Med Cruise -- Oct 21 07 Millennium

[sunrocket]

I was wondering if anyone has booked international air through Celebrity. :confused:

 

We paid the extra fee to Celebrity to get our flight information early. Celebrity assigned us flights with very short layovers for our connecting flights. We are leaving from Dulles and arrive in Frankfurt with a 1 hour layover for our flight (same carrier) to Venice. We arrive in Venice at 9:30 am. Returning from Barcelona, our flight leaves 9:55am to Amsterdam with a 50 minute layover to connect to our flight (same carrier) back to Dulles.

 

1.Are these layover times adequate or should I request different flights?

 

2. After arriving in Venice what is the "holding time" at the airport prior to transfer to the ship?

[lucky white heather]

I was wondering if anyone has booked international air through Celebrity. :confused:

 

We paid the extra fee to Celebrity to get our flight information early. Celebrity assigned us flights with very short layovers for our connecting flights. We are leaving from Dulles and arrive in Frankfurt with a 1 hour layover for our flight (same carrier) to Venice. We arrive in Venice at 9:30 am. Returning from Barcelona, our flight leaves 9:55am to Amsterdam with a 50 minute layover to connect to our flight (same carrier) back to Dulles.

 

1.Are these layover times adequate or should I request different flights?

 

2. After arriving in Venice what is the "holding time" at the airport prior to transfer to the ship?

 

We are not experts on international Celebrity air but we have used it almost every time so we have some experience of it. the UK is an island so we either have to swim off, sail off , fly off or tunnel off to go abroad!

I can tell you certainly about the arrangements we had when we arrived at Venice airport to join ML last Nov (last cruise of the Med. season before ML did the return TA to FLL)

We claimed our luggage from the carousel, dragged it to the hall where the Cel. rep was ticking off on the list who had checked in with her,and were directed to join a large crowd of other cruisers who obviously had all arrived from many different flights simultaneously..all making their way towards the bus arrangement / pick up area so you can transfer to the ship assuming you are transfer inclusive.

This was the only time I ever felt Celebrity did not function well enough with transfers .There were too many people making their way for the buses and trying to deal with their luggage , trolleys, non ambulant PAX etc etc . One elderly gentleman actually fell while we were sitting on our bus... bus PAX (including my husband) helped him.. this was because so many people were trying to load on to the buses. I don't think it would be A REGULAR OCCURRENCE, unless Celebrity manipulate flights/ bookings to arrive like this to save on transfer costs????

We were offered very short lay-over times for one cruise but did not go ahead as it was a "take it or leave it" air arrangement from Celebrity flights dept.... a 20 min change between flights at CDG...the airline said this was a credible change..maybe for PAX????? but perhaps not for luggage transfer...you might make your flight but would you be happy to go cruising without luggage?????

It's always a risk even with longer layovers, but you have to decide for yourself if you think the lay- over allows for luggage transfer....and accept the risk or not.

We spoke with Canadian PAX this last trip in Bermuda, then Lisbon when we bumped into them again, still no luggage....$50 US a day , a free Tshirt and toothbrush, and the chance to wear a borrowed gown from Celebrity along with their every day travelling loafers on formal nights didn't seem to enthrall them as an option !!! your worst case scenario has to be considered.... just in case!

[lilreckster]

Husband and I are doing the same trip in July. We prefer a non stop and want to avoid JFK airport. We found a flight out of Philadelphia and requested the deviation through Celebrity. Being Elite CC members, we did not have to pay a service charge, and the cost of the flight was equal to Celebrity's air, so we didn't incur any extra air charge.

[sunrocket]

Thanks for your quick reply.

 

We are only a 2 hour drive from Philadelphia.

 

We are not elite CC members and had to pay a fee.

 

What airline and flights are you taking. It might be beneficial for us to change flights. Are you going to Venice early or on the first day you can board the ship.

[sunrocket]

Lucky white heather. Thanks for your reply.

 

Going to rethink our flight arrangements.

 

Hopefully, we wont run into the problems you did waiting for transportation to the ship. We used cruise air with transfers a number of years ago a had a similar experience with another cruise line. We normally book our own flights but since we did not want to extend our stay in Venice before the cruise, we felt Celebrity Air would be the safest way to go.

[lucky white heather]

Lucky white heather. Thanks for your reply.

 

Going to rethink our flight arrangements.

 

Hopefully, we wont run into the problems you did waiting for transportation to the ship. We used cruise air with transfers a number of years ago a had a similar experience with another cruise line. We normally book our own flights but since we did not want to extend our stay in Venice before the cruise, we felt Celebrity Air would be the safest way to go.

 

Having just come off ML on the TA yesterday, we met a few people who had luggage "no shows" very recently ....one husband had sufficient time to buy several outfits in F.Lauderdale prior to sailing, having travelled from Phoenix with wife and her bag but his bag missing en route.At least he had the chance to buy something prior to boarding!!!

The others were the Canadians previously mentioned.

In discussion with other PAX on the question of taking Celebrity air in your "package" we all came to the conclusion that Celebrity's effort is going to be directed at having you join the ship whatever else happens... the lost luggage part doesn't seem to be a concern to them even if your flight was arranged by them. We had lots of PAX boarded at Bermuda instead of FLL this trip because the bad weather caused problems for their flights....We asked how helpful Celebrity had been towards those unfortunates who were forced to travel without any of their luggage on this cruise (with several days at sea) .....I'm too polite to record their answer to that question here!

BTW if you are taking the Venice / Barcelona trip (which, from your post seems likely), this cruise ( we've done it both ways) is quite port intensive so you can raid local shops almost daily for items you would require if a lost bags scenario occurs.

We usually try to get cruise air as you become the cruiseline's responsibility if/ when things foul up...try to insist on flight times etc to suit you..they try to get the cheapest airfares and if you are paying for a deviation request then IMO you should have more consideration for what flight arrangements you would prefer but of course they have the whip hand !

[lilreckster]

Sunrocket...going US Air...6:30 pm on July 11...will arrive Venice morning of the 12th...12:30 pm return from Barcelona...lilreckster

[OleProf]

sunrocket: We are booked on the same cruise. I made our own flight arrangements and will arrive in Venice on the 20th. I've had better luck on International trips going a day early although it costs more for the hotel. It appears that we are on the same flight out of Barcelona to Amsterdam. We will be leaving out of Memphis to make the flight over. Looking forward to the trip but still have many arrangements that I wish to make.

 

Best wishes

 

Oleprof