RCI Insurance & Air2Sea flights?

[RCCLNYMETS41]

What are the reasons NOT to purchase insurance &/or flights directly through Royal Caribbean?

[bala1130]

Check your Credit Card terms. You may have travel insurance through a credit card. I know Chase Sapphire covers you.

[Clarea]

What are the reasons NOT to purchase insurance &/or flights directly through Royal Caribbean?

I don't like the cruise line insurance because it does not have high enough medical evac coverage in my opinion. However, the price for cruise line insurance is not based on age, so that can save money for older cruisers.

[toxicfairy]

They don't use Southwest for air and I like to bring lots of options which leads to lots of bags .So southwest is our airline of choice.

 

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[waterbug123]

Some airline tickets sold by the cruiseline may have rules and restrictions attached to them that limit options in the event you need to be rebooked, and may or may not earn miles or may earned a reduced number of miles vs. booking directly through the airline.

[ExPAGirl]

Air2Sea is very confusing to me. I booked a OW ticket home from BCN in May. Air2Sea changed my flight which then had two different carriers (original itinerary was with the same carrier). I can't get seat assignments until day of check-in for the first leg on British Airways. Air2Sea uses Amadeus for air and their online app is not kept up to date. The second leg home is not showing the correct seat assignments although I have been assured the seats requested are the seats I want. I have no way to set an alert for the flights.

[Clarea]

Air2Sea is very confusing to me. I booked a OW ticket home from BCN in May. Air2Sea changed my flight which then had two different carriers (original itinerary was with the same carrier). I can't get seat assignments until day of check-in for the first leg on British Airways. Air2Sea uses Amadeus for air and their online app is not kept up to date. The second leg home is not showing the correct seat assignments although I have been assured the seats requested are the seats I want. I have no way to set an alert for the flights.

Are you booked under US/Canadian rules? I've never had them change carriers on us.

[vistapat]

We've just booked our first flights through Air2Sea - roundtrip San Diego to Rome on business class. We are booked on Delta for all four segments of the trip. There have been some minor time changes, but that's Delta, not Air2Sea. And the price was much, much less expensive than anything we could find, even checking the ITA Matrix and our favorite air consolidator site. We won't know until August if there is any problem with Air2Sea that we're not aware of, but so far we are quite happy. And since we're doing back to backs in Europe, we will use the money saved for shore excursions, sampling shoreside cuisines and libations, etc.;p

 

Pat

[vistapat]

Forgot to add - I agree with you, Bob, that their evacuation coverage is not adequate. And since we're senior travelers, we decided to pass, since the savings due to our ages might be more than wiped out by having to pay more for evacuation than they cover.

 

Pat

[lauraodonnell86]

Check your Credit Card terms. You may have travel insurance through a credit card. I know Chase Sapphire covers you.

 

We have Chase Sapphire but the thing I'm worried about is getting stranded in Kansas City due to weather and not being able to get to the next island. I heard that if you have insurance through Royal, they will fly you to that next island at no extra charge. Is that true?

[Clarea]

We have Chase Sapphire but the thing I'm worried about is getting stranded in Kansas City due to weather and not being able to get to the next island. I heard that if you have insurance through Royal, they will fly you to that next island at no extra charge. Is that true?

I believe you have to purchase flights with the cruise line to have their "assured arrival" service.

[MM27]

I would never buy my air through RCI again.

Reason 1::My sister and I took a cruise out of Miami and a few days before we got notice that they were changing our flights and we were now flying on two different airlines, one going down a different one coming home. No big deal, right? I guess because cheaper flights became available. All was fine on the way to Miami, cruise was great. Then we got to the airport for our flight home and were told that because we did not fly in, they assumed we cancelled and they cancelled our return flight. Obviously we did fly in, but on the other airline. RCI changed the flight but apparently didn't cancel us off the first one. So we promptly called RCI and the rep basically told us it wasn't their problem. Airline put us on standby and we eventually got home after hours and hours in the airport.

Reason 2: a cruise in Alaska where their air took us from Newark to Dallas to Vancouver. Waste of time. But cheaper for them

But I take care of my own flights now. I can usually find cheaper flights and routes that make more sense than what they come up with.

 

 

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[hancock]

Cruise line insurance doesn't have enough medical coverage for a serious problem. Example: A friend had an issue in Europe requiring surgery and recuperation before he could fly home. Bill was $100,000 when all was said and done.. $25G medical coverage just didn't cut it!

