I hear most experienced cruisers here say...

[cuyahoga11]

Not necessarily - I know what is a reasonable time frame for connecting flights, but some of the things mentioned above happen when the cruiseline books connections that are totally unrealistic that even if you do make the flight~barely, there is no way the luggage will. Been there, done that:rolleyes: I'd still rather book my own direct flight

 

Last cruise - DIRECT flight - arrived FLL - no luggage.

[njs]

Last cruise - DIRECT flight - arrived FLL - no luggage.

 

Wow - does that mean I have something more to worry about?! Did you arrive a day early? We've never lost luggage on a direct flight but obviously it does happen

[PelicanBill]

Sure, luggage gets lost on direct flights when they forget to put it on at the originating airport.

 

And... get this... once Delta made me gate check my carry on, with my cameras and medications.... when we got off, I stood in a downpour, and my gate checked back DID NOT COME OFF THE PLANE. I went supernova for about 5 minutes on the tarmac until they figured out it was on its way to baggage claim.

 

Problem is, we were at a connecting airport. I would not have gone to baggage claim to find it with only 30 minutes to our next flight. And, with no bar code tag on it, it would have been a long time before they found the bag. And my meds.

 

It gets better. We were going on a cruise on the Glory on Saturday. We were flying Thursday night. The storm had messed up all air traffic into Atanta, and our flight was canceled. They told us they could not get us to Orlando until Sunday... on any airline. We were ready to start driving the 30 hours to Port Canaveral when another flight had 3 no shows and they hustled us onto that plane. No other airlines would sell us seats for less than $700 each (in addition to the cost of the Delta flight that they would not refund) and Delta refused to assign our tickets to another airline saying they were too busy and the computers did not work so we would have to come back the next day to figure it all out.

 

For the next 2 years we took cruises on RCCL out of New Jersey where we could drive!

[moxie99]

My beautiful daughter is 13 - far from a screaming kid, she's well seasoned as she has been flying since she was about 3 - I, as a mother, still want my precious cargo as close to me as possible - please be very careful if booking airfare with the cruiselines. For the record - the add on from Maine to Miami for our upcoming Valor cruise was $600 each - I purchased Delta - one stop for $198 pp - with taxes, etc it came to about $249 each - looks like I'll have more than $1000 extra for the cruise - do your homework!

[shipty2]

I made that mistake once booking air through Carnival. I flew from Toronto to Pittsburgh and waited around for hours then Pittsburgh to Orlando then waited for the Carnival bus for another long while and ran onto the ship as the last passenger.

 

Normally the flight from Toronto to Orlando would be 2 hours 45 minutes. This convoluted way ended up being 7 hours from Toronto to Orlando. Then the rip to Port Canaveral on top of that. All with my elderly and cantankerous mother.

 

Carnival does not offer fly away from Toronto to Orlando anymore so no other cruiser will suffer this fate.

[tef43]

Tell me why I should not book air through Carnival for my next cruise.

1. Cheaper if you do it yourself (caveat: true in *most* cases, but there are some exceptions like repositioning cruises where open-jaw itineraries would be required, and occasionally the cruiselines can do better with certain destinations, such as SJU, but not always).

 

2. Flexibility with flight dates and times, and also the flight itinerary.

[june2006]

Last year and this year booked my own ... they wanted 400-500 per person for the flight and I booked on my own for 200 per person both years .... saves more money for my vacation!! :D

[denisey]

We were booked on the Conquest for cruise out of New Orleans. Several folks in our group had their own air. Then Katrina hit and the cruise was moved to Galveston. American Airlines transfered our flights, no problem. Others in our group with flights on Delta and US air had major problems. Those two airlines would not change the fares without a substantial fee (I seem to remember $100 per ticket) and the airfare to Houston had gone up significantly, so the air was going to cost them nearly double what they had paid. The couple who had US air finally went to the airport, talked to a supervisor and got the fee waived. They did get a lecture that this was a one time exception. The people with Delta wound up getting Carnival air at the last minute and using their Delta tickets for a different trip (after paying the fee.)

 

This is a rare case, but it certainly can happen.

 

We only used flew Carnival air on our first cruies. The TA pushed it. It was expensive, we didn't get to sit together (called the airline, they wouldn't move us because they were "bulk" tickets. When we got to the airport the plane was full, and they wouldn't move us.) The TA tried to get us to use Carnival air on our second cruise, but we said no.

 

We do have Carnival air booked for our transAtlantic cruise. It is half the price of what we can find on our own.

[Mokey]

I live in an out-of-the-way state and found that Carnival air is best. The cost of getting to port from here is fairly high year round. For us it was cheaper by far to book Carnival air which gets us to port a day early, includes a hotel stay, transportation and all taxes and fees. It has worked particularly well when we cruise over the Christmas holidays. Flights may be already booked but Carnival has seats. Our TA always makes the arrangements and gets our seat assignments. In six cruises this has always worked for us. So, it may depend on where your are coming from and the time of year.

[Chat Noir]

First 2 cruises (Alaska) we booked air and transfers independent of the cruiseline. I liked planning and knowing what to expect. First cruise, we had family meeting us who didn't want the hassle of planning and had the cruiseline book. They were scattered throughout the plane on one segment. Our flights were significantly cheaper that theirs.

Our third cruise was a 'last-minute' out of Galveston. I checked flights direct from Tulsa to Houston, pricing them along with transfer costs from Houston to Galveston. It was $5pp cheaper to book myself, and I decided to just forgo the hassle of booking it all independent and pay the $5 extra for Carnival to take care of everything.

We wound up with bunny hops Tulsa/Dallas/Houston with layovers making it an 8 hour trip. I could've easily booked direct Tulsa/Houston with a <2 hour trip. Upon arrival at Houston, we waited 2 hours for the Galveston shuttle provided by Carnival. We could've booked independent and left almost immediately for the ship. Nevermind the return trip, which ended up delayed because of storms in Dallas, and we were forced to overnight in Houston. The direct flight I'd've booked us on would've left Dallas out of the picture to begin with. Not that the weather is predictable anywhere, and I'm certainly not blaming Carnival for that. The stop in Dallas just wasn't necessary to begin with.

My experience has been that spending a little time planning and booking on our own saves us time, hassle, stress, and money!

[jckvpa0]

1. Cheaper if you do it yourself (caveat: true in *most* cases, but there are some exceptions like repositioning cruises where open-jaw itineraries would be required, and occasionally the cruiselines can do better with certain destinations, such as SJU, but not always).

 

2. Flexibility with flight dates and times, and also the flight itinerary.

 

Wow this must have been a quick drive by, we've missed you !