HAL - Flight Scheduling

[EastTexans2]

Please tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly on letting HAL do your complete booking. We are looking at an Alaskan cruise for September, 2009 and it would make life easier to let HAL "do it all". Would this be a mistake?

[ldog]

Generally HAL books your flights to arrive the day of the cruise. That makes for a hectic day and no time to see anything in that port city. We like to arrive at least a day ahead and get over some of the jet lag and do some sightseeing.

 

They don't tell you your flights until very close to your departure date.

 

If you are more comfortable with HAL air you can for a flight deviation - usually about $70 and have some say about your flights.

[jhannah]

Another thing is that more often than not a cruise line's routing will not be all that good ... or even logical. You could be routed through Chicago, for instance. I like having control over my own schedule and routing. Unless the cost is substantially less, I'll do it myself.

[fireman845]

Another thing is that more often than not a cruise line's routing will not be all that good ... or even logical. You could be routed through Chicago, for instance. I like having control over my own schedule and routing. Unless the cost is substantially less, I'll do it myself.

 

 

Totally agree with jhannah, when it comes to air, IMHO you will be much happier (and mostly likey richer) if you do it yourself or through your favorite TA... of course just MHO :rolleyes:

[agabbymama]

All depends on where you are coming from. I live in Southern California, so planned on flight the same day anyway and when I started checking the prices for airfare to Vancouver, and back from Anchorage, I found indpendant airfare to be about the same as HAL, but with HAL airfare the transfers were included. So I went with HAL for the convenience. I worried about flight times, but they were perfect.

 

We did arrive into Vancouver about 2:00, so there were no lines at the pier at all. We walked right up and got processed in about 10 minutes was on the ship. We didn't have time to eat much before it was time for the muster drill, so things were a little rushed on that end.

 

For my upcoming Med cruise, Princess wanted $1600 for flights from LAX to Rome/Venice to LAX so I opted to go independant. We fly LAX to Paris direct flight, then Paris to Rome/Venice to Paris and got that for around $1180. We'll be in Rome 3 days pre-cruise and Venice 2 days post-cruise.

 

So if you want to sightsee any of the cities, or spend extra time pre/post cruise, then independant airfare is the way to go.

[greatam]

The BIGGIE booking cruise air:

 

The tickets are CONSOLIDATOR class. What that means: IF there is a problem with your air (doesn't matter what-cancellation, delay and missed connection, mechanical, crew), your tickets are ONLY good on the originating airline. So if you miss your flight or connection, you will wait for seats on a SPACE AVAILABLE basis. You will NOT be flown on another airline, even IF it means missing your cruise.

 

The cruise line OWES you nothing if you miss your cruise. READ the fine print in a cruise contract. It will have wording to the effect: "cruise line provides air, hotels, excursions, etc. as a CONVENIENCE to the passenger. Cruise line assumes NO responsibility for third party vendors."

 

You can generally buy transfers from the airport to the ship separately. PLEASE look into booking your own air-especially to Alaska. The air sales to Alaska are generally mid-October through early November. The citizens of Alaska receive their PDF (Permanent Dividend Fund-the oil money) checks about this time and the airlines put airfare on sale to encourage residents to spend the PDF money on travel.

 

PS: a missed initial boarding on an Alaska cruise presents even MORE difficult problems. PSA rules and regs come into play. So if you miss boarding in either Vancouver or Anchorage, you MAY NOT be able to board the cruise at all. All ports after Vancouver are USA ports. You cannot board a ship and have transportation between two USA ports. Example: You miss boarding in Vancouver-the next stop is Ketchikan. The last stop is Seward/Whittier. Both your boarding stop and your disembarkation would be in the USA. PSA regulations PROHIBIT boarding between two USA ports without payment of a fairly large fine $250-300.00. Last year, there were 2 or 3 groups that missed boarding in Vancouver. The planes were late. One group was given the option of paying the fine or going home. The other groups were sent home. Some were given full compensation, some recieved future cruise credits. All lost their vacations.

