NCL Free/Reduced Air Compilation

[astridwilson]

I will NEVER allow NCL to book air fare again. 

We are 39 days out and I was originally told they book within 45 days.  So I called at 42 days to check.  I waited 40 minutes on hold to talk with an air specialist and was given air times and flight numbers that she said would most likely be booked this week, they WERE exactly what I would have picked.  Well, today is a Saturday and I got the email this morning.  My cruise leaves from Miami and they booked my to fly into Fort Lauderdale which is a 45 minutes drive.  Flight leaves outta RDU at 6:40AM.  There is a 7:07AM Non stop from RDU to MIA on AA, but they booked Jet Blue which is only $40 cheaper.  The taxi or shuttle is gonna cost us way more than that.  PLUS the fight home does not leave until 9PM.  I would NEVER have booked flights like this.  NOW, I have to wait until Monday to talk to them and hope I can get my $99 promo Back and book my own flights.  

[kdmbluerzr]

20 hours ago, San10s said:

 

My opinion is that if the cruise wasn't in the winter months, I might consider no deviation but in January, I would never not have my flights at minimum the day before my cruise. 

 

I've done 42 cruises in the last 22 years and most of them in the winter months.  I learned not to think about only local forecasts for our airport as airplanes come from all other parts of the country.  A delay on the other side of the country due to bad weather might well become a delay for us in Boston. 

 

I love to gamble but not when it comes to making it to my ship in the winter! 

You are very right Judy!  And I did contact my PCC and request a one day deviation, flying in the day before. 😎

[gentscruising]

On 10/11/2019 at 8:18 AM, mfic246 said:

Home Departure City - Albany, NY

Arrival/Destination City - New Orleans

Airline(s) used - American there / Delta back

Number of Connections - 1 each way

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 8:15am ALB - PHL arrive 9:38am

10:19am PHL - MSY arrive 12:30PM

Return Flight departure/arrival time

11:19am MSY - DTW 2:45pm

3:18pm DTW - ALB 4:58pm

 

Just received confirmed airfare at 59 days from travel. Called at 61 days and they changed the flights I was supposed to be on from later in the evening.  The person I talked to was super helpful.  We have the deviation to fly in a day early.  Connection times are tight but love getting into New Orleans nice and early the day before.  Original flight on the way back had us not leaving until 6:00 and getting back to Albany after midnight.  The agent said I called at the perfect time as they hadn't been officially ticketed yet.

I'm curious about this. Since you didn't know what flight you were booked on when you called did you just request an early flight?

[newmexicoNita]

2 hours ago, astridwilson said:

I will NEVER allow NCL to book air fare again. 

We are 39 days out and I was originally told they book within 45 days.  So I called at 42 days to check.  I waited 40 minutes on hold to talk with an air specialist and was given air times and flight numbers that she said would most likely be booked this week, they WERE exactly what I would have picked.  Well, today is a Saturday and I got the email this morning.  My cruise leaves from Miami and they booked my to fly into Fort Lauderdale which is a 45 minutes drive.  Flight leaves outta RDU at 6:40AM.  There is a 7:07AM Non stop from RDU to MIA on AA, but they booked Jet Blue which is only $40 cheaper.  The taxi or shuttle is gonna cost us way more than that.  PLUS the fight home does not leave until 9PM.  I would NEVER have booked flights like this.  NOW, I have to wait until Monday to talk to them and hope I can get my $99 promo Back and book my own flights.  

I don't understand why you would post the exact same comments on 2 threads. You have already posted this. I do hope, MOnday you can get some satisfaction. 

[lhsail]

Home Departure City - Austin, TX

Arrival/Destination City - Barcelona 

Airline(s) used - United 

Number of Connections - 1 

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 2:00 pm, 9:00 am

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 5:15 pm, 10:56 pm

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? Yes, 2 days before and after 

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 40

 

Return flights are from San Juan, Transatlantic 

[missSarahA81]

Home Departure City - Canton/Akron (CAK)

Arrival/Destination City - Miami

Airline(s) used - Delta

Number of Connections - 1 each way

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time -CAK to ATL  6am-8 am /ATL to MIA 9:40am -11:33am

Return Flight departure/arrival time-MIA to ATL 6pm -8pm/ATL-CAK 9:19pm-11pm

Deviation: No

Days out 56

 

 

I'm not exactly excited about not leaving until 6pm for the return BUT I looked and there's nothing on Delta that leaves any earlier that is realistic to make so it's probably what I would've booked for myself anyway. 

[texasgirl29]

21 hours ago, lhsail said:

Home Departure City - Austin, TX

Arrival/Destination City - Barcelona 

Airline(s) used - United 

Number of Connections - 1 

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 2:00 pm, 9:00 am

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 5:15 pm, 10:56 pm

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? Yes, 2 days before and after 

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 40

 

Return flights are from San Juan, Transatlantic 

This is helpful as we are on the 2020 Epic TA, flying out of DFW. What are your connections? (I'm finding all of this data very interesting!)

 

[lhsail]

6 minutes ago, texasgirl29 said:

This is helpful as we are on the 2020 Epic TA, flying out of DFW. What are your connections? (I'm finding all of this data very interesting!)

 

We only have about an hour in Newark which is a little nerve racking.  We have 2 hours on the way back. 

[auntiejanie]

On 9/24/2019 at 12:57 PM, tvlworm said:

Tried my hand at an excel document that should be able to be sorted.  I currently have it sorted by departure city, then airline to hopefully make it easier to see most popular carriers used based on routing.    I'll keep this updated, hopefully 1x per week, depending on # of weekly responses to the thread.   🙂

NCL Air Compilation.xlsx 10.2 kB · 52 downloads

Thank You!  This is/will be a handy reference.  Will add our FEB 2020 Hong Kong/Singapore flight info once we're booked.  Meanwhile, I called NCL air customer service when I noticed our NCL online account was populated with flight gateway and connection.  NCL explained that was placeholder info, subject to change, but most likely an indication of our routing.  NCL also explained that at this time air bookings are currently being confirmed 35-45 days out.

[IRMO12HD]

On 10/8/2019 at 3:13 PM, mchl73133 said:

Home/Departure City: Sacramento

Arrival/Destination City: Miami

Airlines: American Air

Number of Connections:  1 Change Planes in Arizona outboard / Return 1 Change planes in Chicago

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - Dec 6th Sac 7:38pm - Phoenix 10:26pm - Phoenix 12:05am - Miami 6:09am

Return Flight departure/arrival time - Dec 14th Miami -1:40pm - Chicago 4:03pm - Chicago 5:25pm to Sac 8:05pm 

Deviation:  Flying in 1 day early

Flight info received - 60 days out

Out of curiosity -- since you got a 1-day deviation, does your (overnight) flight Sacramento-Miami get you in the day before your cruise, or the day of your cruise?

[mchl73133]

1 hour ago, IRMO12HD said:

Out of curiosity -- since you got a 1-day deviation, does your (overnight) flight Sacramento-Miami get you in the day before your cruise, or the day of your cruise?

We land friday morning the day before the cruise. We have an overnight flight Thursday night. So we had to get a hotel room for friday night. Hopefully they will let us check in extra early since we land in Miami at 6am. 

[welove2cruise*]

On 9/24/2019 at 7:45 AM, newmexicoNita said:

now how you feel about the short layover. You may want to reserve a wheel chair, that is what we have started doing. It should be waiting for you when you get off the plane and they can cover a lot of distance in a very short period of time. 

35 minutes in the Atlanta airport does not seem doable to me. Your connecting flight will be boarding 30 minutes prior to take off and Atlanta is a big airport with trains connecting terminals. I would call to argue to have that changed. 

[welove2cruise*]

On 9/25/2019 at 2:58 PM, snorklinbarb said:

If you go a day early and come back a day later, is that counted as 2 deviations, i.e. $50pp?

Yes, I you want to stay up to two days after you have to pay the $25 pp again. 

[The_Portlandian]

Home Departure City - Portland, OR

Arrival/Destination City - Miami, FL

Airline(s) used - AA & Delta

Number of Connections - 2 (1 each way)

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 6:17pm / 7:09am

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 12:31pm / 7:20pm

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? Yes, paid $50 for two people to deviate 2 days after 

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 57

[mfic246]

On 10/12/2019 at 12:27 PM, gentscruising said:

I'm curious about this. Since you didn't know what flight you were booked on when you called did you just request an early flight?

 

I saw that the airports that they had used as placeholders in my summary had changed so I called that day.  The agent told me the tentative flights and I asked if I could change.  She said yes since they hadn't been ticketed, gave me some other options that I liked and they were ticketed a couple of days later.  Have my seats picked and all set.

[Tealing]

Home departure city. Toronto. Dec.11th. for Dec.13th.cruise.

Destination. New Orleans.

Airlines. WestJet. Republican. Delta. WestJet.

Connections. One each way. La Guardia.

Outbound. 09:35. Arrive.16:38.

Inbound.    13:13. Arrive. 20:41.

Paid $50:00. for two. Two days deviation prior to cruise.

 Tickets. 59 days until cruise.

AirCanada have direct flights but figure this has saved us around $1200:00. so no complaints.

[WilsCM]

Home Departure City - Portland, OR

Arrival/Destination City - Los Angeles

Airline(s) used - Delta

Number of Connections - 0

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time -6:35/9:00 AM

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 8:35/11 PM

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)?No, I called before ticketed to request a deviation after the cruise and they did the change at no charge

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 54

[tvlworm]

Thanks to everyone who has added their information over the last week!  An updated version of the spreadsheet will be posted tomorrow 🙂

[NW Pacific]

Home Departure:  Portland, OR

Arrival:  Los Angeles

Airline:  Outbound;  Alaska, Return; flight American

No Connections

Outbound Flight departs 7am

Return Flight departs 2:30 pm

I day deviation purchased for $25.00- did not buy 40.00 transfer fee

Flights ticketed and  seats assigned on Alaska, were able to select seats on American- Oct.10, 2019.  Cruise Date is January 5, 2020.    86 days from cruise departure

We are linked with 4 other people, all put on same flights

[tvlworm]

Updated spreadsheet, still sorted by departure city, followed by destination and carriers used.  

 

Thanks! 

 

NCL Air Compilation.xlsx

[lhsail]

On 10/14/2019 at 11:57 AM, texasgirl29 said:

This is helpful as we are on the 2020 Epic TA, flying out of DFW. What are your connections? (I'm finding all of this data very interesting!)

 

Update, I called NCL yesterday nervous about the slightly less than one hour connection in Newark, nothing could be done. This morning I called United. Took about 30 minutes between call wait time and being put on hold, but we now leave Austin at 11:30 am, giving us just over 3 hours for the connection.  No charge for the change. I honestly didn’t think they’d accommodate us, but I’m so glad I called. 

[texasgirl29]

ihsail -- That's good news. I've been lurking on the roll call for Epic TA Nov. 2019, and saw another person on your roll call with two connections -- I hope they can get that fixed. I hope to get some good ideas and feedback from y'all after the cruise as far as ports, excursions, weather, etc. 

[johnrich]

Home Departure City - Pittsburgh 

Arrival/Destination City - Orlando

Airline(s) - American

Number of Connections -  1 each way (Charlotte for 46 mins down, Philadelphia  for 50 minutes back)

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 5:00am - 9:16am

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 8:26pm -12:54am

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? Yes

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 38 days
 

Note: After booking the cruise (3 pax on reservation) we each had different connecting cities as place holders. At 45 days out, the placeholders changed and we all had Boston as our connection city pre-cruise (more than likely JetBlue) and Charlotte post cruise (Likely American). Well, when it was finally ticketed, it ended up being Charlotte pre-cruise and Philadelphia post-cruise. Not too thrilled about the late return trip or the short connection times, but for the cost, we will take it. 

[jmh3791]

Home Departure City -  Colorado Springs

Arrival/Destination City - Vancouver

Airline(s) used -  Delta/West Jet

Number of Connections - 2

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 8:30am MST/4pmPST

 

Departure City - Los Angeles

Destination City - Colorado Springs

Airline(s) used -  United

Number of Connections - direct

Return Flight departure/arrival time 6:35pm PST / 10pm MST (flight was delayed 1.5 hours by United)

Deviation:  Paid $25 each for 3 people to fly in a day early.  DId not use any transfers but did book an excursion on debarkation day that ended at LAX

How many days out when you were ticketed- 31days out  (booked cruise at 42 days out)

Edited October 18, 2019 by jmh3791

[orangeglitter]

Home Departure City -  tampa

Arrival/Destination City - new orleans

Airline(s) used -  Delta

Number of Connections - 1

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time -  7:00am EST/11:26 CST

 

Departure City - new orleans

Destination City - tampa

Airline(s) used -  aa

Number of Connections - 1

Return Flight departure/arrival time 4:36pm CST / 10:19pm EST 

Deviation:  Paid $25 each for 4 people to fly in a day early. 

How many days out when you were ticketed- 52

 

These are not perfect times. Leaving a little early and arriving back a little late but they are pretty close. I would have booked non stop but it would have cost much more than free.