Carnival Air from Western Canada to Florida....

[Ykgorbie]

We are booked on the Miracle in Jan.'09 out of Fort Lauderdale (Southern Pacific cruise)...and are using Carnival Air from Edmonton. Does anyone have any experience with this? Wanting to know if they fly you into Miami or Fort Lauderdale ....thanks.

[TCF]

They'll fly you to where your ship is leaving from...unless you ask for a deviation and pay the $50. Then you can tell them where and when you want to go.

[mr. cruiser]

We are booked on the Miracle in Jan.'09 out of Fort Lauderdale (Southern Pacific cruise)...and are using Carnival Air from Edmonton. Does anyone have any experience with this? Wanting to know if they fly you into Miami or Fort Lauderdale ....thanks.

Is there not a direct flight from Yellowknife to Miami, hard to believe:p

[pastorfrank]

We are booked on the Miracle in Jan.'09 out of Fort Lauderdale (Southern Pacific cruise)...and are using Carnival Air from Edmonton. Does anyone have any experience with this? Wanting to know if they fly you into Miami or Fort Lauderdale ....thanks.

 

First the good news...when you book your airfare through Carnival they will get you there a day early, put you up in a hotel and give you (that is a lose term meaning they've already included the cost of it in your purchase price :)) transfers from hotel to ship. Barring a complete breakdown somewhere or freakish weather you will not miss your sailing! Yay!!!

 

Now the bad news...for our first 3 cruises we booked our air through Carnival. It was always more expensive and they always put us on the "milk run". One year we had to make 4 connections...yes...you heard right...4 connections...what a freakin' nightmare. And they made us fly either really early in the morning or really late at night.

 

It honestly is worth more for you to book air through a travel agent, have your flight arrive a day early, book yourself a hotel and get your own transfers. It is almost always cheaper and is definetly better and more comfortable.

 

Now...all that said...you are going to love your cruise no matter what.

[Ykgorbie]

Is there not a direct flight from Yellowknife to Miami, hard to believe:p

It IS hard to believe Mr. Cruise, LOL

They seem to be scaling back the on the 9 hour flights with those float planes.

[Ykgorbie]

First the good news...when you book your airfare through Carnival they will get you there a day early, put you up in a hotel and give you (that is a lose term meaning they've already included the cost of it in your purchase price :)) transfers from hotel to ship. Barring a complete breakdown somewhere or freakish weather you will not miss your sailing! Yay!!!

 

Now the bad news...for our first 3 cruises we booked our air through Carnival. It was always more expensive and they always put us on the "milk run". One year we had to make 4 connections...yes...you heard right...4 connections...what a freakin' nightmare. And they made us fly either really early in the morning or really late at night.

 

It honestly is worth more for you to book air through a travel agent, have your flight arrive a day early, book yourself a hotel and get your own transfers. It is almost always cheaper and is definetly better and more comfortable.

 

Now...all that said...you are going to love your cruise no matter what.

Right now, the only reason we're sticking with Carnival's Air is the price. I have checked on a couple of different airlines and the cheapest fare I can get from Edmonton to Fort Lauderdale for the two of us is $1750.00. And of course, this doesn't include hotel or transfers. Carnival has charged us only $ 1200.00. I do think I'm going to purchase the deviation thingy though.....

[Tbay-eh]

Right now, the only reason we're sticking with Carnival's Air is the price. I have checked on a couple of different airlines and the cheapest fare I can get from Edmonton to Fort Lauderdale for the two of us is $1750.00. And of course, this doesn't include hotel or transfers. Carnival has charged us only $ 1200.00. I do think I'm going to purchase the deviation thingy though.....

:cool: :cool: Please think about this - we booked through Carnival from Thunder Bay to Ft Laurderdale. We got it for 480.00 per person return, day before, hotel, transfers etc. Fantastic deal - we would have paid 765.00 if we booked our own plus hotel. the nightmare began when we left Thunder Bay - 20 minutes out pulled a uturn and landed. Four hours later told that the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Drove to Duluth 4 hours to catch flight to Minni over nighted in order to make connections, flew to Miami as no flights to Ft L that would get us there on time - had to shuttle to Ft L (took forever) but finally boarded ship at 3:15 day of sailing. Return was even worse - connections were so close that it was physically impossible to get from one gate to the other. Had to reschedule flights to get back to Duluth to pick up car. We were told it is the airlines fault and had to go through them for compensation, airline told us that Carnival is responsible because they bought space for us. Still fighting 3 months later. I highly recommend that you take West Jet if you can, I know Air Canada is pricey but you are left out to dry by everyone. Carnival doesn't book your flight times nor are they responsible for mechanical problems but they will try and get you there the cheapest way possible thus the great rate. Have a great cruise - we had a fantastic one:cool: :cool:

[Ykgorbie]

