Question About Cruise-line Air

[JENNIEROEBUCK]

:confused: HAS ANYONE HAD ANY EXPERIENCE WITH CHANGING THEIR FLIGHT TIMES? I BOOKED AIR (NOT CUSTOM) THROUGH RCCL AND WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE MY 6 AM FLIGHT TO A 10PM FLIGHT (10PM IS LESS EXPENSIVE). CAN I DO THIS? WILL I BE CHARGED A FEE EVEN THOUGH THE FLIGHT I WANT IS CHEAPER? THIS IS THROUGH DELTA. ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT!:confused:

[texancruzer]

so I'll give you the condensed version ....

 

$200.00 of non-refundable fees later - I cancelled my air through RCL and booked my own. Original flights through Continental (they kept changing the times and put us in at midnight !!!!!) and now on American with the times I want and only 1 stop in Dallas.

 

(Expensive) Lesson learned: I will never use cruiseline air again. :(

[CaptData]

From the sounds of it you want to make a special request of the Cruise line air. That will cost you more money ($50.00 I think for the change) then any price difference will be your responisbility ( I know you said it is less but they will not refund you the difference). Good luck.

[wrp96]

If you booked through Cruiseline air, and they have already booked your flights, which sounds like what has happened in your case. Then you will have to pay massive fees (not just the custom air fee) to change your flights, if they even let you do it at all.

 

The fact that the 10pm flight would be cheaper for you if you booked it directly doesn't make any difference.

 

For example, per RCI's website: We were required to fly out at 6am when I know that there were empty seats on later flights?

Airlines allocate only a certain amount of seats for cruise lines on flights. We do not have access to every seat on an aircraft at our contracted fare rate. Rule of thumb-the more popular a flight, the fewer seats the airline will sell us at our contracted rate. If you have a time of day departure preference, please request CUSTOM AIR for a nominal service fee. Additional air costs may also apply.

[JENNIEROEBUCK]

Well That Sucks!

Thanks For The Replies (even Though It's Not What I Wanted To Hear!) I Guess I'll Just Tough It Out. Lesson Learned I Guess. Thanks Again.:(

[Coralc]

Texancruzer. I have a question...at what point in the booking process did you cancel the cruise line air and go to book your own? It is my understanding that you can cancel cruise line air before final payment without penalty, are you after that date?

 

I added cruise line air to our one way Hawai cruise 10/2006. I think I will probably do better on my own as the cruise approaches. We are locked at 2005 pricing if I can't, but I plan to cancel it before final payment. Could you please explain a little more? Thanks :)

[texancruzer]

In March we booked cruise along with custom air (with Continental) and paid $50.00 "Custom Air Fee" PER PERSON ($100.) We chose our flights and opted for only 1 stop in Houston resulting in a higher airfare. We wanted to have all details nailed down from the start thus we chose the custom air.

Then Continental changed the flight time (they only have one flight from Houston to San Juan per day) which put us to the hotel @ midnight on Friday. We were flying in a day early. But wanted to be in San Juan for dinner and to go salsa dancing so wanted to change. This meant we would have to change airlines since they only had one flight. At this point we decided to go another day earlier (Thanksgiving Day). SO SINCE WE WERE NOT ONLY CHANGING THE DAY BUT ALSO THE AIRLINE WE HAD TO INCUR A "CHANGE FEE" (again $100.) Still no problem - we knew we would have to pay another fee. Well to make a long story short RCL changed the flight down (to American Air) but not the one back (which was our original 10:45 flight on Continental). Everyone said make it later as it would be a hassle to get to airport and on plane on time...also wanted to fly same airline down and back. When I pointed this error out to my TA she called but RCL said it would cost another "change fee" whhooaaa nellie. no way. I had already paid 2/3 of total cost for cruise, air and hotel. Anyway I just cancelled air thru RCL which resulted in a credit which they promptly put back on my credit card. Of course the credit did not include the $200.00 worth of "fees". I realize that rcl can not control Continentals schedule, but the second "error" was not handled well at all. I will not do this again. At least when I book my own air I do not have to go thru all the hassle of working with the ins and outs of rcl's policies of fees etc.

[Coralc]

Oh OK, texascruzen. That explains your situation nicely. I'm sorry it was such an expensive hassle for you. We generally book our own air, and this is first time I have added (even briefly) cruise line air, only because it includes the $70 p/p transfers from Ensenada to San Diego. I know nothing about custom air, but I am learning more, and I appreciate you sharing the information. Thanks! :)