booking flight first?

[Momma Mojito]

How many times have you booked your flight ...because of the price...before you booked your cruise?

[Pam in CA]

How many times have you booked your flight ...because of the price...before you booked your cruise?

Never. I almost always book a cruise well over a year before sailing and flights aren't available then. Even if I booked later, I still wouldn't book a flight first. Too many things could change or go wrong. If you do book a flight first, you better have insurance on it.

[MichCook]

so far, never....same reasons as Pam stated.

 

I suppose if I were looking to book a "last minute" cruise, I'd probably check the airfare rates first...but, not make a plane reservation until I secured a cabin on the ship.

 

I'm curious....why do you ask?

[riteonglor]

Wouldn't make sense to me to book a flight before I had the cruise booked. That's like putting the cart before the horse. I can't imagine planning a cruise around a flight.

[Toto2Kansas]

How many times have you booked your flight ...because of the price...before you booked your cruise?

 

I always book the cruise first, flight second. Just to be on the safe side.

[kooljamming]

How many times have you booked your flight ...because of the price...before you booked your cruise?

 

Not cruise because I mostly drive to port but I do on land vacations. A summer vacation is a must for us. If I see a deal on a flight to Jamaica or Mexico for under $300 (total) I jump on it. Usually I can find a resort within my budget. I bought air to Cancun for June, had an idea where I was going but confirmed it after having non-refundable tickets. Last year I bought my airfare seven months before our trip. I fly from the West Coast, so it can be hard getting a break on airfare. I am currently sitting on 8 non-refundable tickets, I have had up to 12 (family of 4).

 

How many times have I done this....lots. I have bought a dress then book a cruise just to have somewhere to nice to wear it :-)

[captainron]

None, and never will.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[Putterdude]

Not I, I book cruises 18 mos out and then flights and hotels about 6 mos before...unless there is some super rate comes along for flights or hotels. I work on the principle that I can always find a flight and/or a hotel but not always the cruise/cabin we want.:)

[paul929207]

I'm with everyone above. Never booked the air first. I somstimes check on airfares before I book the cruise.

[dawcruiser]

I guess I will be the odd man out. I normally always find the airfare before I book the cruise.

 

I nomally never book a cruise more than 45 days out. Almost always I have to pay in full at ther time of booking. I live in Nashville, TN airfare isn't cheap like it is from many larger cities. I receive airfare specials almost weekly in the in box of my email. When I find a great airfare I start looking for a cruise. I almost always book an inside so cabin placement doesn't matter that much to me.

 

I have sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale for a crusie fare of $299.00 less port taxes and had roundtrip air for $114.00. So $413.00 for a 7 day eastern isn't bad in my book.

 

But to do what I do you must be flexible on travel dates. I am the boss so I can travel almost whenever I want. By doing this it allows me a cruise more per year. We try to do three cruises a year. Last year we couldn't because of my wife's car accident. But we are looking to do three this year. First one will be Panama Canal in May ($99 to Ft Lauderdale and $99 from San Fransisco).

 

Don

[Treven]

I also book my cruise 12-18 months out; once I see a cruise going somewhere I've never been, I call up my TA & tell her to book me on ship ABC leaving XXX to XYZ. I'll book my airfare a few months prior to leaving.

For my airfare from the Left Coast to FLL, I bought my round trip ticket last October for a little over $900; I saw on Delta's web site that the fare is now over $1800.

[MTJtraveller]

I guess I'm odd man out with you dawcruiser!

 

Our cruise in July was booked after our airfares were secured. My husband had been looking for a good cruise deal for a birthday surprise for me. He watched airfares jump all over the board and when they finally dropped he told me about my surprise and we booked the airfare first, then the cabin.

 

While we were booking the airfare and trying to figure out the day in/day out the fares were disappearing before our eyes...So we felt it was imperative to book the flights first as if they went up significantly we would do something different. There are 5 of us travelling and a $200pp fare increase is significant.

 

We booked air at $800pp and then secured the cabins we had our eye on. Today those same flights when inserted in UAL is over $4,000pp...I had to check and recheck as it was unbelieveable to me.

