Airfare to Hawaii through NCL?

[barbpol]

Has anybody booked airfare to Hawaii through NCL and what was your experience? I'm trying to convince my dh to book the Pride of America for our anniversary in May 2017. I've been tracking airfare from Albany, NY (close to our home) and NYC (about a 3 hour drive) and I haven't seen anything much under $1,000 pp. When I priced it on the website it seems that I would pay the same amount as booking it directly, but I'm worried about not knowing what flights we'd be booked on.

[sunshinechgo]

Try looking at one way tickets to see if it will be cheaper.

 

 

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[zqvol]

If the price is about the same book it yourself. You also might want to consider a day or two layover in LA or SF on the way out. That flight from the NE is brutal, especially if you are not in business class.

[Ontario cruise duo]

Not sure if their procedure has changed, and hopefully it has, but when we did this cruise with air back in 2006 we arrived in Hawaii approximately 2 hours before sailing time. Cutting it close, but at least NCL knew where we were and their were many others on the plane cruising just as we were. If I were you I would take care of it myself and go at least 1 or 2 days ahead of time and spend some extra time in Hawaii before OR after the cruise. On the return flight home it was later in the day, so we rented a car, drove to Lahania and spent the day there. Thoroughly enjoyed that. To have deviated our flights with NCL there would have been surcharges to the same, I believe, or maybe back then we could not have changed anything at all about our flight time arrivals/departures.

[zqvol]

Not sure if their procedure has changed, and hopefully it has, but when we did this cruise with air back in 2006 we arrived in Hawaii approximately 2 hours before sailing time. Cutting it close, but at least NCL knew where we were and their were many others on the plane cruising just as we were. If I were you I would take care of it myself and go at least 1 or 2 days ahead of time and spend some extra time in Hawaii before OR after the cruise. On the return flight home it was later in the day, so we rented a car, drove to Lahania and spent the day there. Thoroughly enjoyed that. To have deviated our flights with NCL there would have been surcharges to the same, I believe, or maybe back then we could not have changed anything at all about our flight time arrivals/departures.

 

Very interesting. I didn't know that any NCL cruises ever ended on Maui.

[punkincc]

Has anybody booked airfare to Hawaii through NCL and what was your experience? I'm trying to convince my dh to book the Pride of America for our anniversary in May 2017. I've been tracking airfare from Albany, NY (close to our home) and NYC (about a 3 hour drive) and I haven't seen anything much under $1,000 pp. When I priced it on the website it seems that I would pay the same amount as booking it directly, but I'm worried about not knowing what flights we'd be booked on.

 

I would avoid booking the air with NCL and keep control of the flights yourself. Add up how many hours you'll be traveling with NCL in one day. You will likely have a layover in California as well. With the 6 hour or more time difference, you will arrive the day of the flight exhausted.

 

I agree with another poster that you should definately break up the flight by at least one extra night with a layover in either Phoenix or a west coast city, SFO, LAX, etc.. HNL is a relatively quick 5 hour flight from these west coast cities.

One POA cruise, we flew to Phoenix and overnighted and then took Hawaiian Air the next morning arriving in HNL about 10 or 11:30, relatively refreshed. I would hesitate to do this if you don't plan on arriving in HNL a day or two early, minimum. Any mainland flight delays would wreak havoc on a plan to fly in the day of, although it would be relatively easy to "catch up" with the ship with inexpensive inter island flights.

 

For Hawaii, you probably need to buy your air as far in advance as possible. I just bought our tx for our next Hawaii cruise, and we are not cruising until October of next year. $219 pp base fare one way on Hawaiian from the west coast. I even paid an extra $80 for Comfort seats and the fare was still under $300. Then, all you need is an inexpensive flight from your gate city to the west coast and a hotel for 1 night. We like Southwest.

Edited December 10, 2016 by punkincc

[fshagan]

For Hawaii, you probably need to buy your air as far in advance as possible. I just bought our tx for our next Hawaii cruise, and we are not cruising until October of next year. $219 pp base fare one way on Hawaiian from the west coast. I even paid an extra $80 for Comfort seats and the fare was still under $300. Then, all you need is an inexpensive flight from your gate city to the west coast and a hotel for 1 night. We like Southwest.