[pjd65]

I'll be on my first RCI cruise this summer so I can't really say much about Air2Sea from personal experience, but from the research I did before booking, I found that people who used it for INTERNATIONAL flights seemed happy with it and people who used it for DOMESTIC (USA only) flights seemed to have issues. We are flying from Chicago to Southampton (England) and due to our family business, we cannot fly in early. We booked Air2Sea for 2 reasons: They were MUCH cheaper than any flights we had found after watching for a few weeks and they "guarantee" we will make it to the ship. We were able to select our specific flights, so unless the airline changes the times (outside RCI control) I would be very surprised if they changed our flights on us down the road. We are getting into Heathrow at 8am which leaves some fudge time for delayed flights. (Also flying out of Chicago in June is much less likely to be delayed than the same flight in the winter!)

[waterbug123]

We booked Air2Sea for 2 reasons: They were MUCH cheaper than any flights we had found after watching for a few weeks and they "guarantee" we will make it to the ship...... (Also flying out of Chicago in June is much less likely to be delayed than the same flight in the winter!)

 

Whoa! Air2Sea doesn't guarantee anything. Read the fine print. There is nothing that says they guarantee you'll make it to the ship. Granted, if you don't, they'll try to work with you to catch up to the ship, but that is not the same as guaranteeing you'll make the ship.

 

 

As for weather, there are plenty of weather delays in the summer, due to thunderstorms. More common in the south, where they occur on an almost daily basis, but if your aircraft or crew are coming arriving in Chicago from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Charolotte, Atlanta, etc. etc. you could easily have a weather delay. Whether directly or indirectly, weather anywhere in the country can affect a flight virtually anywhere else in the country. ;)

[LEtue]

Air2Sea is very confusing to me. I booked a OW ticket home from BCN in May. Air2Sea changed my flight which then had two different carriers (original itinerary was with the same carrier). I can't get seat assignments until day of check-in for the first leg on British Airways. Air2Sea uses Amadeus for air and their online app is not kept up to date. The second leg home is not showing the correct seat assignments although I have been assured the seats requested are the seats I want. I have no way to set an alert for the flights.

 

This is discouraging. I was planning to use Air2Sea for my RT flights to Barcelona next year.

 

My only experience with cruise line air has been on Princess. You pick your flights (from a list of options) and your seats, and you're all done until final payment. Can even make changes if price drops come along.....until 45 days before departure.

 

Guess I better start monitoring airfare so I can purchase independently :(

[pjd65]

Whoa! Air2Sea doesn't guarantee anything. Read the fine print. There is nothing that says they guarantee you'll make it to the ship. Granted, if you don't, they'll try to work with you to catch up to the ship, but that is not the same as guaranteeing you'll make the ship.

 

 

As for weather, there are plenty of weather delays in the summer, due to thunderstorms. More common in the south, where they occur on an almost daily basis, but if your aircraft or crew are coming arriving in Chicago from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Charolotte, Atlanta, etc. etc. you could easily have a weather delay. Whether directly or indirectly, weather anywhere in the country can affect a flight virtually anywhere else in the country. ;)

 

I am aware that weather delays are possible in the summer - I have been flying out of Chicago for years. In general there are FEWER in the summer. Yes, there are thunderstorms, but they usually do not have the same sort of impact as a lake effect blizzard. I would be far more worried in winter. O'Hare rarely is shut down for more than an hour or so for a thunderstorm but a blizzard can close the entire airport for a day. Even the issue of storms elsewhere delaying the incoming plane are less severe in summer - yes, there are delays but it is rare that an entire airport shuts down completely for summer storms. I have absolutely no choice - we CANNOT fly in early for this cruise - so I am doing my best to mitigate the problems, but that certainly doesn't mean I won't be worrying until we get to Heathrow!

 

The Air2Sea page promotes the following:

 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF AIR2SEA?

 

Whichever city you're flying from. Whichever port you're headed to. Whatever carrier you prefer. You'll get the lowest priced fare on your choice of airlines, or we'll credit you back 110% of the difference to spend onboard.

 

When your vacation comes around, you don't want to miss the ship because of flight delays or cancellations. Book airfare through us and we guarantee our travel experts will get you to your cruise.

Vacations should be all about enjoying your time. Air2Sea by Royal is simple and easy to use. So reserving your perfect flight is a breeze.

Enjoy complete flexibility with your choice of flights on your preferred airlines. Just pick the one that works for you and let us take care of the rest. We'll even filter out the flights that won’t work for your cruise.

With air specialists available 24/7, you don’t need to wait until you get to the ship to leave your worries behind. Air2Sea by Royal is here to ensure your air travel is as smooth as your vacation, so you can start enjoying your vacation right away.

[cruisenfever]

This is discouraging. I was planning to use Air2Sea for my RT flights to Barcelona next year.

 

My only experience with cruise line air has been on Princess. You pick your flights (from a list of options) and your seats, and you're all done until final payment. Can even make changes if price drops come along.....until 45 days before departure.

 

Guess I better start monitoring airfare so I can purchase independently :(

Here is the link for Choice Air (Air2Sea) http://www.espresso.cruisingpower.com/choiceair/protected/home.do

Fill in the information required and it will bring up flights available through Air2Sea. You can do a comparison of prices by flight numbers by going directly to any of the airlines websites. Once purchased you will get a Record Locator number where you can go and select your seats.

 

 

The only draw back is that payment is due at the time of purchase and if there is a price drop, you won't be able to take advantage of that.

 

 

When we book through Air2Sea we always purchase 3rd party insurance, usually through Allianz.

[Clarea]

Here is the link for Choice Air (Air2Sea) http://www.espresso.cruisingpower.com/choiceair/protected/home.do ...

Patti (or is it Jim?) I've been unable to reliably use that link to get to Choice Air.

 

 

I use this link: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithGallery.do?pagename=air_travel_programs

 

It's not direct, but I think you have to go thru the RC website first to deposit some sort of cookie so that the cruisingpower website will redirect properly to Choice Air.

[waterbug123]

Book airfare through us and we guarantee our travel experts will get you to your cruise.

 

Clarification to what I stated earlier: They may get you to the cruise, but they do not guarantee that you will make your initial departure. If you experience severe delays or even a cancellation on departure day, you may not make it before the ship sails. They will attempt to fly you to meet the ship at the first port of call, but depending on the itinerary that could be 2-3 days into your vacation.

[LEtue]

Here is the link for Choice Air (Air2Sea) http://www.espresso.cruisingpower.com/choiceair/protected/home.do

Fill in the information required and it will bring up flights available through Air2Sea. You can do a comparison of prices by flight numbers by going directly to any of the airlines websites. Once purchased you will get a Record Locator number where you can go and select your seats.

 

 

The only draw back is that payment is due at the time of purchase and if there is a price drop, you won't be able to take advantage of that.

 

 

When we book through Air2Sea we always purchase 3rd party insurance, usually through Allianz.

 

I thought Cruising Power was for TA's? I do not see a standard search feature without signing in.

 

My cruise is too far out to see flights anyway and I always purchase 3rd party insurance. No matter though because unless I could make changes to take advantage of better flights or pricing - I doubt I will use Air2Sea.

[Baseball fan]

I've used Air2Sea for one way flights to catch transatlantic cruises. I've never had issues. I find they have the best pricing. Flight changes are airline flight changes not cruiseline flight changes. They might put you on another carrier as the other carrier times are closer to your original times. Don't like what they change you to? Call Air2Sea and see if they will change you to a flight more to your liking.

 

However, I don't think they have the best prices on flights within the US.

 

I buy insurance thru Insuremytrip.com as I don't like the coverage offered by cruise lines. My credit card offers coverage too but I don't think theirs is as comprehensive as buying my own.

 

Dena

 

 

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[DivaMI]

Forgot to add - I agree with you, Bob, that their evacuation coverage is not adequate. And since we're senior travelers, we decided to pass, since the savings due to our ages might be more than wiped out by having to pay more for evacuation than they cover.

 

Pat

I booked by own evac insurance thru GeoBlue and I have 100,000 for evacuation and emergency with 100.00 deductible.

[vistapat]

For those wanting to check Air2Sea prices, go to the main Royal Caribbean webpage (front page), scroll down to the very bottom, and on the left side click on "Ground and Air Transportation". From there, you can click on the Air2Sea page, and choose either to put in your specific reservation number, or just use "Check on Flights" box. Either one will ask you for the ship and sail date, and show you flights specific to that sailing. You will normally see a variety of flights/times with perhaps two or three carriers.

 

Pat