Benefit to book the air with the cruiseline?

[terryde]

We are thinking of booking our air through priceline or hotwire - to come in a day early to San Juan and leave a day later - and the rates are so much cheaper this way! Does anyone have pros and cons that I should consider? We are booking now for next May 2006, thinking air prices might skyrocket with the fuel situation. Thanks,

[IMNiles]

The big advantage to booking with the cruiseline is that it's generally their responsibility to cope with itinerary changes, etc, and generally they also handle ground transfers for a more seamless plane-to-ship experience. However, in my limited experience with cruiseline air (I tried it once in LA when sailing Vision), they were so disorganized that it would have been easier to just get to the port myself. The experience on the other end in Vancouver was seamless, though, and I was able to take advantage of the new US Direct program and pretty much sail right through customs - it was very convenient. In general, though, the flights they book can be at suboptimal times, and you may not be able to earn frequent flier mileage, depending on the airline.

 

Despite the convenience of all-in-one booking, I usually opt to book myself, because the price difference is so staggering.

[truffles2]

We have always been able to collect FF miles on air arranged by RCI. It is almost always less expensive for us too, because we are not in a major hub.

[awm]

I have only booked air thru the cruise line once, for our trip next week.

Well, where do I start?

Our flight leaves at 6AM which means we have to get up at 3:30AM. The flight goes in the opposite direction to Atlanta where we get to wait and then board another flight.

I won't do it again!

[juliew]

I have only booked air thru the cruise line once, for our trip next week.

Well, where do I start?

Our flight leaves at 6AM which means we have to get up at 3:30AM. The flight goes in the opposite direction to Atlanta where we get to wait and then board another flight.

I won't do it again!

 

It really just depends. Sometimes you can save quite a bit and if you are coming in a day before your cruise, it's a fairly safe bet that you won't miss your ship.

 

We are on the AOS in November and booked everything (even the one night prestay) through RCCL - for us and our air city, air was about the same - I decided to do an air deviation for $50pp extra to be able to choose my flight times - my C&A coupon offset the $50 charge - so it worked out fine. I am happy to have eveerything rolled up into one this time.

 

There are pros and cons both ways. Just make the choice that's right for you and don't look back.

[Barbee524]

We always book our own flights from Chicago it's usually cheaper.

 

The worst thing I ever heard on having the cruise line book your flights was a woman on our Alaska cruise this summer who had four connecting flights to get to Orange County airport. She was going Vancouver to Seattle, Seattle to San Francisco, San Francisco to Los Angeles and finally Los Angeles to Orange County. So as you can see the cruise lines look for cheap not direct. I can understand one connecting flight but this was a bit ridiculous.

[paulap70]

I find the cruise line air fare to be extremely high in comparison to what I can usually find myself. I also like to arrive a day or two early and even leave a day or two later to have a nice, extended vacation. For example, we're on the AOS in late November and found $228 round-trip tickets from ORD-SJU when cruise line was going to charge $749 each. We're using the "$1000" savings to pay for a couple of nights at the Intercontinental in San Juan!

[wrp96]

I have only booked air thru the cruise line once, for our trip next week.

Well, where do I start?

Our flight leaves at 6AM which means we have to get up at 3:30AM. The flight goes in the opposite direction to Atlanta where we get to wait and then board another flight.

I won't do it again!

 

Where are you coming from? From where I live, the only way to make a cruise flying day of is to take a 6am flight and sit in an airport somewhere with a connection.

 

I've had good experiences with cruiseline air. For me, it has usually been the same price or cheaper than booking it myself, especially when you figure in the costs of ground transportation, and they have placed me on the flights I would have choosed if I had booked myself.

 

However, my last cruise, they forgot to book my airplane flights. I made it there fine, still on the flights I would've chosen, but it was really stressful not having it all settled until the night before the cruise.

 

For my cruise in December I've booked my own flights on Southwest because I can fly Southwest to Houston (unlike Ft. Lauderdale, because Southwest doesn't allow booking between Little Rock and FLL).

 

For my March cruise out of SJU, we went custom air through the cruise lines. Even with the $50 custom fee, which will be waived when I turn platinum in December, the cost through RCI is still less expensive than if I had booked the flights myself. And this is even if I had waited until this weeks fare sale on AA, which still has those same flights at least $50 more per person than RCI, and that's the lowest I've seen them.

