UK Tranatlantic cruisers can you help re flights?

[Tony UK]

Planning a transatlantic next spring. We will need flights to Florida one way and then back to the UK from Barcelona. Can anyone doing this type of thing this year give me any insight into flight arrangements?

One way flights are insane prices. We will need to book in the next few weeks, and we will be travelling at Easter so we will probably need to be quick, hence the research! I wonder which airlines Flights by Celebrity use?

Our preference would be Manchester or Liverpool although we can get to London airports also.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[nijh]

We’re doing one in November from Lisbon to Port Canaveral.  One way to Lisbon £93 on TAP.  Looking at Virgin from Orlando back to MAN at around £800.  Seems ok to me.  Booking all via airline’s own sites.

 

Celebrity flights did not include a luggage allowance when I looked, seemed you needed to add that as an extra direct with airline, they were also dearer.

[the penguins]

54 minutes ago, Tony UK said:

Planning a transatlantic next spring. We will need flights to Florida one way and then back to the UK from Barcelona. Can anyone doing this type of thing this year give me any insight into flight arrangements?

One way flights are insane prices. We will need to book in the next few weeks, and we will be travelling at Easter so we will probably need to be quick, hence the research! I wonder which airlines Flights by Celebrity use?

Our preference would be Manchester or Liverpool although we can get to London airports also.

Any help much appreciated.

 

our solution which may not help you but works for us is to do 2 TA's a year thus we buy a return air fare which works out cheaper.

Also worth exploring on the BA site is to book a return ticket where you choose say Premium economy out which includes baggage etc but the cheapest return i.e. no bags etc as you wont be using it it doesn't what the dates are. 

The cruise line may also have special one way deals.

[LB_NJ]

Airline miles also seem to work.

[publicpersona]

As much as I like to disparage Flights by Celebrity, the one time I would definitely check them is for international flights. They occasionally have consolidator fares that are incredible. It doesn't cost anything to see what the options and prices are.

 

Also, for your flight to Florida, check to see if booking travel to New York or Boston, and flight from there to Florida as separate record locator helps. For example, it may be $1600 from London to Orlando, but $600 London to New York and $200 to Florida .. and could even be the same flights.

 

[Tony UK]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

our solution which may not help you but works for us is to do 2 TA's a year thus we buy a return air fare which works out cheaper.

Also worth exploring on the BA site is to book a return ticket where you choose say Premium economy out which includes baggage etc but the cheapest return i.e. no bags etc as you wont be using it it doesn't what the dates are. 

The cruise line may also have special one way deals.

Good idea re the return TA! 

Dont you get penalised if you don't use the return portion? It is all so stupid.....the cost of one way is double, sometimes treble the cost of a round trip!

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, Tony UK said:

Good idea re the return TA! 

Dont you get penalised if you don't use the return portion? It is all so stupid.....the cost of one way is double, sometimes treble the cost of a round trip!

Not as long as you use the outward/first flight- you just become a no show. If you didn’t use the outward the whole ticket would be cancelled. I will send you a tip for a return ticket      later

[MBP&O2/O]

The last few flights we have done have been classified as 'multistop'. 

Fly to destination 'A' and home from 'B'.

I researched Google Flights and found what I wanted and passed the details to my TA. 

[the penguins]

4 hours ago, the penguins said:

Not as long as you use the outward/first flight- you just become a no show. If you didn’t use the outward the whole ticket would be cancelled. I will send you a tip for a return ticket      later

sorry had to go out.

Another potential way to save is to book a holiday instead of flights.

Basically to qualify as a holiday you need a return flight and either a minimum of one night hotel or 1 days car rental. If you you plan to stay overnight before the cruise that solves the problem. If not book the cheapest car and simply don't pick it up. Easy to do on the 

[the penguins]

Just now, the penguins said:

sorry had to go out.

Another potential way to save is to book a holiday instead of flights.

Basically to qualify as a holiday you need a return flight and either a minimum of one night hotel or 1 days car rental. If you you plan to stay overnight before the cruise that solves the problem. If not book the cheapest car and simply don't pick it up. Easy to do on the 

somehow the message sent part way through - to continue - Easy to do on the BA 

[the penguins]

Just now, the penguins said:

somehow the message sent part way through - to continue - Easy to do on the BA 

this is getting crazy.

Easy to do on the BA site under Customise your booking. Put in the flights first, then add a hotel or car and see how much you can save. The hotel can be anywhere so if you really don't need one look for the very cheapest. As this is a "holiday" you also benefit by only having to pay a deposit not the full amount. If you collect AVIOS you more by booking as a holiday If anything goes wrong you are covered by the ATOL Regulations.

