Newbie with some ?'s please

[Vacationer17]

Hello all,

 

This looks like such an exiciting forum, I can't wait to get started:) Ok the background...we are two 30 female somethings that always go away for new years as the rest of our friends are all married and we have yet to take the plunge, there are usually 3 of us, but our 3rd will be in Hawaii. So we have a cruise on a courtesy hold for the 5 day west caribbean (Jamaica, Grand Cayman) departing on 12/29 on the Enchantment. So first off is $1,300 too much/good deal/etc...for an inside "large" on deck 7 including airfare from chicago? We are going thru a trusted travel agent but it says full payment by this saturday because of the holiday, it's not problem to pay in full, just want to make sure we are doing the right thing as we just want to book something and seems as if it will only get more expensive....thanks in advance and once we book I'll be back reading the all the threads and will have a ton more questions I'm sure :)

[Sue L]

Hello all,

 

This looks like such an exiciting forum, I can't wait to get started:) Ok the background...we are two 30 female somethings that always go away for new years as the rest of our friends are all married and we have yet to take the plunge, there are usually 3 of us, but our 3rd will be in Hawaii. So we have a cruise on a courtesy hold for the 5 day west caribbean (Jamaica, Grand Cayman) departing on 12/29 on the Enchantment. So first off is $1,300 too much/good deal/etc...for an inside "large" on deck 7 including airfare from chicago? We are going thru a trusted travel agent but it says full payment by this saturday because of the holiday, it's not problem to pay in full, just want to make sure we are doing the right thing as we just want to book something and seems as if it will only get more expensive....thanks in advance and once we book I'll be back reading the all the threads and will have a ton more questions I'm sure :)

 

 

Hi and welcome,

 

 

Is that price per person? or for both?

[Vacationer17]

Sorry, that is a per person cost and we have priced the airfare separately and we are getting about the same if not a "little" better deal with airfare thru the cruise and "assume" the flight times will coincide better with the cruise than if we booked air ourselves. I think the cruise cost was $699 and after all taxes fee and transportation to/from airport the actual cost will be $1264 per person. I know it seems expensive but we flew to Tampa last year and stayed at a Marriot for the same period of time and paid about $1,100 for air/hotel, so to me it seems in line, but wanted to check with the cruise experts ;)

[Sue L]

Sorry, that is a per person cost and we have priced the airfare separately and we are getting about the same if not a "little" better deal with airfare thru the cruise and "assume" the flight times will coincide better with the cruise than if we booked air ourselves. I think the cruise cost was $699 and after all taxes fee and transportation to/from airport the actual cost will be $1264 per person. I know it seems expensive but we flew to Tampa last year and stayed at a Marriot for the same period of time and paid about $1,100 for air/hotel, so to me it seems in line, but wanted to check with the cruise experts ;)

 

The price seems really good for air and cruise during a holiday time. You might want to consider though upgrading to custom air (75$pp)through the cruiseline which will give YOU a choice of when your flight is and try to get yourself a direct flight. The cruise air could have you on multiple stops and that is why many of us don't book through the cruiseline for flights because of the lack of control of flight times and routing. You might want to check on sidestep.com or kayak.com if you haven't already. What port are you going out of?

[Vacationer17]

I will definitely look into that....thank you for the tip! I'm sure we are getting some 1 stop flight at who knows what time, we won't know til we pay unfortunately. We are leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale.

[bubbie617]

I don't think it's a bad price for a holiday sailing including airfare from Chicago. You might want to consider custom air (if you're a C&A member, the fee is waived) and fly to Florida the day before just in case of bad weather.

 

We have used custom air before and occasionally there is an upcharge in the cost of the airfare through the cruiseline depending on the difference in the cost of the flights you have chosen vs what they normally pay. I think it has only happened to us once and the upcharge was under $20 per person.

 

Just know that if you fly in a day early (even with their air), you will not have transfers from the airport to the hotel, so you may want to find a hotel with shuttle service or just plan to take a taxicab.