Still the same crappy air dept.

[DebbieH103]

We've used the SS air department effectively and have been allowed some input into what we were given after calling and making the request. If no requests are given, they will definitely just assign something. They don't guarantee what you want, either, but my choices were the same cost as theirs and just better times that allowed more of a safety net. I can't imagine anyone not understanding that the last minute is never desirable.

[crusinbanjo]

We've used the SS air department effectively and have been allowed some input into what we were given after calling and making the request. If no requests are given, they will definitely just assign something. They don't guarantee what you want, either, but my choices were the same cost as theirs and just better times that allowed more of a safety net. I can't imagine anyone not understanding that the last minute is never desirable.

 

I hear you and agree, so why is one of the options provided by SS Air dept so close that even if all goes perfectly, it would still be a rush to the pier in order to arrive by sailing time? I can't figure that one, and I would hope that even if offered, passengers would reject it...... .....although I have a couple of friends that plan things to the last minute and have almost missed the boat on a few occasions!

 

Looks like the best option from SS for us will be Lufthansa, Boston to Frankfurt and then on to London. arriving 8:00am

[CruisinPashmina]

This has been a very interesting thread. Over the years we have seldom used SS air. It has always been very easy and tempting, but, penny wise, and possibly not pound foolish we always try to use air miles first. Knock on wood, we've been lucky...Shhhhh. Whenever we've used SS 's air program, it has been just fine. I think the best way to go is with major airlines and good schedules...if that is with SS, 3 cheers all around. It always pays to pay attention, but even when you do, the airlines can change their schedules...usually by not very much...but it is prudent to give yourself a bunch of leeway...just in case. If you are at all nervous, book thru SS, fly a day early, and figure that any(IF any) extra expense is worth it.

[Randyk47]

Just an update to using SS air or booking our own. Surprisingly, at least I was surprised, we got our flight schedule from SS this past week for our March 2012 cruise. First blush was that the flights really weren't all that bad, at least in terms of connections, direct flights, etc., etc. The downside was that the flights were on Delta Airlines which is our least favorite carrier. Though it could change, and most probably would, we also discovered that the equipment Delta had planned for those routes is some of its older models and right now do not have the more comfortable "lie flat" seats in business/first class. Maybe not so bad for the Atlanta to Barcelona flight, though that was some eight plus hours, but a real pain for the two to three major legs coming back from Istanbul which in total takes some 20 hours with flights, layovers, etc.

 

Getting the flight information caused us to sit down and actually do some hardcore research on our alternatives. It also helped that we finally got within the flight schedule period for our cruise, up until just a few weeks ago we were too far out to see potential flights for our return trip from Istanbul. Our primary focus was American Airlines as Mrs. K has advanced frequent flier status with them and a few hundred thousand frequent flier miles.

 

I did the basic research late last week and Saturday we sat down and really looked at our alternatives. We tried, and this is a bit of a slam at American, to use their on-line rewards booking system to see if and how we could use our miles but it wouldn't work for flights where American One World partners were providers. It says it will but quite frankly it didn't. End result was Mrs. K called American's frequent flier number and all of a sudden American came to life and came through I might add. The bottom line was that we were able to "cash in" a couple hundred thousand miles and pay the taxes and fees for two first class tickets for the whole trip to Barcelona and back from Istanbul. :) The savings was substantial, the taxes and fees are 10% of what we were paying SS for their flight arrangements.

 

This is not against SS. Their offer was fair and competitive versus what we could find ourselves and without cashing in the frequent flier miles we couldn't beat their "free air" and business class upgrade costs. When we booked our Silversea cruise we took those options because we were too far out to effectively see potential flights or cost those flights. We're feeling pretty good this morning about the arrangements we made yesterday but knew from day one with Silversea that we'd eventually get down to detailed research and we finally got there. Next on the schedule is pre and post cruise hotels..... :)

[wripro]

Using miles will always save you a lot of money. It's a no brainer if you have them.

[Randyk47]

Using miles will always save you a lot of money. It's a no brainer if you have them.

 

Agreed. We hadn't bothered up until the past week or so as we just got within the schedule window for our cruise. Up until then we couldn't see potential flights and the airlines wouldn't or couldn't tell us which flights were available for the rewards program and which weren't. As it is there are a couple of flights that might come available, particularly connecting flights out of London, that would get us in earlier but those flights are either not available under the rewards program or haven't been released by the parent airline for rewards bookings. All we can do is check back periodically and luckily the program we're using allows changes without penalty. In the meantime I was able to cancel the business class upgrade with Silversea and also got the "free air" credit so our cruise went down significantly. They were very quick about it and it was no problem.