Flying v's Southampton prices

[emam]

I know most of you usually travel from Southampton, but does anyone know how the prices for flying compare. Are they around the same price or do they differ if you are flying?

[john watson]

9 minutes ago, emam said:

I know most of you usually travel from Southampton, but does anyone know how the prices for flying compare. Are they around the same price or do they differ if you are flying?

 

Are you asking about people who fly to Southampton from their home in Belfast for example?  Typically P&O quotes fares including flights if appropriate sailing out of Barbados or Valetta making it easy to compare prices like for like on number of nights on the ship. 

 

Regards John

[emam]

Son is looking at cruise for next year on Azura. It's a fly cruise from Valetta. We have only done cruises from Southampton, so I didn't know if the prices would be more to fly.

[john watson]

6 minutes ago, emam said:

Son is looking at cruise for next year on Azura. It's a fly cruise from Valetta. We have only done cruises from Southampton, so I didn't know if the prices would be more to fly.

 

My understanding is that P&O quote prices including flights and there is no discount if you book "cruise only" and arrange your own flights.  You can therefore easily compare cruises of same length from different start points.  A complication is where children are involved as 3rd 4th in cabin.  Ex-Southampton they do not need to contribute to P&O  much for their share but as flights are often charged as adult fare from 12 and children's flights are not half price families probably not going to get big bargains with Caribbean cruises, Valetta not such a big airfare contribution.  It is more difficult to price family of four and bargains for families are more likely to be found ex-Southampton.  There are always anomalies where a specific cruise price plummets and other cruises hold up.

 

Regards John

[wowzz]

You are looking at totally different cruises. Comparing cruises from Southampton to fly cruises from Valetta is like comparing apples to pears - you cannot make a valid comparison.

[emam]

Thank you both.

[happy v]

1 hour ago, emam said:

Son is looking at cruise for next year on Azura. It's a fly cruise from Valetta. We have only done cruises from Southampton, so I didn't know if the prices would be more to fly.

We also live in NE. When I was pricing cruise from Newcastle the flights were £175 extra each.

I think the cruises themselves are comparable to leaving from Southampton.

[oxygenbanditnot]

You are on the boat for the same amount of time, flying is an extra component. Fly cruises are generally more expensive.

[janny444]

Hi....very hard to compare but say you want to go to the Med...fly cruise  you can go for 7 nights but sailing from Southampton you will need to cruise for 14 nights. Both cruises may work out the same final price but basing it on a per night basis the cruise from Southampton works out a lot cheaper.

[grapau27]

13 hours ago, emam said:

Son is looking at cruise for next year on Azura. It's a fly cruise from Valetta. We have only done cruises from Southampton, so I didn't know if the prices would be more to fly.

Certainly a lot warmer if sailing from Malta and a bonus not having to sail through the Bay of Biscay.

We usually use Flybe from Newcastle and overnight in a Southampton hotel which is not cheap.

If going to Malta it is best to get a flycruise deal as a lot of people on the flight will be on the ship and if the flight is late you have much more cover than flying independently.

[DamianG]

13 hours ago, wowzz said:

You are looking at totally different cruises. Comparing cruises from Southampton to fly cruises from Valetta is like comparing apples to pears - you cannot make a valid comparison.

 

Agree it is impossible to compare like for like but looking at P&O website here are some current prices for August school holiday cruises in 2021:

 

A116 Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:      "from" £1,749  05/08/2021

N116 Ventura Baltic (from Southampton) 14 nights:                   £1,349  08/08/2021

A116C Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:               £1,849  12/08/2021

B119 Britannia Med (from Southampton) 14 nights:                   £1,299  14/08/2021

A116 Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:                 £1,449   19/08/2021

N116 Ventura Med (from Southampton) 14 nights:                     £1,079   22/08/2021

 

Of course supply and demand / fluid pricing is a factor but on this small sample clearly the fly cruises have some extra cost built in.

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, DamianG said:

 

Agree it is impossible to compare like for like but looking at P&O website here are some current prices for August school holiday cruises in 2021:

 

A116 Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:      "from" £1,749  05/08/2021

N116 Ventura Baltic (from Southampton) 14 nights:                   £1,349  08/08/2021

A116C Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:               £1,849  12/08/2021

B119 Britannia Med (from Southampton) 14 nights:                   £1,299  14/08/2021

A116 Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:                 £1,449   19/08/2021

N116 Ventura Med (from Southampton) 14 nights:                     £1,079   22/08/2021

 

Of course supply and demand / fluid pricing is a factor but on this small sample clearly the fly cruises have some extra cost built in.

Yes, but you are not comparing the same ships, or the same ports.  However, I would agree that fly cruises may attract a higher price, but that may be because they sell better than Southampton based cruises,  and therefore the market will bear a higher cost. Nothing to do with the actual cost of the flights themselves. 

[DamianG]

9 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Yes, but you are not comparing the same ships, or the same ports.  However, I would agree that fly cruises may attract a higher price, but that may be because they sell better than Southampton based cruises,  and therefore the market will bear a higher cost. Nothing to do with the actual cost of the flights themselves. 

 

Agreed, as you said it is impossible to exactly compare ships, ports and dates. I just ran the search as this is typical of where we would start when looking for our annual 2 week cruise in August. At this point I don't know if they started at higher or lower prices when sales opened but I still feel that there will be some extra cost for the "included" flights.

 

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, DamianG said:

 

Agreed, as you said it is impossible to exactly compare ships, ports and dates. I just ran the search as this is typical of where we would start when looking for our annual 2 week cruise in August. At this point I don't know if they started at higher or lower prices when sales opened but I still feel that there will be some extra cost for the "included" flights.

 

Normally, prices are lowest when first released, around two years in advance.

[john watson]

18 hours ago, wowzz said:

You are looking at totally different cruises. Comparing cruises from Southampton to fly cruises from Valetta is like comparing apples to pears - you cannot make a valid comparison.

 

OP appears to be looking at comparing different cruises, flying and ex-Southampton to get a price differential.  Presumably to calculate the financial impact on a standard budget and then look at the difference in what the cruise offers.  It is a bit like looking at the price of ten apples against ten pears then working out the extra cost.  Ten pears might be well over budget but if they were only a little dearer you then think which fruit do I prefer.

 

Regards John

[terrierjohn]

All cruise prices, whether fly cruise or no fly, are subject to fluid pricing and dependent on the demand.

As a result some Caribbean fly cruises in the weak period at the end of Nov up to just before Xmas are sometimes lower price pppd than no fly cruises.  But in general they will be more expensive to cover the extra cost of the charter flights; although the generally lower fuel costs on fly cruises will help to reduce the flight costs.

Edited January 20, 2020 by terrierjohn

[emam]

Hi all,

 

thank you for your replies. To add some context to my question, our (P&O) cruises so far have all been from Southampton to the med. After talking about cruising our son and his girlfriend (only two of them) are now thinking of going on a cruise. One of the cruises they are looking at is a Med fly cruise from Valletta. The price is a couple of hundred pounds pp, dearer than what we have paid for our cruises. I didn't know if this was down to fluid pricing, or the fact that it's a fly cruise. I didn't want to tell them to wait until the price drops, if fly cruises are generally a bit dearer.

 

So thank you all again you have confirmed that it would generally cost a bit more to fly. I think it will take them a while to decide, but at least I now know that the price they are looking at is about right at this point in time.

 

I will continue to encourage them to book through a travel agent, b over, when they have decided.

[janny444]

10 hours ago, emam said:

Hi all,

 

thank you for your replies. To add some context to my question, our (P&O) cruises so far have all been from Southampton to the med. After talking about cruising our son and his girlfriend (only two of them) are now thinking of going on a cruise. One of the cruises they are looking at is a Med fly cruise from Valletta. The price is a couple of hundred pounds pp, dearer than what we have paid for our cruises. I didn't know if this was down to fluid pricing, or the fact that it's a fly cruise. I didn't want to tell them to wait until the price drops, if fly cruises are generally a bit dearer.

 

So thank you all again you have confirmed that it would generally cost a bit more to fly. I think it will take them a while to decide, but at least I now know that the price they are looking at is about right at this point in time.

 

I will continue to encourage them to book through a travel agent, b over, when they have decided.

Just another point....with fly cruises we can wait and see if the price drops but sometimes while you are waiting the airport from which you want to fly becomes " sold out" so the cruise may be available but your departure airport may not be.

[emam]

5 hours ago, janny444 said:

Just another point....with fly cruises we can wait and see if the price drops but sometimes while you are waiting the airport from which you want to fly becomes " sold out" so the cruise may be available but your departure airport may not be.

Good point, thanks

[john watson]

On 1/20/2020 at 1:37 PM, DamianG said:

 

Agree it is impossible to compare like for like but looking at P&O website here are some current prices for August school holiday cruises in 2021:

 

A116 Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:      "from" £1,749  05/08/2021

N116 Ventura Baltic (from Southampton) 14 nights:                   £1,349  08/08/2021

A116C Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:               £1,849  12/08/2021

B119 Britannia Med (from Southampton) 14 nights:                   £1,299  14/08/2021

A116 Azura Valletta round trip with flights 14 nights:                 £1,449   19/08/2021

N116 Ventura Med (from Southampton) 14 nights:                     £1,079   22/08/2021

 

Of course supply and demand / fluid pricing is a factor but on this small sample clearly the fly cruises have some extra cost built in.

 

One of the hardest to sell cruises and therefore cheapest per night is the Fly to Barbados and have a bit of time in Caribbean a few consecutive days at sea stop in Canaries and then sail to Southampton.  13 nights on Azura balcony £1149 and 14 nights on Britannia balcony £1249.  These prices include the flight and generally are available in March with exceptional nightly cost value for what you get.

 

Regards John

[ovccruiser]

Flying to the Med will give you 14 days in the Med, cruising out of Southampton will at best give you 10 days in the Med, probably only 8. The Bay of Biscay takes up minimum 2 days to cross, 1 each way and may also involve a port call in either Portugal or south west Spain. If they are sun seekers, the fly cruise would probably be a better option.

[john watson]

23 hours ago, ovccruiser said:

Flying to the Med will give you 14 days in the Med, cruising out of Southampton will at best give you 10 days in the Med, probably only 8. The Bay of Biscay takes up minimum 2 days to cross, 1 each way and may also involve a port call in either Portugal or south west Spain. If they are sun seekers, the fly cruise would probably be a better option.

 

I think this type of issue is precisely what the OP will look at once they have established cost differential. You pay an extra or save an extra £xxx but then what am I losing/gaining.

 

Regards John

[emam]

I think they are doing what Andy advised in his other topic; research. I haven't heard from them so far this week. They probably prefer to fly rather than the long travel down south. As my fellow north easterners and sons g/f have said they can fly down to S/H, but I told them if they do so it will have to be the day before. They probably won't have the holidays to do that. 

[BrianI]

If you have to fly to Southampton, you might as well fly to  a Mediterranean port such as Barcelona, Venice or Rome. 
P&O do fly cruises from Malta. Brian

Edited January 23, 2020 by BrianI

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, emam said:

I think they are doing what Andy advised in his other topic; research. I haven't heard from them so far this week. They probably prefer to fly rather than the long travel down south. As my fellow north easterners and sons g/f have said they can fly down to S/H, but I told them if they do so it will have to be the day before. They probably won't have the holidays to do that. 

In their situation, flying to Malta makes sense. 

Hope they have a great time, whatever they decide. 

Andy