[wrp96]

We always book our own flights from Chicago it's usually cheaper.

 

The worst thing I ever heard on having the cruise line book your flights was a woman on our Alaska cruise this summer who had four connecting flights to get to Orange County airport. She was going Vancouver to Seattle, Seattle to San Francisco, San Francisco to Los Angeles and finally Los Angeles to Orange County. So as you can see the cruise lines look for cheap not direct. I can understand one connecting flight but this was a bit ridiculous.

 

That sounds like one of the "cheap" options I found when looking for flights for my upcoming southern caribbean cruise. For the same price as cruise air, I could purposefully book myself onto a Little Rock-Chicago-St. Louis-JFK-San Juan flight or a Little Rock-DFW-Raleigh-JFK-San Juan flight, both coming back on San Juan-Ft. Lauderdale-Chicago-Little Rock flights. And in addition to getting to pay over $600 per person for these wonderful flights, I would have gotten to leave before 6 am and not get into San Juan until the middle of the night.

[firstcruise05]

I booked our plane reservations through the cruiseline. I did this because we are getting married the day before (our reception ends at midnight on Saturday and the ship leaves Sunday at 5pm). We didn't have the option to wait a week to go on our honeymoon, it was that week or never so we jumped on it. I wanted as much protection as I could get since we are cutting it a little close. I also wanted hassle free transfers to and from the ship for our honeymoon since, like I said before we are cutting it a little close.

 

As another posted said: RCCL booked us on a 6am flight out of Hartford with a layover in Atlanta. That is fine with me since I want to leave plenty of time between the flight and the sailaway. But we are going to be exhausted since we have to leave at 4 am for a 6 am flight.

 

It was also more expensive but we did it for piece of mind (we also got trip insurance). If we decide we like cruising and want to try it again...we will book our own air and fly in a day or two early, that just wasn't an option this time.

[steve20832]

If you are not cruising during hurricane season, I would suggest booking the airfare yourself. If you are cruising during hurricane season, I would book it though the cruiseline. Sometimes ports change or days you board the ship change if there is a hurricane near the port you depart from. If you book the air through the cruiseline, it is thier responsibility to get you on the cruiseship. If you book the air on your own, it is the passangers responsibility to find the ship and reschedule airfare (your airline may charge a fee to reschedule it.)

[negc]

I have only booked air thru the cruise line once, for our trip next week.

Well, where do I start?

Our flight leaves at 6AM which means we have to get up at 3:30AM. The flight goes in the opposite direction to Atlanta where we get to wait and then board another flight.

I won't do it again!

You don't say where you are flying to or from. The kind of flight plan that you describe is not unusual in many cases and frequently has nothing to do with whether you booked through the cruiseline or your own. I know someone who wants to fly from Boston, MA to Buffalo, NY (no cruise involved) and they have a choice of flying first to Washington, DC, or Charlotte, NC. and then on to Buffalo and costing between $400 and $500 or taking the one direct flight between Boston and Buffalo. In that instance the airfare (coach) was over $900. Cruiselines do a lot of things for which they can be criticized but ridiculous airline routings and outrageous airfares are most often the fault of the airlines themselves, not the cruiselines

 

When we cruise, we have often been able to find our own airfare for less than what the cruiselines charge. However, in those instances where the cruisline is offering less expensive airfare (one way flights or open-jaw flights for example) we book through the cruiseline and use their custom air department to specify the flights or airline that we want to use (and we get the frequent flyer points) :) Crown and Anchor members, once they reach Platinum level can get the custom air fee waived so that option is even more attractive.

[cruiselvr04]

Firstcruise05 - Just be sure you have at least 3 wakeup calls before your flight. You WILL be exhausted after your wedding. We know a couple who used only the wake up call at the hotel and the hotel messed up. They missed their flight and they missed the first two days of their cruise. Have someone call you (like good old mom and dad) and set an alarm. Sounds like overkill but you do not want to over sleep.

We use cruise air only when it is cheaper. We got a great promo airfare for our Feb cruise out of San Juan but usually can do better on own own. I prefer getting my own taxi's as it is faster than the ships transportation but use the ship's when we get the whole package.

