Airfare with Celebrity or on our own?

[PattyMichael]

We booked the 9/2/06 Europe 13 day on the Cenrury. Celebrity quoted us $1290 each for around trip from LAX to Amsterdam and Barcelona to LAX. We wont be using any transfers. Arriving a day early and doing a shore trip after. I think we can get our air fare for a alot less. This is our first time with a fly cruise. What does everyone do?

[Liat]

You are traveling in the "shoulder" season, when fares are slightly lower than during the summer; but still not cheap. You are also doing an "open jaws" flight; meaning it is not a true round trip. You can try checking European consolidators to beat Celebrity's price, but it may be difficult. We did it once, going from Phoenix to Budapest (this was a Princess "cruise/tour") and returning from Copenhagen; but it was a lot of work for not much savings. You find consolidators by going to Google or Yahoo and plugging in "Europe Air Consolidator". You also can ask your TA to help, but they don't do too much in air transit these days because of the poor commissions.

The big advantage in doing your own arranging is that you can arrive a few days early or leave a few days after disembarkation with no deviation fee. [if you are a Celebrity Captain's Club member; they will waive the deviation fee.]

We have always felt that if we are going someplace relatively far away, we should spend extra time in the arrival and/or departure country.

[Germancruiser]

Hi,

I´ve been on 5 Celebrity Cruises now, did the fly and cruise think 2 times, they were okay so fare, I asked my TA for better prices, but they did not find better deals, neither did I via Internet.

One real better thing, when booking flight arrangements via Celebrity ( or any other cruise line of course) is, that if you can not make it to the fight on time and it is not your fault, the cruise line is fully in charge to bring you to the ship. No extra cost for you. If you book flight arrangements yourself- you have to see how you can make on time- at your cost- thats why I choose this possibility for my TA - Cruise on board Millenium in the end of April.

Greetings

Michael

[flashdog_1]

While airfare sales do occur, you really can't count on them for your cruise (they may be offered when you are booking the cruise. Great. Grab them) if you want to be booked in time to get to the ship. The sales being offered now, for instance, have restrictions like the days of the week the fare is applicable to, and they do not coincide with a 7 day cruise! So the ads I've seen for $72 round trip just don't really exist for me for a cruise.

 

I was accustomed to finding fares from ATL to FLL for just over $200 but now you can't find anything under $400 when you include tax. And most are edging toward $500.

 

I was looking at a couple of cruises and comparing Celebrity's fare for those dates vs the lowest priced fare offered by an individual airline. Celebrity's was $330 for the transfers AND airfare rather than the $400-500 (plus I'd have to add taxi fares both ways) for an uncomplicated 2 hour non-stop flight.

 

So just check. If you are lucky enough to secure seats with an air consolidator, great. Sometimes it's cheaper and more efficient time wise to book your own. Sometimes it is better to go with the cruise/air.

 

I've heard stories here on Cruise Critic where the cruise line booked an 8 hour flight going hundreds of miles out of the way, with layovers, and essentially eliminating your first day on the ship, when there were 20 non-stop 2 hour flights from the departure city.

 

You do not usually find out what flights the cruise line has booked for you until a couple of weeks before your cruise, so you cannot always use your captain's club free air deviation to get what you want because at that close date, seats may not be available on your chosen, more convenient, flight. Also, if the current fare offered by the airline is higher than what the cruiseline charged, you would be asked to pay the difference, which could be substantial if you were not within a 21 day, 14 day pre-reservation period in order to get a lower fare.

 

We've decided to drive the 11 hours to Ft Lauderdale (or 8 hours to Tampa) before our next cruises, stay in a hotel the night before and hopefully be refreshed on departure day. We'd have a parking fee whether we flew from Atlanta or parked at the port of embarkation. Some hotels will allow you to leave your car during the cruise, and some offer free shuttle service to the pier. All do not offer either of those, so check carefully so you have no unexpected surprises.

 

But the good news is you will get frequent flyer miles on Delta and Northwest if Celebrity books you on those.

[joeyanddavid]

PatriciaWert,

 

we are also traveling from LAX also We will be doing the Med but our cruise is in October , plus we are flying to Barcelona and returning from Venice.

 

Celebrity priced us out months ago at 1349 plus taxes and fees perperson.. we booked with AA for less than 1050 pp complete

 

Thats just what we expeirneced.

[hajekfam]

Our TA books our cruise with air included. Then we both (for Florida, I can get cheaper air on the internet through a discount carrier than my TA can) try to find cheaper air. If there is cheaper air, we cancel the air with Celebrity. You have until final payment to cancel the air without penalty. If we can't find cheaper air, at least we know we have air.

[chessbriar]

Your cruise is in September. Take X's airfare, but keep looking on different websites on a regular basis for airfare. One excellent site is http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/ they are not a travel agent, but rather a software company who does the search engines for the airlines. They don't cover all the airlines, but they do cover the big ones. There are other sites out there as well. If you find a cheaper rate of your own, you can cancel the cruiselines air as long as you haven't made final payment.

 

Taking a look at ita, I found rates as cheap as $912/pp on British Airways. That's a savings of $378/pp.

[CruiseQueen13]

I always book my own air - I save a lot! We are a family of 3 and this time around I saved approx $350 by booking myself!

[teedee]

Kayak.com and Sidestep.com are also good places to look for cheap flights. Both search the data bases of many other websites to come up with the cheapest fare.

Terri

[Sky Sweet]

If you book your airfare through the cruise line and cancel your cruise before the penalty period, it won't cost you a dime. However, if you book your own airfare, you will have to pay for it in full at the time you book it, and be subject to whatever penalties that airline has.

 

There is another factor to consider. A few years ago, someone I know booked their airfare through the cruise line and the flight they were on was substantially delayed. Since several other people from their cruise were on that same flight, which was booked through the cruise line, the ship waited for them and left Vancouver an hour late.