We've just booked our cruise for next January and we're letting them book the air because they quoted $1390 for the 3 of us with the current promo(2nd air free). The cheapest flight would cost me $1950 for the 3 of us. (PDX-PTY)
I'm fairly adaptable and we'll pay whatever we need to for luggage. We fly enough that everyone knows what to do. We've done early morning and overnight, budget and upgrade. I've looked at the available flights and I think I know what's likely and it's not dreadful.
Nice to hear everyone else's experiences though. I'm not sure what to expect. The TA did NOT advocate for us to let them book it. She was adamant that we would have to accept whatever as though it could be truly awful and were we really sure we could handle that? Of note, we were able to decline transfers, as they wanted $100/pp each way and it looks like I could tour the entire country of Panama for less in a cab...
