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no savings if you don't book thru cruise?


leek

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Hi

 

I have never booked a cruise, it's always been done by my mom. She tells me that whether you book your air through the cruise or on your own, you pay the same price for the cruise. I can't imagine that anyone would book their own air if this was the case! Is she right or is someone making a passel of money off this somewhere?

 

thank you

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Hi

 

I have never booked a cruise, it's always been done by my mom. She tells me that whether you book your air through the cruise or on your own, you pay the same price for the cruise. I can't imagine that anyone would book their own air if this was the case! Is she right or is someone making a passel of money off this somewhere?

 

thank you

 

Okay, perhaps this has been a very long week, or I'm just brain-dead anyway ... but I don't understand the question. The price for a cruise almost always is what it is, regardless of air (unless the line happens to be offering a great air inclusive deal). Whether you book air on your own or through the cruiseline, it's an extra cost on top of the cruise fare.

 

Did you mean that if you book your air through the cruiseline or on your own it's the same? That's definitely not the case. Cruiseline booked air frequently is more expensive than you can obtain on your own. Just get a quote for the cruiseline air-included price, then comparison shop on your own.

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Yes, my question is if there is an extra fee on top for airfare. My mom has booked a cruise, and my husband and I booked our own air. She said there were no savings to her, it cost the same as her cruise where she booked the air through the cruise. This is Celebrity cruise "Ancient Cities" or something like that (Rome, Istanbul, Cyprus, etc).

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Sometimes cruise air can be close to the price of booking it yourself because the cruiselines book large numbers of seats....however, you can almost always get a better deal doing it alone. I would price the cruise both with and without air, then see how much it would cost you to get the air on your own, and think about the cost of getting to and from the ship

 

hth

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Just for practice I looked at the Celebrity website and found a cruise, Ancient Empires, on the Galaxy that embarks Nov 24. Ports include Rome, Istanbul, Cyprus, etc. Stateroom 8234 is available at a price of $2449 per person, cruise only. The same stateroom is available with air (ORD-ATH, BCN-ORD) from Chicago at $3748 per person. The Celebrity price for air is therefore $1299 per person. Whether or not you are on this particular cruise, it is illustrative of the pricing structure. Does this help?

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Just for practice I looked at the Celebrity website and found a cruise, Ancient Empires, on the Galaxy that embarks Nov 24. Ports include Rome, Istanbul, Cyprus, etc. Stateroom 8234 is available at a price of $2449 per person, cruise only. The same stateroom is available with air (ORD-ATH, BCN-ORD) from Chicago at $3748 per person. The Celebrity price for air is therefore $1299 per person. Whether or not you are on this particular cruise, it is illustrative of the pricing structure. Does this help?

 

And to tag on to your comment-air booked independently for those dates is an average price of $750. Even BA is only $832.00. Lufthansa, United, AA, Delta, KLM, Swiss and NW are all less than $850.00 taxes included for those dates. Quite a mark up for the cruise line. NO WAY, no how do the transfers cost almost $500.00. And you can book the transfers separately if you want to.

 

Why would you book through the cruise line???

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Sometimes cruise air can be close to the price of booking it yourself because the cruiselines book large numbers of seats....

 

Sorry, but the price to the cruise lines is NOT based on the number of seats. All CONSOLIDATOR class fares are sold to ALL consolidators be they travel agents who package tours, cruise lines, independent consolidators, or the airlines own vacation divisions-Site 59, AA Vacations, etc and are NOT dependent on the amount of seats purchased.

 

Airlines contracts read: I will let you purchase XXX seats at XXXX price. You can sell them for whatever you want. Airlines' YM (yield management) will not allow too many seats to be sold under consolidator rates, as these are the cheapest fares. Each plane must make YYY amount of money. IF the entire plane was sold to the consolidators, that goal would NOT be met.

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Yes, after some consultation, we discovered that my mom was confused. Our prices were, in fact, different because she booked her air through the cruise and we did not (and got a much better rate than we would have through the cruise).

 

That is the itinerary, on Galaxy, yes :) not that date, but that is the cruise we are taking!

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Why would you book through the cruise line???

 

Why would someone? I’ve actually been giving this some thought. Here are a few reasons:

 

1. The Urban Legend Factor

 

If something goes wrong with my flight, the cruise line has the power to get me to the ship on time.

 

Either the TA or the cruise line is standing by the phone 24/7 waiting to solve all travel problems.