 

This is good advice. See what kind of flights you can get to Phoenix, Los Angeles or San Francisco, and then what flights to Hawai'i cost from those cities. You can often fly to that gateway city, spend a night, and fly to Hawai'i the next day for cheaper than you can fly from the east coast, even if that flight from the east coast changes plans in one of those cities.

[Ontario cruise duo]

Very interesting. I didn't know that any NCL cruises ever ended on Maui.

 

Back then there were two sailings out of Hawaii I believe one was Honolulu and the other was Maui. We chose the cruise leaving and returning to Maui.

[Silver Sweethearts]

Any mainland flight delays would wreak havoc on a plan to fly in the day of, although it would be relatively easy to "catch up" with the ship with inexpensive inter island flights.

 

The ship won't dock at Maui until the next morning, so you would be stuck with the cost of a flight plus a hotel bill and food and taxi cost, etc. until you can board the ship. Inter-island airfare will run you about $93. per person for Island Air and $104. per person for Hawaiian. Not the best way to start a vacation.

[negn]

How about flying out of NYC? You may be able to get Jet Blue to LAX (now about $400 round trip) and catch a different airline to Hawaii. Albany does not have a lot of options for cheap airfare to west coast

[dporter]

Hawaiian air also has direct flights from Las Vegas to Honolulu

[mking8288]

If OP can drive/fly out of JFK - Hawaiian Air is an option: non-stop on wide bodied A330 with meal service in coach - long haul at 11.5 hours, midweek fare with a Sunday PM return is currently around $800 RT per person.

 

NCL Air could possibly be 2 to 3 connections and brutal with jetlag from 6 hour timezone difference, flying in on day of cruise as you really don't have any choice - without paying more $$$ - and the "Add-On" fare from ALB could make it even higher.

 

I would fly in on a Thursday with the lower airfare, spend 3 days in Oahu to get settled & do some sightseeing, or just relax on the beach (oh mine, Waikiki has really shrunk from erosion over the last 25+ years) or pool on land ... to get adjusted to those port-intensive days hopping from island to island, including the 2 overnight stops.

 

Downside to doing a midwest (ORD - UA has a daily nonstop on B777 - but very pricey) or west coast gateway connection, layover or not, is that if the island - mainland flight is CX (cancelled for mechanicals) & there's not seat availabilities or replacement flight/crew & pilot ready to fly until the next day ... you would still be playing catch up, even with full trip insurance on your own covering all the segments. Plus, just like transcon. & flight to/from the island - those flying narrow-body tin cans are just nasty on comfort vis-a-vis prices paid for the fares.

Edited December 11, 2016 by mking8288

[Sea Hag]

We booked air through NCL once. We lived in San Jose, CA at the time, so the trip out was SJC to LAX to Honolulu. Time of day was fine. No complaints on that. Not really complaints about the trip home since we knew the timeframe would be what it was, but I'll never do that again. Please take the following as a narrative, not a long, whiney complaint.

 

Our flight left Honolulu about 10:30 pm. Miserable flight. Guy sitting next to me was asleep and kept flopping over on me. Guy on the other site, my DH, considerately didn't flop over on me. We arrived at LAX so early in the morning that nothing was open and we couldn't even get some desperately needed coffee. Two hour lay over in LAX. On the plus side, we were sure happy to get home.

[bonvoyagie]

Back in 2006 when we were on the POA, our TA looked into the NCL fly and stay packages. We are already on the west coast so the flights were not all that bad - except that we would have to fly from Portland to San Francisco and then to Honolulu. The NCL package included at least one night pre or post cruise and transfers from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the ship.

 

With this knowledge, our TA was able to arrange a direct flight on Hawaiian Airlines from Portland to Honolulu, a lea greeting with transfer to hotel - the flight was not only way more convenient the whole thing was cheaper than NCL.

