Airfare for Med. Cruise

[owtrspace]

Does anyone have any tips or advice to secure relatively inexpensive airfare for a Med. Cruise (fly into Barcelona, out of Venice). Travelling from LAX here, so it is a long haul. I know the price won't be a bargain. Would it help to wait for airfare specials or book now? The cruise is in July, 2006. Thanks for any help!

[Druke I]

Often, but certainly not always, cruise line airfare is cheaper than getting your own for open jaw flights.

 

Do a lot of comparing before buying.

[owtrspace]

Thanks! Seems to be that way so far. Do you know if Celebrity will allow you to upgrade to business and/or first class?

[bikeman688]

try autoeurope.com I got a great price on a one way from NY to London

[Senga]

You can do a custom air request (free if your Elite Captain's Club - $50. otherwise) and request the upgrade. The good thing about booking with Celebrity is, if you find a cheaper fare before final payment, you can always cancel the air booked with the cruise. Something to keep in mind, with cruise cancellations happening on occasion, you're covered with Celebrity air.

[Bruin Steve]

We used Celebrity for the air (LAX-Venice, Barcelona-LAX)...It was cheaper than anything we could find on our own...and they got us some very good flights...

 

One problem with waiting around and hoping for a cheap deal is that the airlines seldom run sales for peak summer months...and good flights do book up...

 

Take the Celebrity Air...You aren't tied into it until final payment...So, if you see a better deal before April, you can book that and back out of the air portion of your cruise...Otherwise, you can rest easy knowing it's taken care of...

 

I think, in the end, you'll end up using the Celebrity Air...

[owtrspace]

Thanks for all the great information. What about flying in a few days early and staying a few days late? Do you simply pay a deviation charge?

[hajekfam]

You can do a custom air request (free if your Elite Captain's Club - $50. otherwise) and request the upgrade. The good thing about booking with Celebrity is, if you find a cheaper fare before final payment, you can always cancel the air booked with the cruise. Something to keep in mind, with cruise cancellations happening on occasion, you're covered with Celebrity air.

The fee for custom air is waived for all levels of Captain's club members not just elite. The custom air (also called deviation) fee is $50 for domestic flights and $75 for international flights. That is the charge for Celebrity making other arrangements for you.

However, if the flight that you want is more than Celebrity's usual and customary price or is with an airline that Celebrity is not dealing with, you will have to pay the difference in ticket price. That difference in price is not waived for Captain's club members

We have used custom air on all of our transatlantic cruises and our TA works with Celebrity to arrange our flight so that we use one of their carriers so we have had no additional charges.

[LJJQ]

We were on the Millenium in July 2003 and booked airfare on our own. The airfares in the beginning of September 2002 was just like now. The weekend before September 11th the prices went down drastically for two days on Delta and then went up again. The airlines usually rollout their discount airfare on Saturday mornings I read it in Frommers.

 

Some on our cruise booked with Celebrity and had a Charter out of JFK in NY to Venice and the same going home. They received a good fare I was told but unsure how much.

 

We are on the Millenium July 13 and initially will book with Celebrity the airfare. I will continue to search airfares to see if the prices go down. Delta has direct flights in to Venice from JFK and from Barcelona to JFK. Their price is about the same as price Celebrity has posted.

[Desertbelle]

I would highly recommend you do your own airline booking. We did the Millennium cruise in June and Celebrity wanted $1289 pp airfare from Las Vegas. I ended up getting American Airlines for $1052 pp. That's a huge savings for 4 people, $948. That savings paid for our 2 nights in Venice and 1 night in Barcelona, and any taxis we needed to get us to and from airports and cruise ship.

 

Our cruise was in June and I booked in February. I actually saw airfares around $980, but didn't take them because at the time the airline involved was about to go under. It ended up flying thru our cruise, so we could have saved even more money had we taken that flight. :(

 

As an added bonus, we took a bump in Madrid on the way home for $600 each and a free day in Madrid!! Now we have $2400 to spend on a future cruise flights. :D

[Desertbelle]

Opps, double post, sorry.

[itsanita]

We usually book with the cruise line, then try to find it cheaper on our own. The down side is you have to take what they give you, sometimes a couple of connections. The up side is you don't have to pay till 90 days out and you are assured that they will get you there. However, we always arrive at least a day earlier and stay a day later, so we then have to add the deviation fees. I think its usually worth trying to find your own.

