airline araangements

[trebor rendnib]

Has anyone had trouble with Holland Americas airline scheduling. We are scheduled for a cruise in March and we received info that they want us to travel a day earlier and leave at 6 am . Then pay for the hotel for the extra day they request us to take. We booked 6 months in advance. Has anyone had this type of request when using Hals airbookings.?

[WNYCRUISER]

While I have never booked thru HAL, I would, and do when I make my own arrangements, fly in a day ahead of the cruise. Had one arranged for me once, flying in the same day...:eek: ...nightmare to say the least. Caught the ship at the end of day two. Paying for the hotel is a small price to pay for the peace of mind knowing you have extra time in the event of unforseen circumstances...which seem to be becoming more commonplace. And in your case, HAL should jump through hoops if you have a problem since you booked the air through them.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I have occasionally booked air through cruise line (never happen to have done it with HAL) when doing so on my own would be difficult (e.g. in last-minute situations). I have never seen this but in just about every cruise line's air program fine print, they mention that overnight stopovers may be optional and that if they are, the passenger pays for the hotel. This is often employed in instances requiring long-haul flights that arrive at odd times - for example, there are cities where all the flights from a certain part of the world arrive in the middle of the night necessitating a hotel stay. For this reason, they write the contract so that they can charge for any hotel overnights that are required. I think this is a fairly unusual situation but I doubt that you can say "no", or force them to pay for your hotel...

 

The only thing you could do is try to get an air deviation. This allows you to choose your own flights, but you will incur a service fee - usually in the range of $50 to $75; I'm not sure exactly how much HAL's is - and you may also have to pay additional costs (i.e. the difference between the price of the ticket HAL was planning on buying you, and the cost of the one you choose). This might work, but on the other hand it may be useless - for example, in the hypothetical situation above, if all the flights arrive at 1 AM, then even if you have your choice of flights you'll still need to stay in a hotel (and pick up the tab yourself).

 

Anyhow, good luck with your situation. And I do echo those above - if you have the time, it is always a good idea to try to fly out a day early for peace of mind anyway. I often can't do it, but if you can, one relatively inexpensive night in a hotel can be a very wise investment.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Keep in mind that the cruise lines always try to find the cheapest seats. This may mean you have to fly on a certain day. And very early flights are usually the cheapest. And you may find that you will have 1 or 2 connecting flights to get to your cruise.

We always fly to our port of embarkation 2 or 3 days early - just in case anything goes wrong. And we always try to book our own air.

The only time we use the cruise line's air is when we have embarkation in one port and debarkation in a different port. When we book that kind of a cruise we pay for the air deviation ($75 per person) and tell HAL which air line and what flights we want.

[jhannah]

If you can, drop HAL's air and arrange your own. Yes, go a day early just for peace of mind. I don't know where you're flying from/to, but chances are purchasing your own air (on the schedule you prefer) and finding a hotel room for the night won't be much more -- if any -- than HAL's charge for air. Good luck!

[Bill S]

We have had 2 HAL cruises that departed out of Port Everglades and both times, using HAL-air, HAL flew us in the day/evening before the departure date an put us up at the Sheraton Suites hotel, some distance away, at their expense.

 

I can only figure that HAL had a good air fare, plus, given the 3-hour time difference, it is tight schedule to fly from LAS to FLL and arrive before 4:30pm. We were glad that HAL flew us in a day early. Otherwise we would have had an extremely early wake-up to fly east on embarkation day.

[Jimsgirl]

I think you would be wise to take a hotel 1 night pre cruise, at least you would know you are there at the port.

 

Having said that I have to admit that HAL has really been a pain in the rear for my HAL 30day trip on Jan.6th. I paid a fee for "custom air" plus hotel, well so far they have changed the air on me twice, I now have to leave home at 4AM to arrive in San Diego hotel at noon - I was supposed to take later flights leaving at a more reasonable hour, and arrived at my hotel at 4PM.

 

Also although I booked air and Hotel, a very "snippy young female" informed me that I would NOT be met at San Diego as I was not flying in on day of sailing. My TA who is herself on vacation (on shore trip at Kona) had to contact HAL to clear up THEIR confusion, namely that they DO MEET AND ASSIST pax who book their air and hotel package.

 

Only thing is that HAL have still not decided which cabin I will be in tell me that will be decided during last week before the cruise. They must be hoping for a great many last minute bookings!!!!!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

At least in San Diego, whether or not HAL meets you at the airport, it is just a short ride to the majority of the hotels and from the hotels to the pier.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The times that we have had to use HAL for air and paid for deviations, we have gotten what we requested everytime except once. And it was not HAL's problem. US Airways right before they declared bankruptcy for the third time would not agree or talk to HAL most of the time about our return flights home for one particular cruise. For 2 months HAL battled it out with some of their reservationists and got nowhere. We had to choose another airline which also meant we weren't coming home from Montreal non-stop.

 

We have never flown on US Airways since then.

[Jimsgirl]

I would not be bothered if my husband was still alive or if I was travelling with a friend, but being 80 years young, and travelling alone collecteding checked luggage, managing carry -on luggage, and getting a cab is a really trying experience.

 

For one thing cabs do not like just solo fares, not enough money. I know I have done that route in Honolulu and in Vancover, there 4 cabs in a row refused to go to the airport "for just one passenger" I was left standing in favour of four or five passengers.

 

It is for this reason I book with the cruise line for air, hotel and transportation