Xpedition cruisers--flight changes

[SMNYCruise]

Just wanted to warn everyone that Continental has eliminated the direct flight from Newark to Quito. Found out by accident that our April flight has been scheduled to leave over three hours earlier and rerouted through Houston with additonal travel time of four hours. This has occured on the return flight as well. The only good news is that we arrive in Quito an hour earlier.

[Susan-M]

Joyce, thanks for the 'heads up' on the flight changes. American Airlines offers at least two flights a day to Quito (through Miami). When I priced both airlines, AA was much lower (from Toronto). I haven't booked flights yet as I want to check with Celebrity to see which airline they use.... did you make your own arrangements, or thru Celebrity?

[drfun48]

Just wanted to warn everyone that Continental has eliminated the direct flight from Newark to Quito. Found out by accident that our April flight has been scheduled to leave over three hours earlier and rerouted through Houston with additonal travel time of four hours. This has occured on the return flight as well. The only good news is that we arrive in Quito an hour earlier.

Are you sure there ever was a direct flight from Newark to Quito?When we flew last July we had to go through Houston and on the way back ,we stopped in Panama. I don't recall seeing a non stop in the Continental book.

I don't know that there would be enough daily traffic from Newark to support such a run.

[SheilaNC]

Suggest if you switch to AA through Miami that you try to book the earlier flight (these flights fill up fast). The later flight sometimes can't land because of fog and ends up in Guayaquil. We were on that flight and spent the night, unexpectedly, in Guayaquil flying to Quito the next morning.

[SMNYCruise]

Susan--wish we could switch to AA but we used our frequent flyer miles for these Continental flights.

drfan48--yes, I believe the flight originally had a short stop in Panama. The major change is that we leave at 1:40pm instead of 5:05 pm and our flight time is now over 10 hours. Also, we lost our seat assignments and could not get all of them back. Continental never told me about these changes. I just happened to check my confirmation number. Just wanted to give a heads up to other passengers who might be booked from EWR.

[greeneg]

For what it's worth, there certainly was a flight from Newark to Quito three years ago as we took it. The past two years that we have gone it was via Miami and American because of price considerations. Beware Miami Int, not the best run or organized facility in the World.

[Roland4]

Joyce, thanks for the 'heads up' on the flight changes. American Airlines offers at least two flights a day to Quito (through Miami). When I priced both airlines, AA was much lower (from Toronto). I haven't booked flights yet as I want to check with Celebrity to see which airline they use.... did you make your own arrangements, or thru Celebrity?

 

FYI - I booked our flights for June, YYZ/UIO via Miami, with Celebrity last month and they are all with AA. Those were the flights I wanted and I got them without having to ask for them. Be careful with the return flights though. The one that leaves UIO at 8:30AM involves a 7 hour layover in MIA before the flight back to Toronto. The flight that leaves UIO at 6:30AM only has a two hour layover. Awfully early to get up, but on the other hand it lands in Toronto at about 5:00PM.

[Susan-M]

Roland:

 

Flight schedules must be different for the times that we'll be travelling - Nov. 10-24th, as I don't see the 6:30 a.m. departing UIO. It's 8 a.m., with a 1 1/2 hr. layover in Miami, and into YYZ at 4:45 pm. The 1 1/2 hr. time in Miami sees short from what I've heard about that airport.

 

What are your flight times going down? I'm looking at either leaving YYZ at 9:37 a.m. , with 3 1/2 hrs. in Miami, or leaving YYZ at 11:58 a.m. with 1 hr 10 min. in Miami - both arriving in UIO at 8:30 pm. (I think I had better play it safe and take the 3 1/2 hr. layover in Miami.

[Roland4]

Susan

 

Our homebound flight leaves UIO at 06:53 but it looks like it connects to the same Toronto flight, AA1562, leaves 13:35, arrives 16:46. Now that I think of it, it is probably the same flight from UIO. Late November is spring down there and they would be, I assume, on Daylight Savings Time then. I don't mind short connections on the way home. There are lots of flights to Toronto from Miami, plus I am fairly sure there is no terminal change, so 1.5hours should be fine.

