what about air?

[Lady Chew]

Mr. Chew & I are planning to book a cruise on Nautica this week, for next spring. One of the things that appeals to us is that airfare is included in the cruise fare.

In general, how satisfied are you with Oceania's air arrangements? Are you happy with the carriers? Do they give you enough time for connecting flights? Is it easy to upgrade (at cost) your seats? Are there problems getting credited for miles if you're in the airline's ff program? (I ask because we have had problems getting credit for airline miles (& hotel stays) when we've booked through a third party) ... do they keep you updated on flight/seating changes, once they are made? etc etc etc ...

thanks for any information!

[chaswill]

Hi Lady Chew...We almost always use Oceania's air because I have found it difficult to beat their price. The only exception would be when I use our f.f miles and that is not very often. I have found that they almost always use United so if you fly them a lot, you can just add your frequent flier number to the reservation. Time between flights can be an issue. Last year when our transfer time in Frankfurt was less than an hour, I called our T.A. and he put us through to the travel department and they booked us on a different flight coming home. They tell you that flight assignments will come out 60 days prior to your trip, but I always keep checking 90 days out everyday and the flights will usually post to the Oceania site sometime between 90 and 60 days. Check your seat assignments carefully using

www.seatguru.com

as sometimes you will get put in lousy seats. This happened to us on our upcoming trip in July and again, I called our T.A. and with his help, we got our seats changed. Don't try doing any of this by your self...always go through your T.A. Of course, you can always pay the air deviation charge and have more control over your flights, but that will up the cost. Hope this helps.

[Lady Chew]

thanks ... there's another thread going on about Oceania air, too, which I've been reading. We're meeting with our TA tomorrow to book the cruise, they deal a lot with Oceania so we hope things will be handled to our satisfaction!

[chaswill]

Hopefully, you have a good T.A. who has a good relationship with Oceania as that will come in handy if you have any concerns about their air. Don't try to call them yourself as I tried that awhile back and it got me nowhere.

[Lady Chew]

We went in this morning to talk to our TA face-to-face about all of this, and we ended up booking the cruise. Pretty confident he knows his stuff. They work with Oceania a lot, and the president of the line was in their office sometime within the last month to schmooze.