[Rubysky]

We choose a cruise, I put a hold on it & get the dates set and dh books the flight with ff miles and then I call my ta back & make my down payment. So technically I guess you can say we purchased our air first since the cruise wasn't officially booked.

[snowskier]

Depends on the airline. I find no problem booking air first. I recently changed flight reservations well after they were originally booked as we decided to extend our vacation after the cruise. changed the date of the flight, the departure and the destination city. Even with different cities and different dates I had no problem, no increase in fare and actually have a credit with the airline now. Since some airlines do not charge change fees on any tickets, even the non-refundable ones I purchased there was no problem.....and the flights were same low price as the other airlines.

 

Also, I never worry about missing the scheduled flight home after a cruise, even if it is a tight transfer. I learned long ago that there is always another flight if I miss the one I am scheduled on. In fact with the "Flat Tire" rule on some airlines there is no charge if you arrive late and have to catch a later plane.

[Times Prince]

Flight availability all probably depends on when and where. If you live by a major hub, then there are plenty of alternatives available, but transfers to/from smaller airports may be limited.

 

For the original poster's question, we always investigate flight and seat availability first as well as cost, then book the cruise, and only then actually book the flights.

 

This process saved us recently when, after receiving a great offer from Princess by email and verifying flight and cruise cabins were available, we waited 24 hours while I verified I could get the time off from work before contacting our TA. It didn't take her long to get back to us to say the ship was FULL !:eek:. Sure enough, every category was now waitlisted. Had we booked flights first we would have had a major problem. A week later it took less than four hours on another from Princess email to the Alaska CruiseTour being full, even with bypassing our TA and work and contacting Princess direct.

 

• From our airport the only low cost flight fares are non-refundable.
  
• With all the cruise offers one really cannot guarantee that the cabin and rate you want will be there without already having a hold in place. Princess will hold your cabin for up to three days without a deposit.
  

[PescadoAmarillo]

Interesting question, especially since I am a bargain hunter, but, no, we've never done it that way. I think it's mostly because we do cruises of longer than 7 nights, frequently 10, 12, 13, etc. nights, and would have no way of knowing what days to even book our flights. But if I knew I wanted to cruise one particular week, I would definitely consider booking outbound air on Saturday (or Friday) and inbound air the following Sunday and then just sitting back and watching the cruise fares. Worst case is that you'd spend a week in a hotel in the departure city, but these days, with all the last minute deals, you'd probably come out way ahead, as long as you aren't particular about cruise line, ship or itinerary.

[Sailor Gal]

Never done that but I can see why you might want to with the airline prices now days. We usually book the cruise and then check airfare prices and when we find it is a reasonable price we book that. We have booked airfare before making final cruise payment.

[jean s]

This is an interesting thread. Because of my job I am limited to when I can cruise. I cruise during President's Week in February and the flights from Boston to Florida are always very high. I decide which cruise I will be taking and book my airfare as soon as it becomes available. I usually book my cruise after booking my airfare.

[mek]

Only once. We were on the Vendam last month and I booked the air in June but didn't book the cruise until October. I had some gift cards that I wanted to use and by booking the air when we did, we avoided the extra bag charges that are now in effect.

[DGSFlorida]

We like to book cruises on the spur of the moment, often when we get an email from Princess and determine that their offer is a real bargain. We will normally ask our agent to get a quote for air through Princess to compare the price and then go looking for a better flight price online. If we know for sure we want to take the cruise, we just have the cruise put on a one-day courtesy hold by Princess which they will gladly do at no charge or obligation. We then scour the internet and individual airline website for the best air tickets. I would have to say I almost got stung on my last cruise however when I booked an early air ticket out of Santiago, Chile not realizing how far the Valparaiso port was from the airport. In my haste to nail down a really good air ticket, I booked a flight about 40 min earlier than Princess recommends. To solve the problem I contacted a local car service to assure a rapid ride to the airport. We arrived at least 30 minutes before any of the Princess transfers and missed all the lines.