Great deals on cruises but the airfare is too much!

[Ocean Spirit]

There are wonderful deals to be had cruising but the airfare is so much it keeps us from going. It would cost me more to fly down to Miami, than to sail for 7 days! Something is wrong here.:eek:

Being from the Memphis area, they rarely run a really good rate like they do out of MSP etc. If there is a good fare the return flight leaves at 6am which we all know can't be made when returning on a cruise.

We have resorted to going out to New Orleans which only has Carnival and NCL.

[jessemon]

You make it sound like cruising on Carnival or NCL is a bad thing.....What line were you looking to cruise on out of Miami.......Or is it you don't much care for the itinerary out of NOLA ????

[Megnolia]

welcome to the club :(

 

Although I'm excited to be sailing out of Baltimore next time - only 9 hours away!

 

It's frustrating to see all those great cruise deals pass by.

[halos]

I totally understand your feelings. I have the same problem flying out of ME....very expensive.

On top of pricey flights to the southeast ports or CA, My DH is telling me he is 'Carribbean-ed'-out....but when I look into flights for Hawaiian, or Mediterannean cruises, that's even worse. :eek:

 

 

You make it sound like cruising on Carnival or NCL is a bad thing.....What line were you looking to cruise on out of Miami.......Or is it you don't much care for the itinerary out of NOLA ????

 

I would think that after a couple cruises with the same ship/itinerary out of the same port, you'd get a little bored.

[wentworth]

:eek:

I totally understand your feelings. I have the same problem flying out of ME....very expensive.

On top of pricey flights to the southeast ports or CA, My DH is telling me he is 'Carribbean-ed'-out....but when I look into flights for Hawaiian, or Mediterannean cruises, that's even worse. :eek:

 

 

 

 

I would think that after a couple cruises with the same ship/itinerary out of the same port, you'd get a little bored.

 

 

 

Your right halos. No cheap flights here in NE especially for flying in

Feb or March. Although we have choices of Manchester, Boston,

Burlington Vt or Providence there are never deals when we need

them.

 

Your husband feels the same as mine. I sure wish there were more

options in the Carribbean. Although we love the ship, its the ports

for us. Have not been able to do a west coast cruise because of

the airfare and the time off we would need. DH can only get one

week at a time. Did talk him into doing the Valor in FEbruary tho.

Although weve done this itinerary before, we have not done the

Valor and do prefer the western ports. Anything to get out of the

NE SNOW:eek:

[gusandgidgetsmom]

I looked into surrounding airports and found many price variances. I am driving to Cincinnati to get good rate--2 hrs away saving 200.00pp (5 of us) worth the small drive. I looked on bing.com to find the rates and it was very helpful. We had to go for a business conference in Orlando and rates were 385.-400. and we found rates out of a very small airport on allegiance air for 120.00pp. Flight was good--My daughter was afraid it would be lacking crew and bathrooms (lol) but same flight as we normally take.Good rates can be found but it does take some digging.

[Mrs.C05]

I was going to say, if flying is so pricey, then how about driving? I'd imagine that's what your doing since it's only a 5 hour drive. Or if you wanted a different itinerary, you *COULD* drive to Charleston, or even Jacksonville.

[emelvee]

Cost of airfare is a major factor in our cruising decision. We've flown twice (from Oregon to Houston for a cruise out of Galveston, and North Carolina to Puerto Rico for a cruise out of San Juan) and will have driven three times as of next month (from NC to Charleston; Norfolk; Baltimore).

 

I guess when we've exhausted most of our Caribbean destinations, we'll just have to move back to the west coast. :D

[uppitycats]

yes, the plane fares can be a real deal-breaker! I'm envious of those folks who live within reasonable driving distance of a port, and who can take advantage of those really low last-minute cruise fares! :o

[Minoushka]

Trust me Americans get much better deals then we do in Canada .Even with a seat sale my airfare is sky high ...no pun .

Our taxes are WAY over the top around 200$ more than the actual fare I cannot find anything under 900$ to Miami for MARCH ...that is outrageous!!

That is why I take JETBLUE out of Burlington but it is a little complicated ....2 hours away on country roads ...not fun in winter Lately their prices are also very high

 

It is true some cruises are cheaper than flights

Too bad cruise companies cannot charter whole flights and make it cheaper

[Joyce From Yardley]

welcome to the club :(

 

Although I'm excited to be sailing out of Baltimore next time - only 9 hours away!

 

It's frustrating to see all those great cruise deals pass by.

 

 

Hi,

 

Since we wanted to skip flying, between the cost & hassle we choose driving to Balt to sail on the Pride. For us it's about a 3 hr drive. The itinerary isn't GREAT but the price we paid was. It would cost more to stay home. We haven't been to these ports in many years.

 

We sailed out of Baltimore on RCCL Grandeur of the Seas. ( for repo cruises ) & it's a great port to be coming or going from.

