Air through Carnival or on our own?

[rnvattes]

Hi all --

 

Haven't been around these parts in some time! Boy have I missed it :D

 

A girlfriend and I are planning a getaway and hoping to take advantage of earlybird booking to save a lot. We are in debate now about whether to book air through carnival or on our own.

 

We would be traveling in december.

 

Does anyone know -- if we WERE delayed due to weather or other airline related issues -- does the trip insurance through carnival cover us, or does it ONLY cover us if we've booked air with them?

 

As an aside -- their airfare is TOTALLY over the top expensive!

 

TIA for any help with this :D

[nbsjcruiser]

Hi all --

 

Haven't been around these parts in some time! Boy have I missed it :D

 

A girlfriend and I are planning a getaway and hoping to take advantage of earlybird booking to save a lot. We are in debate now about whether to book air through carnival or on our own.

 

We would be traveling in december.

 

Does anyone know -- if we WERE delayed due to weather or other airline related issues -- does the trip insurance through carnival cover us, or does it ONLY cover us if we've booked air with them?

 

As an aside -- their airfare is TOTALLY over the top expensive!

 

TIA for any help with this :D

 

We always book our own air and separate travel insurance. Much cheaper and convenient. If you book through Carnival (or any cruise line for that matter) you are at their whim regarding flight times. You will not necessarily know until a few weeks out what your flights might be. In our case we asked about this and were told Carnival may very well fly us down the day of our cruise - we live in Canada so imagine what the weather could be like in February. We asked about flying a day early and that was all possible at a $50 deviation fee. So we book our own air (2 days early) and buy trip and health insurance from Blue Cross, cheaper and will cover incidents such as you mention. However, booking 2 days early allows for a great buffer and no need to worry about delays and so on.

[beach410]

ON YOUR OWN AND ARRIVE THE DAY BEFORE and purchase travel insurance!!

The horror stories alone make me cringe, even for flights that arent in the winter, I have heard a lot of instances where Carnival books too late of a flight and have to fly the person in at their next port. Be safe, not sorry!

[tnt091605]

We have always found cheaper air fare on our own. At that place that is hot and wired. I have read to many postings that said Carnival booked them on flights arriving at times like 1AM and having to sit in air ports for hours.

[pe4all]

I was told by Carnival in no uncertain terms that they will only cover air if the air is purchased thru them. They are very expensive for air, and here in NY would only fly us in the day of the cruise. As I am always worried about a December snowstorm, we prefer going in a day or 2 before. I guess we could pay a deviation fee to get down the day before, but not worth the $$. The insurance I purchase (Travelguard) covers our air also, and any delays we may have, etc. I am glad to hear Carnival treated you so well when your flight was cancelled. Good to know!

[gtalum]

Buy your own air. Buy travel insurance, but do it through a third party. Carnival will almost always be very expensive for both air insurance.

[firedisney97]

We explored purchasing our air on our own this time (we have booked through Carnival the last 2 times) but flying out of Rapid City, SD there is not much for choice on flights or airlines (United and Delta/Northwest is all) Checking the prices to fly out a day ahead (which is when Carnival flies us), to get to Port Canaveral at a decent hour with 2 kids it was going to cost us at least what Carnival is charging us or more, just for the airline tickets, that didn't included the hotel or transportation from airport to hotel from hotel to pier so we are sticking with Carnival's Fly Aweigh plan this year

[yesterdaystime]

Hi all --

 

Haven't been around these parts in some time! Boy have I missed it :D

 

A girlfriend and I are planning a getaway and hoping to take advantage of earlybird booking to save a lot. We are in debate now about whether to book air through carnival or on our own.

 

We would be traveling in december.

 

Does anyone know -- if we WERE delayed due to weather or other airline related issues -- does the trip insurance through carnival cover us, or does it ONLY cover us if we've booked air with them?

 

As an aside -- their airfare is TOTALLY over the top expensive!

 

TIA for any help with this :D

 

We've booked the whole cruise, air, transport from & to the ship, and insurance through Carnival - twice - and will continue to do so. :) If you let Carnival do it, they assume responsibility for everything! Purchased it through my CVP as I prefer to talk to someone, rather than book through a web site. Lastly, contrary to some posts, I found it to be cheaper than I could book the air fare myself. Happy Crusing!

