USA to Stockholm/Copenhagen - air on own or through cruise line?

Hi – considering a Baltic Sea cruise for summer 2017. Several different itineraries in mind, on several different lines, haven’t decided yet. Most of the itineraries we are looking at depart and/or arrive in either Stockholm and/or Copenhagen. An early look at airfare looks very expensive. We live in northeast USA.

My question is regarding doing own air arrangements vs. doing it through the cruise line? Specifically regarding travelling on this route.

Any tips, ideas, thoughts, personal experiences welcome.

Thank you.

You probably want to do some research on the Cruise Air board, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128

as this is really about flying.

Generally, it boils down to research. There are several ways to research it, but the gist is to look at cruise line air, and compare with what you can do on your own. Looking at the Cruise Air board, you will see recommendations to us ita.matrix, as a great look at the vast majority of available routes and fares.

I would decide on a cruise first. Then build an airfare. You can "pretend" using fares available in June 2017.

SAS have direct flights to either Stockholm or Copenhagen from many cities in the USA.

SAS have direct flights to either Stockholm or Copenhagen from many cities in the USA.

Recently flew round trip from Dulles to Copenhagen on SAS and were extremely pleased with the airline.

Hank

Not sure where in the NE you'll be flying from - our closest airport is BDL and Aer Lingus will be starting up in a few months (would require a connection).

We'll be looking to do this into Copenhagen next September and will be looking into Norwegian and Icelandair

That said, we did get a much better price going through RCCL Choice Air last year for our Bradley to Barcelona flight on AA than what was available on the AA site.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

You should also look at Norwegian air. They fly all over Europe but offer no stops to Stockholm and others from US depending on your departure airport.

If you are willing to go the no frills route look at Norwegian or Icelandair. Icelandair allows free stop overs for several days in Iceland if that appeals to you. If you want to go the full service route look at SAS. We found their fares out of Newark to be great for our trip to Norway next summer. They have one of the highest rated premium economy service at prices that are about the same as the US legacy carriers are charging for regular economy and SAS provides a lot of nice perks with premium economy.

I would get quotes for cruise and air from a few of the cruises that look best to you and look at what you can do on your own and compare. Sometimes the cruise line will offer huge discounts on the air fare as a booking incentive and it is worth being at their mercy but sometimes you can do better on your own. We have done it both ways. We are doing a river cruise in October and went with cruise line air ($350 RT to Paris from the Midwest... Great deal) but we did better booking on our own for next summer's Norway cruise.

Not sure where in the NE you'll be flying from - our closest airport is BDL and Aer Lingus will be starting up in a few months (would require a connection).

We'll be looking to do this into Copenhagen next September and will be looking into Norwegian and Icelandair

Be wary of Aer Lingus, their on time record is notoriously absymal. If you have a connection make sure you have scheduled enough time. Perhaps book an overnight in Dublin and continue the leg the following day.

We were flying to Southampton and missed the connection in Dublin due to a 3 hour delay. We ended up taking Flybe to a different airport in England and renting a car and driving to Southampton. As it was we had to pay full fare on that flight as it was booked and departed in a half hour after we got to Dublin.

From NE USA, you would have SAS from Boston to Copenhagen (Maybe Norwegian aswell?), SAS, Norwegian, Delta, United (the latter two's Stockholm flights are only during the summer)

all have direct flights from N.Y. to Stockholm and Copenhagen. As mentioned there is also Icelandair and also low cost carrier WOW air. WOW air's "Stockholm airport" is Västerås

which is about 100km west of Stockholm and which would require a one hour bus transfer.

Also from Boston, you can do Air Canada. We found the cheapest flight with them this past summer. You do have a short flight to Toronto first....but then direct to Copenhagen.

The big plus to Air Canada - on the way home - you will go through US Customs in Toronto, not Boston. Last time I went through US Customs in Boston (coming home from Amsterdam) it took over 3 hours, as they had a number of international flights all land at once. It was a nightmare. Passing through in Toronto was much easier..... But give yourself a 2-hour connection, just in case. We had no problem.

We're booked in 2 weeks on SAS from IAD (Dulles; it's just outside of DC) to Copenhagen. We're taking the NCL Star out of there on a 14 day cruise. We bought the airfare a few months back at a very reasonable price. We waited on buying the cruise until it got down to a price we liked (we should have waited LONGER on the cruise...but that's another story...lol).

We booked the airfare ourselves on flysas.com with no difficulty and the price, as I said above, was quite good. In our experience the only times it makes any sense to book airfare through the cruise line itself is when the cruise starts and ends in two different ports; e.g. a repo crossing the Atlantic or going from Miami to LA. I'm sure you could accomplish this also using Kayak, Priceline or one of the other popular travel websites but that usually involves traveling via several different airlines, two or more plane changes, etc. Air travel is stressful enough w/o that!

My 2 cents.

Tom K.

We have booked a cruise for 2017 embarking on Stockholm and disembarking in Copenhagen. We are flying out of Boston. I found great rates through the Air2Sea program with RCI.

Be wary of Aer Lingus, their on time record is notoriously absymal. If you have a connection make sure you have scheduled enough time. Perhaps book an overnight in Dublin and continue the leg the following day.

 

 

 

We were flying to Southampton and missed the connection in Dublin due to a 3 hour delay. We ended up taking Flybe to a different airport in England and renting a car and driving to Southampton. As it was we had to pay full fare on that flight as it was booked and departed in a half hour after we got to Dublin.

Oh wow! Didn't know that! Thanks!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank-you for the tips. We too have booked a cruise out of Denmark in June 2017. We used Icelandair last year to London and theyvwere awesome. Nothing no frills abiut it. Unfortunately this year's rates are not as good for us but it is still early.

We did our own flight. The cruise line wanted $1000 per person and I found it $650 per person with Icelandair.

if you have the time, you may also consider adding on a city to your trip - just research which flights are cheapest/best from your home city to northern Europe, because once you are 'across the pond', intercity flights are very inexpensive.

We are also taking a cruise out of Copenhagen, but flying into Amsterdam 4 days prior. We will spend a couple of days in Amsterdam and then fly from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, which was only a $40 flight on our date.

You might spend the savings in the alternate city, but I would rather spend it in a place than on a plane!

From Chicago, we used SAS round trip, open jaw flying to Copenhagen and from Stockholm. Booked myself, which I always do. Means I have many choices as to airline, flight schedule, and time in the air.

SAS flew nonstop, which meant a relatively short flight of some 8 hours since they fly over the top of the globe.

Pricing? I pay more for the shortest flights and most convenient times. This means perhaps a couple hundred more for a better schedule.

Tips:

For cruise vacations, we always fly a day early or more. Never any excitement that way if flight delayed.

From Copenhagen, we took the train from the airport to central Copenhagen, which was quick, easy and inexpensive. From the central station, you can pick up a cab if you'd like.

From Stockholm, we stayed at the Radisson Blu which was next to the train/subway station. When leaving, we walked around the corner with our rolling luggage right on to the Arlanda Express high speed train to Stockholm's airport, which is about 25 miles from the center of town. This avoided the expensive cruise line transfers. Even if you take a taxi, you should be better off than buying cruise line transfers, which can run hundreds of dollars.

Norwegian has a small number of flights from North America to Copenhagen, London, Oslo, and Bergen. In Europe, they are a cheapie airline, but their overseas planes are very nice 767s.

I flew with them from LAX to Oslo last year for about 1/2 the price of going on SAS, Delta, United, etc. Comfortable seats with a nice entertainment console, purchased a meal which was also decent for airline food, and had good service from the crew, all of whom spoke excellent English. I would fly with them again without hesitation.

Norwegian has a small number of flights from North America to Copenhagen, London, Oslo, and Bergen. In Europe, they are a cheapie airline, but their overseas planes are very nice 767s.

 

I flew with them from LAX to Oslo last year for about 1/2 the price of going on SAS, Delta, United, etc. Comfortable seats with a nice entertainment console, purchased a meal which was also decent for airline food, and had good service from the crew, all of whom spoke excellent English. I would fly with them again without hesitation.

We flew Norwegian from London to Boston in June and also had a very good experience. I am planning to use them from Copenhagen to either JFK or LAX in May after my Baltic cruise. Fare is less than half than any other carrier I have checked.

I booked our flights 3 days ago from RCCL Air to Sea on Icelandic Air for $817.15 Economy for my husband & I. Since we live in So Calif, we will do a round trip from our home to Boston, then the 1 way Boston to Copenhagen since our TA returns us back to Boston. I am just waiting for the dates to open for our Boston flight. We plan to arrive 3 days before our cruise in Copenhagen next August