 

If my flight is late, the ship will wait for me.

 

If the ship doesn’t wait for me, the cruise line will get me to the next port at no extra cost or inconvenience. (See standing by the phone 24/7)

 

Cruise air is always cheaper than booking on my own.

 

Paying for air deviation will get me on the best nonstop flight at a better price than I could do on my own.

 

Direct means nonstop.

 

2. The Unfamiliarity Factor

 

For someone who has never flown, or not flown for many years, it’s easier to let the TA make the decisions. The array of options can be overwhelming to a novice flyer – and the news is full of how frustrating flying can be. If someone doesn’t know how to comparison shop for airfares, it’s just easier to take what the TA recommends.

 

3. The convenience of having the cruise line be responsible for transfers. More significant when flying into Cairo or Bangkok than into Fort Lauderdale.

 

4. The “I’m on vacation and I don’t want to bother” factor.

 

5. The “I don’t care what it costs” factor. Nah, actually that person is paying for business/first.

 

6. Resistance to understanding the downsides of cruise air and the limitations of consolidator ticketing.

 

7. What else?? There must be other reasons -- so many people do it.

 

One of the points of this board is to dispel urban legends and ease the unfamiliarity factor. And thank you to you and the others who battle the urban legends. It must be like battling crab grass -- they never quite disappear. :rolleyes:

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Only one reason to book air through the cruiseline, in my book -- they are offering a great "air inclusive deal" which basically means "we're using this hook to hide a big discount on cabins we haven't sold yet but want to, without having every other passenger we have already booked on the ship screaming at us to match the lower cabin price." That's a good reason and can make real, practical $ sense for the cruiser, and we've booked such an offer. On a garden variety cruise, cruiseline air never crosses my radar.

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Only one reason to book air through the cruiseline, in my book -- they are offering a great "air inclusive deal" which basically means "we're using this hook to hide a big discount on cabins we haven't sold yet but want to, without having every other passenger we have already booked on the ship screaming at us to match the lower cabin price." That's a good reason and can make real, practical $ sense for the cruiser, and we've booked such an offer. On a garden variety cruise, cruiseline air never crosses my radar.

 

That's the "smart consumer who's done the research" reason! Once in a blue moon, cruise air is really the best deal.

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Part of it is the TA's themselves. They don't get commissions from many airlines these days, but they do from the cruise lines (for now anyway). So if they can talk you into the "convenience" of booking the air through the cruiseline, they stand to make another hundred or couple hundred in commission on it.

 

It is true that the cruise line helps you out if the flight booked through them causes you to miss the ship, and even can hold the ship (operational requirements permitting of course) if there is a large group of people on a particular flight that is delayed. That doesn't mean they have to fly you on the next flight out to the island the ship will be at in 2 days though. You may find yourself at the Miami aiport Comfort Inn for 2 nights with a flight that conveniently gets into Cozumel 2 hours before the ship sails though LOL.

 

It's also not true that booking cruise air gets you to the ship. Many (maybe even most where the port is more than a 5 minute cab ride from the airport) ports, transfers are extra.

 

As for nervous or unfamiliar travellers, or even those who are too busy to bother with fine details like this, this is where the TA comes in. Booking your own air only means not booking the cruise line's air package. It doesn't mean you personally have to slave over the computer looking at a dozen different airline and discount air websites if you don't want to. Telling the TA to book you a suitable flight should suffice. A TA that knows anything about cruises can suggest whether you really need to go a day ahead or not, and also what return flight times work for the disembarking port you will be in.

 

I priced out air for our planned cruise in January, and got the cruise air quote as well. $479 from Toronto to FLL. Air Canada is right around $600 right now. Westjet is even more. Should we go with a Toronto flight, even at those prices, I'll do it ourselves, since I know we'll have non-stop flights the day before, we'll be able to choose seats, and we'll earn miles. However I should be able to get a much lower fare than that in the next few weeks anyway LOL.

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Part of it is the TA's themselves. They don't get commissions from many airlines these days, but they do from the cruise lines (for now anyway). So if they can talk you into the "convenience" of booking the air through the cruiseline, they stand to make another hundred or couple hundred in commission on it.
Though, coincidentally, I notice this thread posted in the last few hours! :D
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Generally the cruise fare is the same with or without air. On the HAL website they show you both prices. However, with cruise air you have to take what they give you. Sometimes you luck out with good flight itineraries but often you get milk runs that the the cruise line will get cheaper. We always do our own and can do pre and/or post cruise stays and control connections, etc.

