CantanaLobo

My understanding for the high price of one-ways is not to soak cruisers, but to soak business people. You know, the folks with companies that will pay whatever it takes to cross the ocean, and who don't really know when they'll be able to return. The leisure market, the ones likely to buy a round trip, can't afford expensive fares. The airline pricing makes sense to me. TA cruisers are just "collateral damage". And in the grand scheme of things, there really isn't a lot of market for leisure travelers that need one-ways. Why would the airlines erode their pricing chasing that segment? It gets addressed with cruise air splitting the R/T, and the ticket is tied to a cruise - cancel the cruise, the air ticket goes poof. No risk of those getting brought by a business.

My $0.02: If it's a choice between Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm - Glacier Bay. If it's a choice of Tracy Arm or not going - Tracy Arm. In addition to the cruise thinfool mentioned, there's a Golden Princess Tracy Arm, Thu, Aug 20, 2015 with balconies for 1699 PP, and a mini for 2199. Both Aug 10 and Aug 20 cruises have $100 OBC. If a mini is more important than Glacier Bay or you want a cheaper balcony, you could look at Aug 20.

 

Celebrity has a SF R/T leaving May 15. Tracy Arm Itn, Verandah for $1386 California resident rate, but its a gty. ("At least one guest in the stateroom must be a resident of the promotion-eligible State"). I don't know if that's too soon for you or if you're comfortable with a gty. You can pick a room for a little more ($38 PP).

"Worthwhile" means different things to different people. Some know they'll drink enough to make the break-even point. Some like the convenience of being more all-inclusive. If you think it's a good use of your money, go for it.

 

For us, we don't drink much, and find the Unlimited Soda & More the optimal value on Princess. There is no right answer for everyone.

Another thought if your mother has difficulty flying might be Amtrak to Seattle. I've no idea that would be cheaper than the 10-day.

I'm guessing this is a Princess 10-day R/T from San Francisco and an outside cabin? And the 10 day is more expensive per day than the 5 day? And disabled mother in San Francisco, and you in Scottsdale, Arizona?

 

Ultimately, the cruise line charges as much as they think they can get the cabin for. Not many cruise lines do Alaska from San Francisco - most leave from Seattle or Vancouver/Anchorage. Additionally, the number of cruise ships allowed into Glacier Bay is restricted, and Princess gets a lot of the permits.

 

If you are unable to fly to Seattle or Vancouver/Anchorage, you're going to have to pay what cruises leaving from San Francisco are charging. You might try and keep an eye on the Princess Drop & Go deals, but if you need to fly from Scottsdale, the last-minute airfare might eat up any savings.

You've been given some not so accurate information in regard to fees to change award reservations. They vary due to the dates of your changes, airlines you are flying, your status, and class of service.

 

There is no option online to hold award tickets for 24 hours. You probably couldn't even get a phone agent to do this. You will never, ever find business class tickets on Singapore using UA miles; in fact rarely will you be able to even get economy seats.

 

You did fine. I have an award ticket booked for a TATL this summer flying out and returning to IAD. Had to get a separate ticket to/from Dulles because of the routing I wanted; but that's the way it works sometimes.

 

Be very careful if you find award availability eventually for your domestic routing. It can't just be added to your existing reservation. Your entire trip would have to be cancelled, and while you were in the process of doing this, your business class seats could be grabbed by someone else. A good agent sometimes can prevent this from happening, but if you have little to no status, odds of getting an agent who can do this are low.

I perhaps over-simplified this

 

With re SQ, dang. I was hoping to maybe get J/F - good reviews for that product.

 

I was thinking of getting tickets DEN-LAX or DEN-SFO for the day before and overnighting if needed. Same on the way back. I'd want to minimize the risk missing a flight with two PNRs. Gonna try for award all the way, but trying to develop plans "b", "c", and "d". Boy this is a lot of work for something "free". I keep looking at the price of an F ticket and telling myself its worth it.

 

Good to know a change is a cancel+rebook. Ugh. Being a kettle, I'm not going to try that. I've been reading way too much about what 1Ks and GS do with their awards - I figured I don't mind paying to do the same thing. I've used a regular CSR (as opposed to the 1K line) to make a simple change to a paid domestic ticket. No way would I risk them doing a cancel+rebook on an international itinerary with partners and get all the pieces back together.

