Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays will open a new departure ‘lounge’ next year in Barbados. It’s a departure beach that includes check-in and baggage dropoff.

If your cruise terminates in Barbados or you have to check out of your hotel at noon but Virgin Atlantic’s London flight leaves at 5 or 6 this gives you a place that’s not the airport to spend your last few hours of holiday.

Credit: Virgin Holidays

They’ll pick you up and bring you to the lounge, and after check-in and baggage drop and spending the afternoon in the lounge they’ll transfer you to the airport.

There are showers and changing rooms, they’ll give you plastic bags for your swimsuits after spending time on their beach, and you get a full lunch buffet and complimentary non-alcoholic beverages (pay for cocktails).

Credit: Virgin Holidays

Departure Beach also has an air conditioned lounge with a kids play area including games, wifi, and televisions.

If you’re staying at Savannah Beach in Barbados then you get complimentary access. Virgin Holidays cruise customers terminating in Barbados do too. Otherwise Virgin Holidays customers flying Virgin Atlantic back to London can pay-in.

Unfortunately the lounge isn’t open to business class passengers or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Gold members. However since it’s next year before it’s open we’ll have to wait to see what access policies look like in practice, for instance it would be a neat workaround if you could gain access as a Virgin Holidays customer just renting a car.