:cool: :cool: Please think about this - we booked through Carnival from Thunder Bay to Ft Laurderdale. We got it for 480.00 per person return, day before, hotel, transfers etc. Fantastic deal - we would have paid 765.00 if we booked our own plus hotel. the nightmare began when we left Thunder Bay - 20 minutes out pulled a uturn and landed. Four hours later told that the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Drove to Duluth 4 hours to catch flight to Minni over nighted in order to make connections, flew to Miami as no flights to Ft L that would get us there on time - had to shuttle to Ft L (took forever) but finally boarded ship at 3:15 day of sailing. Return was even worse - connections were so close that it was physically impossible to get from one gate to the other. Had to reschedule flights to get back to Duluth to pick up car. We were told it is the airlines fault and had to go through them for compensation, airline told us that Carnival is responsible because they bought space for us. Still fighting 3 months later. I highly recommend that you take West Jet if you can, I know Air Canada is pricey but you are left out to dry by everyone. Carnival doesn't book your flight times nor are they responsible for mechanical problems but they will try and get you there the cheapest way possible thus the great rate. Have a great cruise - we had a fantastic one:cool: :cool:

Scary! One question, if we pay the diversion fee (and we would still save about $700.00+ between the two of us), can we request that we fly in 2 days before? I have to read up on the diversion fee.....not sure how it works, but being that January weather can be nasty, we're definitely going to buy it. We DID check Westjet and for the two of us Edm-Ft.Lauderdale, it's $2050.00 ! ! ! Carnival's charging $1200.00. Quite the difference.

[mr. cruiser]

On our last cruise out of Tampa when I checked on flights westjet was 1700 and air canada was 1400.I kept looking and found a flight with delta for 1100. Westjet is no longer a discount airline.

[Payd]

Now the bad news...for our first 3 cruises we booked our air through Carnival. It was always more expensive and they always put us on the "milk run". One year we had to make 4 connections...yes...you heard right...4 connections...what a freakin' nightmare. And they made us fly either really early in the morning or really late at night.

 

Our first cruise had us fly

Calgary to Vancouver

Vancouver to Toronto

Toronto to Aruba

 

Never could figure out why we couldn't just go Calgary to Toronto:confused:

[pastorfrank]

Our first cruise had us fly

Calgary to Vancouver

Vancouver to Toronto

Toronto to Aruba

 

Never could figure out why we couldn't just go Calgary to Toronto:confused:

 

I know!!! Listen to this....Carnival booked us to leave Calgary at 00:30am and stop in Regina for a 5 hour lay over. We left Regina and flew to Toronto - 2 hour lay over. Toronto to Chicago. Chicago to Miami. We arrived at our hotel in Miami (Hilton) at 9:00pm...about 20 hours worth of traveling. It took over an hour to check in, we had to get something to eat and so our heads finally hit the pillow at around 11:00pm...and we had to get up the next morning at 9:00am to catch our shuttle to the ship...so we could be there by 11:30am (our choice). Our first day on the ship was simply to catch up on the travel we had just finished having.

 

After that experience we said Never Again to booking flights through Carnival.

[Prairie_Gal]

It is way too early for airlines to offer discount prices for January/09. Plus, the cost of fuel is making things much worse. Check prices to Orlando (or even Miami) also as they are cheaper. It is about a three hour drive from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale, but for the big price savings we thought it was worth it. Plus the connections out of Fort Lauderdale to Calgary were not good. Tampa is also usually cheaper, but a farther drive. Hotels in Orlando are also really cheap and you could combine it with a visit to Disney if you wanted.

 

Is Carnival air cancellable? If so, I would book it and keep it as a backup plan. Then keep checking prices on kayak.com. We flew from Calgary to Orlando for $366.00 (return) on Northwest in December (one stop in Minneapolis).

 

For our upcoming November cruise we have kind of a wonky itinerary. We are flying to Phoenix first (for Nascar), then continuing on to Fort Lauderdale. I have booked the Phoenix to FLL flights ($122!) and the Orlando to Calgary flights (under $200, can't remember exacly off-hand), but the Calgary to Phoenix flights are still over $300 one-way. We get ripped in Canada because there is not as much competetion, and the taxes and fees kill us.

[Prairie_Gal]

What are the dates of your cruise? I just checked some arbitrary dates in January and Edmonton to Orlando is $402 Return on United. How many are in your party?

[Tbay-eh]

Scary! One question, if we pay the diversion fee (and we would still save about $700.00+ between the two of us), can we request that we fly in 2 days before? I have to read up on the diversion fee.....not sure how it works, but being that January weather can be nasty, we're definitely going to buy it. We DID check Westjet and for the two of us Edm-Ft.Lauderdale, it's $2050.00 ! ! ! Carnival's charging $1200.00. Quite the difference.

:cool: That is a tremendous savings - we saved $1360.00 by going Carnival when you figured in - air fare ($165.00 X 4), no deviation paid (50.00 X 4) - they chose to fly us in early because of connections and isolation, hotel ($250.00 X 2) plus shuttle etc. Even saving this amount I personally would never do it again. I am sure that you can fly in 2 days early, a deviation is a deviation no matter how you choose to do it, I WOULD THINK, but make sure to check. With all of the airlines shutting down, increase in fuel costs and delays daily I would definitely look at arriving 2 days early. Have a fantastic cruise. I envy you.:cool: