Fred Olsen Fly Cruise Airline Cabins

I have booked a caribbean cruise for 2017 with FO and have paid nearly £1500 for the flights. I have concluded from a bit of research that we will most probably be flying Thomas Cook. Does FO book premium class tickets on Thomas Cook for the flights to Barbados? I certainly hope so, as I can get the same flights for £800 today. If the £1500 I paid is just for an economy seat, I'll regret booking my holiday before the flights were available online! Any help will be appreciated. :confused:

I have booked a caribbean cruise for 2017 with FO and have paid nearly £1500 for the flights. I have concluded from a bit of research that we will most probably be flying Thomas Cook. Does FO book premium class tickets on Thomas Cook for the flights to Barbados? I certainly hope so, as I can get the same flights for £800 today. If the £1500 I paid is just for an economy seat, I'll regret booking my holiday before the flights were available online! Any help will be appreciated. :confused:

I strongly suggest that you contact Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines direct and get the correct answer

I strongly suggest that you contact Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines direct and get the correct answer

Yes, I called them today and they were pleased to inform me that the £1500 flight supplement was indeed for an economy class ticket. I cancelled the supplement with the agent and went straight to condor.com and booked premium class tickets on what will probably be the same flight FO will use, for £300 less. After the 15% cancellation fee and air duty tax. I'll be about even. What a rip off by FO. I would understand if we were flying BA or Virgin Atlantic but charging £1500 plus £149 air duty for an economy class ticket on Thomas Cook airlines.. i think NOT. I don't want to sound condescending but I think they are trying to fleece a certain age group who are placing too much trust in FO. I did, before looking closely at the numbers. The FO agent did give me the option too upgrade to Premium economy at an extra cost of £500.

Moral of the story is included flights aren't always value for moneyed nor is the convenience, when you know the price of that convenience is a total rip off.

Hope you have got your details about the flights correct. Has far as I know FO usually fly charter flights with only FO booked passengers on them. This is how they are able to bypass security and luggage check in with the luggage been bonded on the ship for the return flight.

Looking at the website you mentioned it only seemed to show schedule flights and some of these were not non stop to Barbados.

Hope you have booked a cruise where the ship is in port overnight otherwise you might miss the sailing.

Also I thought FO's prices included all relevant taxes.

I am fairly sure Fred uses charter flights so luggage goes straight to the ship. So it will not be the same flight. I also agree that Fred charge a lot for their flights. You do have to consider though that their price includes transfers and security that if there is a flight delay on their charter, the ship will wait. I would probably fly out earlier and have a hotel stay if arranging my own flight.

We left Braemar in Tenerife last December and were allowed to stay onboard until our flight transfer, which was after lunch, but independent travellers had to disembark by 9.30am. Given that flights from the Caribbean are evening flights, you will likely have to find somethwhere to go during the daytime and then have an overnight flight to the uk.

Not our style of travelling.

I am fairly sure Fred uses charter flights so luggage goes straight to the ship. So it will not be the same flight. I also agree that Fred charge a lot for their flights. You do have to consider though that their price includes transfers and security that if there is a flight delay on their charter, the ship will wait. I would probably fly out earlier and have a hotel stay if arranging my own flight.

 

We left Braemar in Tenerife last December and were allowed to stay onboard until our flight transfer, which was after lunch, but independent travellers had to disembark by 9.30am. Given that flights from the Caribbean are evening flights, you will likely have to find somethwhere to go during the daytime and then have an overnight flight to the uk.

 

Not our style of travelling.

Could not have writen a reply better myself. I concur with everything you say especially regarding inclusive transfers and sometimes the cruiseline flight price includes a day room in a hotel is included in the overall price

Would think the flights booked will not be with the flight that Fred uses.

On our last cruise somebody was telling me much the same story. They had booked their own flights much cheaper.

Then they went on to tell me that they had, due to the flight times, had to come a day early and book a hotel for the night. So after the hotel, transfers to hotel then transfers to cruise terminal, return transfers to airport plus lugging your luggage about. All in all I think they saved £100. Not for me but everybody is different.

We have done a number of flight/cruises with Fred and have yet to find anything wrong. Yes, on flights to the Canaries we used Thompson airlines, but it was not the regular flight as Fred fills a plane with passengers so charter specific flights. We also were provided with food on the flight which Thompson does not unless you pay the supplement.

The other thing, Thompson usually use a long haul aircraft to the Caribbean with much more leg room. I would have no hesitation in using the flights provided by Fred in the future.

There are other advantages of cruise company flights as well:-

• If the cruise should be cancelled (perhaps because of problems with the ship), then the flights would automatically be cancelled and refunded.
   
  
• If anything goes wrong during the cruise and it has to be curtailed, then Fred would be obliged to get you back to your UK departure airport. With cruise only they would only have to get you back to Barbados and hotels are very expensive in Barbados. Ok, not very likely and insurance may cover those eventualities, but it would be more hassle to deal with the scenario.
  

As I said earlier though, I do think Fred wind the price of their flights up quite a bit, (particularly long haul ones), so if making a booking I may well consider looking at alternatives and having an extended holiday at the same time as the cruise. Then again we would probably be more likely to use another cruise company for cruises requiring flights. We have done that with Voyages of Discovery for the far east next year and they are prepared to delay our return flight so we have been able to book a tailor made post cruise land tour independently of the cruise company, at much better prices than cruise companies charge. For the more commonly offered Caribbean cruises, P&O offer much better prices to include flights.

I can see why Fred do not find it easy to book fly cruises, but suspect they cannot get the same sort of rates for their charters as it is not a bulk market for them.

Hi, my wife and I are also on the Braemar Caribbean in Jan 2017.

We have paid £2300 for flights which include an upgrade to 'Premium', we did not fancy 'cattle class' on a long haul flight, this also gives us 30 kilos of luggage allowance each. I know its expensive, but we thought we would go for it.

Don't forget to add in the cost of the transfers from/to the airport as well.

Along with the hassle of having to wait for your bags and having to take them with you on an early morning disembarkation for an afternoon flight at the end, I wouldn't have thought the saving was close to being worth it...

As others have suggested do check your flight times carefully as you are very unlikely to be on the same flight. Due to the sheer number of people that FO are moving around they have always used a charter to the best of my knowledge.

Sorry I should have said, our flights WERE booked through Fred Olsen, so should not have problems with transfers and baggage.

Also, I booked this holiday through our local Thomas Cook, and our usual sales rep.

Sorry, I should have said I was aiming at the originator of the thread :)

You on the other-hand seem to have done exactly what we would have done, this is one of the few occasions where I wouldn't ever book independently.

The value of walking straight from the plane to the coach and missing all the clearance and baggage stuff is priceless, and together with not having to wrestle with your bags on the way back at the end makes a huge difference to how that last day goes...