful if you are flying via St. Thomas), that way you would only need to transport them to the BVI via the ferry.

[Hud3]

FedEx is exorbitant. It costs me over $50 to send a tax return to Atlanta.

We use the USPS several times a year, shipping stuff we can't buy on Nevis to St Croix via Parcel Post, and then having it flown in on Coastal Air Transport. If shipping via USPS to St Thomas, as Zanshin suggests, looks like a good option to you, you can look up the postage costs on the USPS website.

[Kettlewell]

Regular US postal rates apply to shipments to the USVI or Puerto Rico. Send stuff there and sail over to pick up on your boat, or bring it back to the BVI on the ferry. Whoops, just reread your post. If it is just suntan lotion and shampoo I would just buy the stuff you need down there. It's a vacation--you don't want everything to be just like home, do you?

[td1]

You can buy whatever you need there- maybe not the same brands as at home, but it's a pretty developed place. I wouldn't hassle with shipping stuff and trying to track it down at the start of a vacation in a foreign country, but maybe that shampoo is worth it....

[Zanshin]

I'm in the BVI right now and about to head to the store - which shampoo is it? Something truly exotic won't be found here, but the selection is quite good. I would think that the suntan lotion selection and freshness is better here due to turnover than in the USA.

[SharAndy]

I charted down there 4 times for 10 days each (which led us to purchase our own boat which we now live aboard & headed to BVI as we speak). You are on a BOAT - keep it simple. As one who lives to eat and not eat to live - I provisioned each time in BVI for our group of 7 once I arrived. I did, however, think about what I would be serving and packed lots of spices, etc. that I premixed at home & placed into little zip lock bags marked with what was in the bag & for what receipe. Why pack an entire spice jar when 1 teas. does the trick?! Put those big bottles of shampoo, etc. into little bottles or zip locks and RELAX to have some fun. No WAY you need to ship stuff!! Even my prima donna friend who packed an ENTIRE SUITCASE FULL OF SHOES never wore the stuff!

[s/v Breakaway]

I have a boat in Tortola and ship or take stuff down all of the time. The absolute simplist is to take checked luggage on your airplane. Anything else gets complicated and much more expensive.

[Reality Check]

Do not bring too much "stuff" It will be in the way and you can get everything you need, possibly not the exact BRANDS BUT SOMETHING JUST AS PRACTICAL.

A couple should have no more than a single dufflebag if "stuff"... that is ONE forf both not one each.

Try not look to be an Obvious First timer by having lots of bags to haul around.

[Hud3]

Figure out what clothes you want to bring. Eliminate half of them. You will still have twice too many, so half them again. That'll free up some room for special items you want to bring along.

[sailingaway221]

I ship stuff from the US to St. Martin all the time using Four Star CArgo..... They have an address in Miami.. you ship it there and they get it where you want either affordably fast by air or in my opinion very cheap by sea...... I am not 100% sure if they go to BVI, but fairly confident they do.

info@4-star.com

No affiliation with them... they just do a great job shipping stuff for me.

[HopCar]

My company ships stuff all over the world. I like to use Priority Mail International to countries with good postal systems. I just shipped a 4 pound seacock to Greece. The postage was about $37. I like the idea of mailing the stuff to the USVI and picking it up there. That would be real cheap as it wouldn't cross an international border. The problem is that the post office doesn't want you to mail liquids.