Ontario Cruisers AOS from San Juan Question

[docd]

I normally fly in the day before embarkation. Might not be feasible for our AoS cruise from San Juan. It embarks at 8pm I believe.

 

Any experience flying in the same day from Toronto? Anyone fly with a connecting arrival flight? I am considering Choiceair for this flight but not sure of the price difference compared to booking direct. Doesnt seem like there is one atm. For those that used Choiceair, if there is a

price drop can you do anything to get the new price?

 

 

Anyone suggest some ballpark prices for a December flight from Pearson to San Juan? Just want to know what is a terrible or reasonable price. Right now flights are about $600USD direct and $400USD connecting. I would guess $400USD direct would be a pretty good price.

 

Purchasing the flights is always the worst part of travel for me.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

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[ckrobyn]

I normally fly in the day before embarkation. Might not be feasible for our AoS cruise from San Juan. It embarks at 8pm I believe.

 

Any experience flying in the same day from Toronto? Anyone fly with a connecting arrival flight? I am considering Choiceair for this flight but not sure of the price difference compared to booking direct. Doesnt seem like there is one atm. For those that used Choiceair, if there is a

price drop can you do anything to get the new price?

 

 

Anyone suggest some ballpark prices for a December flight from Pearson to San Juan? Just want to know what is a terrible or reasonable price. Right now flights are about $600USD direct and $400USD connecting. I would guess $400USD direct would be a pretty good price.

 

Purchasing the flights is always the worst part of travel for me.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

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I have sailed on the AOS at least 14 X in the winter months, flying from Pearson to SJU. I highly recommend flying to SJ the day before. Personally, I would never take the risk with our Canadian winters and fly in the day of the cruise - even if the ship doesn't depart until 8pm.

Years back there were 2 direct flights on AC on both Saturday and Sunday, but I believe that is discontinued. We always fly the day before with a short stop-over in MIA - important that you are flying into the sun for your connection, and not another potentially snowy city!

 

We have flown on both AC and AA and the cost PP usually runs around $600 - I would also suggest Expedia as they will show the best prices with a variety of airlines. We try and use the same airline right through to save on paying baggage fees twice :eek:

 

I am sailing on the AOS in November, and even though there likely won't be snow - I am flying in a day or two early :D

[cruzgryphon]

Just be careful with connecting flights irrespective of airline.

 

This past December I flew to San Juan via Miami on American Airlines. There wasn't any snow or anything like that and the flight left from Pearson on time. However when we got to Miami there was a big storm around the airport and we got redirected to Fort Lauderdale until the storm left.

 

Even though I had 2 hours time between arrival and departure of my connecting flight, I still missed the connection and the next available flight with room didn't leave until 4:30pm arriving in San Juan until just after 8pm local time (don't forget San Juan is an hour ahead of us).

 

Luckily I was flying in a day earlier or else it would have been an utter disaster.

[docd]

Thanks for the feedback. The ONLY way I would fly in the same day, especially with a connecting flight, is through Choiceair with RCCL.

 

I'd prefer to fly in the day before but the current prices are quite a bit higher for that flight. That could change though.

 

Thanks!

 

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[Ourusualbeach]

I ended up cancelling my Adventure cruise for March 2018 based on months of found mock bookings for March 2017. Too bad as I had one of the JS's that were originally priced less than a balcony. The direct flights that were available were crazy expensive and the connecting flights were 12 hour journeys.

 

I had originally booked hoping to be able to use aeroplan miles to get flights for the 4 of us. It could be done flying out of Buffalo on a partner airline but it was a 21 hour journey arriving at 3am the day we sail....no thanks.

[docd]

I ended up cancelling my Adventure cruise for March 2018 based on months of found mock bookings for March 2017. Too bad as I had one of the JS's that were originally priced less than a balcony. The direct flights that were available were crazy expensive and the connecting flights were 12 hour journeys.

 

I had originally booked hoping to be able to use aeroplan miles to get flights for the 4 of us. It could be done flying out of Buffalo on a partner airline but it was a 21 hour journey arriving at 3am the day we sail....no thanks.

Yes this is part of my problem. The flights are expensive right now, but the cruise is far off. So, I simply dont know what to expect. I'd like to assume flight fares will drop 30%+ but I just have no clue Ultimately we may switch to different cruise out of FL if airfare stays high.

 

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[Spire2000]

Consider checking prices out of Buffalo. It might be worth the drive.

[Fouremco]

Consider checking prices out of Buffalo. It might be worth the drive.

Yes, a dummy booking gave me $502CAD out of Buffalo.

[docd]

Consider checking prices out of Buffalo. It might be worth the drive.

Yes, on my list of places to check along with Detroit. We flew out of Buffalo last trip. Easy drive, reasonable parking and nice airport. Would totally fly fom there again.

 

I think part of my price problem is because the cruise disembarks on Dec 23rd.

 

It sounds like $500 to 600 CDN is a typical return fare. Thats more or less what I needed to know.

