Buy your airfare now...

[soozaay]

Since Continental is going to be adding a $40 fuel surcharge (each way)....and I am sure the other airlines will soon follow...if you can get a good deal on airfare, get it now before you have to pay an extra 80 bucks just for the surcharge. We're cruising in September and just bought our airline tickets last night.... even if the price of the ticket goes down, at least we're not paying the fuel surcharge.... just an idea.

 

Susie & Harry

 

Days Until Our 1st Anniversary Cruise on the Caribbean Princess...

 

Navigator of the Seas BACK-TO-BACK! 5/31/03 & 6/7/03 (Honeymoon!)

Enchantment of the Seas 11/4/01 (Got Engaged!)

 

A Bad of Cruising is Better than a Good Day at Work!

[fig414]

Very sage advice.

 

Fig

Caribbean Princess 9/18

[Hulagirl]

We were told that Alaska Airlines will be adding a $25.00 per person charge on our tickets next week also. So I went ahead and payed off Disneyland today just to save the $75.00 for the 3 of us. Just hate to pay more for the same thing. Bet we will see all the airlines follow.

 

Hulagirl

 

Grand Princess Baltic Cruise

 

Star Princess Eastern Caribbean

 

Diamond Princess Northwest Cruise

 

[CruiseFever]

Excellent Advice....thanks again to the board!

 

Special thanks to Dosi- wise beyong words about air

 

I got nervous about this a couple days ago and booked some air I would normally have waited on just for that very reason.

 

I'm glad I did!

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Diamond Princess 12/22/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

Carnival Valor 10/30/05

[soozaay]

Chris~

We did exactly the same thing. We're usually "wait until 14-days prior" type of people, but we didn't want to pay for nothing....I want to know that when I'm sitting in that ever-so-comfortable seat, drinking my 1/2 can of soda, that I paid for exactly that!

 

Susie & Harry

 

Days Until Our 1st Anniversary Cruise on the Caribbean Princess...

 

Navigator of the Seas BACK-TO-BACK! 5/31/03 & 6/7/03 (Honeymoon!)

Enchantment of the Seas 11/4/01 (Got Engaged!)

 

A Bad of Cruising is Better than a Good Day at Work!

[laginog]

We bought our airfare last week for two trips that we have coming up in August and September. One flight has gone up from $247 to $305 and the other one has gone up from $265 to $285 in one week. I'm glad we bought ours. Although...they very well could drop back down. I'm just watching and if they do, I'll call the airlines and get vouchers for the difference.

 

Car Destiny-W Caribbean-6/1/00

Sovereign - Bahamas - 6/15/01

Star Princess-Alaska-7/16/02

Navigator-E Caribbean-8/02/03

Mariner-W Caribbean-01/25/04

Caribbean Princess - 9/25/04

 

UNTIL THE CARIBBEAN PRINCESS !!!!!!

 

 

 

Kathi

 

 

 

 

LOVE THE VOYAGER AND GRAND CLASS!!! BUT ANY SHIP WILL DO!!!

[dcourt]

I have a cruise coming in September and I purchased those in March but I also have a cruise coming in November (10 glorious days during Thanksgiving) and I purchased them in April. My travel agent thought I was nuts to purchase so far in advance. About 3 weeks ago I went out and found my exact flight went from $271 per person to $539 per person. Now, I have extra money for the spa treatment I want!! Boy, am I glad I didn't listen to my travel agent this time. I think anyone who is planning on flying this year should go ahead and purchase your tickets. It's not going to get any cheaper than right now. IMHO!!!

 

 

Nordic Empress 3/03

 

Star Princess 10/03

 

Legend of the Seas 9/04

Parents 60th Anniversary Cruise

 

Dawn Princess 11/04 Thanksgiving Cruise with Family

 

[CruiseFever]

All- are we lucky or smart?

 

Let's go with smart.

 

Make that savy.

 

Yes, savy travelers!

 

I'm just glad I hang out on this board so I got the word to buy ...and not too late.

