Air booked through the cuise line to Europe

[iancal]

One way to Porto. On Air Transat. Not the best, but for $258 is is fine with us. That plus a $100. TAP flight to Rome gets us to our cruise destination witih a 'free' stopover so to speak. It is going to cost us as much or more to fly to Toronto from Calgary or Vancouver.

 

Barante comments above are right on the money!

[barante]

Since writing the previous, I have taken steps to change an existing trans-Atlantic in the spring. I had reserved a balcony on MSC on a 17-day voyage from FLL to Kiel. While I have not canceled that yet, I am intrigued by a 23-day HAL Noordam voyage from FLL to BCN. The MSC price was a steal; HAL's is a bargain.

 

The reason I am mulling over this change is because the latter itinerary not only covers many of my favorite cities (Lisbon is key in both cases) but also because of the price HAL offers for its air package. Try to price BWI-FLL, Hamburg-Helsinki, Helsinki-BWI and you may be shocked.

 

Compare that with the rate at which HAL promises to fly me BWI-FLL and BCN-BWI. It is one third cheaper than anything I can find on discount engines and again one-third cheaper than going to Helsinki using discounters. As I have stated previously, I have had good experiences with cruise air arrangements and trust they will continue with HAL.

 

Another wrinkle is that while it would be nice to go to Finland (where I was born) and St. Petersburg, I simply hate dragging luggage around. You may not know it but I do: Red cap service is unknown in most European countries. That was not a big deal but after my quadruple bypass it may be.

 

So once the HAL cruise is over, we'll just go to the BCN airport and fly home.

[shoesonfire]

Tried to read through from page 1-3 to find answers to my questions but found most info difficult to follow. We accepted cruise air (included at a good price) arriving 1 day early for cruise fully aware that hotel was a little more expensive than booking on our own but included all transfers and breakfast, we had no control on flight times, connections, seat assignment, etc. but consequently opted for what we hope will get us to the cruise okay. Of course we are realistic to know that "stuff happens" and there are no guarantees in life. However, my questions are: (1) how many days before cruise date do we get our flight arrangements and (2) if for some unknown reason our seats are the worst possible, or the connection times are not manageable for seniors with some mobility issues do we have any options at all for reasonable change and (3) is there any hope that a somewhat luxury cruise like the one we are on will make every effort to get us to the ship in a reasonable and less stressful manner?

[kenish]

However, my questions are: (1) how many days before cruise date do we get our flight arrangements and (2) if for some unknown reason our seats are the worst possible, or the connection times are not manageable for seniors with some mobility issues do we have any options at all for reasonable change and (3) is there any hope that a somewhat luxury cruise like the one we are on will make every effort to get us to the ship in a reasonable and less stressful manner?

 

YMMV but generic answers: (1) 21-45 days seems to be what people post here (2) No you get what they give you; in fact you probably won't know your seats until you check in at the airport. (Often, seats can't be requested on international flights with discounted tickets purchased directly from the airline). If your tickets do arrive with seats identified, they are probably first in line to be changed since the airline's customers have first priority (you are not the airline's customer). (3) No, cruise air is provided as a "convenience" by the cruise line (their words) and the tickets just come out of the same "grab bag".

 

Hope this answers your q's, with the caveat again that your specific experience may turn out different.

[bia]

Until our upcoming Med. cruise on the Breeze, I have never booked air through any cruise line, but the rate for air fare, pre cruise night at a very nice hotel and transfers was so good I booked.

 

 

Now I'm second guessing.

Anybody done this. Was the flight schedule & itinerary acceptable??

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we booked our air for the med throught carnival. cheaper then any other.just received our flight information it was just what i would have picked. looks like no problem

bia

[FlyerTalker]

we booked our air for the med throught carnival. cheaper then any other.just received our flight information it was just what i would have picked. looks like no problem

Are you aware that you do NOT have the same tickets as if you had bought from the airline directly? Even though you are on the "same flight"?

 

Or was price the driving factor, irrespective of the type of ticket you received?

 

And finally -- looks can be deceiving.

[Michidoeme]

Are you aware that you do NOT have the same tickets as if you had bought from the airline directly? Even though you are on the "same flight"?

 

But then again, you might have the same tickets as we did when booking through Choice Air this Spring and as confirmed by the Airline when we double-checked. We also got full miles for this flight, which we could easily verify as we are gold card ff member with this airline and fly that particular route quite often. (For very discounted fares, even booked with airline direct, you don't get full miles, but a reduced number, as ff will know)

We booked through Choice Air as the one-way intercontinental non-stop flight was about 1/3 of price offered elsewhere. Before we always booked directly with airline.

[Petoonya]

Hello Harp,

Been several weeks since you last posted and no doubt have made you decision. But this is in the event you check back- sorry I did not see earlier. Did a few cruises with Oceania, two of which we were not able to make requests. One was Seattle to Rio, the other Seattle to Barcelona. Both could not have been better if I'd chose the flights myself. Perfect connections and arrived approximately 9am day of cruise both times. Best to you and hope you have a terrific cruise.