NCL BOGO Air

[tonyfall1]

I was just getting ready to pull the trigger on an NCL cruise. NCL Breakaway out of NOLA. The deciding factor for NCL was the BOGO airfare from Detroit to NOLA. It saves me around $600, from any other cruise line. But now I have read the reviews, is it really that bad and unreliable?

[SimplyAlbert]

Personally, unless the savings are in the thousands, I will not let NCL book my airfare.  I don't want/need the added stress.  While I believe that most of the flights go as planned and overall people have liked or been ok with their flights, its when things go wrong they seem to go very wrong.  Not the way I want to start or end a cruise.  It all depends on your individual comfort level.

 

The only other way I would consider it would be with a two day deviation.  That way if something goes wrong you have a buffer to, hopefully, get you there in time.

 

 

[tonyfall1]

Thanks, so if you miss the cruise cause of an issue with the air booked through them, do they take any accountability? Do you get a refund or credit, or is their no advantage at all with booking through them?

[rodndonna]

23 minutes ago, tonyfall1 said:

I was just getting ready to pull the trigger on an NCL cruise. NCL Breakaway out of NOLA. The deciding factor for NCL was the BOGO airfare from Detroit to NOLA. It saves me around $600, from any other cruise line. But now I have read the reviews, is it really that bad and unreliable?

 

Following as we have an NCL air booked for a cruise in January and still within the window to cancel and book our own air.

[rodndonna]

10 minutes ago, tonyfall1 said:

Thanks, so if you miss the cruise cause of an issue with the air booked through them, do they take any accountability? Do you get a refund or credit, or is their no advantage at all with booking through them?

 

I don't think you get credit. It appears you do with Celebrity and Carnival (Fly2Fun) but not NCL. Have been looking more into this lately ...

 

The advantage is cost and a  better chance you will make it to the ship if there are delays. 

[ggTexasGal]

11 minutes ago, tonyfall1 said:

Thanks, so if you miss the cruise cause of an issue with the air booked through them, do they take any accountability? Do you get a refund or credit, or is their no advantage at all with booking through them?

NCL has all sorts of disclaimer in the Terms and Conditions, so don't expect compensation from NCL.

Good Trip Insurance is HIGHLY recommended! 

[ULCajunCruiser]

I'm taking my first NCL cruise in October and we booked using NCL Air.   Recently received our flight info and I couldn't be happier.   I got my flight info about 60 days out, which was earlier than I expected, the flights were great with enough layover time to not have to rush, but not so much that I feel like I'm wasting time.   Most importantly, I saved over $1000!!   Flying from Louisiana to Hawaii.

 

As a previous poster said, we took a 2 day deviation.  I would definitely recommend this.

[schmoopie17]

@tonyfall1 I see you're relatively new to CC...or at least the NCL board.

 

You probably don't know that this is a subject that has been kicked around on this board for a very long time. I would suggest doing a search for "BOGO" or "NCL Air" and you will be overwhelmed by the number of hits you will get. Many, many...MANY more than the handful you will get to your posting.

 

And you might want to set aside a couple of weeks to be able to get through them all 😁.

Have fun sorting through them.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by schmoopie17

[ontheweb]

One thing to know, though it might not be applicable in your case, is that if you take a deviation (they allow 1 or 2 days on each end), they will only transfer you from the airport. So, for our cruise that was from Southampton, we had to be transferred from Heathrow, not the city of London. (Since we did not want to drag our luggage to London, we were doing a hotel by the airport anyway, but it is something people should know.)

 

Not sure, but I do think if you book a hotel through them, then they will transfer you from the actual city.

[tonyfall1]

I assume I would have to call them for the deviation? I don't see an option to select that.

[schmoopie17]

3 minutes ago, tonyfall1 said:

I assume I would have to call them for the deviation? I don't see an option to select that.

Yep...

[julig22]

3 hours ago, tonyfall1 said:

But now I have read the reviews, is it really that bad and unreliable?

Your flight might not be as convenient as you'd like.  And sometimes layovers seem to be cutting it close - but fall within the acceptable timeframes published by the various airports.

As to reliability, NCL has no control over the airlines.  What they book is just as reliable as anything you could book yourself.  NCL will rebook your flight if it changes more than 72 hours prior, otherwise you are on your own to work with the airlines.

[SimplyAlbert]

4 hours ago, tonyfall1 said:

Thanks, so if you miss the cruise cause of an issue with the air booked through them, do they take any accountability? Do you get a refund or credit, or is their no advantage at all with booking through them?

 

In this case NCL is acting like a travel agent in booking your flight.  They will pick the least expensive options.  Some people have reported being able to pick/upgrade seats on their flights, and others have posted that they have not.

