business class airfare

[cruiseej]

On 8/23/2022 at 3:06 PM, mitz18 said:

The good thing about using the line's (any) air is if there are flight delays & you miss the sailing the line has to find a solution to get you to the boat.  Having said that, we normally book our own flight and always arrive 1-2 days early and leave 1 day after the cruise ends.

 

On 8/23/2022 at 3:25 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Lots of people believe that, but I don't think you will find it in the T&C.

 

Aside from what the cruise line's legal responsibilities are or are not, the simple fact is that the cruise line may or may not be able to get you to somewhere to join your cruise in a reasonable time. Two quick examples:

 

• Someone earlier this summer was going on a 7-day Alaska cruise. Their flight was canceled. No one — from the airline to the cruise line to the passenger — was able to come up with any flight on any airline in the following two days. The best they could have done was a a flight to an intermediate port stop missing three days of a 7 day cruise. It wasn't worth it, so they canceled the cruise and rebooked for a later date.
• You're booked on a cruise to a remote area, such as Antarctica. Your flight to South America is canceled and there are no available seats until one or two days later. Depending on the connection with the charter flight to southern Chile or Argentina, there may be no way to get you to the ship before it embarks to Antarctica. And there's no intermediate port to get you aboard a day or two late.

 

The point is: the cruise line's air department will try to get you to the ship in time to sail, or to a subsequent port to meet the ship a day or two or three hence — but there's no guarantee they'll be able to do so. In this era of reduced flights, mostly full flights, and limited availability to rebook passengers when a flight is canceled, the cruise line air department is at the mercy of what's available. (Of course, the same it true if you book air on your own.) Thinking that the cruise line air department will get you there, no matter what, is wrong.

 

[FlyerTalker]

26 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

the cruise line air department is at the mercy of what's available. (Of course, the same it true if you book air on your own.) Thinking that the cruise line air department will get you there, no matter what, is wrong.

 

Additional caveats to think about.  Contrary to urban legend, there is no bank of people who are monitoring ALL of the flights that have cruiseline pax booked on them.  Any rebooking done is reactive - they either get an automated message from the airline, after the fact that there is a cancellation, or they get a phone call from the passenger.  In either case, the cruiseline desk has limited tools at their disposal - they are bound by the contractual provisions of the bulk ticket that they have provided to the passenger.  Those provisions may include restrictions that prevent the endorsement of the ticket to another carrier, that prevent a different routing than the one originally ticketed, that prevent booking into another fare bucket (not class) and other restrictions.  OTOH, the ticket you buy directly from the carrier will not have the restrictions that a bulk ticket may have.

 

In addition, many carriers will proactively rebook you if you have a delay or cancellation of your flight if you bought the ticket directly.  Further, going direct to the airline cuts out the middleman of the cruiseline, which would have to work with the airline just as you would.

 

Now, for those who are very much into "let someone else handle things", cruiseline air takes those efforts out of your hands and puts it with the line.  But, the price is that you may not get the optimum result and that you will just get what they hand you, rather than being a participant in the process of getting a new flight.

 

Caveat emptor

[david63]

All of the above is true but from the UK perspective there is more to it.

 

If you book your own flights separately from the cruise then you have two contracts - one to fly and one to cruise. If, for whatever reason, your flight does not get you to your embarkation point on time then tough you have missed your cruise with no recompense - although there may be the possibility of a claim through your travel insurance, depending on the wording of your policy.

 

If you book a flight and cruise as a package then no matter what the problem is with the flight if you miss your embarkation it is the cruise line/booking agent that has the problem and they would have to give you appropriate compensation. The key to this is that everything has to be on one invoice/booking.

[ronrick1943]

14 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

 

Aside from what the cruise line's legal responsibilities are or are not, the simple fact is that the cruise line may or may not be able to get you to somewhere to join your cruise in a reasonable time. Two quick examples:

 

• Someone earlier this summer was going on a 7-day Alaska cruise. Their flight was canceled. No one — from the airline to the cruise line to the passenger — was able to come up with any flight on any airline in the following two days. The best they could have done was a a flight to an intermediate port stop missing three days of a 7 day cruise. It wasn't worth it, so they canceled the cruise and rebooked for a later date.
• You're booked on a cruise to a remote area, such as Antarctica. Your flight to South America is canceled and there are no available seats until one or two days later. Depending on the connection with the charter flight to southern Chile or Argentina, there may be no way to get you to the ship before it embarks to Antarctica. And there's no intermediate port to get you aboard a day or two late.

 

The point is: the cruise line's air department will try to get you to the ship in time to sail, or to a subsequent port to meet the ship a day or two or three hence — but there's no guarantee they'll be able to do so. In this era of reduced flights, mostly full flights, and limited availability to rebook passengers when a flight is canceled, the cruise line air department is at the mercy of what's available. (Of course, the same it true if you book air on your own.) Thinking that the cruise line air department will get you there, no matter what, is wrong.

 

Which is why we always go in 4 to 5 days early - we get rested and enjoy a few days before the cruise.  Never missed a cruise yet doing it this way.  We also stay an extra day off the ship—if you don’t need to hurry—may as well be stress free when you can.

[A Tucson Guy]

10 hours ago, david63 said:

All of the above is true but from the UK perspective there is more to it.

 

If you book your own flights separately from the cruise then you have two contracts - one to fly and one to cruise. If, for whatever reason, your flight does not get you to your embarkation point on time then tough you have missed your cruise with no recompense - although there may be the possibility of a claim through your travel insurance, depending on the wording of your policy.

 

If you book a flight and cruise as a package then no matter what the problem is with the flight if you miss your embarkation it is the cruise line/booking agent that has the problem and they would have to give you appropriate compensation. The key to this is that everything has to be on one invoice/booking.

That may be the case in the UK, but the USA is different. We did the Moon 7-5-22 cruise and used SS Air to book our flights and hotel. We also came into Copenhagen two days early and stayed at the SS hotel at a very expensive cost. Our AA flight was canceled at the last minute and SS booked us for the next day. I emailed my TA and called the hotel to let them know we would be coming in a day later. The cost of the hotel through SS was $600 a night. After the cruise, I emailed my TA to see about getting a refund for the one-night hotel pre-cruise. My TA could not get an answer from SS. I then emailed Barbara M at SS to explain the situation. No response from Barbara M. It is funny because right after the cruise I emailed the same Barbara and let her know what a wonderful cruise it was and that the crew did a great job. Barbara responded to my email within six hours thanking me for the email. Ya just need to know the rules!