Your experience using Custom Air w/Royal Caribbean?

[jerseysmom]

We currently are hoping to cruise in NZ this winter. Royal Caribbean offers us air at $1099 from LAX to SYD with custom air being $75 more. That is less than any of the carriers are offering right now. Has anyone booked custom air thru them? How does it work and how did it turn out for you?

Thanks,

Sharon

[6rugrats]

How does it work? Read this thread, which is a sticky at the top of this forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

[cruznjan]

I was going to use Custom Air until I saw their air fares were twice what I was able to get by booking directly with the airlines (2 one-way flights).

[steve20832]

95% of the time, it is less expensive to book your own air. Cruise lines will pick the least expensive which could mean a 6am flight or a 3 hour layover and you won't have much control over it. Most of the time, customers are not happy with what the cruise lines pick out for them. You are much better off picking your own flights (and layover times.) I highly suggest flying in at least a day before your cruise and spend the night in a hotel.

I picked a random date of October 17-25 and got a price of $849 non-stop each way with V-Australia. non-stop with Qantas is $956. non-stop with United is $1046. Several other airlines also go non-stop but at a higher price...

[biker1972]

Using cruise line air is accompanied by a certain amount of risk. However, since there are a limited number of carriers and flights from the US to NZ, it might be worth considering if the the $ amount is significantly lower than what you could book for yourself. Most flights from LAX are non-stop (SFO often have stop in Hawaii). If you are starting from LAX really worth considering, if starting elsewhere, be wary. See sticky on cruiseair for info.

[jerseysmom]

Yes, we live about 90 min (when the traffic is light) from LAX so that is in our favor. We are traveling Jan 7 - Jan 21. Seems that after December the cost of flying to Oz is much higher. The $1099 airfare from the cruise line (and $75 more if we do Custom Air) is quite a bit less than what I have been able to find on the TA sites like Orbitz. As you say though, I am concerned that we will get something that we won't be happy with. I don't mind a stop however Air Pacific has 4 hour stops each way and that is not appealing.

[IvesGrandmama]

Have always booked my own air. But my husband and I were in the Buffalo airport this morning coming back from Niagara Falls. There were people everywhere that had booked with airtram to florida and the flight was cancelled. No way to get to the cruise ship today. Would be tomorrow before they could get out of Buffalo All flight to Florida were filled and airlines were offering compensation to give up seats no takers. so its a risk we take when we do our own.

[phoenix1181]

We used RCCL custom air last year for our TA and everything worked out fine. Don't forget that in addition to the $75 custom air fee (unless you're C & A Platinum or higher), you will probably pay a higher price based on the flight(s) you choose. For us it was about $90 pp and we got the flights we wanted with no hassle.

 

We could have done the air on our own for less but it would have involved more stops which I wanted to avoid. We could not have purchased the flights we took for less than what we paid the cruise line. They would have cost a few hundred dollars more pp.

[jerseysmom]

Phoenix, we just hit Platinum on our last RC cruise. Is the custom air rate different?

[cruzincanuck]

Phoenix, we just hit Platinum on our last RC cruise. Is the custom air rate different?

 

 

At platinum and beyond, you get complimentary custom air fee :D

 

Never used it myself but could be nice perk

[phoenix1181]

Phoenix, we just hit Platinum on our last RC cruise. Is the custom air rate different?

 

That saves you $75! Custom air is free to Platinum/Diamond/Diamond +. You'll still pay any additional ticket costs but no fee to RCCL.

[6rugrats]

Have always booked my own air. But my husband and I were in the Buffalo airport this morning coming back from Niagara Falls. There were people everywhere that had booked with airtram to florida and the flight was cancelled. No way to get to the cruise ship today. Would be tomorrow before they could get out of Buffalo All flight to Florida were filled and airlines were offering compensation to give up seats no takers. so its a risk we take when we do our own.

 

But how is this more of a risk than if you had booked using cruise air? If all the flights were filled, there were no other flights to get people to Florida. How could cruise air have helped in this situation. It appears everyone would miss their ship today, even those with cruise air.

 

This is the risk you take when flying the day of the cruise.

[steve20832]

Have always booked my own air. But my husband and I were in the Buffalo airport this morning coming back from Niagara Falls. There were people everywhere that had booked with airtram to florida and the flight was cancelled. No way to get to the cruise ship today. Would be tomorrow before they could get out of Buffalo All flight to Florida were filled and airlines were offering compensation to give up seats no takers. so its a risk we take when we do our own.

 

 

First mistake: Booking a flight the same morning as cruise

Second mistake: Booking with an airline that has only one partner airline and that partner airline doesn't serve Buffalo.

Third mistake: Booking with an airline with a hub in Atlanta (Atlanta has had the most delays year after year)

 

JetBlue and Southwest don't have any U.S. partners but they are the only airlines that go non-stop from Buffalo to FLL which improves your chances for your luggage to make it as well as not having to worry about delayed or missed connection flights.

[FlyerTalker]

JetBlue and Southwest don't have any U.S. partners but they are the only airlines that go non-stop from Buffalo to FLL which improves your chances for your luggage to make it as well as not having to worry about delayed or missed connection flights.

Granted that you eliminate the connection issue. However, you still may have luggage exposure - it's not just at connections that you may have a delayed bag. You also have the issue with no interline agreements, so if your jetBlue or Southwest flight goes MX and is cancelled, you and a planeload of others will be jockeying to get onto the next flight that has seats....or the one after that....or the one after that....or whenever they finally have enough open seats to take you all.

[Twickenham]

Yes, we live about 90 min (when the traffic is light) from LAX so that is in our favor. We are traveling Jan 7 - Jan 21. Seems that after December the cost of flying to Oz is much higher. The $1099 airfare from the cruise line (and $75 more if we do Custom Air) is quite a bit less than what I have been able to find on the TA sites like Orbitz. As you say though, I am concerned that we will get something that we won't be happy with. I don't mind a stop however Air Pacific has 4 hour stops each way and that is not appealing.

 

I just punched in those exact dates into the gnome site, and I found a LAX-SFO-SYD flight (with a direct SYD-LAX return) on United for $1162.

[jerseysmom]

Sorry, my mistake. We are leaving LAX on Jan 5 and arriving SYD on Jan 7. I got excited there for a minute and grabbed my credit card!

 

I'll call RCI in the morning and find out some more info about what exactly the $1099 airfare they quoted me is good for. Thanks!

[Zion21]

At platinum and beyond, you get complimentary custom air fee

 

Never used it myself but could be nice perk

 

Wow I never knew that. That is indeed a very nice perk and makes a deal like that very tempting!

[Jade13]

Sorry, my mistake. We are leaving LAX on Jan 5 and arriving SYD on Jan 7. I got excited there for a minute and grabbed my credit card!

 

I'll call RCI in the morning and find out some more info about what exactly the $1099 airfare they quoted me is good for. Thanks!

 

Ask the fare code so you know if its a consolidator ticket or whether you can get points in an airline mileage program.

[jerseysmom]

I tried out RC's new Custom Air option on their website this morning. It locked me out when I put my cruise info in. I called them and this is what they told me. When I booked the cruise RC had an airfare deal going for $1099. That means I get what I get and I'll find out what it is a month or 6 weeks before I leave (no changes!). Sort of like a gamble to me. Their new custom air site basically is a connection to current travel agent airfares with no deal, just what the going rates are. That is convenient for someone who doesn't want to attend to the details themselves but let someone else take care of that. I am one of those odd people that like to have a little more control of those details, and hopefully get a good deal at the same time! The best the agent on the phone was giving me was a non stop for $1500. The least expensive flight LAX-SYD is an airline with a 4 hour stop in Fiji each way. Some people on this board have stated that their 4 hour stop turned into an 8 hour+ stop for mechanical issues. They were treated well and taken to a resort for the day. Not exactly what I have in mind tho. I asked the agent if this is what I would get for the $1099. She wouldn't say of course but her attitude seemed to me that SHE wouldn't take the $1099 pot-luck airfare.

So I guess this answers my questions. I do appreciate all the input & answers I received from people here. It has helped us decide to pay the extra, book our own and start looking forward to our cruise in January. :)

Thanks,

Sharon

[jerseysmom]

Don't know if anyone is still looking at this thread but here's an update. VAustralia has a $1188 fare for my dates in January. So I got ready to book, credit card in hand. I called RCI to cancel the airfare part. They told me that my "package" (first time they told me they'd made it a package!) would change. My balcony D1 Cabin would go from $2900 to $3499 if I drop the $1099 airfare portion. So at this point to book my own airfare I would be paying an additional $1400 for 2 people!! I guess we're staying with the standard air and hope we get a decent flight.

[cruisenfever]

We currently are hoping to cruise in NZ this winter. Royal Caribbean offers us air at $1099 from LAX to SYD with custom air being $75 more. That is less than any of the carriers are offering right now. Has anyone booked custom air thru them? How does it work and how did it turn out for you?

Thanks,

Sharon

Hi Sharon........custom air is when you pick out the flights that are best suited for you and then if approved you pay the air deviation fee of $75pp. I use bookingbuddy.com, put in all the information and then it gives me several sites to look at. I find the flights I want and go from there.

 

Sometimes there will be an additional fee if the RCI can not get the flights that you want at the price they are locked into. Plus with custom air you can book your flights as far as 10 months in advance and once you are booked you can select your seats at the same time.

 

This air deviation fee is waived ONCE per cruise if you are platinum/diamond/diamond plus.

 

We have done custom air with RCI many times especially when we do international travel. I do a search of what flights we want, our TA calls air/sea and 99% of the times we get them with no extra fees involved.

 

We have flown to South America twice, once to Santiago, Chile in 2008 and then this year to Buenos Aries. Each time I did a search on what flights we wanted and each time they were approved by RCI......our air deviation fee was waived because we are D+.

 

In 2008 we saved about $2400 over what the airlines wanted........and this year we saved a little more. If you wait to book closer to your sailing date, there is always the possibility that you can get cheaper air.........but I don't like to hang in limbo when it comes to air travel.

 

Remember that it is a 14.5 hour flight from LAX to SYD.:(

 

Edit, and what they told you about your cruise fare going up if you do your own air is correct.