 

I didn't mean to make OP feel stupid. We're all know some things and are ignorant of others. I tried to convey what I'd learned, and 6rugrats added more. Now I'm less ignorant thanks to 6rugrats.

Not a UA expert, but learning as much as I can about UA for a trip to Australia. Some stuff I've learned may help. The fee to change date/route is $75 per ticket for non-elite. $100 for a change to arrival or destination. If an award for YYZ-CLE shows up and you don't mind spending the $100 per ticket, you should be able to get it changed to add the segment.

 

Use the Advanced Search and change the "Number of Flights to Display" to 50 the get more possibilities. It has a habit of reverting back to "Default" so keep an eye on it.

 

The United web site will not show Singapore Airlines partner awards - you need to call to book award itineraries involving SQ.

 

Use the multiple destinations function to build an itinerary segment by segment. Find availability on the TPAC first, then work on adding the domestic segments. Don't just try to go straight from Australia to the US. For example look at SYD-ICN-LAX-CLE. You're allowed four segments, and 24-hour connections on an international award.

 

The United web page may error-out when trying to 'price' (in miles) the award you've constructed. You will need to call it in. Tell them the web page would not book the itinerary, they may waive the phone fee. The web may try charge you more than what it is supposed to - you need to call in. Go here to see the United award charts.

 

If your don't like the answer you get from the CSR, hang up, call again.

 

HTH, and good luck.

I'd suggest you search the Cruise Air forum for an answer. It's been asked a few times. For Example

... Then, I contacted our TA. She said to fill out a form they have online. ...

I don't recall an online form when I booked with Princess - I just called in about the price drop. I'd ask the TA if it's a TA form. The "possibly forfeit" sounds like typical weasel to cover any eventuality from any cruise line they might deal with.

 

BTW, for Princess, if you do not want Princess to upgrade you to a "better" cabin, you need to make sure your TA marks your reservation "Do Not Upgrade". Otherwise the upgrade fairy computer will think you will be pleased as punch with an upgrade to one of those dolphin mini-suites. One (and only) time Princess upgraded us from a mini to a full suite. I didn't get any notification. I just happened to notice the cabin number changed online. The TA might have gotten notification and never mentioned it - we were so busy doing the happy dance I never asked. But if I'd wanted to get our old cabin back, it might have been sold by the time I noticed.

 

TA vs direct with cruise line is the subject of a number of threads. There are pluses and minuses for either. One thing is that some TAs charge for changes/cancellations. Those fees by a TA should be determined before booking in order to avoid unpleasant surprises later.

The *best* way would be a servant to carry it around on a silk pillow for you while you are carried around in a sedan chair :).

 

Absent that, I just stick mine in my pants pocket on the ship, and put it in my wallet off-ship.

HAL says " In order to complement your fellow guests, Holland America Line asks that you observe the suggested dress code throughout the entire evening." This does not add clarity - too many weasel words ("asks", "suggested") for me. Interpret it as you wish. The dress code lawyers should be making arguments and counter-arguments about what it really means shortly.

The odds of running in to an issue where your flight is cancelled because of air traffic control issues are pretty small. I wouldn't base a trip off of this concern.

I didn't mean to give the impression that flying RJ should be a major consideration. A lot of other things are more important to me - E.G. non-stop/travel time/departure time/arrival time/connection time. Somewhere after those factors I'll, avoid an RJ for the stated reason.

Are any of the flights on regional jets? I think PIT-ORD is. If there's bad weather, and the FAA institutes flow control, the express jets are the ones the airlines tend to cancel. If two option were about equal otherwise, I'd give nod to an all mainline itinerary. Just something else to consider.

 

My own preference is toward longer connection rather than shorter. I'm a worrywart and would rather wait reading a book than wonder if I'm going to make it. Other people hate waiting. Only you know yourself.

If you do not have a 13-digit ticket number, starting with 014, you do not have a ticket on Air Canada. You may have a reservation, but that is not a ticket.

 

You will likely get to the port on time. And it will probably be on the flights you were told. But not guaranteed. Without even reading the contract, I know there will be weasel words letting them use any flights that are convenient for them.

