NCL Cruise, Flights through the Cruise line

[Redsky5292]

This has probably been asked a  million times but here goes...  My husband and I are doing a Balitc Sea Cruise in July that leaves from Copenhagen.  We choose Logan (Boston) as our airport as we have family that can drop us off and pick us up.  The cruise leaves July 13th (a Saturday) and returns on July 22nd (a Monday).  Typically when would we fly out to Denmark, Friday night?  On the return flight are they usually night flights as well.  I would assume there would be lay-overs.  Any info/advice (or if you could point me in the right direction where this has already been answered/addressed) would be very helpful as we are planning child care for our then six year old twins.  This trip is to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

Edited February 6, 2019 by Redsky5292

[Redsky5292]

I forgot to mention that the cruise is through NCL and that we got reduced airfare through NCL so we don't have control over the flight times.

Edited February 6, 2019 by Redsky5292

[Globaliser]

4 minutes ago, Redsky5292 said:

The cruise leaves July 13th (a Saturday) and returns on July 22nd (a Monday).  Typically when would we fly out to Denmark, Friday night?  On the return flight are they usually night flights as well. I would assume there would be lay-overs.  

 

If you fly from Boston to Denmark on Friday night, you'll arrive on Saturday morning, ie the same day that the cruise departs. Many people will do something like this, but it involves some risk: what if your aircraft breaks down and you're delayed for 6, 12 or 24 hours? Thus (just as for many cruises for which only short-haul flying is needed), many people prefer to arrive one day earlier, or more. This is especially important if flying from Boston to Europe, because the overnight flights are so short that you can pretty much guarantee that you'll get no, or next to no, sleep on the flight.

 

So you may want to think about flying from Boston on Thursday night, arriving Friday morning, giving you nearly 36 hours (including one night) before the cruise departs. There is one daily non-stop from Boston to Copenhagen operated by SAS, so you could take this either on Thursday night or Friday night.

 

An alternative would be to take a day flight from Boston to London, stay overnight in London and then fly on to Copenhagen the next morning. This is less tiring because you won't miss a night's sleep, although getting up to take a morning flight from London will be painful because of your body clock.

 

From Copenhagen to Boston, there should be plenty of day flights, including one non-stop that departs at 1250 which I think should be comfortably feasible after disembarkation. So no need to worry about overnights in this direction.

[fbgd]

4 hours ago, Redsky5292 said:

On the return flight are they usually night flights as well. 

 

Only if you have really wretched flights booked. Think about it, if you're flying westbound between Denmark and US East Coast you're looking at about a 6hr time difference and maybe an 8hr flight. To be an overnight flight you'd be looking at leaving at midnight and arriving at about 2am, or leaving at about 4am and arriving at 6am. Outside of the worst charter airlines known to man these kinds of flights do not exist between Europe and the US.

 

A cursory browse on any of the flight booking sites will give you a flavour of the itineraries.