You travel on the same flight, same seats you just pay less.

I

[the penguins]

Just now, the penguins said:

this is getting crazy.

Easy to do on the BA site under Customise your booking. Put in the flights first, then add a hotel or car and see how much you can save. The hotel can be anywhere so if you really don't need one look for the very cheapest. As this is a "holiday" you also benefit by only having to pay a deposit not the full amount. If you collect AVIOS you more by booking as a holiday If anything goes wrong you are covered by the ATOL Regulations.

You travel on the same flight, same seats you just pay less.

I

must be a flaw somewhere.

it also works the other way round i.e. USA to UK and back - useful if your first cruise is from UK to USA.

Hope this helps. Geoff and the  boss (Anita).

[orla56]

We booked a one way through Royal Caribbean in 2017, we  looked at what flights were available  and told them what we wanted as they can offer you flights that go on a longer route but if you know what flights you want you can tell them then phoned and it was a reasonable price but you have to wait till the flights come out.Our journey was from Glasgow to Newark then Newark to Fort Lauderdale with luggage  with United and it was £674 for both of us.

This year I phoned and their price again was reasonable but I had some avios and managed to get a cheaper flight from Gla to Lhr then Lhr to Mia with luggage for £600 for us both.

[Brews'n'Cruise]

I used Flights by Celebrity for a one-way back from Fort Lauderdale to Manchester last year. We flew with Virgin (well Delta to Orlando and then Virgin to Manchester) and it was around £500 per person in Premium Economy. Prices vary all the time and Easter is going to be expensive, and they'll be around £200 of taxes for leaving the UK so your fare is likely to be higher than we paid.

 

You should be able to get a one-way from Barcelona on someone like Easyjet, you don't get penalised for one-way flights with them.

 

Andy.

[Harters]

We are just back from a transatlantic on Oceania's Vista. Our online cruise specialist travel agency (which forum rules prevent me naming) arranged our flights. We'd also looked to sort it out ourselves but found the TA was the cheapest/easiest way forward.

 

The transatlantic was with British Airways - Manchester/Heathrow/Miami. I could not get close to the TA's price myself. But one very keenly priced option I did find was Aer Lingus - Manchester/Dublin/Miami but for a couple of reasons it just suited us to have everything in one booking with the TA, rather than a DIY thing that would have saved us literally only a few quid. Both of these would need an overnight hotel at Heathrow/Dublin because of the fairly early departure time for Miami. 

 

Return flight from Barca to Manc will be easy for you to sort out with Easyjet or Ryanair. 

[Tony UK]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

We are just back from a transatlantic on Oceania's Vista. Our online cruise specialist travel agency (which forum rules prevent me naming) arranged our flights. We'd also looked to sort it out ourselves but found the TA was the cheapest/easiest way forward.

 

The transatlantic was with British Airways - Manchester/Heathrow/Miami. I could not get close to the TA's price myself. But one very keenly priced option I did find was Aer Lingus - Manchester/Dublin/Miami but for a couple of reasons it just suited us to have everything in one booking with the TA, rather than a DIY thing that would have saved us literally only a few quid. Both of these would need an overnight hotel at Heathrow/Dublin because of the fairly early departure time for Miami. 

 

Return flight from Barca to Manc will be easy for you to sort out with Easyjet or Ryanair. 

Thanks so much for this. Our cruise is from port canaveral so a flight into Orlando would work best. Sadly BA fly out of Gatwick but shuttle is only to Heathrow so a trek between airports with our luggage and checking in and security twice.... at Easter lol!

We are looking at Virgin, Aer Lingus as our Manchester options! There is also Norse air who now fly out of Gatwick. You can book one way and the prices are super competitive.

 

 

[Tony UK]

I have spotted Norse air out of Gatwick who sell direct one way flights to the USA. Their prices are super competitive. 

Does anyone know anything about them or anyone used them?

[antsp]

Have you priced aer lingus, price a return, play around with the return date, find the cheapest date, it doesn't matter as you will be a no show, also book the return without baggage 

[john watson]

I should just use a cheap flights website and where you are offered single, return you just go further down and put in multistop.  Then search A to B on a date plus C to D on a return date. B and C can be thousands of miles apart and no air travel booked between them.

 

Regards John

Edited April 20 by john watson

[Tony UK]

thank you all for your helpful comments. we have now done lots of research so ready to make our choice when the dates come up in the next few weeks. I'll post to let you know what we end up doing!