 

Yesterdays Time

[Ken076]

(1) Carnival's site states that the Trip Insurance DOES cover independently booked airfare, you CAN interpret same by the words of the Policy, and literally everyone I spoke with in Carnival Operations and at the Berkely Insurance number, claimed that this IS the case - but I'm still leery!

 

(2) Fly the day before!!!!!!

 

(3) If you MUST book thru Carnival, pay the extra $$$ and use their CUSTOM service. Otherwise, they tend to book flights with very late arrival times at port, very close connection times, you probably won't know your flight info 'til less than 30 days prior, they don't guarantee that your party (other than immediate family) will fly together, or even from your preferred/closest airport, and MANY people are able to book more convenient and less expensive flights independently.

 

ken

[bythehex]

Hi all --

 

Haven't been around these parts in some time! Boy have I missed it :D

 

A girlfriend and I are planning a getaway and hoping to take advantage of earlybird booking to save a lot. We are in debate now about whether to book air through carnival or on our own.

 

We would be traveling in december.

 

Does anyone know -- if we WERE delayed due to weather or other airline related issues -- does the trip insurance through carnival cover us, or does it ONLY cover us if we've booked air with them?

 

As an aside -- their airfare is TOTALLY over the top expensive!

 

TIA for any help with this :D

 

We just booked the Victory for September. The airfare through Carnival would have been over $600 PER PERSON for the three of us, making it over $1800 to fly from Newark to San Juan. I booked my own air through Continental for $762 round trip for all three of us, total. They're also direct flights as opposed to having to change planes, or airlines, and wait in airports.

 

We also booked our own travel insurance from an outside agency, and it covers both the air and the cruise. I've always done that, and it's been a lot more economical.

 

This is just OUR experience in general. The over $1000 savings in airfare is being saved towards the cost of the next cruise after that.

 

- Sharon -

[anticostiguide]

Great thread , booked carnival package threw TA and was wondering if good move.

First time cruiser.......thanks

[Wennfred]

Great thread , booked carnival package threw TA and was wondering if good move.

First time cruiser.......thanks

 

I always recommend booking through Carnival when you are a first time cruisers, the Fly-a-Wiegh program for us was great especially when flying from San Diego Ca. to Miami Fl. because they fly you in a day early and put you up in a hotel for the night.

 

Carnival picks you up at the Airport, they have their cool Carnival Signs and you follow them around the airport to pick up your luggage and then move over to the bus. The bus ride is fun and you end up in a really nice hotel.

 

They give you instructions on what to do while at the hotel and sometimes they give you a color card with those instuctions on them.

 

You wake up, get some breakfast and then check-in right there at the Hotel. Even your Sail and Sign card is given to you right there.

 

Then there is a section in the lobby where you place your checked luggage and its pickup and delivered to the ship. You wont see it again until you board and its waiting for you right by your cabin door.

 

After you have experienced all of this, then you can go ahead and book your own airline and decide if you want to book directly with Carnival or a Travel Agent.

 

I have used Carnival's Fly-a-Wiegh program probably 5 times in all of my 15 cruises and never had any problems.

 

Best TIP of the day as posted many times over, ALWAYS TRY TO FLY AT LEAST A DAY EARLY !!!!

 

Fred

[big_duck]

You wake up, get some breakfast and then check-in right there at the Hotel. Even your Sail and Sign card is given to you right there.

 

They either don't do this anymore, or didn't do it the one time they put us up in a hotel.

 

Carnival sells to different types of air. The fly-aweigh programme which means they bulk book your airfare after final payment and you have no say over the bookings. The price is fixed and sometimes the flights are weird. Depending on where you are coming from this can be a good deal or not. It seems we Canadians for example can always get Fly-Aweigh air a lot cheaper then booking ourselves. If you use this option, you can check your flights about 60 days out using edocs. If there are any issues you can bring them up at that time.

 

Carnival agents can also book your flights like any other TA and the prices are competitive.

[Wennfred]

They either don't do this anymore, or didn't do it the one time they put us up in a hotel.

