polodad Posted May 13, 2004 #1 Share Posted May 13, 2004 We just booked the Mercury to Alaska cruise thru a travel agency and it includes air from SFO to Vancouver. I asked the TA about the air and he said it is arranged by Celebrity. I haven't done this before. How does it work? Do I have any input as to flight times? When do I find out flight times? Is transfer from Vancouver airport to pier typically included? Does it help to be proactive by calling Celebrity early to ask about this stuff? Anything else I should know about air included cruise? Thanks. Norway 11/85 SS Independence 7/91 Star Princess 10/02 Century 4/04 9/3 Celebrity MERCURY [img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;9;3;17;45;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hajekfam Posted May 13, 2004 #2 Share Posted May 13, 2004 I see you cruised Celebrity last month. Did you join the Captains Club? If not, do so. Custom airfare (requesting specific flights, times, days) carries a fee for booking custom that is waived for Captains club members. (You will still have to pay any additional fare if it is more than the regular Celebrity rate). Transfers are included with Celebrity air. You do not have to book your air with Celebrity - our TA usually books our cruise with air and then checks for lower air. If a lower price is found, then she will cancel the Celebrity air. You have until final payment to cancel without penalty. We have found that on round trip cruises (departing and coming back to the same port) it is usually cheaper to do our own air unless the cruiseline is running an air special. On one way cruises (leaving from one port and disembarking from another), the cruise line air is usually cheaper. Zenith-Western Caribbean-6/92 Zenith-Eastern Caribbean-6/93 Century-Maiden Voyage-12/95 Galaxy-Southern Caribbean-11/99 Mercury-Northbound Alaska-6/00 Millennium-Westbound Transatlantic-9/01 Horizon-Western Caribbean - Adults only cruise-11/02 Millennium-Westbound Transatlantic 10/26/03 Century - Western Caribbean 1/31/04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandthrush Posted May 13, 2004 #3 Share Posted May 13, 2004 If you book air thru a cruise line and you don't ask for an air deviation or custom air arrangements, you get what they give you. You will not find out your flights until you actually get your cruise documents. Some cruise lines charge you a fee for the custom air, and then you must also pay for any additional airfare to get flights you select. If you are a Celebrity Captains' Club member, you may ask for custom air, and may have to pay for additional airfare, but they will not charge you a fee for the service itself. We got burned once and ended up on 4 different planes to get from Florida to Barcelona Spain, by accepting the air arrangements from the cruise line (Not Celebrity), sight unseen. NEVER AGAIN. In the future, I will either pay for the custom air, or do the air arrangements myself (which I did for our upcoming Millennium cruise next week). From experience, when you book the air thru the cruise line, it always includes transfers to the ship. Hope my explanation was clear, and hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hajekfam Posted May 13, 2004 #4 Share Posted May 13, 2004 I believe Celebrity tries to book air with a maximum of one stop. Zenith-Western Caribbean-6/92 Zenith-Eastern Caribbean-6/93 Century-Maiden Voyage-12/95 Galaxy-Southern Caribbean-11/99 Mercury-Northbound Alaska-6/00 Millennium-Westbound Transatlantic-9/01 Horizon-Western Caribbean - Adults only cruise-11/02 Millennium-Westbound Transatlantic 10/26/03 Century - Western Caribbean 1/31/04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisintwinsmom Posted May 13, 2004 #5 Share Posted May 13, 2004 We've done both - used Celebrity and booked ourselves. Agree with hajekfam that it is sometimes cost effective to Celebrity. This last time we had them do the air to Barcelona and return from Venice. My agent called 60 days out and we knew in advance of our travel plans. They actually gave us good flights and were as cheap or cheaper than if I had done them myself. When I got my own air, I made sure we went the night before; there have been horror stories about people missing the ship due to delayed flights (on their own and with ship air). I have not used custom air, so can't comment on that aspect of things. Happy Sailing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polodad Posted May 13, 2004 Author #6 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Thanks for the quick input. We did join the Celebrity Captain's Club and I have a card. The air is 1 way. We reside in the San Francisco area. Air is included from SFO to Vancouver. The cruise is Vancouver-Alaska-San Francisco on the Mercury. Norway 11/85 SS Independence 7/91 Star Princess 10/02 Century 4/04 9/3 Celebrity MERCURY [img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;9;3;17;45;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hajekfam Posted May 13, 2004 #7 Share Posted May 13, 2004 One way - well then the cruiseline is most likely the cheapest way to go unless you get a cheaper round-trip and not use the return part. Although I'm not sure if that is too wise considering that you are flying between countries (since all the heightened security) Zenith-Western Caribbean-6/92 Zenith-Eastern Caribbean-6/93 Century-Maiden Voyage-12/95 Galaxy-Southern Caribbean-11/99 Mercury-Northbound Alaska-6/00 Millennium-Westbound Transatlantic-9/01 Horizon-Western Caribbean - Adults only cruise-11/02 Millennium-Westbound Transatlantic 10/26/03 Century - Western Caribbean 1/31/04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charmary Posted May 13, 2004 #8 Share Posted May 13, 2004 We have a cruise booked and are members of the Captains Club. It has been mentioned that you can request which flight you would prepef. How far in advance do you do this? We booked through a TA and she told us if we didn't like the air she could request a change. But it might be better to request it and not have to go the the change route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted May 13, 2004 #9 Share Posted May 13, 2004 We used Celebrity for our air travel to the Millennium/Mediterranean in August and we are using it again for the Summit/Alaska in July... Celebrity has let us know (through our TA) about 60 days in advance each time... We have been ecstatic with the flight arrangements each time... For Europe back in August, they booked us on Delta all the way--a flight from LAX to JFK, a short layover (around 2 hours) at JFK, then a flight directly to Venice arriving 9:30 am...On the way home, we had a noon flight Barcelona to Atlanta, change of planes and then from Atlanta to LA... For Alaska upcoming, we are on a 9:30 am flight out of LAX to Fairbanks with a brief stop (no change of planes) in Seattle...On the way home, we have a late afternoon nonstop Vancouver to LAX...All of those are on Alaska Airlines... I couldn't have booked better flights and times myself for either cruise... Plus, tying everything (air, hotels, cruise)in to Celebrity, all of my transportation air-to-hotel-ship-hotel-to-air is all worked out and part of the deal...and very easy and stress-free... I have had worse scenarios arise with other cruise lines--red-eye flights...or lines that couldn't get me from LA to Miami without stopping in Phoenix and Atlanta on the way... ...But, thus far, my experience with Celebrity has bben extremely positive... Summit, July 3, 2004: Alaska: 13 night cruisetour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqua Posted May 13, 2004 #10 Share Posted May 13, 2004 My parents did not have such good luck for our upcoming trip on Constellation. They are flying Little Rock to London, and Celebrity booked them to Chicago on an evening flight with a 40% on-time record. Then they were scheduled to be on the last plane leaving the country from Chicago. Needless to say, they were very nervous about making that flight. When my father offered to pay extra to get on an earlier flight to Chicago, Celebrity told him there were no seats available. (American said there were several seats.) He finally ended up routing through Dallas instead of Chicago (and paying the $75 per person air deviation fee- this is their first Celebrity cruise.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2004 #11 Share Posted May 13, 2004 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by charmary: We have a cruise booked and are members of the Captains Club. It has been mentioned that you can request which flight you would prepef. How far in advance do you do this? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You can do it right now and I'd sure suggest you do. The earlier the better. We have a cruise booked for November 25 and we already have our air arrangements and seat assignments. I went on-line and found the flights we'd most like to have, gave them to the TA and she worked with Celebrity to nail them down. We got our first choice for the trip over to Hawaii and our second choice for the return trip. [img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;11;25;23;59;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacificlander Posted May 13, 2004 #12 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Polodad, We have our air thru Celebrity also. I checked on flights on our own as my DH gets a discount thru work but couldn't find a better rate than what Celebrity offered. Since the flight is SFO to Vancouver I'm not too worried as its a short flight and being out of SFO will most likely be Alaskan Airlines. Don't have flights yet as we haven't paid final payment yet. Norway 08/02 Rhapsody of the Seas 09/03 Mercury 9/3/04 [img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=da70d6&cdt=2004;9;3;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polodad Posted May 13, 2004 Author #13 Share Posted May 13, 2004 Pacificlander. I left this message at the rollcall thread, but here it is again. I just checked on Yahoo travel today & the fares are the same from SFO & Oakland to Van. However, the flights seem to be at much better times from Oak & as you know it is closer to home for you & I. So, all things being unequal, (lol) I'd prefer to fly on alaska air out of Oakland instead of SFO. Norway 11/85 SS Independence 7/91 Star Princess 10/02 Century 4/04 9/3 Celebrity MERCURY [img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;9;3;17;45;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theawesome1 Posted May 13, 2004 #14 Share Posted May 13, 2004 I am very pleased with X & their air. We had our flights in March for September cruise. So I grabbed Emeragency Exit aisle seats for both flights. $600 PP cheaper than booking myself. Co nonstop CLE-LGW & EMR-CLE 2 weeks later. Transfers to Dover & to Newark are included. Amazing that other cruiselines give you air a few weeks before the cruise........... My logo: When we disembark, I just have to book another! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.