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One of the points of this board is to dispel urban legends and ease the unfamiliarity factor. And thank you to you and the others who battle the urban legends. It must be like battling crab grass -- they never quite disappear. :rolleyes:

 

Excellent post!!! And thank you for the kind words. And the crab grass analogy. How true, how true.

 

On the Princess board, a thread about another missed flight, missed two days of the cruise-"10 Reasons I will never cruise Princess again"

 

Even though I ripped the EXACT wording from the Princess' Contract of Carriage/website about Princess NOT being responsible for missed flights, etc. etc, etc., there are still those over there arguing about "Princess responsibility to get you to the ship on time". Everything from 'never cruise Princess again' to 'sue them' to 'let everyone know Princess is ripping us off'. The Urban Legend factor is alive and well regarding cruise air.

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Generally the cruise fare is the same with or without air.

 

Rarely, and notice I said rarely, RCCL will run a special where they will discount the cruise fare but only if you purchase cruise air. It's usually only after final payment is due though.

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Even though I ripped the EXACT wording from the Princess' Contract of Carriage/website about Princess NOT being responsible for missed flights, etc. etc, etc., there are still those over there arguing about "Princess responsibility to get you to the ship on time". Everything from 'never cruise Princess again' to 'sue them' to 'let everyone know Princess is ripping us off'. The Urban Legend factor is alive and well regarding cruise air.

 

Why bother with facts when it's far easier to just spout wild assumption. I am continually amazed at the number of people who just won't believe the printed words in a contract. The thought seems to be "well, they just write down that legal stuff, but they'll actually do the exact opposite". :confused::confused:

 

So, you give them the facts direct from the Princess CoC and there is still the willful disregard. You know....seems it's time to just let 'em sit at the airport!!!

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I just cancelled my cruise booked air 3 days before final payment. HAL had charged me $778 for RT from Halifax to FLL but last week I found a $498 RT fare on AC on my own. I then inquired with my TA about cancelling and voila, it's done, with no penalty. I imagine that if this had come up after final payment, it would've been a much different story.

 

For the record, I have used cruise air in the past, with good results but in this case, I couldn't pass up an almost $300 savings.

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Only one reason to book air through the cruiseline, in my book -- they are offering a great "air inclusive deal" which basically means "we're using this hook to hide a big discount on cabins we haven't sold yet but want to, without having every other passenger we have already booked on the ship screaming at us to match the lower cabin price." That's a good reason and can make real, practical $ sense for the cruiser, and we've booked such an offer. On a garden variety cruise, cruiseline air never crosses my radar.

 

Right now the cost to book through Celebrity to Miami or FT L in Feb is half than if I book myself. I have check with 8 airlines so far...Even Air Tran & Jet Blue are about $366 each way before tax during vacation week.

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Right now the cost to book through Celebrity to Miami or FT L in Feb is half than if I book myself. I have check with 8 airlines so far...Even Air Tran & Jet Blue are about $366 each way before tax during vacation week.

 

Only because you waited so long to book. You are not comparing apples to apples. There were fares of $200-300 RT two months ago from almost any place in the USA. Once college starts, kids nationwide books as many seats as possible for Presidents Week and Spring Break. And families get their school schedules, so they book flights, too. The "cheap" seats go VERY rapidly. Why would the airline sell discount fares when they KNOW they can sell the seats at almost any price?

 

X contracted the seats a year before. IF you would have booked last April, you would have had fares less than the cruise line. THAT is an apples to apples comparison.

 

I don't know why you think cruise air is such a good deal. Very rarely is it the better deal, if you are REALLY comparing apples to apples. And you have NO protection from the cruise line, as so many think they do. As Flyertalker posted, "seems it's time to just let 'em sit at the airport!!!

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  • 3 weeks later...
The real truth is than you have to look at every cruise and airfare an decide what is best. Some times cruiseline airfare beats the pants of booking your own, sometimes it is best to book your own. You cannot generalize.

 

You most certainly can generalize. Cruise air tickets are CONSOLIDATOR CLASS tickets. You don't have the same protections with airline tickets booked through the cruise line as you do booking your own.

 

And pricing cruise air for peak seasons (Spring Break, Xmas, President's Week, etc) later than 330 days pre cruise is NOT a fair comparison. Cruise lines contract with the airlines a year in advance. So to make an apples to apples comparison, you also need to book your air at the earliest booking dates.

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