One-way airfare - cheaper rates booked thru cruiseline?

[giltedge]

Looking at booking a cruise this winter on Holland America Zaandam leaving from San Diego, CA and ending in Sydney, Australia. When I looked at booking the airfare myself through various travel sites I was shocked at the price. The one-way fare from Sydney to San Diego was higher than a round trip fare. Surprisingly when I got a quote from a cruise travel agent for both air and cruise, the price was much lower for the air portion. I am concerned that there might be problems with booking both air and cruise with the cruiseline based on other comments made on this and other websites. Any comments that can help me make this decision? :(

[CruiserBruce]

Some of those "other comments" made on the board are that sometimes cruise air is the best deal, particularly in the case of one way fares.

 

Just know you may not have much control over routing, flight days, frequent flyer programs or refund if problems occur. This varies by cruise line flight program and airline used.

[FlyerTalker]

Read the sticky about cruiseline provided air, found at the top of this forum.

[Donray]

I have used air provided by cruise company four times going Europe. Could never find an airfare by myself that was cheaper and the flight times were always great from LAX and never had more than one change of planes.

[Tralynn]

When booking my parents on two of their TA cruises with one-way air to Europe, it was much cheaper through the cruiseline both times. They were pleased with the flight times and layovers, but they were given the option to pay a small fee if they wanted to be able to have more control over the flights. I was also happy to know that their flights would be handled by the cruiseline should any problems pop up getting to Europe.

 

I always price out airfare both ways and go with my best deal.

[chloe kitty]

We booked a cruise that started in SYD a few months ago.

After going thru every site I could think of, I came across V Australia. Their OW fare was excellent. Having never heard of V Australia before, we were apprehensive. The flight was our best ever. The planes are all new, clean, and well equipped. The flight attendants were very friendly and helpful. Even the food was pretty good. Because of this experience, I would highly recommend V Australia. We live in AZ, but flew to LAX for this flight.

(They are the Australia portion of Virgin Airlines).

 

chloe kitty

[kenish]

Investigate fares from SYD-LAX instead of SYD-SAN. There's a lot more competition and passenger volume to LAX. From LAX you can get to SAN by rental car, train, or shuttle van. (Rental car is the fastest and usually is the cheapest).

[greatam]

Don't know how much the cruise line is charging but you have a big problem trying to find cheap airfare because your cruise arrives SYD on the day after Thanksgiving. You REALLY need to think out of the box and look elsewhere than "normal" US/Australia airlines. Leaving SYD on Monday instead of Friday, Sat or Sunday offers considerable savings. LOTS of traffic between LAX/SYD for the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

China Southern (great little airline) and China Airlines (NOT Air China-the one out of Taiwan-some rate it good, some not so good and I haven't been on China Air for 4 years at least) have fares in the $1100 range to LAX. China Southern stops in Guangzhou and China Airlines stops in Taipai. AirPacific is about $1200 with a stop in Fiji. Hawaiian and V Australia are about $1300. Hawaiian stops in Honolulu, V Australia is nonstop.

 

You can also look into the possibility of getting an AA award flight (37,500 miles) on a partner airline. You can PURCHASE 40,000 AA miles for $800. AA also has a Citibank credit card promotion for 30,000 free miles. This will definitely be the cheapest but you will have to call AA for availability. You cannot book a partner award online.

 

I am not even going to go into all the pitfalls of cruise air tickets. The cruise line WILL NOT take care of you if their is a glitch in your air. PLEASE don't believe this fallacy.

[giltedge]

Thanks for all the very good information. I have weighed all the advice and info I could find and have decided to go with the cruise line air. The savings was just so substantial from what I could find myself. I am just thrilled to be going on another cruise, I am not going to worry myself about what could go wrong. Thanks again:)

[Twickenham]

Thanks for all the very good information. I have weighed all the advice and info I could find and have decided to go with the cruise line air. The savings was just so substantial from what I could find myself. I am just thrilled to be going on another cruise, I am not going to worry myself about what could go wrong. Thanks again:)

 

Out of curiosity, how much was Cruise Air?

[greatam]

For those booking air through the cruise line due to price, you may want to read this lady's story with cruise air. VERY recent. And she totally missed her cruise. One little glitch in cruise air and you could be in the same exact situation.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1398770

[Lookingforfacts]

The OP booked cruise air (one way) from his destination port home.

 

I know the regular posters don't think much of cruise air but the possibility of the OP missing his cruise due to problems with cruise air IS ZERO. He's not taking cruise air to his embarkation port.

[gregdude]

I did tha HAL cruise from LA to Sydney two years ago and also found their air price was much better. I did as you are doing and used HAL. Everything went extremely well, non-stop Sydney to LA 13.5 hours. I have used HAL air since and had the same great experience. HAL air department is very good to work with, easy to request routing and times on my two last cruises and my upcoming Alaska cruise as well.

[waterbug123]

When booking my parents on two of their TA cruises with one-way air to Europe, it was much cheaper through the cruiseline both times.......I was also happy to know that their flights would be handled by the cruiseline should any problems pop up getting to Europe.

 

 

Big misconception!

[FlyerTalker]

I was also happy to know that their flights would be handled by the cruiseline should any problems pop up getting to Europe.

BRRRRPPP. I'm sorry, but that answer is incorrect. But we have some nice parting gifts for you.

I always price out airfare both ways and go with my best deal.

Do you only consider price? Do you recognize that you are not comparing apples with apples - that they are two different types of tickets?? Beware of "best deals" made with incomplete information.