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Diamond Princess 12/22/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

Carnival Valor 10/30/05

 

[Florida Beach]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by soozaay:

...if you can get a good deal on airfare, get it now before you have to pay an extra .... just an idea.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Thanks for the warning, just booked my air this morning

 

I don't believe that within 2 days time frame, the price had increase $40 each. I am out $160 for booking 2 days late

 

I feel so much better when I came back to check on something else, and found that the price for the schedule we selected had increase again (+$20)

 

Thanks

 

March 28, 2004 - Mariner of the Seas

July 4, 2004 - Sapphire Princess - Alaska

[lmmn]

Our airfare went down in price this week. I called Northwest to get a voucher, and they are now charging a fee. I thought she said it would be $25 per ticket, but for some reason for the 3 of us she said it was $36...seemed like a random number. Anyway, the amount wasn't worth the hassle. I'm having a tough time with high season prices for our summer cruise...no good deals...except for my room through Priceline! At least the kids will not miss any school.

 

Explorer of the Seas ~ 10/02

Majesty of the Seas ~ 1/03

Majesty of the Seas ~ 8/11/03

Navigator of the Seas ~ 10/11/03

Serenade of the Seas ~ 1/31/04

Caribbean Princess ~ 8/14/04

Adventure of the Seas ~ 1/30/05

[soozaay]

I'm happy to hear that everyone is saving....I don't feel so bad that we bought our airfare so early now!

 

Susie & Harry

 

Days Until Our 1st Anniversary Cruise on the Caribbean Princess...

 

Navigator of the Seas BACK-TO-BACK! 5/31/03 & 6/7/03 (Honeymoon!)

Enchantment of the Seas 11/4/01 (Got Engaged!)

 

A Bad Day of Cruising is Better than a Good Day at Work!

[prophotogal]

I bought mine this last Thursday to go from DFW to FLL on Oct. 30. A week ago yesterday the ticket was $347 on AA.com. I bought mine on AA.com 2 days ago for $216.40! It came down $130!

 

Caribbean Princess here I come!

 

Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often!

Peace, Love and Mickey Mouse!

 

~ Heather ~ ºoº

[cruisingfreak]

We bought our tickets in March, non-stop from Newark-Lax 12/17. Today checked the price, up $320 p/p. Am I glad we booked when we did.

 

 

Minette

[SF]

Not sure if this is true or not but if the airlines add a fuel surcharge then they can still make people pay it who have already paid for their tickets. From what I heard (don't know if it's 100 percent correct) but they can't increase your fare but you would be responsible for an added "fuel charge".

 

Does anyone who works for the airlines know if this is true.

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2004><param name="month" value=07><param name="day" value=17><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Navigator of the Seas 7/17/2004

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2004><param name="month" value=12><param name="day" value=26><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Jewel of the Seas 12/26/2004

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2005><param name="month" value=02><param name="day" value=27><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Radiance of the Seas 2/27/2005

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2005><param name="month" value=07><param name="day" value=16><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Caribbean Princess 7/16/2005

 

 

 

 

 

[Coral]

SF - several years ago this happened. When we got to the airport, we had to dish out another $20 pp for fuel costs.

[SF]

Coral:

 

Thanks for clearing that up, appreciate your help. I thought the airlines did have the right to charge paid customers the "fuel charge" amnt.but wasn't 100 percent sure. Airline fares are bound to go up and it's still a good idea to purchase your tickets as soon as you know the exact dates.

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2004><param name="month" value=07><param name="day" value=17><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Navigator of the Seas 7/17/2004

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2004><param name="month" value=12><param name="day" value=26><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Jewel of the Seas 12/26/2004

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2005><param name="month" value=02><param name="day" value=27><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Radiance of the Seas 2/27/2005

 

<applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

<param name="font" value="lcdb0">

<param name="year" value=2005><param name="month" value=07><param name="day" value=16><param name="hour" value=17><param name="minute" value=00>

</applet>

Caribbean Princess 7/16/2005

 

 

 

 

 

[marciemi]

We just got some great deals on air - got Detroit to Los Angeles for our Dec cruise for $212 per person on Spirit. Then just got my son tickets from Detroit to Denver on Northwest - without a Saturday night stay - for only $200.20! My husband had to book his ticket through work (my son's going out to camp while he's out there on business) and he paid nearly $300, but still cheap I think for no Sat night and the distance! I jumped on all these because I can't believe they'd go down from there!

 

Big Red Boat '88,

Fair Princess '90,

Norway '91,

Regal Princess '91,

Carnival Fantasy '93,

Regent Rainbow '95,

Big Red Boat '98,

Disney Wonder '00,

Grand Princess 11/16/03,

Voyager of the Seas 09/10/04

Diamond Princess 12/4/04

 

<MARQUEE> Voyager of the Seas - 9/10/2004 <MARQUEE>

[Cruisin' Lisa]

Decided to buy our airline tickets for our August C.P. cruise this weekend because of fear that prices would go up due to increasing fares.

 

Checked last night and it was $272. Today it was $240 web special. . .except I needed to buy 6 and I could only get 4 at that price. When I tried getting the other two, the lowest price now increased 5 minutes later to $305! !

 

I ended up getting the other two at the higher fare because 1.) the reservation agent said we could get a credit voucher if the prices came down later and 2) because getting it through a real agent was actually less expensive by $7/person than getting the remaining tickets on the web.

 

I didn't want to wait much longer since all six of the family needed to obviously be on the same flight and we had to have that particular red -eye flight in order to arrive by noon in Fort Lauderdale from LAX. (Due to the 3 hour time difference, we had the choice of either taking a red eye the night before the cruise and getting into Florida at 8 am, or waiting to catch the next available flight at 7:40 am the day the cruise departs and not getting in until 4 pm which will be too late to board. . .sigh).

 

Sheesh! I can't believe the prices changed $60 in 5 minutes -- and I even verified the increased prices on Travelocity, Cheaperseats, and by calling American Air directly etc.

 

Lisa

 

Caribbean Princess 08/21/2004

Dawn Princess Repositioning Pacific Coastal Cruise 05/07/2004

Carnival Ecstasy January 2004

Carnival Ecstasy April 2003

Star Princess (Mexican Riviera) Christmas 2002

Royal Caribbean January 2000

NCL Windstar(Alaska) August 1995

[laginog]

I was booking our flights for 8 of us. I called Delta because they had the best flight times for us and both Delta and United had the same price of $248. Online, I could only book 7 tickets and we needed 8. When I called them, she said I could only get 5 tickets for $248 and the other 3 tickets would be $305. I told her to forget it because we could get them on United for $248 and just catch a flight two hours later. She said "Wait, let me try something. OK, that worked. I just changed something around and got you all in for that price". I had heard that the airlines kind of "price match". So...if you get into that situation, push them a little bit!! Since then, I've been checking the price and I notice that the more tickets you put in, the higher the price per ticket is.

 

Car Destiny-W Caribbean-6/1/00

Sovereign - Bahamas - 6/15/01

Star Princess-Alaska-7/16/02

Navigator-E Caribbean-8/02/03

Mariner-W Caribbean-01/25/04

Caribbean Princess - 9/25/04

 

UNTIL THE CARIBBEAN PRINCESS !!!!!!

 

 

 

Kathi

 

 

 

 

LOVE THE VOYAGER AND GRAND CLASS!!! BUT ANY SHIP WILL DO!!!

[NitaBcruising]

Thanks for the tip. But, it's still not cheap for us. We need to fly out of Portland to Ft. Lauderdale, Oct. 31st and return Nov. 7th. Until SW has their schedule out through Nov. and posts a sale, we can't get anything cheap to the east coast. When SW has a sale, the others match. I usually go with AA, but also have with Cont. and Delta. The fare is now almost $150 pp higher than we usually pay, so the $40 pp will still be better, if it comes on sale! IF!!! We can use FF miles, if it's not reasonable ever.

 

Nita

[laurieb]

when we flew to fll this past January, Continental was by far the best deal. I was checking multipal airines every day, and when I found Cont. for 235pp, I bought. The schedule was horrible going there, 12:30 am on new years day, but it worked out great. i have always found SW to be high. Too bad Jetblue doesn't fly out of pdx.

 

Laurie

Zenith 02/01

Century 01/02

Century 02/02

Tahitian Princess 01/03

Century 01/04

Tahitian Princess 01/05

[CruiseFever]

This in today from Travel Weekly magazine:

 

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Gas prices reach highs as industry adapts (5/25/2004)

 

 

WASHINGTON -- As the nation heads into the peak summer travel season, the travel industry is abuzz about fuel prices: $41 for a barrel of crude, $2 for a gallon of regular unleaded and $1 for a gallon of jet fuel.

