booking air with cruise

[Lookingforfacts]

Obviously, if an airport is shut down for weather and nobody is flying, it doesn't matter what kind of ticket you have. But an airline with a hub in DTW (NW) may have more connection problems due to weather than an airline with a hub in ATL (Delta). And therein lies the pitfall of cruise air tickets.

 

......

And yes, you are correct-JetBlue, AirTran, Spirit, SW-non endorsable tickets. Trip insurance is recommended in all situations.

 

Do you suggest cruise passengers avoid airlines like JetBlue, AirTran, Spirit and SW for the same reason you suggest people avoid booking non-endorsable consolidator tickets? Those airlines frequently have the best fares on flights to Florida. Booking a first class ticket will probably put the passenger near the top of the list for accommodation but many of us aren't willing to pay for that solution.

 

Sounds like the "solution" for a missed connection might be to pay for the ticket on another airline, and hope insurance might provide reimbursement.

 

I suspect many passengers can get as good a deal booking their own air but late booking passengers, passengers flying out of an airport with high fares or passengers that only need one way air fare might do better with the cruise ship.

[greatam]

Do you suggest cruise passengers avoid airlines like JetBlue, AirTran, Spirit and SW for the same reason you suggest people avoid booking non-endorsable consolidator tickets? Those airlines frequently have the best fares on flights to Florida. Booking a first class ticket will probably put the passenger near the top of the list for accommodation but many of us aren't willing to pay for that solution.

 

Sounds like the "solution" for a missed connection might be to pay for the ticket on another airline, and hope insurance might provide reimbursement.

 

I suspect many passengers can get as good a deal booking their own air but late booking passengers, passengers flying out of an airport with high fares or passengers that only need one way air fare might do better with the cruise ship.

 

I am not suggesting that passengers avoid JetBlue, AirTran, etc. Just know that you have fewer options with misconnects if you book with those airlines.

 

Totally different position than cruise air. You have a Contract of Carriage on independently booked tickets, including JetBlue, SW, etc. Spells out the SPECIFIC rights you have as a passenger. You also have a Contract of Carriage with a cruise air ticket. Try to get it. It will be either incomplete or non existent. AA sells consolidator tickets to various outlets with the proviso that the ENTIRE contract of carriage MAY NOT be published on a website. Gets into tariff law/published/unpublished rules-too extensive to discuss here. So you really have no idea what you are buying until you purchase it. Same thing with the cruise line air.

 

You will be helped to the best of their ability with an independently booked ticket from JetBlue, AirTran, etc.

 

You MAY or MAY NOT be helped with cruise air. You will get VERY little help from the cruiseline. The airlines are VERY limited in what they can do for you with a cruise air ticket. Because it is an unpublished fare, the ticket agent has NO IDEA how much the airline received for the ticket. YOU may have paid $700.00. The airline may have only received $200.00. So there is no way they can do a tit for tat exchange with another airline for a ticket that has a lowest published fare of $500.00. That is the basis of the non-endorsability feature of cruise air tickets. You are stuck on the originating carrier because only the airline (back room-group sales) knows the value of the ticket.

 

IF your only criteria is price, go with cruise air. Just don't expect people to jump through hoops if there are problems. And PLEASE don't believe that the cruise line "will take care of you" or the "ship will wait for you". Ain't happening.

 

 

PS-with creative routing, you can generally get one way tickets as cheap as the cruise line. Check out this thread. Absolutely SPECTACULAR way to get a one way ticket MUCH cheaper than the cruise line. Kudos to the poster.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=858923

[happy cruzer]

Hey, Robin

 

What price are you trying to beat?

[teach2travel]

I always book my own air on line. I can:

pick the airline ? airports

select the times, w/ long enough layovers

pick a cheaper fare

I feel more in control of my arrabgements

Having said that, on my upcoming cruise with RCCL, because I booked it only 2 months before leaving, I chose their air. I later did my own comparison to see if I could do better on price....haha...no way! I was looking at at least a $600.00 additional price!

 

I usually book cruises early, so I can continue to check fares on airlines. I monitor booking buddy.com or kayak.com, and although I didn't believe it when I heard it....and have discovered it is indeed true...airfares are cheaper on Tuesday nights!

 

Good luck!

[cruiselover57]

Just going on my second cruise...but the 1st cruise, we drove to the port.

This 2nd cruise will be just me and my mom. We will be flying from Louisville, Ky to cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Currently, I have booked flights and transfer transportation through Carnival. I've been checking around for air fare, and it seems that Carnival's price is competitive. I wouldn't have thought so, though.

 

For those of you with experience in this area, do you normally book your flights through the cruise line, or do you book them separately?

(no, we're not going through a TA....I booked directly through Carnival)

 

What are the advantages/disadvantages to booking air with the cruise line or not?

 

Appreciate ALL the advice I get from this.....thanks!

 

Hi there,

 

I was on the Carnival Freedom to the Med. this past August. When I first booked the cruise, I also signed up for the air/sea program. This past April, I decided to check things out on my own and ended up doing the air, hotels and transfers on-line and I saved almost $900 and had the flexibility to stay 2 more nights in Rome and the flight times were so much better. Normally, I would go air/sea but this time around, everyone I talked to on the CC board did their own air all for the same reasons mentioned and it could not have worked out better! I highly recommend it if you're going to be staying over for a few days - and, as another poster mentioned, come in 1 day prior. Too many things can go wrong with cancelled/delayed flights.

[robinlbe]

Thought I'd send an update...just in case anyone's interested...

I cancelled my airfare that I booked with the cruise through Carnival...

and booked it myself.

 

I feel comfortable with this now....I have flight times that work with my schedule, and we're flying down the day before. I found a motel with shuttle service from the airport, and a shuttle service to the port.

Breakfast, too!!!....less than $150 for both of us.

 

I'm pleased.

 

Thanks again for everything...without your guidance, I would have never known about the deviation fee or not being able to get flights that would work best for me.

 

Blessings to all!!

[happy cruzer]

Great! Now you are an expert too!

 

Thanks for updating us.