Oceania 6/15/10. take air or not?

[zorroz]

I have seen many comments about taking free air or not. But, if you don't take the free air, I have found my own air to be as much or more. What about arrival on day your leaving on your cruise? what if plane is late? What if your flite is cancelled? what about transportation to and from ship? Is it chancy? I like booking my own travel, but somehow feel safer with the cruise air. They do wait, etc. don"t they? Any comments will be appreciated.

[aztex]

This utlimately depends on how you like to travel. We fly out of Tucson, which means that most times we fly through Phoenix, with a few connections. The only thing I want to be late for is my funeral so we always book our own travel so that we have ample time between flight connections and extra time at ports of embarkation and disembarking. This is easier to do for us as we are retired.

 

Since we book cruises early on we have plenty of time to shop for good fares and find that we can usually beat the price offered by Oceania. Of course if you are using reward or frequent flyer miles this isn't even an issue as to cost.

 

We arrive a few days early, rest up, get to the port in plenty of time, already adjusted to the time zone and our next stop. I have to say that even if I was still working I would choose to do my own arrangements just for my peace of mind.

[MSEm]

Booking cruise air will not prevent you missing the boat if you arrive late. If you want to make sure you make the boat, you need to arrive at least 1 day early. If you are arriving early and purchase the cruise air, you will have to pay an additioinal charge for the custom air schedule. You will also have to pay for any addition cost of the flights.

 

I know of a group of 30 that got left in port because they had booked cruise air and weather delays caused them to land at the airport after the cruise departed. They only missed 3 of the 7 days of the cruise sitting in airports and hotel rooms.

 

I find it is cheaper for me to book my air directly from my "home" airport. I get to book on the carrier I have my air miles with and I get to set my schedule.

 

MSEm

[lovecruisingtoo]

I have seen many comments about taking free air or not. But, if you don't take the free air, I have found my own air to be as much or more. What about arrival on day your leaving on your cruise? what if plane is late? What if your flite is cancelled? what about transportation to and from ship? Is it chancy? I like booking my own travel, but somehow feel safer with the cruise air. They do wait, etc. don"t they? Any comments will be appreciated.

 

You need to answer a couple of questions before anyone can make a good suggestion.

 

1. Are you planning on going a day or two before the cruise? If so, if you disconnect it is not a big deal. You will not be late for the ship. We always arrive a day or two early so we can see the sights in the departure city.

 

2. You state that the air is about the same. Have you check the O air WITH all the fees that O adds on?

 

3. What about the air deviation? Have you taken that into consideration?

[FlyerTalker]

I like booking my own travel, but somehow feel safer with the cruise air. They do wait, etc. don"t they? Any comments will be appreciated.

No they do not wait. No, they are not responsible to get you to the ship. No, you will not have special attention if there are problems. Cruiseline provided air is done as a service, with many disclaimers in the T&C, which you need to read.

 

There is a sticky in the Cruise Air forum here at CC about cruiseline air...give it a read and perhaps post over there if you still have questions.

[Bowie MeMe]

I trust myself to make the flight the way I want it AND I don't have to wait until a few weeks before to know when and where I will fly. We always try to be in embarkation port days before sailing day so that we can enjoy the city and be on the correct time. If we have been to that port before we choose a nearby city or even someplace entirely different. For example flying from Washington, DC to Madrid (24 hour stop) then to Istanbul and out from Athens four days in Madrid and home to DC for the price of $804 pp. Last year went to Barcelona by way of Copenhagen but the price was great and we love Copenhagen which has a great airport. Have your TA check with and without air. It would have to be cheaper than free (which we all know is not really free since you get amount off the fare if don't take air) for me to let someone else decide where and when I fly.

[zorroz]

I have seen many comments about taking free air or not. But, if you don't take the free air, I have found my own air to be as much or more. What about arrival on day your leaving on your cruise? what if plane is late? What if your flite is cancelled? what about transportation to and from ship? Is it chancy? I like booking my own travel, but somehow feel safer with the cruise air. They do wait, etc. don"t they? Any comments will be appreciated.

Being new, I am not sure the best way to Thank all the responses I received. My message was about airfare with cruise line or by myself.

Thank you all. for your response. I am thinking!

[Mura]

Zorroz, I think you got good advice but I'll try to phrase it in my own words why WE tend to book our own air.

 

Yes, we choose to go in early and return late ... so that we can enjoy the embarkation and debarkation ports. If you use the cruiseline's air, you can't do that (unless you do a deviation, which I know was mentioned to you).

 

Going in early has an additional advantage in that if your flight IS late, you still won't miss the cruise! On our first Renaissance cruise, we were to board the ship in Lisbon. Ren was giving us two days in a hotel before the cruise. We chose to come in two days before that because Lisbon is a favorite of ours.

 

But we missed our flight thanks to the Continental staff, NOT because we were late. So we came in the next day ... of course, since Ren was giving us a hotel stay even had we missed THAT flight we would have been in time for the cruise. Still, it wasn't a great way to start out with our cruise.

 

Most of the time we book our own air. A lot of this depends as well on what your home airport is. We live in NYC -- so it tends not to be a problem. But if you live in the Midwest, for example, it CAN be.

 

A deviation can be the best way if you want to use the cruiseline's air but go in early. Our last cruise was a Miami-Barcelona T/A in March, and we took a deviation for the return which allowed us to stay in Europe for another week. It can depend on how much time you have!

 

Technically they WILL wait for you. But when we did a Panama Canal cruise out of Costa Rica back in 2004, a number of people were on flights that were delayed. The ship did NOT wait for them because it would have meant missing their slot going through the Canal ... which would have upset far more people than the relatively few who missed the departure. (Missing out slot would have meant going through at night rather than during the daytime.)

 

Which just means that there are no simple answers!