Flights To Europe

Have started looking at flights, doing some mock bookings given that flights have opened up until the first week of June. All I can say is "WOW", round trip flight for two is almost as much as the cruise. Hope they get a bit cheaper within the next couple of months.

You have to wait it out. Just like the cruise lines the airlines will price flights high at the beginning. They will drop in the fall/early winter and then go back up a few months out. Set a price you are comfortable with (being reasonable of course) and when you see it book and don't look back.

Which airports can you easily fly out of?? With Europe you often have to be creative if you have multiple airports in close proximity.

I found the best pricing was in November the last time we flew there. I am waiting it out.

My full flight itinerary is not available yet but I've been looking, so far flights can be had for about 1000, if we drive to Atlanta (probably 6 hrs!) significantly cheaper than our home airport though. Seems pretty reasonable to me but we have never flown to Europe. I will be checking what price carnival offers as well.

My full flight itinerary is not available yet but I've been looking, so far flights can be had for about 1000, if we drive to Atlanta (probably 6 hrs!) significantly cheaper than our home airport though. Seems pretty reasonable to me but we have never flown to Europe. I will be checking what price carnival offers as well.

We fly from Nashville and paid $1314 RT each to Paris for June 2014 (purchased October 2013). I'll be using this as my price matrix this time.

Remember that if you have to drive somewhere to save money you may be spending any "savings" in gas, long term parking, food and possibly hotel.

I paid $801 round trip to Barcelona from Miami in May 2013 on TAP Portugal. They did a great job. The biggest problem was getting to our car when we got back. We used offsite parking (which was great - only $60!) but after a long flight the last thing you want to do is traipse around an airport and wait for a shuttle.

This time I am thinking of having one of my sons drop us off and pick us up.

We fly from Nashville and paid $1314 RT each to Paris for June 2014 (purchased October 2013). I'll be using this as my price matrix this time.

 

 

 

Remember that if you have to drive somewhere to save money you may be spending any "savings" in gas, long term parking, food and possibly hotel.

That is very true, we are x4, so over $2000 in savings, we will get a hotel that includes 14 days of parking for under 100 with free shuttle to airport...and we probably will opt to spend one additional night on the back end instead of driving straight home after that loooong flight.....and I figure one less flight to lose our luggage as well ;)

Just booked the Vista for the July 29, 2016 cruise. Let me know what you find price wise. Thinking of flying into Paris for a few days before the cruise and taking the train or low cost carrier to Barcelona for the cruise.

I paid $801 round trip to Barcelona from Miami in May 2013 on TAP Portugal. They did a great job. The biggest problem was getting to our car when we got back. We used offsite parking (which was great - only $60!) but after a long flight the last thing you want to do is traipse around an airport and wait for a shuttle.

 

This time I am thinking of having one of my sons drop us off and pick us up.

I found two TAP flights for $937, Miami to Lisbon then from Lisbon to Barcelona, with a 2.5 or 3.5 layover. That was the best deal, the next flight came in close to $1300 which is steep. Also looked at Air Europa to Madrid from Miami then Madrid to Barcelona, that was close to $1600 and the layovers were between 4.5 and 12 hours.

What little research I've done on TAP, I've seen a lot of complaints regarding fees and poor customer service.

Just booked the Vista for the July 29, 2016 cruise. Let me know what you find price wise. Thinking of flying into Paris for a few days before the cruise and taking the train or low cost carrier to Barcelona for the cruise.

I'll definitely keep posting here, be good to work together and see what kind of deals we find. I'll be on the July 1st sailing and plan to spend a couple of days ahead of the cruise in Barcelona or Madrid, depending which one has the best offers. I'm even willing to do Paris if that is a better option as far as flights but the savings need to be significant.

Anyone here have an experience with Norwegian air?

Anyone here have an experience with Norwegian air?

They are the cheapest I'm looking at. I am spending 4-5 days in the UK prior to the transatlantic and I am finding one ways from Los Angeles to London Gatwick for under $400. And on the Boeing 787 at that.

I can't fly home to Nashville round-trip for that price.

I found the best pricing was in November the last time we flew there. I am waiting it out.

That is really good info. Thanks

I'll definitely keep posting here, be good to work together and see what kind of deals we find. I'll be on the July 1st sailing and plan to spend a couple of days ahead of the cruise in Barcelona or Madrid, depending which one has the best offers. I'm even willing to do Paris if that is a better option as far as flights but the savings need to be significant.