 

Outbound we are on AA1561 leaving 09:42, arriving 12:48. We connect with AA967 leaving 16:22, arrives 19:19. As I have said in an earlier post (on another thread) I'm a TA and if you were my client I would strongly recommend taking the earlier flight. Snow is not entirely unheard of (shudder!!) that early in November and if you miss the connection you lose maybe an entire day in Quito. I understand the MIA/UIO flights are heavily booked.

 

Larry

[Susan-M]

Thanks Larry - I needed that encouragement to book the earlier flight out of Toronto .... there is one later flight in the day from Miami to Quito if we miss the 4:22 one, but it's not something I want to deal with... it could be fully booked, higher risk of fog in Quito the later it gets....

 

I think you 'hit the nail on the head' with the Daylight Savings Time theory.

[Emdee]

Susan-M we did the trip on the Expedition from Toronto last year. We went to Machu Pichu first and then on to Quito. Got a great deal with a specialist in South America ( Carlin) Air Canada to Lima. Then Taca - Lima to Quito and Avianca Quito to Bogota with Air Canada back. All worked very well.

 

Except we left on August 19th and it took us three hours to get home from work with the roads flooded. Fortunately the flight was at midnight.

 

We have used AA when going to South America previously but preferred to get the points on Air Canada.

 

Both Machu Pichu and the Galapagos were spectacular.

 

Miriam

[Roland4]

One nice thing about using Celebrity air is they do it properly. I went into AA.com to register our AAdvantage numbers and, 'lo and behold, we already had seat assignments! Not all cruiselines are that on top of things. This will be our first time with Celebrity and I have been impressed with how they have handled this file from the start.

[Liat]

Susan-M we did the trip on the Expedition from Toronto last year. We went to Machu Pichu first and then on to Quito. Got a great deal with a specialist in South America ( Carlin) Air Canada to Lima. Then Taca - Lima to Quito and Avianca Quito to Bogota with Air Canada back. All worked very well.

 

Except we left on August 19th and it took us three hours to get home from work with the roads flooded. Fortunately the flight was at midnight.

 

We have used AA when going to South America previously but preferred to get the points on Air Canada.

 

Both Machu Pichu and the Galapagos were spectacular.

 

Miriam

 

We want to do Machu Picchu also before we embak on Xpedition next January 7. We are in conatct with a travel ageny in Peru, but the prices quoted for local air fares are a lot higher that what I have found on http://www.sidestep.com. Who was your South American expert? We will need help in arranging the Machu Picchu tour (we want to stay there overnight), as well as making sure about the Quito>Baltra>Quito flight. Any suggestions you can give will be appreciated. So as not to clutter up this site. my name is Phil Haggerty and my e-mail is: hagglawphx@aol.com

Thanks.

[Susan-M]

Miriam - I would be interested in hearing about your Machu Picchu arrangements as well. Was Carlin the agency that arranged your fights & trip in Peru? I did a search, but didn't come up with anything, so if you have a website for them, please include it. How many days did you spend in Peru? How long in total was your trip? Thanks for the info!

[Emdee]

Susan, Carlin Travels is a small place on Wilson near the Wilson subway area which is a predominantly south american neighbourhood. They were recommended to me by the Peruvian Consulate. I was very keen to have a Canadian agent and they did a great job.. We booked all the hotels some tours and the air with them. We stayed at the Country Club in Lima absolutely gorgeous hotel, the Monasterio in Cuzco and the Sanctuary Lodge in MP. Then on the return we stayed at Posada del Inca in the sacred valley and at the Libertador.

We stayed a couple of extra days at the Marriott in Quito and did our own booking there in addition to the days included in the Celeb tour.

 

Miriam

[Susan-M]

One nice thing about using Celebrity air is they do it properly. I went into AA.com to register our AAdvantage numbers and, 'lo and behold, we already had seat assignments! Not all cruiselines are that on top of things. This will be our first time with Celebrity and I have been impressed with how they have handled this file from the start.

 

Roland - I compared air fares directly with AA and also with Celebrity Custom Air. Celebrity's prices were slightly lower and the nice thing is that you can lock them in now, but cancel up until the final payment date of the cruise. Celebrity's customer service has been top notch throughout both the cruise and air booking arrangements. (I did go for the earlier flight out of Toronto to provide a bit of leeway in Miami in case of delays). Thanks for your feedback on this!

