Booking Flights after cruise is booked?

[bogofman]

Has anyone experience of booking flights via RCI after already having the cruise booked?

 

We are looking to do a repo from Florida to UK next year and will need a single flight out to Fort Lauderdale

 

If we book the cruise now, can we add flights to our booking at a later date when more flights are available.

 

It seems that the main airlines charge around 3 time the price if booking a single flight , but travel companies get them at a much better price.

 

The web site allows flights and hotel to be booked , but we would like to only book a flight and be able to fly out a week or so before the cruise, so as to have a weeks driving holiday before the cruise

 

Are RCI flexible to do this?

 

( I'd ring up and ask but we get put through to agents in Guatamala and they are not easy to deal with)

[Cruisingthesuitelife]

I have done this a few times. Most recently was for a cruise later this year that was booked a year ago. Flights weren't on sale and couldn't be added during the booking process.

 

I was quite specific about who I wanted to fly with and the dates and times. Because I wasn't flying in on the schedule they wanted (going early and not booking the hotel through them), they charged me a deviation fee of £20 per person. However, after the fact I learnt that this fee is waived once for Platinum members and above. Basically this means that if you booked your flights it would be waived but if you changed your flights, it would be added back on, I guess like an admin fee. I called back and after an initial 'you are wrong towards me', I showed the website area that shows this and it was removed. The woman I spoke to initially was really helpful all the way through and it wasn't a problem to add the flights after - it was around 7 months between booking the cruise and adding the flights.

 

Here is the website about the fee (last question), incase it is applicable to you: http://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/before-you-book/air-travel/

 

In the past I have booked one way flights for TA's through them and like you say, they are much cheaper. For that however, I did not specify airline etc. I wanted to fly Virgin but it would have been an additional £400pp, so I had to wait for flights to be allocated and was given a direct with BA. Some other people I know were given an indirect but could have paid a small fee to change to a direct.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Cruisingthesuitelife

[trev71]

Deleted Please

Edited April 9, 2015 by trev71

[bogofman]

I have done this a few times. Most recently was for a cruise later this year that was booked a year ago. Flights weren't on sale and couldn't be added during the booking process.

 

I was quite specific about who I wanted to fly with and the dates and times. Because I wasn't flying in on the schedule they wanted (going early and not booking the hotel through them), they charged me a deviation fee of £20 per person. However, after the fact I learnt that this fee is waived once for Platinum members and above. Basically this means that if you booked your flights it would be waived but if you changed your flights, it would be added back on, I guess like an admin fee. I called back and after an initial 'you are wrong towards me', I showed the website area that shows this and it was removed. The woman I spoke to initially was really helpful all the way through and it wasn't a problem to add the flights after - it was around 7 months between booking the cruise and adding the flights.

 

Here is the website about the fee (last question), incase it is applicable to you: http://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/before-you-book/air-travel/

 

In the past I have booked one way flights for TA's through them and like you say, they are much cheaper. For that however, I did not specify airline etc. I wanted to fly Virgin but it would have been an additional £400pp, so I had to wait for flights to be allocated and was given a direct with BA. Some other people I know were given an indirect but could have paid a small fee to change to a direct.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

Thanks, Its good to know its possible, with RCI if I cannot find flights at the right price myself.

 

Norwegian do good prices Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale but they only go on Tuesdays, so its a bit limiting.

 

(BTW I asked the port in Southampton about parking the car at the port, so it s ready for the return and it is possible to do for not more than the normal cruise price then get the train to heathrow for the flight out

[garycarla]

Sure, you can book and deal with flights later.

 

Airline prices can vary radically from day to day, month to month. Sometimes going a day or more earlier can cut the price way down. You can sometimes buy a roundtrip/return for less money and then just never make the return leg.

 

Or do what we did once. We used one leg to get to Europe, did the TA cruise. Then 6 months latter, we did the TA back to Europe and then used the other half of the air ticket.