[pokyd]

This depends on two things: where you live and how you deal with exhaustion.

 

From some places the cruiseline airfare will be as cheap or cheaper that what you can book on your own; it just depends on where. Do what saves you money.

 

But, having done cruiseline airfare a few times, it is exhausting. It is always an early morning flight with at least one connection so by the time you get to the ship you are really tired. If you fly in early and stay overnight you are much fresher the day of the cruise.

 

But on the positive side I have been on cruises where they've held the ship as long as 6 hours for a group coming on a flight they booked. Won't happen if you book yourself unless you just happen to be on the same flight as dozens of other cruisers. So you need to do what's best for you, bottomline.

[Happy ks]

I didn't have time to read all the posts, but I just want to tell the OP their plans sound perfect to me.

[Giorgi-one]

I just booked round trip to Miami for next August on American Airlines for $120.40 per person. I believe cruise air is $400 per person.

 

Always book your own air and always travel at least one day early. Even if cruise line waits for your flight (hightly unlikely) they won't wait to find your bags.

[micruiser2002]

I normally book my own air because living 15 minutes from DTW I can usually get very good deals on NWA.

 

Now with that said, I am right now researching the Granduer sailing April 29 and it leaves out of Tampa and we end up in San Juan. When I tried to price that right now with NWA it was over $800.00, while RCI has it for $509.00. I can also do custom air with the fee waived so I can make sure I get the flights I want. My only reason for using RCI now for this is the status of NWA right now. If anything happens between now and April I would rather have RCI have to deal with it.

[negc]

Always check out all of your options before you decide how to purchase your airfare (on your own or through the airline). Disregard those posts that tell you that one option is always cheaper or better than the other. Very few things are "always" anything. ;)

 

Whenever possible it is advisable to fly to your destination port city a day or more early, especially if you are cruising during winter months and live in a northern city. You can fly in early and still use the cruiseline's airfare if that turns out to be your best choice. :)

[MaryEBS]

I have always sailed from Miami or Fort Lauderdale so I have never needed to use the cruiseline to book airline tickets, However, last year our 7 day cruise on the Navigator turned out to be a 9 day cruise courtesy of hurricane Jeanne. The cruiseline made arrangements for everyone who they had originally booked the air travel for. Everyone else stood in line for hours trying to use one of the four telephones available to contact airlines. The lines for the internet were considerably shorter but still a long wait.

[emeraldcity]

My method is to book the air through the cruiseline ... which locks in a price. Since I booked over a year out, that could turn out to be a very good move. Meanwhile, I sit back and watch the airline pricing. Invariably, there's a nice drop in airfare pricing several months out. I grab it, then cancel the air part of the cruise booking. As long as you do that prior to final payment, it's pretty easy.

[tarps14]

Terryde, please, oh please do a search for Jaxon41's experience on booking air through the cruiseline. It's best to know the good and the bad when making this decision. We have done both, through the cruiseline and on our own. I would say 95% of the time we have gotten cheaper air on our own. It is convenient doing it through the cruiseline as they take care of transfers, luggage, etc. But we are not independently wealthy and whenever we can save a few bucks we'll do it. (More $ for the cabin as we do love our balcony!) Good luck to you.

[firstcruise05]

Cruiselvr04- Actually, Dad is bringing us to the airport that morning. He is very precise when it comes to traveling...to the point that it isn't always a pleasant experience getting to the plane with him but he gets us there on time always. He doesn't like to get behind schedule so I'm pretty certain my new DH will be prepared before he gets there to pick us up. Good idea though...to double up on the wake up calls. I may do that anyway since we will all be pretty darn tired.

[steve20832]

Cruiselvr04- Actually, Dad is bringing us to the airport that morning. He is very precise when it comes to traveling...to the point that it isn't always a pleasant experience getting to the plane with him but he gets us there on time always. He doesn't like to get behind schedule so I'm pretty certain my new DH will be prepared before he gets there to pick us up. Good idea though...to double up on the wake up calls. I may do that anyway since we will all be pretty darn tired.

 

If dad wakes you up with one of those boat airhorn's you won't be tired. :eek: