So NCL air booked me on a flight leaving 11:17pm (red EYE)

[victory2020]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

If only....I guess it depends on where in Europe.  I've flown to London and Rome from the west coast, never direct.  Had to get to a hub first, flew to Rome "direct" from Toronto, came back through JFK.  Still waiting for flight info for 2 upcoming overseas cruises, each with 1 day deviation. I would assume you might get better flights, depending on your definition of better, because they aren't limited to early arrivals.

And they give you a $25 credit, not an extra charge.

Their policy is no more than 3 legs, no layovers over 4 hrs, no overnight layovers. Of course, that would depend on availability of flights.  I usually fly from a small regional airport so it takes 2 legs to get to a hub, meaning I'll get priority for the direct overseas flight at that point. So while I flew direct from Toronto, the folks who live in Toronto did not.

 

Thank you. It would ne LAX to London - I'm coming back from Amsterdam so I am doing my own airfare since I want more control over that flight. I'm thinking that since you cannot join cruise in progress now, they would make an effort to get you there with as few planes as possible

[disneylover89]

8 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I think you just made that up.  NCL clearly states that if on the same reservation all will be on the same flight.

My family of 4 has 2 cabins (connecting)  and 2 different reservation numbers so it is very possible.

Edited June 12, 2022 by disneylover89

[taconwil63]

I should have read all the fine print concerning NCL and their packaged flights.   It was my fault that I didn’t.   However, I have never booked a red eye flight by choice.      It took me 26 hours to get back home from my Alaska cruise on a NCL red eye.   That’s not the best way to end a cruise.
 

Just like NCL, I have a choice too.   My choice is not to sail with them again.    

[victory2020]

3 hours ago, taconwil63 said:

I should have read all the fine print concerning NCL and their packaged flights.   It was my fault that I didn’t.   However, I have never booked a red eye flight by choice.      It took me 26 hours to get back home from my Alaska cruise on a NCL red eye.   That’s not the best way to end a cruise.
 

Just like NCL, I have a choice too.   My choice is not to sail with them again.    

Wow! Where do you live? Were there delays or just bad scheduling?

[taconwil63]

3 hours ago, victory2020 said:

Wow! Where do you live? Were there delays or just bad scheduling?

Near Memphis.   No major delays…

[jsn55]

On 6/6/2022 at 2:50 AM, sundeckdad said:

    I had signed up for the Free air deal and knew there  may be connections.  But when I checked the airlines schedule there were flights leaving at noon. 

II contacted NCL and they said contact Delta. Talked to delta and they said NCL is the official owner of my ticket and they and only they, can change it to  the noon flight.  NCL claims they wont change it on their end.  

    Really ? Ill have to kill 10 hours waiting to fly all night home. 

 

Beware. It seems NCL prefers to book customers on red eye flights.  Even when early flights are available.

 

Travel providers will, with good business sense, book pax on the least expensive flights.  There's no getting around that.  As for 'free' air, that would definitely qualify for a red eye.  I often think that half the pax on a red eye flight were booked by a third party ... who else would chose that flight?  NCL does 'own' your tix.  I'm afraid your choices are to live with the red-eye or cancel the NCL flights and book independently.  NCL will not rebook you on a more expensive flight, nor should they, it's bad business.  It's a 'gift' to you and in their eyes you shall accept the gift without quibbling.  I've allowed a cruise line or tour operator to book flights for us three times over the years because it turned out that they could get a better fare.  I always talked directly with the Air Desk and made sure the flights were booked with confirmation numbers and assigned seats while I was on the phone.  Other than that kind of instance, cruisers are almost always better off booking their own air.

[hallux]

3 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

who else would chose that flight?

I did.  It was that or spend $200-$300 for a night in a hotel in Vancouver and then still have to be up at 6 AM (or at 4 AM for a 6 AM flight) the next day for a flight home.  I chose to just take the overnight flight and got home at a reasonable hour.

[lepidoptera]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

I did.  It was that or spend $200-$300 for a night in a hotel in Vancouver and then still have to be up at 6 AM (or at 4 AM for a 6 AM flight) the next day for a flight home.  I chose to just take the overnight flight and got home at a reasonable hour.

I booked a red eye for my Alaska cruise last year for the same reason. Then AA changed my flights around so it left an hour and half later out of Seattle, which meant I would miss the 6 am connecting flight so they switched me to a later one. That change meant I ended up getting home at 2 pm instead of 8 am. I would still do it again though. 

[hallux]

@lepidoptera we have the same issue with home airport size and getting decent flights - I usually go out of Albany...

[chev29]

We are on a trip to national parks, We fly out of Ft Myers, Fl, or Tampa and every one of the flights to Las Vegas will have a minimum 4 hour lay over, up to 8 hour on some airlines. Its not NCL its the airlines with too few pilots.

[whitezin1776]

On 6/11/2022 at 12:56 PM, disneylover89 said:

You're lucky, my family members got the 11:45pm flight back to JFK and arrived at 8am the next day.  They were beyond exhausted when they landed

We are going to get into JFK on Monday July 11 at 6 am.  

[divincenzo]

My upcoming cruise includes flight from Toronto to Papeete. I'm worried the "cheapest" option will include the most layovers and increasing the risk of a cancelled/delayed flight. I might have to cancel before final payment is due, there is way too many unknowns and I have to fully commit financially to find out what we are dealing with.

[SunFunRum88]

We just received our flight information from NCL.  We were able to go on American Air and add our AA number which allowed us to pick upgraded seats due to my status and request upgrades for the domestic portion.  I agree with the earlier poster that said it is a gift and you can not complain but I have and should take my own advice.  Fare was $1600 when I priced it and we paid $1300 for both. 

[lepidoptera]

1 hour ago, divincenzo said:

My upcoming cruise includes flight from Toronto to Papeete. I'm worried the "cheapest" option will include the most layovers and increasing the risk of a cancelled/delayed flight. I might have to cancel before final payment is due, there is way too many unknowns and I have to fully commit financially to find out what we are dealing with.

I swear I’ve seen posts saying that NCL charterers planes to Papeete when they are have it as the start/end of a cruise. But I’ve never done it myself so I might be imagining things. 

[divincenzo]

36 minutes ago, lepidoptera said:

I swear I’ve seen posts saying that NCL charterers planes to Papeete when they are have it as the start/end of a cruise. But I’ve never done it myself so I might be imagining things. 

You might be onto something... Papeete is the location you cannot request a deviation to your flights. Maybe this is why!

[Eggs2Go]

10 hours ago, chev29 said:

We are on a trip to national parks, We fly out of Ft Myers, Fl, or Tampa and every one of the flights to Las Vegas will have a minimum 4 hour lay over, up to 8 hour on some airlines. Its not NCL its the airlines with too few pilots.

Check out the new Breeze Airways from Ft Myers. Nonstop RSW to LAS at discount prices. 

[Russiamomm]

On 6/12/2022 at 1:34 AM, ChiefMateJRK said:

I think you just made that up.  NCL clearly states that if on the same reservation all will be on the same flight.

Not necessarily true.  We haven’t gotten our flights yet for our trip in September but my friend and I are traveling from two different airports.  We still got the “second passenger flies free” promo.  We’re definitely not on the same flight.  We’re flying in the day before and got the $25 credit.  We’re only going to NYC so no big deal there.  We will find each other.  

[jsn55]

6 hours ago, divincenzo said:

My upcoming cruise includes flight from Toronto to Papeete. I'm worried the "cheapest" option will include the most layovers and increasing the risk of a cancelled/delayed flight. I might have to cancel before final payment is due, there is way too many unknowns and I have to fully commit financially to find out what we are dealing with.

There should be some opportunity to talk directly with the cruise line's Air Desk to arrange your flights.  I remember telling a cruise line years ago that if I couldn't get the air booked and the biz upgrades, I was going to cancel the whole cruise.  That got me action.  Difficult to talk to anyone on the phone these days tho.  

[Sailing12Away]

On 6/12/2022 at 11:18 AM, taconwil63 said:

Just like NCL, I have a choice too.   My choice is not to sail with them again.    

Seems a bit extreme, no? How about you just choose to not use their air promo in the future since that's what you have an issue with and not the cruise itself?

[complawyer]

 

 

i suggest not giving up on the ncl cruise itself, just dont allow them to book the airfare. I want the control of when and where i'm going. even if the 2nd person flies free. we're doing lax to london on the sept 12th. red eye but gets to heathrow around 12/p.m..we're coming back from copenhagen. on the 28th.staying 3 days prior to cruise in london and 2 days post in copenhagen     delta comfort was about $1200 per person.  

[julig22]

5 hours ago, divincenzo said:

You might be onto something... Papeete is the location you cannot request a deviation to your flights. Maybe this is why!

I was scheduled to fly to papeete just when covid hit, so never got to go.  But for that cruise there were 2 charters out of LAX, leaving around midnight, arriving early am.  We were told there would be a place to leave luggage and we could go to the open market until the shuttle came.

[hallux]

8 hours ago, jsn55 said:

There should be some opportunity to talk directly with the cruise line's Air Desk to arrange your flights

There is a way - https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/premium-air

 

The perk air is different, one of the 'drawbacks' is that you give up control over your flight schedule.

[hueyjudy]

14 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Seems a bit extreme, no? How about you just choose to not use their air promo in the future since that's what you have an issue with and not the cruise itself?

You are so right ... but we are dealing with people who want their TA to rebook them to save $43, so paying $50 or 100 to control your own (free) air wouldn't be an option for some.  Just to be clear, in order to 'threaten' the cruise line with cancelling the whole trip, you have to mean it.  I would never have flown 11 hours JFK-Cairo in coach. 

[MrsBlackross]

Not sure if anyone else has said this, but you may be able to take the earlier flight with no additional charge or hassle.

NCL owns the 'reservation' but I know from experience that if you have a direct flight (no connections) and show up at the Delta airport counter on the day of your flight, they can and do allow you to either move your reservation to an earlier flight if there is availability, or put you on standby for an earlier flight so you can try to get home faster.  We have done it twice now using NCL's reservation.  The agent at the counter was more than happy to move us both times.

 

They won't do it ahead of time, but once you show up at the counter on the day of flight? Delta can and will want to fill seats on an earlier flight if they can.

 

[chillyw]

19 hours ago, MrsBlackross said:

Not sure if anyone else has said this, but you may be able to take the earlier flight with no additional charge or hassle.

NCL owns the 'reservation' but I know from experience that if you have a direct flight (no connections) and show up at the Delta airport counter on the day of your flight, they can and do allow you to either move your reservation to an earlier flight if there is availability, or put you on standby for an earlier flight so you can try to get home faster.  We have done it twice now using NCL's reservation.  The agent at the counter was more than happy to move us both times.

 

They won't do it ahead of time, but once you show up at the counter on the day of flight? Delta can and will want to fill seats on an earlier flight if they can.

 

 

Free same day standby ended up becoming a thing for all legacy carriers during the pandemic, but there are rumors of it going away for AA unless you're elite very soon.