Such record high prices could get in the way of a recovery, but the gathering consensus so far is that consumers want to travel -- and appear willing to pay the price.

 

The big questions are: For how long will they be willing to do so and for how long will travel companies withstand their rising energy costs?

 

Airlines

 

Among travel suppliers, the most vulnerable to fuel price increases are the airlines, which burn 18 billion gallons of jet fuel a year, at a cost that now exceeds $1 a gallon, according to the Air Transport Association (ATA).

 

By the ATA's reckoning, last week's $40 price for a barrel of crude marks an increase of about $12 over the last 12 months. And each dollar increase in the price of crude means an additional $425 million in fuel costs for the U.S. airline industry.

 

Airlines learned a lot during previous oil shocks about the importance of using fuel-efficient aircraft, reducing unnecessary weight in galleys and elsewhere, conserving fuel during taxiing and in flight, hedging on prices with futures contracts and other money-saving tactics.

 

They learned so much that there's not a lot more they can do on the conservation front. And with demand rising, cutting back on capacity is not an attractive option.

 

Airlines, therefore, are struggling to control other costs and raise fares where and when they can. For competitive reasons, however, the increases don't always stick.

 

In the latest action, Continental boosted one-way fares $10 in markets for flights under 1,000 miles and $20 for longer hauls. While several major carriers were matching, Continental announced May 24 it was rescinding the fare hike. Just two weeks earlier, American withdrew a similar boost when major competitors declined to match.

 

The ATA, meanwhile, has turned its attention to government policies regarding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The government has been buying crude oil and increasing the stockpile, but the ATA said that when prices are high, as they are now, the government should stop buying and allow the oil to reach the marketplace, where it could add to the available supply and reduce prices by up to 10%. So far, however, the Bush administration is still buying.

 

Cruise lines

 

Cruise lines are as dependent on oil as airlines are, but cruise ships typically use a lower grade of fuel to power their diesel engines, and diesel fuel is generally far cheaper than more refined products such as jet fuel and gasoline.

 

One exception is the newer ships that have gas turbine engines, which use a higher, more expensive grade of fuel and consume more fuel than their diesel counterparts.

 

 

Fuel expenses currently account for about 5.5% of revenues at cruise giant Carnival Corp.; last year, fuel was 5.2% of total revenues at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the second-largest cruise company.

 

One cruise analyst, Tim Conder with A.G. Edwards, said in a recent research report that fuel is "the most significant cost issue to monitor."

 

Conder estimated that a $1 change in the price of crude oil translates to approximately two cents per share annually for Carnival Corp. and about three cents per share for RCCL.

 

Carnival does not hedge its fuel exposure, and RCCL normally hedges 40% to 60% of its annual fuel exposure, Conder said. Neither company, however, has seen the need for a fare hike. As a Carnival spokeswoman put it, "The increased fuel costs are handled as an increased cost of doing business."

 

 

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Diamond Princess 12/22/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

Carnival Valor 10/30/05

 

[mary07054]

we booked our airfare a few months ago for 8/14 on cp. newark to fll $239. now it's $229.

go figure

[PJCruisers]

I booked our air a couple of weeks ago for a 11-22 sailing becuase I was nervous about the fuel situation.We got a great deal

However, it is on Delta airlines and I read they may file bankruptcy if the pilot union does not agree to salary concessions. Oh well perhaps they will continue to fly under the bankruptcy

 

J&P

http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;11;22;17;30;00&timezone=GMT-0500' alt='countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800080&cdt=2004;11;22;17;30;00&timezone=GMT-0500'>

[sboh]

When shopping for airfare I first go to a web site called:

www.itasoftware.com

They are apparently the people who created the matrix system that a lot of reservation systems use. If you look at the top right of the screen there is an item called something like "shopping for airfare?". If you click on that you can put in all kinds of variables and it will search for routes and prices starting with lowest. Now you can't purchase tickets from them but it does give you a good idea of what's available and what prices you should be looking for. Also tips you off to things like long layovers, tight connections. Really a lot of information if you like to research. Anyway, I find it helpful.