Thinking of taking the family to Paris for a couple days before the cruise. We're in Fort Myers, FL. Can't get flight rates for the end of next July yet. However, looks like my best bet is to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale/Miami or just fly to NYC and then on to Paris. Try using "Google flights". Love their map that shows what it costs to fly to surrounding cities.

Thinking of taking the family to Paris for a couple days before the cruise. We're in Fort Myers, FL. Can't get flight rates for the end of next July yet. However, looks like my best bet is to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale/Miami or just fly to NYC and then on to Paris. Try using "Google flights". Love their map that shows what it costs to fly to surrounding cities.

I live just north of Fort Myers so I feel your pain. Too expensive to fly out of RSW so yes, we will be heading to Miami again. Thanks for the tip on Google flights, I will check it out.

Thinking of taking the family to Paris for a couple days before the cruise. We're in Fort Myers, FL. Can't get flight rates for the end of next July yet. However, looks like my best bet is to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale/Miami or just fly to NYC and then on to Paris. Try using "Google flights". Love their map that shows what it costs to fly to surrounding cities.

I've been using kayak.com, cheapoair.com and google.com/flights. As for flying out of Fort Lauderdale, most of the flights seem to head south before heading to Europe. Avianca airlines has the bulk of those flights, so you would layover in Bogota before heading to Europe. Norwegian Air flies out of Fort Lauderdale, once a day, and looks to be a good option. The only concern is layovers, some are overnight in Oslo.

I've been using kayak.com, cheapoair.com and google.com/flights. As for flying out of Fort Lauderdale, most of the flights seem to head south before heading to Europe. Avianca airlines has the bulk of those flights, so you would layover in Bogota before heading to Europe. Norwegian Air flies out of Fort Lauderdale, once a day, and looks to be a good option. The only concern is layovers, some are overnight in Oslo.

Sometimes those overnights just turn into a bonus city! We did that in 2013 - turned a 7 hour layover in Lisbon into an overnight and took the HoHo around Lisbon. It was fantastic!

Sometimes those overnights just turn into a bonus city! We did that in 2013 - turned a 7 hour layover in Lisbon into an overnight and took the HoHo around Lisbon. It was fantastic!

Very true and an option that gives you more bang for your buck. Flying to Europe is so expensive, by doing this, you increase your return on investment while visiting new places.

Very true and an option that gives you more bang for your buck. Flying to Europe is so expensive, by doing this, you increase your return on investment while visiting new places.

Absolutely! We probably won't do so this time though. I was thinking about it but we are one a ten day cruise which is already a 2 week adventure. I think by the time we get off the ship, we will be done.

Flights from the DC airports are often cheaper. We are fortunate to have family in the area that we can leave our car with and they will take us to the airport. It will save us about $700 over leaving from Myrtle Beach. There are some good free "flight price alert" sites you can sign up for as well.

Our flights will most likely be significantly more than the cruise, unfortunately. We're looking at about $1300-$1500 per person. The dates we need aren't posted yet so I haven't seen exact numbers. The problem is that we do not have any major international hubs near us and the travel cost of getting to one would be as much as just flying. Still watching and hoping we end up with decent fares!

Next cruise: Carnival Vista - July 2016

I'm on the Vista TA so I need a one way ticket to Barcelona. I will definitely be leaving out of JFK.

Have been checking fares since February for this year same week. They are all over the place. Norwegian has the best but with some lengthly layovers.

What is the best site to view all fares at one time? TIA

Sky Scanner is a good app to use. For our Europe cruise last summer we flew Iceland Air to Paris and then did Easy Jet for 30 euro to Venice where our cruise left out of. Didn't have to change airports. We paid $1000 rt from Denver. The 30 euro was one way as on the way home we were coming from Spain. I think easy jet Malaga to Paris was super cheap as well. Sometimes you have to be creative!

I'm on the Vista TA so I need a one way ticket to Barcelona. I will definitely be leaving out of JFK.

 

Have been checking fares since February for this year same week. They are all over the place. Norwegian has the best but with some lengthly layovers.

 

What is the best site to view all fares at one time? TIA

That's some time from now but google flights does a good job.

You could fly one way from JFK to BCN in June of 2016 for $522 on Aeroflot. As a bonus, you could say hi to Edward Snowden at SVO during your layover.

I did find the Norweigian for $346 with only a 4 hour layover in Stockholm.