 

From what I've read on this site and others, NCL takes no accountability for flight delays or cancellations.  It would be up to you to make arrangements to catch up to the ship and board at the next port of call.  NCL's position is that if you're within 72 hours of your flight, it's between you and the airline.  The airline(s), again from what I've read, take the position that the airfare is between you and NCL.

 

You must request the deviation 75 days prior to your cruise.  I believe you can cancel out of the NCL transfers/hotel and book your own.

[Uff da]

As I have posted in other places here, we are going on our 4th time using NCL Air in October. We've had no issues. We understand the program because we took the time to read the terms, we use the 2 day diversion going in, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. We have saved A LOT of money booking air through NCL. I'll take my savings and book some awesome excursions I might not have otherwise. You need to be flexible and go with the flow. As Julig22 points out, stuff happens and you can't blame NCL for things out of their control. Air travel is a mess these days. There is no guarantee your own booked flights will go any better. 

Also, it's my opinion nobody should be traveling without a good insurance policy. Too much can go wrong very quickly. We travel enough that we decided to purchase an annual plan from Allianz. 

 

[Uff da]

18 minutes ago, SimplyAlbert said:

 

In this case NCL is acting like a travel agent in booking your flight.  They will pick the least expensive options.  Some people have reported being able to pick/upgrade seats on their flights, and others have posted that they have not.

 

From what I've read on this site and others, NCL takes no accountability for flight delays or cancellations.  It would be up to you to make arrangements to catch up to the ship and board at the next port of call.  NCL's position is that if you're within 72 hours of your flight, it's between you and the airline.  The airline(s), again from what I've read, take the position that the airfare is between you and NCL.

 

You must request the deviation 75 days prior to your cruise.  I believe you can cancel out of the NCL transfers/hotel and book your own.

I have flown NCL air with United, Delta and upcoming American and Southwest. I have been able to log into the airlines websites and pick seats, pre-purchase baggage, whatever I've needed to do. It's never been an issue. 

[victory2020]

Go to a travel website & put flight itinerary in. They will probably give you one of the less expensive ones. I have done this every time & get pretty much what I assumed they would give me

[PhillyTravelBug]

I was just on the prima with NCL air booked last month. We had zero issues besides an hour delay. Our connections were great from Philadelphia. Philly - Boston - Reykjavik 

london- Montreal - Philly 

 

I recommend going a day before on the front end. I will use them again next time.

[tonyfall1]

31 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

Go to a travel website & put flight itinerary in. They will probably give you one of the less expensive ones. I have done this every time & get pretty much what I assumed they would give me

It looks like they are giving me a non-stop Delta flight that is supposed to arrive at 10:44 a.m. the morning of the cruise. The price is the exact same as they quoted me.

Edited September 6, 2023 by tonyfall1

[PACrew]

Just booked a NCL cruise with air. The savings for me is around $1600 to use NCL air. I just did a 2 day early deviation (which we would have done had we booked ourselves since going to Europe) so its a wash. 

[schmoopie17]

1 hour ago, tonyfall1 said:

It looks like they are giving me a non-stop Delta flight that is supposed to arrive at 10:44 a.m. the morning of the cruise. 

When is the cruise? If winter, you probably wouldn't want to arrive the same day as the cruise. Even when it's not winter, flights are getting canceled (as with United the other day). Not usually a good thing to fly in the same day. But as they say on CC...YMMV.

[philv]

We did NCL air for Hawaiian cruise in September 2022. Denver to Honolulu. Went 2 days early. Got nonstop flight, great price, good times. Doing it again in 2024.

[FTLCruiseGal]

The only thing you have going for you is that most likely Detroit to New Orleans is a direct flight.  Read Saint Greg’s review regarding his return flight from  a convert o see what you are up against.

 

Personally, I would never book flights through any cruise line.

[Russiamomm]

We’ve used it twice - once for domestic and ice internationally.  Be prepared for inconvenient connections.  The worst was a short flight to and from NYC.  Despite there being flights every hour, they put us on a 6 AM flight there and a 10PM flight home.  We flew in a day early.  We were not able to change the outbound flight but we’re able to fly home standby on an earlier flight.

 

As others have noted, ALWAYS fly in at least a day early.  You never know what will happen with flights and you need a cushion in case the flight is delayed or cancelled.  Use the savings on the airfare for a hotel the night before and explore the debarkation city.

[tsmith6719]

Got my flights from Boston to San Diego .. The flight times are great but when I try to book seats there are none at the fare NCL paid. To Get two seat I will need to pay an additional 359 bucks . Is this normal ? 

[Uff da]

1 hour ago, tsmith6719 said:

Got my flights from Boston to San Diego .. The flight times are great but when I try to book seats there are none at the fare NCL paid. To Get two seat I will need to pay an additional 359 bucks . Is this normal ? 

No. What airline and where are you flying? Are you sure you don't already have assigned seats and that's a cost to upgrade to business class? I would call the airline if it were me.