 

Miriam: Many thanks for the info on Carlin Travels .... I am going to keep this info on file for the next trip to S.A. as I know we will want to return to explore other areas. As much as I would like to fit Peru into this trip, we'll be returning from S.A. on Friday after the cruise, which only leaves 4 days. When you stayed the extra days in Quito, did you arrange for tour guides to do day trips...if so, any recommendations? I have some ideas on where we would like to go for day trips...but just trying to decide on how to get there. Thanks again!

[Susan-M]

Roland - I compared air fares directly with AA and also with Celebrity Custom Air. Celebrity's prices were slightly lower and the nice thing is that you can lock them in now, but cancel up until the final payment date of the cruise. Celebrity's customer service has been top notch throughout both the cruise and air booking arrangements.

 

I am quickly backtracking on the above statement .... after asking the rep no less than 3 times if the price for air that she was quoting was inclusive of all costs and being definitely assured that it was.... I have discovered on my reservation summary that she failed to mention air taxes. I don't know how many other ways I could have worded, "are there any other costs on top of the price you are quoting?" AA's pricing now has the advantage.

[Roland4]

I am quickly backtracking on the above statement .... after asking the rep no less than 3 times if the price for air that she was quoting was inclusive of all costs and being definitely assured that it was.... I have discovered on my reservation summary that she failed to mention air taxes. I don't know how many other ways I could have worded, "are there any other costs on top of the price you are quoting?" AA's pricing now has the advantage.

 

Res agents can be such fun to deal with, even for those of us who do this all the time!! For future reference when dealing direct, the best way to ask is "Does the price include all Gov't Fees, Port Charges and Air Taxes". One other thing to consider in the pricing equation are the airport/hotel/airport transfers. With Celebrity's air these are included, booking air direct you are on your own and this can be pricey. This may have already been covered elsewhere on these different threads, but I don't have time to backtrack just now. It is something to consider though.

[Susan-M]

Roland... good advice. I thought I had covered it with "are there any other costs in addition to the price quoted." It was much more straight forward when I booked the cruise portion. But, keeping things in perspective.... there are some advantages to Celebrity air despite the price difference, in that my flights are now confirmed and if I see a lower fare directly with AA between now and my final payment date, I can make the change. I wouldn't be able to do that if I booked directly with AA today.

 

With most cruises, you need to book the cruise line's air in order have the transfer included, but not on the Xpedition cruise (at least the 10 day one). I was told that if we booked our own air, Celebrity would ask us for details so that they could arrange to meet us. However, the transfers only apply to our trip there as we are staying on for extra days in Quito, and will have to make our own arrangements back to the airport....not a problem since the Marriott has a shuttle.

[gdayhoff]

We went down a day early and used a taxi from the airport to the Marriott.Cost 5 dollars.You go to a booth and buy a voucher.Inturn give it to the cab driver.Very easy and quick.When you clear customs there's plenty of help to assist you with your baggage,buying the voucher,getting a cab,etc.Gave our help a couple of dollars.Money well spent.We were there in August.

Most rewarding cruise or tour we have been on.Enjoy

[Emdee]

susan, we were really tired the first day after the MAPI trip so just relaxed. The second day we took the trip to Cotopaxi which was interesting though we didnt get great views of Cotopaxi. We arranged it through greyhound. I had wanted to do the tour to the markets but on Saturday we had the Celebrity trip which is a pretty good one overall .

 

We took a private car to Cotopaxi and they arranged for us to have lunch at a hacienda that was owned by the grand daughter of one of the Equadorian presidents. It was quite an experience in more ways than one and could best be described as shabby genteel. When we sat down to eat lunch there was a corn snack in a bowl with a spoon . We sat with our guide and driver. The driver immediately spooned the corn into his mouth and returned the spoon into the bowl....... we politely declined any of it!!!

 

We are very fond of caipinrinhas. You can sometimes get Cachaca at LCBO but not always. We had a very nice waiter named Juan on the X and he suggested that we buy a liquor called Canamanabita or something like that at the Santa Cruz supermarket on the last day- $3.00 a bottle and it makes perfect Caipirinhas - X used the same brand as well.....

 

Enjoy your trip..........I am on a South African Safari this August

 

Miriam