 

 

The last time we used this was on Wendy's first cruise onboard Triumph out of Miami and that was 2001 oh and also onboard Paradise when she was out there in Miami probably around 2003. Both times we were wisked over to the Wyndham hotel and the other hotel the Hilton, All paper work was done there at the hotels, I hope it hasn't changes because it was so stress free to have them do it all for you from booking the flights and getting us the nice Airport Hotels.

 

Carnival's Brochures used to list the Fly Aweigh schedule in the back of their books listing all of the cities and if hotels were provided etc.

[DTC]

Booked on the Liberty in February. Coming from WI. We decided we wanted to fly down to Miami on Friday instead of Saturday. I called my PVP and he said we could do that ($50/pp deviation fee) but it was cheaper for us to rent a car. So we would be staying at the Marriott, which the PVP said was right by the port. But Saturday we'd have to take the car back to the airport and find the Carnival people ( as though we just landed) and proceed as though we just came into Miami. I have read where some of you had your luggage picked up at the hotel and taken right to the ship?? Maybe I need to call my PVP again and find out what he was taking about. I was also told we could return the car at the port. Truthfully, a car would be nice, but we really do not need it.

Any input??

[big_duck]

Booked on the Liberty in February. Coming from WI. We decided we wanted to fly down to Miami on Friday instead of Saturday. I called my PVP and he said we could do that ($50/pp deviation fee) but it was cheaper for us to rent a car. So we would be staying at the Marriott, which the PVP said was right by the port. But Saturday we'd have to take the car back to the airport and find the Carnival people ( as though we just landed) and proceed as though we just came into Miami. I have read where some of you had your luggage picked up at the hotel and taken right to the ship?? Maybe I need to call my PVP again and find out what he was taking about. I was also told we could return the car at the port. Truthfully, a car would be nice, but we really do not need it.

Any input??

 

The whole package has to be booked through Carnival including hotel.

 

I don't know about with deviations, but generally those out west (like Fred) who book fly-aweigh are flown in the day before the cruise because of time differences.

 

In our case, we were flown out a day early because there were no flights available out of our airport on the day of.

[Freckles_51]

if we WERE delayed due to weather or other airline related issues -- does the trip insurance through carnival cover us, or does it ONLY cover us if we've booked air with them?

 

We have the opposite situation, so if I may add a question....we have booked air through Carnival, but the insurance is separate through our TA, so would Carnival still help us to get to the next port should our flight into Miami be delayed to the point that we miss the ship (but obviously paid by the insurance company) or are we on our own to make our own arrangements?

[DTC]

Our whole trip is thru Carnival at this time. How will I know if we are headed to FL the day before our trip?? We want to go down a day early, but I don't want to fool around with a rental car. Is there a way to find out our flight itinerary before 30-45 days before we go??

[misguidedangel]

I am Canadian and sometimes allowing Carnival to book the air is just as easy. I did my last cruise as a cruise only (as it was the cruise I won). I spent $900 Canadian on airfaire, $50 US on cab fare, and $300 on a over-priced hotel with walls as thin as tissue papoer. I spent probably close to $1500 Canadian total, when if I went with cruise air I could have had air, hotel, and transfer for $669 US.....at least 50% less.

 

You have to look at what the airfare is like in your region to the port city and see what Carnival will charge. You sometimes get odd or bad flights, as in red-eyes. We cancelled out of cruise-air to Houston (Galveston) when we were going to go because they were going to fly us in the day of the cruise and get us to Houston via Toronto in around 12-14 hours(I live in Western Canada and could get to Houston in under 6 hours with stop over in Calgary). We would have gotten to port at around 3pm, which would have been literally the last check in allowed. We booked a suite and paid a hefty price. We opted out and spent $100 each per person and got better flights and were in Galveston by 5pm that night.

 

Look at your options and decide. Do not cancel cruise air once it has been booked as it will cost you to cancel. Do your homework before you decide to go with cruise air!!!

[Freckles_51]

We would have gotten to port at around 3pm

 

That's what I just don't understand....why would they book people on such late flights, especially when there are several earlier ones that would make life easier for everyone? It just doesn't make sense. I have to admit I'm getting nervous about the upcoming cruise.

 

she listed off several flights to and from, and asked our preference, and in fact prebooked our seats

I wish I had known we could do that...oh well....next time :D Thanks for the info