Cruise/Air as anyone used it

[Dabert]

Hi curious as to how the Cruise/Air combo is with RCI. We are leaving from canada going to Miami. Curious as to what type of flight and time of day will they book for us. Going on an 11 day ultimate caribbean.

Bob

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13/12 Brilliance of the sea

[TWELVEOHONE]

Crusie lines contract with airlines to get passengesr from point A (your closest airport) to point B (deparkation city). The airlines do not gurantee non-stop, direct or connecting flights.

About 30-days prior to departure date the airlines will give the cruise line the flights and schedules. The cfruise lines then work with these schedules and airlines to get everyone to the ship in time

To insure you are getting the flights you want I strongly suggest you take air devaition.

[Nancyquilts]

I agree. Either take the deviation or book your own. From Alberta, you'll want to fly in the night before, rather than worry about connections, weather, etc.

[mattinla]

when you do a cruise/air combo, and there are price drops before final payment.. can be hard to get adjustments.. they can say things like, "oh the cruise fare went down, but your air fare went up.." Unless you are doing a one way flight, always try to book your own air.

CRUISES: Queen of Bermuda '89 Tropicale '99, Explorer of the Seas '02, Radiance of the Seas '02, Vision of the Seas '03, Queen Elizabeth 2 '03, Infinity '03, Serenade of the Seas '03, Monarch of the Seas '03, Norwegian Star '03, Queen Mary 2 '04,
Diamond Princess, '04

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[superjerryw]

They will book you on the cheapest flight that they can get. That may mean having to change planes even though there are non-stop flights avaialble. It may also mean getting to the ship just before it departs as opposed to booking your own flights and arriving early in the day. We always book our own air and go down the day before in case there are any problems. The money that we save booking the air on our own more than offsets the cost of a hotel for one night.

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Donuts, is there anything they can't do....

[caribbeancats]

I agree w/ what has been said but the exception to the rule happened w/ us to San Juan. The air/cruise was the best flight @ the best price.Experience has taught me whenever flying go the day before.

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<MARQUEE>"If We Weren't All Crazy We'd Go Insane"<MARQUEE>

[Dabert]

Thanks people for all the good info... going to look in to it more..how long do we have to say if we want it or not.

Bob and Daphne

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13/12 Brilliance of the sea

[KStevens79]

I used the cruise/air when we sailed Voyager. The flights were good times (we did switch planes on the way home, but not a long layover). Our hotel room was free (included in the price). We actually got two rooms, one for my and hubby and one for the kids. We did all of our check-in at the hotel. When we got to the ship we walked right on, gave them our luggage at the hotel and next time we saw it was in our room. Never worried about how to get from airport to hotel to ship to airport.
Would I use it again? Yep, in January!

Karen

Brilliance of the Seas
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Monarch Of The Seas
Whodunit Murder Mystery Cruise
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Carnival Ecstasy 8/2001
Voyager of the Seas 8/2000
Carnival Holiday 3/1998
Viking Seranade 1/1996
Viking Seranade 4/1995

[lmmn]

You are lucky if you get decent flights. Friends of ours who booked as a family through RCCL were booked on different flights. I would never take this risk. You are better off to book your own flights. With all the money you will save by booking on your own, you can get a nice hotel dirt cheap through Priceline....and take a taxi. Taxi is much more convenient than transfers...no waiting.

Explorer of the Seas ~ 10/02
Majesty of the Seas ~ 1/03
Majesty of the Seas ~ 8/11/03
Navigator of the Seas ~ 10/11/03
Serenade of the Seas ~ 1/31/04
Caribbean Princess ~ 8/14/04
Adventure of the Seas ~ 1/30/05

[pokyd]

I think it depends on where you are flying from or to. You may or may not get a cheaper flight booking on your own, but maybe the convenience is worth it.

I agree with the poster about San Juan; from where I am it is cheaper to go with the cruise line air. They are always early morning flights and get me to SJ in plenty of time, especially in the winter when I don't want to worry about being diverted or held up or stranded.

I have been on two cruises where they held the ship because a cruise/air flight with many passengers on it waas coming in late; in one case it was 19 people and the other was fewer than ten. But they held the ship for them. They won't do that if you have booked your own flight and something goes wrong.

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until sailaway on Legend of the Seas

[Sam of the Seas]

We used RCI for our air when we cruised EOS last Thankgiving week. I don't know if it was because of the holiday, but we got much cheaper rates than if we had booked ourselves. We fly out of Birmingham, AL. We got to Miami around noon and were in our cabins by 2:00. All in all we were pleased and have used them to provide our air this Thanksgiving week for NOS.

Navigator of the Seas 11/04
Explorer of the Seas 11/03

[London, Canada]

From One Canadian to Another -- not sure when you are cruising, but I would NEVER use an independent airline during the winter months. If there is weather and you can't get to your port the cruiseline guarantees that they will get you to the next port, weather permitting of course. You can also get insurance for weather...we have on our cruises.

I disagree with:

[I]when you do a cruise/air combo, and there are price drops before final payment.. can be hard to get adjustments.. they can say things like, "oh the cruise fare went down, but your air fare went up.." Unless you are doing a one way flight, always try to book your own air.[/I]

You get the discounts if the prices are adjusted. We have had the price adjustments on both ends. If you use a good TA then they will be sure to get you what is being offered. Also we have always had wonderful flights and connections...and have NEVER had to fly in the day before. The cruiseline knows you are coming...sure they won't wait 2 or 3 hours for you if the flight is late but will wait for 1 to 1 1/2 hours...as remember you not the only one on that flight going on the cruise.

[Desertbelle]

We used cruise/air for our trip in December on the Legend of the Seas to Hawaii and the air was great. Times were good, flights were direct. Plus we got a great deal too.

Be sure to remember to call the airline to make sure your seating arrangements are together. I had heard that could be a problem and when I called to check it out, sure enough they had my husband and I sitting in different rows. It was easy to get a new assignment.

Margie

Celebrating Our Parents 60th Anniversary - Legend of the Seas to Mexico 9/5/04!!
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Windjammer-Flying Cloud 1991
Carnival Elation 1999
NCL Sun 2002
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[B. J. Fox]

The cruise lines usually give you decent flights. The problum is you do not know what flights that you will get. If you are a Crown and Anchor member, you can pay so much extra and request your air. They give you options on what air you can have about two months before your sail date. I know that we have use RCCL bulk air before and have had very few problums. We are Cruising on Jewel in November and trying our own air for the first time. I hope that it is ok. As for flying on Contential, we flew them back from San Juan, what a mess that was. That flight was the worst part of a great cruise.