[Dave M]

So if you miss boarding in either Vancouver or Anchorage, you MAY NOT be able to board the cruise at all. All ports after Vancouver are USA ports. You cannot board a ship and have transportation between two USA ports. Example: You miss boarding in Vancouver-the next stop is Ketchikan. The last stop is Seward/Whittier. Both your boarding stop and your disembarkation would be in the USA. PSA regulations PROHIBIT boarding between two USA ports without payment of a fairly large fine $250-300.00. Last year, there were 2 or 3 groups that missed boarding in Vancouver. The planes were late. One group was given the option of paying the fine or going home. The other groups were sent home. Some were given full compensation, some recieved future cruise credits. All lost their vacations.

That's not an accurate portrayal of what happens, at least with HAL.

 

If you miss the normal embarkation because of a flight delay, you are permitted to join the cruise later, even though it might mean no stops at a foreign port. Yes, there is a $300 fine for doing so, but HAL will pay the fine if the passenger participates in HAL's "Home City Air" program. From HAL's website:

If you do not adhere to the cruise itinerary and, as a result, violate this law, any resulting fines (currently US$300/person) will be your responsibility. If the fine is assessed due to a flight delay, we will pay the fine if you were participating in our Home City Air program.

[jtl513]

We've done HAL air a couple of times, and as jhannah said, gotten some "illogical" routings. There was a thread not long ago started by poster atmywitsend saying that HAL had her landing in Vancouver at 2:00p for a 5:00p sailing. (She finally convinced them after some phone calls to switch her to an earlier flight.) IMO, if you do decide to book air through HAL, definitely pay the $50 pp "deviation" fee and pick some good routing and scheduling. :)

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

We let HAL take care of air for our upcoming Alaskan cruise. We are arriving two days before the cruise.

We knew 3+ months in advance what the flight times would be, although they would not tell us the carrier and flight numbers until final payment was made. We were told by our TA we can change flights & seats on the carrier website (not through HAL) for $15 each. I guess if you go through HAL it is $50pp to change. No odd routings. I'm actually very happy with the times, although I did ask our TA to try and get us an early departure beforehand.

We did call the carrier and were able to switch our seats for free.

[yankeejim]

Had Hal take care of our air from Sacramento to Venice. Went perfectly. They will fly you to the next port if you miss the boat. We had the Penthouse Suite people miss the boat and Hal flew them to Dubrovnik to catch the boat....

[greatam]

If you miss the normal embarkation because of a flight delay, you are permitted to join the cruise later, even though it might mean no stops at a foreign port. Yes, there is a $300 fine for doing so, but HAL will pay the fine if the passenger participates in HAL's "Home City Air" program. From HAL's website:

 

That is a REALLY nice benefit. Princess and X both sent people home last year when the planes were late into Vancouver. One X cruise allowed boarding, but the people were transferred from YVR to Seattle, THEN flown to Juneau. They missed 3.5 days of their cruise.

[obriendan]

We've always done our own air for 12 cruises. Doing your own air offers flexibility, the ability to use FF miles if appropriate, and in every case we have saved money, sometimes a lot of money:D !

[debsea]

We have been very satisfied with HAL's routing. It has always been what we would have booked ourselves. If you wish to fly in to your departure port the day or two before your cruise, HAL will book your flights that way. We tend to book our own flights into Canadian and American port cities, or European cities in which we have a sense of comfort from a previous visit, but let HAL take care of us in a new destination.

[Waxer]

We're going SFO-Vancouver, Fairbanks-SFO. Our TA got the flight times when we made the booking. The return flight was a redeye, and our TA was able to get that changed to an early morning return for us. My Dad has circulatory problems, and our TA was able to get aisle/aisle seating for he and my mom. No mention of extra fees for this, maybe she ate them ?(we do a lot of business with her).

 

All in all the process was (so far) trouble free.

 

I recently checked and flying Alaska/Horizon on our own would have been slightly more expensive (about $80 per person).