 

When we went to Alaska, the cruise line was cheaper so we stayed with them. We were flying into Fairbanks and flying out of Seattle...prices on our own were awful. And we could'nt get flights with our sky miles.

 

We are going to the Med on Mille in May of 2006...the airfare thru Celebrity was around 1200 pp.

 

We just found air on Altalia for $610. pp. Flying from Miami to Milan and Milan to Venice...Returning from Barcelon to Milan then to Miami. Not too bad for the price. Came to the high $700's pp. with taxes etc. (Always need to check the extra fees!) A rather large savings for the 4 of us. We then had our TA add our air to our cruise insurance. Just in case!

 

We looked by googling "cheap airfare" and then trying them all! sometimes several times a week. When I find the name of the company we used for the air to the Med, I'll post it.

[hmg]

If you are a Captain's Club member, take advantage of Custom Air and pick your flights as early as possible. We were unsure of when we could leave for our Med cruise (Venice-Barcelona) and waited too long to pick our flights. Very little was available, and nothing non-stop. Also, don't forget to factor in the price of the transfers when comparing going through the cruise line or booking on your own.

[Trainer]

We went to Barcelona in 2003 for a Med cruise on Celebrity's Constellation. I beat the cruise line price by half by going to the website for Iberia Airlines. I paid $550 round trip from Orlando, through Miami. This was when most airlines, including booking through Celebrity, wanted about $1100 - $1200. It was an Internet Only fare. We flew American from Orlando to Miami and then an Iberia flight to Barcelona, stopping in Madrid. We also went three days before the cruise, which turned out to be a good thing. Severe weather caused delays which meant the luggage had to follow us.

So, check websites! Even Iberia's telephone sales people could not match the web fare.

Sue Ann

Ocala, FL

[Dog Mommie]

My dh and I are also booked going Barc. to Venice and we appreciate the info!

 

X wants $1200 pp, Delta won't quote this far out (and I hope they are still around when the time comes!) but currently are around $900pp. Anyone have an idea about the cost of the transfers on your own?

[hmg]

You can also purchase Celebrity transfers without the air. I'd contact Celebrity or your TA for prices.

[Trainer]

If you are staying Barcelona before or after your cruise, the ships are quite close in to the city, and the end of the Ramblas. A cab to or from your hotel is the easiest way to go.

If you are connecting directly between the ship and the airport, cabs are reasonable and waiting at the port. To be really economical, there is an airport bus that stops at the top of the Ramblas, and you can get a taxi from there to the port.

I don't recall how much we paid for the cab to the airport but we had an early flight and did not want to wait for the cruise line's transport. It was pretty reasonable and we had a minivan -- lots of luggage!

[wv4891]

We are using Celebrity's Custom Air deviation (cost was zero for the deviation as we are Capatin's Club members) from LAX to Heathrow and from JFK to LAX in a couple of weeks. Got the same airlines and same nonstop flights as we were looking at on all the usual websites. This time it was $650.00 cheaper for the 2 of us using Celebrity air, with full transfers on both ends, including transfers from the pier to NYC hotel and from NYC hotel to JFK (doing a Celebrity Hotel post cruise package).

 

 

Does anyone have any tips or advice to secure relatively inexpensive airfare for a Med. Cruise (fly into Barcelona, out of Venice). Travelling from LAX here, so it is a long haul. I know the price won't be a bargain. Would it help to wait for airfare specials or book now? The cruise is in July, 2006. Thanks for any help!

[Dog Mommie]

Bill (and others who rec. x air)

 

This really suprises me! We have always priced air with the cruise lines and never once has it been a good deal for us!:(

 

I guess I'll take all your advice and book thru X but continue to check on my own!

[daniela]

try to do a search on Orbitz to get an idea of prices and then you can make a more informed decision.

[operafan]

Hi

 

We're booked on Millennium Med cruise 5/26/06 Venice to Barcelona and took the Cruise air. After spending hours and hours trying to find cheaper (convenient) flights from DFW and finally (!!) figuring out that it wasn't going to happen, called the TA this morning and got 2 perfect flights confirmed thru custom air. No hassle, no problem, no further expense. Got AA straight to London then British Air to Venice and Delta thru Atlanta on the way back from Barcelona.