airfare

[msloderb]

Any suggestions as far as booking my own airfare vs letting rccl book it.

[lilant]

Any suggestions as far as booking my own airfare vs letting rccl book it.

 

unless you are gonna use miles for the airfare, choice air had the lowest prices for our cruise. plus all the benefits of choice air.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithHero.do?pagename=air_travel_programs&pnav=2&snav=13

 

 

anthony

[cb at sea]

It's almost ALWAYS cheaper to do it on your own...plus, you can choose the airline, times, and seats you prefer. With RCI (unless you pay a bonus for "choice" air) you will be given a flight...but it may not be ideal by any means!

[Clarea]

Any suggestions as far as booking my own airfare vs letting rccl book it.

Royal does not offer traditional cruise air anymore. Instead, Royal has a program called Choice Air, in which you pick the flights yourself. There's a sticky Choice Air thread at the top of this forum with some very good information on Choice Air.

 

I've been watching Choice Air prices, and reading posts about Choice Air, and it seems that for purely domestic travel, there is little difference in prices between booking through Choice Air or directly through the airlines. However, for overseas travel, especially one way, Choice Air pricing can be significantly less expensive.

[Butterfly625]

It's almost ALWAYS cheaper to do it on your own...plus, you can choose the airline, times, and seats you prefer. With RCI (unless you pay a bonus for "choice" air) you will be given a flight...but it may not be ideal by any means!

 

As of yesterday I booked Choice Air which was cheaper than Cheap Tickets and chose my Delta flight and picked our own seats. There was no bonus to be paid for any of our options chosen. We are also flying in the day before cruise departure, so I can't say the above statement is correct by any means. Nothing was selected for us, we could choose any airline we desired.

 

Butterfly625

[skandls]

You can compare costs by looking at airfares on the internet and then check out Choice Air. I found it cheaper for our flights by booking directly with the airline. BIL and SIL are booked on two different airlines - so Choice Air did not work for them either. We buy travel insurance and do our own transfers so the only thing we look at is price and of course convenient flight times.

[crzndeb]

I used Choice Air for my upcoming TA....their one-way to Rome from San Diego ($635) was far better than anything else out there.

 

That being said, I would never use them for domestic..if I book domestic, I usually start looking at my airlines of choice about 8-12 weeks out. You can either check every day or sign up on one of the web sites that will notify you when there is a price change.

 

Believe it or not, you can still find pretty decent airfares out there, if you catch them.

[baggal]

It's almost ALWAYS cheaper to do it on your own...plus, you can choose the airline, times, and seats you prefer. With RCI (unless you pay a bonus for "choice" air) you will be given a flight...but it may not be ideal by any means!

 

Not so. You are given an opportunity to pick your flight from many choices. But, the list may not include every flight to and from your destination and usually only includes a few airlines.

[cruisenfever]

It's almost ALWAYS cheaper to do it on your own...plus, you can choose the airline, times, and seats you prefer. With RCI (unless you pay a bonus for "choice" air) you will be given a flight...but it may not be ideal by any means!

You are not given a flight anymore. Choice Air is the only option that RCI now offers you for booking the flights that "you" want on the day "you" want to fly. The "bonus" that you pay when booking Choice Air is actually less than what was charged when one was able to do Custom Air. Once booked, you can call the airline and get your seat assignments.

 

For international travel, you can't beat Choice Air. For domestic travel, I would always check the airlines first.