Air arrangements

[gr8aunt]

Can someone tell me if I'm missing something. From what I can determine, Oceania's air is generally higher than a direct flight you can book on your own--I think most cruise lines generally give you an air schedule with at least one stop--and you now pay for transfers whether or not you book air on your own or with Oceania. I have found the same thing with Princess so I'm assuming it's pretty general throughout the industry. I like the idea of picking my flights (without add'l costs) and picking my seats at time of booking as opposed to waiting until the air schedule is received. I don't have a spouse :( or :) depending on how you look at it, and usually travel with a relative with a different last name. Consequently, we have been split up when flying.

[drwong]

Oceania's free air is generally lower than what you can buy on your own, given Oceania's volume sales. You can always book your own air and transfers, getting a credit for the air and having them remove the transfer charges from your bill. It's all up to you. "Your world, your way." :rolleyes:

 

Being split up during a flight isn't the cruiseline's fault, but the airline's. On our last flight on Lufthansa, my wife and I were split up. I didn't feel as bad, hearing that a pair of newlyweds were put in separate rows and a group of WW II veterans returing from a 60th anniversary tour were seated away from their wives (I know Lufthansa is a German airline and they lost that war to a bunch of teen-aged members of the Greatest Generation, but c'mon, that was 60 years ago!) ;)

 

Can someone tell me if I'm missing something. From what I can determine, Oceania's air is generally higher than a direct flight you can book on your own--I think most cruise lines generally give you an air schedule with at least one stop--and you now pay for transfers whether or not you book air on your own or with Oceania. I have found the same thing with Princess so I'm assuming it's pretty general throughout the industry. I like the idea of picking my flights (without add'l costs) and picking my seats at time of booking as opposed to waiting until the air schedule is received. I don't have a spouse :( or :) depending on how you look at it, and usually travel with a relative with a different last name. Consequently, we have been split up when flying.

[davidandsusan-nj]

I am booked on the Set 22 Rome to Venice cruise. Based on comments I read on this board I too was worried that the flights Oceania may provide would not be the best. I looked into either booking on my own or picking my flights via an air deviation. I am flying from the NYC area. Oceania was offering a $600 credit if I booked my own flights. I was actually surprised that the credit offered was so low because the cheapest flight I could find was well over $900 (no matter how many stops I made). I then found that Delta flies direct to Rome from NYC and from Venice back to NYC with a perfect time schedule. Oceania charged me $75 deviation plus an additional $200 per ticket for these flights. The $275 per person was still cheaper than getting the $600 credit and booking the air on my own. Had I been willing to fly Luftansa (who they told me would have been my carrier) and change planes in both directions I probably would have just had to pay the deviation fee, but all that would have accomplished was possibly a better schedule home from Venice with a shorter layover. Each person has to decide if the additional expense is worth it. We decided it was.

[Bulabula]

While many know this already, I could find no outright expose of this practice of cruise lines providing free air to entice you to book your cruise.

 

Many cruise lines, Oceania and Viking are two that I have specific experience with, offer free air, but tack on hundreds of dollars in taxes, fuel charges, surcharges, and fees onto that $600-$700 fare. The "free air" for the may 5th Nautica sailing from the west coast of the US is actually $700, plus $369 in add-ons, plus $75 if you want them to assign a schedule you like, plus a fee of $100-$200 per person if you select a carrier that isnt on their bottom tier contract level.

 

This is why it's important when you are comparing a "free air" program credit of $700 with a $1200 published fare, you're not far away from that figure once you add the additional charges to the base.

 

There is no such thing as a free lunch or free airfare. Does that sound to cynical? I've been working in the travel industry for too long perhaps. Time for a cruise!