Princess air to Alaska for cruisetour

[Ratdoggie]

We have booked a Princess Alaska cruisetour in 2010 which starts in Fairbanks with the landtour and July 28th.

 

We are struggling between booking air through the cruise and having the guarantee that Princess will get us to our destination or the convenience of setting our own time. We've booked air with Princess before and I know you can get inconvenient flight schedules.

 

This is my question. If our cruisetour begins on July 28th, does that mean Princess will schedule us to actually arrive in Fairbanks on the 28th? We will be flying from Portland OR. I'm not worried about when we get there on the 28th, as long as I can get some sleep that night. I don't want to get in at 1am on the 29th, crawl into bed at 2am or later and then get up early to begin our activities. Any advice?

[Colo Cruiser]

We have booked a Princess Alaska cruisetour in 2010 which starts in Fairbanks with the landtour and July 28th.

 

We are struggling between booking air through the cruise and having the guarantee that Princess will get us to our destination or the convenience of setting our own time. We've booked air with Princess before and I know you can get inconvenient flight schedules.

 

This is my question. If our cruisetour begins on July 28th, does that mean Princess will schedule us to actually arrive in Fairbanks on the 28th? We will be flying from Portland OR. I'm not worried about when we get there on the 28th, as long as I can get some sleep that night. I don't want to get in at 1am on the 29th, crawl into bed at 2am or later and then get up early to begin our activities. Any advice?

 

Personaly due to you living in Oregon I would book my own or at least look into it. You may find Princess routing you through NY!

[sirwired]

Just as a side note... booking cruise air DOES NOT provide any guarantee you will make your sailing! If you suffer from a flight delay or other problem, you go through travel insurance if you had purchased it. It's no different from booking your own air.

 

SirWired

[Pia1913]

We have booked a Princess Alaska cruisetour in 2010 which starts in Fairbanks with the landtour and July 28th.

 

We are struggling between booking air through the cruise and having the guarantee that Princess will get us to our destination or the convenience of setting our own time. We've booked air with Princess before and I know you can get inconvenient flight schedules.

 

This is my question. If our cruisetour begins on July 28th, does that mean Princess will schedule us to actually arrive in Fairbanks on the 28th? We will be flying from Portland OR. I'm not worried about when we get there on the 28th, as long as I can get some sleep that night. I don't want to get in at 1am on the 29th, crawl into bed at 2am or later and then get up early to begin our activities. Any advice?

 

We did this tour in September. We booked our own air and arrived in FAI approx. 8 PM. Stayed at a Holiday Inn, got a decent night's sleep and then checked into Princess Lodge the next day. If you use Princess air then yes, they will fly you in the same day and you will have wasted that first night. At least we got 2 full days in Fairbanks doing it on our own.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I used the Princess air for our Alaska cruisetour last year, but I live much further away than you do. They flew us in on very logical connections on the day the tour started (arrived late in the day...and very late our time!) and the last day after the cruise they also flew us home on a very good, logical connection. We booked somewhat last minute, and with open jaw flights (into Anchorage, home out of Vancouver) it made more sense to use Princess, and we were pleased with the flights. But I would have liked the extra day in Alaska and/or Vancouver that you can get booking it on your own.

[Rockymountainsparky]

I would much prefer to book my own flights. It's a control thing. :D

[Ratdoggie]

Thank you all for the great responses. We have decided to go ahead and book our own flight the day before and have one slow day and a good night's rest before starting the hectic land tour schedule! :D

[Pia1913]

Thank you all for the great responses. We have decided to go ahead and book our own flight the day before and have one slow day and a good night's rest before starting the hectic land tour schedule! :D

 

Good choice. YOu'll be happy you did it this way.

[Pam in CA]

It's been quite a few years since I've done Alaska with the cruise tour. At the time, I was living in the Boston area and chose to use Princess air, which was a lot cheaper than anything I was able to find on my own. We had excellent routing from Boston to Seattle and from there to Fairbanks via Anchorage. Returning, we had a direct flight from Vancouver to Boston. We arrived late in the evening, stayed at the Princess hotel in Fairbanks overnight, and were on our tour early the next morning. If I were to do it again, I'd give myself at least another day or two before starting the tour.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Can not agree more with the previous replies with regards to going 1 or 2 days early and getting settled. You do not want to start your cruisetour off being exhausted from just getting there. It's a small expense in relation to the total amount you are spending on this trip to be ready and raring to go on the cruisetour.

[janina]

Definately book your own air. It is less expensive and you can get there early, rest and enjoy Alaska. You just never know what air you will get with Princess.:)

[Ratdoggie]

Thank you all for the additional comments, it makes me feel even better about deciding to book our own flight.

 

Last year we went on a Mexican Riviera cruise and let Princess book our air. Going down was fine, but coming back was awful. We got off the ship early Saturday morning. We were only flying from LA to Portland OR but we didn't get home until after midnight the next day. We could have driven and been home faster!

[sunsetbeachgal]

You will love Alaska! If you have not already booked the cruisetour, highly recommend you choose one (there are so many options) that has adequate time at each place-the one we chose only had one night at Denali, which unfortunately was a mistake as we did not have time to fit in the longer Tundra tour..oh well, we will just have to go back sometime!

[CowgirlColleen]

Booked on a June 2010 Direct to Wilderness cruise tour round trip Vancouver. We arranged our own air to/from Vancouver. Cruise first, then tour. Cruise begins in Vancouver and ends in Anchorage where the land tour begins.

 

Tour includes air from Anchorage back to Vancouver at the end of the land tour.

 

Anyone who has been on this tour previously who can tell me if the Princess flights are direct Anchorage to Vancouver? I saw on the travel sites that there are flights that go Anchorage - Seattle - Vancouver... that would be a royal pain to get booked on one of those vs. the more direct route.

 

I'd pay extra to ensure a non-stop Anchorage-Vancouver return.

[greatam]

Thank you all for the great responses. We have decided to go ahead and book our own flight the day before and have one slow day and a good night's rest before starting the hectic land tour schedule! :D

 

You made the right decision, IMHO. If you read through the cruise contract, you will see that air/tours/hotels/transfers are booked as a CONVENIENCE and the cruise line assumes NO responsibility or liability. In most cases, the only thing the cruise line has to do is REFUND your money for air/hotels/tours, etc.

 

Read Section 15, paragraph F. http://www.princess.com/legal/passage_contract/index.jsp

 

A true eye opener for those who think "the cruise line will get you to the ship". NO they don't have to and it is in black and white.

 

And Celebrity has gone so far as to put it on their website that the air tickets they issue have severe restrictions and are NO GOOD on another carrier (the reissued/revalidated on another carrier wording). The same policy applies to 98% of cruise line (any) purchased air tickets.

 

"Airline tickets we issue are highly restrictive and you may find that your ticket cannot be exchanged, reissued or revalidated for another carrier or routing. Once your ticket has been issued, any changes to the ticket you request us to make shall be at our discretion and a fee may apply for each such change. You may be able to make changes by contacting the airline directly and any changes or fees imposed shall be borne by you. If you cancel your cruise after air tickets have been issued, you may be subject to airline cancellation fees."