The de-hubbing of CLE by United is not helping if you want non-stops.

 

AA has a flight that gets into MIA at 8:51 AM on Jul 3, and one that departs MIA at 8:00 PM Jul 8. What dates are you looking at?

... Is there any real big difference between the lines, or should we just pick from those that offer our desired route?

 

IMHO, the mainstream lines are more alike than different, so pick by itinerary. Princess and HAL have a significant presence in Alaska, I'd give them more weight if you're doing a cruisetour. Since you're not doing that, it doesn't matter. It doesn't look like either have their 2016 Alaska schedules out yet though, so you may want to wait a bit. It looks like Carnival, NCL, and Celebrity have their schedules out.

 

You'd need to check if the specific ship you're interested in has a covered pool or not. I know some Princess ships do, some don't, so there's no general rule.

 

If you want to disembark the ship in Seward, you will have to board in Vancouver. The Seattle departures can only do round-trips. Pesky PVSA law. Technically, you could do a round-trip from Seward, probably not what you're looking for.

... I normally book "Early Saver" on Carnival so I can take advantage of price drops and get the best price possible. Does HAL offer something similar? ...

HAL has nothing like Carnival Early Saver. As other have said, you can get price drops before final. After final you might get some OBC. A note on price drops: If you booked and received a perk (e.g. drinks package) as part of the price, and the rate no longer includes the perk, then if you want to take advantage of the price drop, you will lose the perk.

Another non-beachy could include a Transatlantic crossing. I've never been to Southampton, so that would be new to me.

 

I second (or third) talking to a travel agent.

 

(If I lived near NYC or Boston, a Bermuda cruise would be something I'd look at.)

For us, it just happened automatically IIRC. In "My Account", it says "Welcome CantanaLobo" with the little 1-star Mariner logo between "Welcome" and "CantanaLobo". When we booked, my number showed up in the reservation automatically, but I had to have it look up my DWs number.

...I wonder if it may be because they purchased the cabins from Carnival to sell on their own? ...

 

Yes, likely a group booking.

 

There's nothing inherently wrong with you paying the TA, and the TA then paying the cruise line. It's just riskier. How much the risk is and whether that risk is worth the savings only you can decide for yourself.

It was NOT THEFT! :(It was incompetence!

 

I find that funny. I have a vision of a new ad campaign: "We're not thieves, we're just incompetent." Or maybe "Signature of Incompetence". :)

 

A pity the service recovery was lacking for the $10,000 in charges. From reading here on CC, it seems that lack is not unusual on most of the mainstream cruise lines.

 

As to some of the other issues:

 

What a cruise line considers an "upgrade" is not necessarily an upgrade to passengers. If you book a gty, or fail to mark "No upgrade", you're playing cabin roulette.

 

For the Lido hours, we try to find out the hours the various venues are open before we go. For some cruise lines it's harder to find official hours than for others. But that's one of the things CC is useful for.

 

We've been on ships with smells in certain ares. Not pleasant, but it happens. About all you can do is to avoid the area.

 

We're going on our first HAL cruise, and are aware of the alleged demographic. We'll enjoy even if it is "DEAD". But that's on us to make it enjoyable.

... Odd thing was that the deposit was charged by the cruise company, but final payment showed the payee as the travel agent. Not sure why nor does it really matter I suppose.

 

That means the TA charged the card and then paid the cruise line, possibly by agency check. Only a problem if the TA goes bankrupt/skips town/whatever between charging and paying. It's safer if the cruise line is always doing the charging. That way you know the cruise line actually has the money.

A single data point - on the times we've used a TA, he's sent us an updated invoice every time we've made a payment. He just forwards the customer copy from the cruise line. Not exactly difficult.

Well, on Delta's website, once I log in it automatically shows my reservations. Same way Celebrity's site does. In this case when I log in American tells me I have no reservations.

With United, if I book outside their website, I need to explicitly add it to my MP account before the poor little thing remembers the reservation.

 

Maybe something similar for AA?

For a Hilton property (e.g. Embassy Suites), sign up for HHonors and then use the Hilton MVP site. AAA rate for us at the ES was $160. MVP rate was $135.