 

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[cruzgryphon]

If you're not tied to a specific airline, I would suggest trying Delta, directly on their website. Cheap flights out of Toronto and a lot cheaper on their website than the same flights on Expedia etc. (even if you're looking at Fort Lauderdale as an option).

[docd]

If you're not tied to a specific airline, I would suggest trying Delta, directly on their website. Cheap flights out of Toronto and a lot cheaper on their website than the same flights on Expedia etc. (even if you're looking at Fort Lauderdale as an option).

Thanks for the tip. I normally do that for most airlines but never considered Delta for some reason. Thanks!

 

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[squadron]

Thanks for the tip. I normally do that for most airlines but never considered Delta for some reason. Thanks!

 

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Try Flight Network for booking - just did one for my Hawaii cruise and used last winter to Fort L. Cheaper cost and offer price drop protection.

[SensFan11]

I've done cruises in and out of San Juan a couple times (from Ottawa)...a couple tips I'd check on:

 

Consider flying south the evening before your cruise - most likely to Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Orlando or Atlanta...you can stay at an airport hotel and then take a connection the morning of your cruise the rest of the way to San Juan. I always fly the day before, but a relatively short hop the morning of from a non-winter departure point can work. There are several evening (e.g. after work) options to head south.

 

 

Consider splitting up your flights. These days I almost never book a round trip within North America. I often find I get cheaper and/or more desirable flights when booking each trip individually on the airline with the best option.

 

 

Consider also splitting up your flight down - one ticket as far as Florida, a second ticket fro Florida > San Juan...it may be cheaper, or give you better flight times.

 

 

Don't forget about Porter. They have flights to Orlando-Melbourne that might work well for a connection on the way south. As well, they partner with JetBlue via Boston...and JetBlue has nonstops SJU-BOS.

 

 

Noel

[karebare22]

I've spent the past few months myself researching flights for our upcoming March break AOS cruise. We (family of 4) were hoping (ha, ha) to use our Aeroplan points for the Ottawa - San Juan flight (or from Montreal and Toronto too) but nothing reasonable around the dates ever came available. In the end I found the Kayak app to be very helpful.You can search for flights from different airports, different date ranges, set notifications for price drops, and see graphs of price changes over time. We finally booked our flight at the end of January for our March break cruise and I'm still amazed at the price, $358 CDN/pp (price found on Kayak, then booked directly through Air Canada). Montreal - San Juan with one connection (reasonable), arriving 1 day before the cruise and red eye flight home the day we disembark the ship. Sorry I can't answer your questions directly but my suggestion is that if you are comfortable waiting, don't rush to book your flight until you are about 2-4 months away. However, the flight costs you stated, $500-600 CDN, do seem to be similar to what I found when looking for Toronto - San Juan flights (for March break timeframe). I have never used ChoiceAir, but agree with other posters in that I would be very likely to book though them if flying in on the day of the cruise.

[SensFan11]

I've spent the past few months myself researching flights for our upcoming March break AOS cruise. We (family of 4) were hoping (ha, ha) to use our Aeroplan points for the Ottawa - San Juan flight (or from Montreal and Toronto too) but nothing reasonable around the dates ever came available. In the end I found the Kayak app to be very helpful.You can search for flights from different airports, different date ranges, set notifications for price drops, and see graphs of price changes over time. We finally booked our flight at the end of January for our March break cruise and I'm still amazed at the price, $358 CDN/pp (price found on Kayak, then booked directly through Air Canada). Montreal - San Juan with one connection (reasonable), arriving 1 day before the cruise and red eye flight home the day we disembark the ship. Sorry I can't answer your questions directly but my suggestion is that if you are comfortable waiting, don't rush to book your flight until you are about 2-4 months away. However, the flight costs you stated, $500-600 CDN, do seem to be similar to what I found when looking for Toronto - San Juan flights (for March break timeframe). I have never used ChoiceAir, but agree with other posters in that I would be very likely to book though them if flying in on the day of the cruise.

 

Great find karebare22...that's a great price! I hope I can get something like that for my cruise out of San Juan in November!

 

 

A couple things to note to the OP: that flight back on Dec. 23rd is likely to be more expensive, which is why I suggested you consider splitting your flights.

 

 

Also - Christmas and March Break are prime travel periods, meaning the price drops 2-4 months karebare22 found are less likely to materialized.

 

 

One way karebare22 worked around this was flying out of Montreal (a very viable option for those of us in Ottawa). Because Quebec schools have an early March Break than Ontario schools, flying out of Montreal essentially bypasses most of the price premium associated with March Break.

 

 

Noel

[Fouremco]

One way karebare22 worked around this was flying out of Montreal (a very viable option for those of us in Ottawa). Because Quebec schools have an early March Break than Ontario schools, flying out of Montreal essentially bypasses most of the price premium associated with March Break.

So true. We have a family cruise set for the Ontario March break but are flying out of Montreal because of the far cheaper rates. Even my sister, who lives in Toronto, was able to get a cheaper flight going YYZ-YUL-FLL than directly YYZ-FLL. Crazy. :confused:

[docd]

Wow, you guys are awesome. Really appreciate the tips. Hadn't considered many of those options!