 

He booked us at the same hotel as the NCL guests and while we did not get all of the same perks as the NCL guests we were able to use the NCL rep in the hotel lobby to get the best way from the hotel to the ship - which happened to be a tour that included Pearl Harbor - a must do. We also booked the Polynesian Culture Center the day after we arrived - also a great way to learn about the various islands of the south pacific. Our TA also arranged a pier to airport transfer as well.

 

All in all we had a great time.

 

In addition to Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines is also flying to Hawaii - I am not sure about their NYC service, but we recently used them to get to Boston - they have a great non-stop flight from there to both Seattle and Portland - from there you can get to Honolulu. I would suggest arriving a day or two early to see Honolulu and Oahu.

[don't-use-real-name]

From NYC you have options - loads of them and lots of airlines.

Having affinity for Delta some of these:

 

NYC (JFK)

) Non-stop seasonal service to Honolulu (HNL)

) thru Atlanta (ATL) and a 365 daily non-stop

) JFK and LGA non-stop to the west coast cites (No Vancouver - (YVR)

and then connecting to the island(s)

) to Atlanta and all west coast cities and connections to the Honolulu & Maui

also a one stop thru Salt Lake City (SLC) and non-stop

) non-stops to Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP) and a seasonal non-stop to Honolulu and

the west coast cities also the Salt Lake City non-stop connection

 

There umpteenth variety of potential connections - your west bound flights

are generally day light flights while the east bound ones are generally red-eye.

 

Now that is just Delta.

 

United operates out of Chicago (ORD) with as many combinations and west coast

connections centering on or thru San Francisco (SFO)

 

American out of Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) with similar combinations and

west coast connections centering on Los Angeles (LAX)

 

Alaska has flights out of the Pacific Northwest

 

AND DON'T FORGET HAWAIIAN with many flights to the Mainland mostly to

the west coast cities mentioned below:

 

West Coast cities San Diego (SAN) - Los Angeles (LAX) - San Francisco (SFO)

San Jose (SJC) -Portland (PDX) - Seattle (SEA) - and some scheduled flights

from Phoenix (PHX) and Las Vegas (LAS) - Canadian flights out of Vancouver (YVR)

 

There is enough traffic to keep the fares low and with better service in premium

coach class cabins than what NCL provides with group cruising affinity classes.

Going independently you will not be tied down with a group like doing a shore

excursion and being tied to their schedule.

 

Make plans and let nothing hold you back cruise ship or not make your trip to

the paradise mecca at least once in your lifetime !

 

ALOHA !

 

And at this time of the year *****

 

"MELE KALIKIMAKA & HAO'LI MAKA HIKI HOU

[pe4all]

We booked direct round-trip direct flights from JFK-Oahu at Jetblue/Hawaiian Airlines for $980 pp. This is during Christmas/NYE week- probably the most expensive time to fly. We have extra comfort seats there and back. We are coming in on a Thursday (have Pearl Harbor tx for Friday am) and taking a 4:20 pm flight back on 12/31. (yes,we will be celebrating NYE in the air!) I would suggest flying in a few days early - there is so much to see in Oahu, and prices will probably be a bit cheaper if you do not fly on a Friday or weekend.

[barbpol]

Thank you for the info, everyone. I think we'll pass on the NCL air. We want to be in Honolulu a day or two before the cruise. I'm still not sure whether to drive to JFK or get a direct flight from Albany to the west coast, then take a flight to Hawaii. I've been wanting to go on this cruise for some time now, but I feel like I don't have enough time to do all the planning.

[pe4all]

Thank you for the info, everyone. I think we'll pass on the NCL air. We want to be in Honolulu a day or two before the cruise. I'm still not sure whether to drive to JFK or get a direct flight from Albany to the west coast, then take a flight to Hawaii. I've been wanting to go on this cruise for some time now, but I feel like I don't have enough time to do all the planning.

If you drive to JFK, just remember that you have to factor parking costs for at least a week into the equation. The parking garages are going up to $35 a day in a few days, and off-site parking will cost you a minimum of $18 per day in a secured JFK lot. If you go to the west coast you are potentially "losing" a day you could have been in Oahu. Personally, I would rather go directly to Oahu and use that time to see the island instead of taking a flight to the west coast and "wasting" a day there.