Fly2Fun

[erlyvon]

Anyone use Carnival Fly2Fun to book flights to/from cruise?  

[BigCruze]

Yes twice 

[erlyvon]

Were you able to get a better price than booking yourself?

 

[BigCruze]

The first time yes second time no. It is meant to lock in the price. Now if you are making payments it's cool because you lock it in and could make payments as well. We lock it in on flexible which means by the time final payment comes we can cancel it. So it is good to research the average flight prices. We fly direct so we don't worry about missing connections but if you don't fly direct with this you are covered. 

[BigCruze]

Any more questions let me know. 

[erlyvon]

Sounds like a good idea.  We fly out of St. Louis so it's difficult to get a direct flight to a lot of places but I'm going to check prices and see how it looks.  Thanks for the replies.

[coevan]

We would never let someone book flights for us, ever. Generally cheaper flights are longer layovers and poor connections. 

[BigCruze]

3 hours ago, coevan said:

We would never let someone book flights for us, ever. Generally cheaper flights are longer layovers and poor connections. 

You actually select the flights. It is the same thing. I fly nonstop. 

[erlyvon]

11 hours ago, BigCruze said:

The first time yes second time no. It is meant to lock in the price. Now if you are making payments it's cool because you lock it in and could make payments as well. We lock it in on flexible which means by the time final payment comes we can cancel it. So it is good to research the average flight prices. We fly direct so we don't worry about missing connections but if you don't fly direct with this you are covered. 

I'm assuming by booking flexible with Fly2Fun you were able to cancel the higher priced flight (second time) and book the lower priced flight you found?

[klfrodo]

If flying out of STL, then Southwest might be your best option. Fly2Fun is not going to price Southwest Airlines for you.

Also, Southwest is only going to get you to FLL (Ft. Lauderdale).

American does have non stop flights to MIA (Miami) from STL also. Fly2Fun will price on American.

AA will also get you to FLL, but you will have to connect to get there. Usually Charlotte or Dallas/Ft. Worth.

 

Considerations when booking either yourself or Fly2Fun

* Fly in a day early if at all possible.

* Fly2Fun does NOT guarantee you won't miss the cruise. They may advertise that way, but fine print says they assist.

* Costs - Don't assume lowest price is lowest price. I saved $200 on a ticket once. Problem was my travel day went from 6 hours to 14 hours. Those additional travel hours were not worth $200.

* Fly2Fun and other cruise line air programs are consolidator tickets. Know what you're getting into when buying consolidator tickets. You can save money, but there are and can be "gottchas".

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by klfrodo

[erlyvon]

I thought about Southwest into FLL but thought ground transportation from there to Port Miami might cost more than any savings over flight into Miami.  American non stop Miami & Southwest FLL are comparably priced right now.

[klfrodo]

6 minutes ago, erlyvon said:

I thought about Southwest into FLL but thought ground transportation from there to Port Miami might cost more than any savings over flight into Miami.  American non stop Miami & Southwest FLL are comparably priced right now.

Don't forget to consider "Checked Luggage" fees that AA will impose but WN (Southwest) has 2 bags per person are free.

 

(This advise coming from a person who fly's a lot but refuses to fly WN. My own personal bias. Still a good airline for what they are)

 

* Unimportant side note. I lived in Chester for a number of years back in the 70's.

Edited January 29, 2019 by klfrodo

[Crazy4Camping]

We booked Fly2Fun since the Carnival rep we booked our cruise with said they will get us to the ship if there are any delays.  Also liked paying little by little and using Carnival gift cards.  Price wasn't any less booking with the cruiseline, the airline controls that and changed our flights out so we are leaving 3 hours earlier.  Not crazy about that but nothing Carnival could do about that.  Our layovers are only 1 hour each so I don't think that's bad at all.  We leave Sunday so if anything happens, we will see how much they "assist" us in getting to the ship.

[klfrodo]

2 minutes ago, Crazy4Camping said:

We booked Fly2Fun since the Carnival rep we booked our cruise with said they will get us to the ship if there are any delays.  

The biggest "gottcha" is passports.

The next port is usually a foreign port. If you don't have passports, you won't be flying anywhere to catch the ship. Not having a passport is not a covered reason for travel insurance reimbursement.

 

However, if you purchased Carnivals insurance, it does cover Cancel For Any Reason. You can cancel at any time up to scheduled ship departure time and receive a 75% credit for a future cruise.

So, if you don't have passports and see that your flights will delay you to the point that you will miss the ship departure, immediately call the insurance company, verify what I'm saying, let them know what you are doing, then call Carnival to cancel. Take lots of notes when talking to people. Hopefully this information is not needed.

[erlyvon]

We do have passports and trip insurance and will fly in day prior to cruise departure so at this point I feel confidant we'll make our departure.  Looks like flight into FLL on Southwest might save us about $140 - $150  considering luggage but depending on how much higher ground transportation cost from/to FLL there probably isn't enough savings to fly there.  

[klfrodo]

Either way, you have transportation costs to hotel upon arrival (assume that your choice of hotel will provide transportation to the port) and transportation costs from port to airport upon return.

Assuming 2 people with luggage

FLL to Miami ~$80 (cheaper if Uber with very little luggage: more expensive for Limo with lots of luggage)

MIA to Miami ~$45 (same/same)

[erlyvon]

Thanks for the tips/information.  All things considered it pretty much is a matter of airlines/airport preference at this point.  Prefer FLL over MIA but American over Southwest! Might just have to flip a coin.

[LuckyStar]

2 hours ago, erlyvon said:

I thought about Southwest into FLL but thought ground transportation from there to Port Miami might cost more than any savings over flight into Miami.  American non stop Miami & Southwest FLL are comparably priced right now.

I would definitely check it out.  We flew into FLL and sailed out of Miami and the flight savings was way better including the cost of the shuttle to get us to the port.  This is very common so many shuttles do this route.  I would go to the Miami port board to find out some shuttle services, if you don't know of any.

[coevan]

2 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Don't forget to consider "Checked Luggage" fees that AA will impose but WN (Southwest) has 2 bags per person are free.

 

(This advise coming from a person who fly's a lot but refuses to fly WN. My own personal bias. Still a good airline for what they are)

 

* Unimportant side note. I lived in Chester for a number of years back in the 70's.

 

 

What is WN?

[Crazy4Camping]

2 hours ago, klfrodo said:

The biggest "gottcha" is passports.

The next port is usually a foreign port. If you don't have passports, you won't be flying anywhere to catch the ship. Not having a passport is not a covered reason for travel insurance reimbursement.

 

However, if you purchased Carnivals insurance, it does cover Cancel For Any Reason. You can cancel at any time up to scheduled ship departure time and receive a 75% credit for a future cruise.

So, if you don't have passports and see that your flights will delay you to the point that you will miss the ship departure, immediately call the insurance company, verify what I'm saying, let them know what you are doing, then call Carnival to cancel. Take lots of notes when talking to people. Hopefully this information is not needed.

We got passports for exactly such an emergency!!

[klfrodo]

2 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

What is WN?

It’s the 2 letter code for Southwest.

AA is American Airlines

DL is Delta

WN is Southwest

AS is Alaska

[coevan]

well that makes sense?