 

I am not necessarily in a rush to book, but I have read conflicting info as to the preferred time to book flights to the Caribbean from 120 to 320 days out. So knowing an acceptable target. price is really all I need. Whi h I think I now have. Missing out on saving $50 is less important to me than getting a reasonsble flight schedule. Of course working my options to save some $$ never hurts!

 

I do have the Kayak app and will check it out some more. Been using some other price trackers as well.

 

Will definitely look into booking separate flights as well as Montreal connection.

 

 

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[alfaeric]

Yes, on my list of places to check along with Detroit.

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Typically, in winter months, there is a direct flight from DTW to SJU on weekends.

 

Otherwise, the normal best connection in the winter is Atlanta.

 

We've done a bunch of trips to Puerto Rico from Michigan...

 

For a real oddball suggestion- can you do an overnight to Puerto Rico? There are overnight flights from JFK to many airports in Puerto Rico on Jet Blue. The core problem- you arrive at 5am, with nowhere to go... But it is another option- if you can get to JFK well before midnight (which is when they all seem to leave at the same time), BTW, this option requires you to change carriers- so you pick up your luggage, move terminals, re-check in (or just do carry on only).

[Ourusualbeach]

Great find karebare22...that's a great price! I hope I can get something like that for my cruise out of San Juan in November!

 

 

A couple things to note to the OP: that flight back on Dec. 23rd is likely to be more expensive, which is why I suggested you consider splitting your flights.

 

 

Also - Christmas and March Break are prime travel periods, meaning the price drops 2-4 months karebare22 found are less likely to materialized.

 

 

One way karebare22 worked around this was flying out of Montreal (a very viable option for those of us in Ottawa). Because Quebec schools have an early March Break than Ontario schools, flying out of Montreal essentially bypasses most of the price premium associated with March Break.

 

 

Noel

 

 

Great tip about flying out of Montreal, thanks.

[soccercrazy]

Try Westjet out of Toronto. Buffalo for us is not an option in the winter, if there is snow delays in Toronto you are pretty much guaranteed there will be snow in Buffalo. I have done the same day flight and flight was delayed due to weather in Toronto, then luggage delay at the airport upon arrival, got on board 20 minutes before all-aboard. Trust me when I say that the entire trip down and to the ship was stressful to say the least. We have never flown same day since even if it means a higher flight cost because the cost would be significantly higher if we had to catch the ship in a different port.

 

When trying to plan March Break or Christmas or avoid those times i always find going on the School Board website for there up coming year calendar an excellent resource.

[Moonlitherial]

West Jet only has one flight a week into and out of San Juan. In on Saturday and home on Sunday.

 

We wanted a couple of days in San Juan so we flew through Miami to get in and flew home on the direct flight.

 

I don't remember what we paid for those but I used Airfare watchdog to track the price for a few weeks before I booked.

[Russ Lomas]

Flights from Ontario to SJU are pretty dear at peak times. I booked our flights for this coming New Year cruise leaving out of San Juan on the 28th and returning on the 7th of January. I found the prices out of Toronto to SJU to be better than out of Buffalo or Detroit. I wanted a direct flight home and managed that on Air Canada for $450 each Canadian. Expensive, but that is what I paid 4 years ago for a flight home on the final Sunday of the holidays and it had a layover of 3 hours in Atlanta, so I thought I should grab it at that price.

 

San Juan is beautiful and we want to explore Puerto Rico this time. If it is an option, I would recommend going in a couple days early and enjoying your time there (and eliminating the stress of flying in on the day of the flight). If it is not an option, maybe doing a couple days in San Juan post-cruise could lower your flight cost.

 

We managed to get a flight to San Juan from Toronto on Christmas day for $260 Canadian each. Granted, a 5 hour layover in Atlanta is not my idea of a nice way to spend Christmas day with the family, but hey, it will get us a few extra vacation days in Puerto Rico. Last time I went at Christmas to San Juan we flew from Buffalo on the 26th and I managed to get a flight for $160 Canadian each. No such luck this time around.

 

As others have said, Kayak is a great site to do price comparisons. It found our friends a flight from Toronto to Detroit to San Juan for $180 Canadian on the 27th on Delta. They went directly to the Delta site, and the Delta site could not find a similar flight combination. They best they could offer was triple the price, even though it was the same airline as our friends booked using Kayak. The other unusual thing was that you would think our friends could just pick up the DTW-SJU leg of the trip mentioned above for less than the BUF-DTW-SJU price. Wrong. By eliminating the BUF-DTW leg of the flight, the price jumped from $160 Canadian to $440 US each. I have no clue how that works...

[docd]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. They are very helpful. I am definitely looking at flying in a day or more before the cruise, as well as after. I have no problems flying on Dec25th if it saves me some money I read its actually the least expensive day to fly during the holidays.

 

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[cndcruiser65]

I just purchased tickets out of Toronto to San Juan for October for 5 people for 620 dollars each plus baggage , one stopover. I booked with Priceline and will be flying with Delta. Highly suggest going day ahead.