 

We could drive to Bayonne, N.J. or to NYC but the cost to cruise from there was expensive compared to sailing from Balt. It was cheaper to fly to Fla. than drive & park in NY. We did leave once from Phila. but there aren't many cruises leaving from there these days.

 

Happy Sailings.

 

Joyce & Of Course Harvey

[*Mach*]

There are wonderful deals to be had cruising but the airfare is so much it keeps us from going. It would cost me more to fly down to Miami, than to sail for 7 days! Something is wrong here.:eek:

Being from the Memphis area, they rarely run a really good rate like they do out of MSP etc. If there is a good fare the return flight leaves at 6am which we all know can't be made when returning on a cruise.

We have resorted to going out to New Orleans which only has Carnival and NCL.

 

 

Yeah... that's certainly the case... That's why Carnival moved the fleet back home... folks couldn't afford to fly AND cruise...

They made every effort to get ships as accessible as possible but access means ports...

It's been great for those of us who live in coastal states but still not much help for those of you in the heartland...

:(

[MEOWSMURPHY]

I'm with you on the airfare...what I've taken to doing is looking for a cruise rate and then seeing what airfare will be...then I add the two together...sometimes I pay more for the cruise to get a good airfare, but when averaged out..I still pay less overall...one thing that hampers me is I have to "schedule" my vacation in advance..like I'm now scheduling for next year...hard to do and still get a decent rate...I'm lucky this year...had some time left....found an awesome deal out of San Diego and to top it off got airfare for $177 RT from Columbus...unheard of rate..I just happened to luck out the day I found it because those same flights I have booked are now $297..yeah me...for once...:D

[nbsjcruiser]

There are wonderful deals to be had cruising but the airfare is so much it keeps us from going. It would cost me more to fly down to Miami, than to sail for 7 days! Something is wrong here.:eek:.

 

Walk a mile in our shoes. We live in Canada and the quoted price for 3 of us to fly to Miami from Saint John NB was $3600. Our cruise price for a balcony on Valor is $1700. How's that sound for being upside down? What we've done in the last 2 years (and next year too) is drive to Portland Maine (5 hrs away) and flew for around $300 per person.

 

Good old Air Canada.

[KULPN]

I so understand...even tho we live in Fl now & can cruise cheaply, it is costing us a bloody fortune to go home (New England) to visit family for Christmas.........GRRRRRR!

[grandmato4]

The cost of the cruise fare is only one piece of the cost of taking a cruise vacation. Transportation to the port is simiply another piece of that cost. For those that live close to port cities transportation is a much smaller piece of the entire cost than for those of us that live further away but that's just the way it is.

[jsglow]

We too consider the whole package and are lucky to have Southwest here in Chicago including many cost effective non-stops to Florida. Because of that, we'd probably never consider a BALT cruise to Nassau. (Once you get on a plane, fly south as far as you can!)

 

This does mean that we have to plan carefully. We're doing Thanksgiving again this year. I purchased one-ways back home after the trip on AA when we got them for $100 figuring we'd use 'em somehow. Later we booked the Freedom after considering the 4-5 Carnival options available in FLL or MIA. Only later did we book SWA one-ways down to Ft. Lauderdale prior to the cruise. In fact our first cruise on Destiny out of P.R. was a "Plan B" after an originally scheduled Valor cruise got CRAZY expensive because of airfare. :eek: It was actually cheaper to fly to San Juan. That was before the days of ES so we just switched ships! ;)

 

One significant challenge is the timing of Eary Saver cruise fares relative to when SWA opens up their schedule. As an example, SWA opens up Spring Break in mid -October cutting Early Savers really close (5 months.)

[halos]

:eek:

 

 

 

Your right halos. No cheap flights here in NE especially for flying in

Feb or March. Although we have choices of Manchester, Boston,

Burlington Vt or Providence there are never deals when we need

them.

 

Your husband feels the same as mine. I sure wish there were more

options in the Carribbean. Although we love the ship, its the ports

for us. Have not been able to do a west coast cruise because of

the airfare and the time off we would need. DH can only get one

week at a time. Did talk him into doing the Valor in FEbruary tho.

Although weve done this itinerary before, we have not done the

Valor and do prefer the western ports. Anything to get out of the

NE SNOW:eek:

 

We're doing the Triumph out of NOLA in Feb. I'd also like to book something for April. Having 2 cruises helps get us through a long winter.

 

Walk a mile in our shoes. We live in Canada and the quoted price for 3 of us to fly to Miami from Saint John NB was $3600. Our cruise price for a balcony on Valor is $1700. How's that sound for being upside down? What we've done in the last 2 years (and next year too) is drive to Portland Maine (5 hrs away) and flew for around $300 per person.

 

Good old Air Canada.

 

Trust me Americans get much better deals then we do in Canada .Even with a seat sale my airfare is sky high ...no pun .

Our taxes are WAY over the top around 200$ more than the actual fare I cannot find anything under 900$ to Miami for MARCH ...that is outrageous!!

That is why I take JETBLUE out of Burlington but it is a little complicated ....2 hours away on country roads ...not fun in winter Lately their prices are also very high

 

It is true some cruises are cheaper than flights

Too bad cruise companies cannot charter whole flights and make it cheaper

 

:eek: Yes, I guess we shouldn't complain!!!!

[G'ma]

There are wonderful deals to be had cruising but the airfare is so much it keeps us from going. It would cost me more to fly down to Miami, than to sail for 7 days! Something is wrong here.:eek:

Being from the Memphis area, they rarely run a really good rate like they do out of MSP etc. If there is a good fare the return flight leaves at 6am which we all know can't be made when returning on a cruise.

We have resorted to going out to New Orleans which only has Carnival and NCL.

 

How about flying into Ft. Lauderdale....sometimes the fare are much cheaper than Miami. It's only about 25-30 miles away and there's plenty of transportation companies that operate to the port of Miami.

 

Also, try another airport like Nashville. Southwest flies between Nashville and Ft. Lauderdale and they are usually pretty reasonably priced.

 

I live in the Philly area so am familiar with your situation...for sure.... There are cruises that leave from NY and Baltimore, comfortable driving distances from where I live...but, pricewise, it doesn't work.

 

Good Luck.

[Nunu]

There are plenty of cheap fares out there, you need to track them with daily emails starting at least 6 months out.

[manmtnmike]

How about flying into Ft. Lauderdale....sometimes the fare are much cheaper than Miami. It's only about 25-30 miles away and there's plenty of transportation companies that operate to the port of Miami.

 

Also' date=' try another airport like Nashville. Southwest flies between Nashville and Ft. Lauderdale and they are usually pretty reasonably priced.

 

I live in the Philly area so am familiar with your situation...for sure.... There are cruises that leave from NY and Baltimore, comfortable driving distances from where I live...but, pricewise, it doesn't work.

 

Good Luck.[/quote']

 

I agree totally...for our upcoming Miami cruise, we saved big by flying into FLL and will do SAS transport to Port of Miami, or Miami Hotel the day before for $15pp.

 

The only question is where to stay for the pre cruise hotel.

 

Mike

[Maraprince]

Trust me Americans get much better deals then we do in Canada .Even with a seat sale my airfare is sky high ...no pun .

Our taxes are WAY over the top around 200$ more than the actual fare I cannot find anything under 900$ to Miami for MARCH ...that is outrageous!!

That is why I take JETBLUE out of Burlington but it is a little complicated ....2 hours away on country roads ...not fun in winter Lately their prices are also very high

 

It is true some cruises are cheaper than flights

Too bad cruise companies cannot charter whole flights and make it cheaper

 

 

We met some Canadians on our 2 EOS (RCL) sailings last year who rented a car and drove down to Bayonne because is was cheaper than flying, coming in a day ahead and paying for a hotel and still needing transportation to the pier. One of the sailings was going up to Canada and the NE and the other was going down to the Caribbean.

 

Airfares and pre cruise hotel expense and meals can be more the double the price of the sailing itself. If you take the cruise lines' air arrangements, either you are dealing with higher fares than you can get on your own or non direct flights with very little time to make the connecting flight if the first is late! No one wants to start off a cruise with "missing" or delayed luggage due to the airlines.

 

MARAPRINCE

[arpie05]

I just got an email from Air Tran - did you try them? $99 each way to Miami. (This is now why I cruise based on flights on Alligiant - cost!!!)

 

Memphis is a lot easier to fly from than other places. We are 5 hours from there and we drive thru Memphis to get to most ports but Galveston and California.

[tea4ular]

There are wonderful deals to be had cruising but the airfare is so much it keeps us from going. It would cost me more to fly down to Miami, than to sail for 7 days! Something is wrong here.:eek:

 

I fully agree with you. That's why I'm so thankful to be within driving distance of 3 major ports. My 2 best friends had their first cruise last Sept, and would love to try some of the other destinations...unfortunately the budget simply cannot stretch to include airfare...so we hit up the Mexican Riviera at the end of this month, with a couple of ports different from last year...

 

It is a shame really.

[Warm Breezes]

There are wonderful deals to be had cruising but the airfare is so much it keeps us from going. It would cost me more to fly down to Miami, than to sail for 7 days! Something is wrong here.:eek:

Being from the Memphis area, they rarely run a really good rate like they do out of MSP etc. If there is a good fare the return flight leaves at 6am which we all know can't be made when returning on a cruise.

We have resorted to going out to New Orleans which only has Carnival and NCL.

 

I had to laugh after I read your post. My first thought when I read it was if I lived in Memphis, I wouldn't even be looking at the airfare. We would drive everytime. You are at the half way point for us driving from West Michigan - which we've done for at least half of our cruises. I don't think I would even get DH to consider airfare if we lived that close. I have a hard time getting him to consider it now when we live 2x as far.:rolleyes: