styme123

You gave such a great review that I just booked tickets for the same tour as you did post-cruise with International Friends, Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the Thames river cruise! We have unfortunately only had one free day in London before flying back home or else we would have copied you some more lol. You should be getting a kick back commission from all the companies that are getting bookings because of your great review🤣 

2 hours ago, ROWSE said:

Thank you for the compliment and reading along!  Enjoy your August trip!!!  

Now I'm thinking about doing land tour there next summer, just to see all those wonderful sites 😁

What a great review!!! I love all the pictures! It really makes it come to life. Were' booked for mid August on same trip. I wish we could stay longer pre/post cruise but we only have a day or so on each end. So many interesting and wonderful places to see. Thank you for taking the time to post it all for us to enjoy.

When I was researching it others mentioned that they alternate different directions at different ports so it doesn't matter too much which side your on as they aren't consistent.

Wow! I was thinking of rebooking my British Isles cruise for Aug 22 maybe I should even shoot for Aug 23 instead?

I have received all my refunds from the companies I used. The only refund left is from Princess itself for my deposit.

On 1/13/2020 at 11:46 PM, styme123 said:

Thank you for your response. I decided to book my tickets today through the airlines directly. I guess I'll see how it all plays out in the end. 

The price of my ticket dropped by close to $300 pp yesterday. I guess I got the answer to my original question. Yes, the prices do drop again after they have been going up and up.

10 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Yes.  Airline prices fluctuate constantly, largely in response to supply and demand.  You may see general trends, but it will always vary.  Airlines use complicated algorithms to determine when and how often to release, or not release, seats in various fare buckets, and how many to release when they do.  You will never outguess an airline algorithm so don't try.  You may get lucky but it's just that- luck.  Anything in the $400-500 range like you saw earlier is fantastic for a transatlantic flight in the the summer, and even the $700 range is pretty darn good, so personally I wouldn't hesitate at this point.   They could go lower again, but they could also go higher.

My standard answer to "should I buy now" is this:

If you are thinking of waiting for prices to drop lower than they are today, ask yourself this:  Are you willing and able to pay a higher price if you wait and the price goes up instead of down?   If you answer yes, then you can gamble if you want to, cross your fingers and wait.  If you answer no, then buy now, assuming of course that you are willing and able to pay the current price.  If you aren't willing and able to pay even the current price, then you have no choice but to wait and hope prices drop, just understand that if they don't, you will have to cancel your entire trip, so be sure to make a decision before the deadline for canceling the cruise itself.

Thank you for your response. I decided to book my tickets today through the airlines directly. I guess I'll see how it all plays out in the end. 

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

For goodness sake - its 7 hours in a plane! You've already lost the chance to get a good price, because you thought it was too expensive! 

What exactly are you wanting - a private jet for $200 !

I think you missed what I meant in my OP, I have a cheap rate already on hold through EZAir, but was curious if airline prices change the way cruise prices do. I guess I shouldn't bother watching the rates, I'll just go with your jet suggestion. You don't have to reply to the question if your going to be nasty or snide.

1 hour ago, Love-to-ride said:

Just looked at Norwegian air for your dates, round trip in economy  with a carry on one check bag and seat assignment for 540.40 per person non-stop. 

I saw that too but their reviews on TA for the most part were not good.

11 minutes ago, Alaskanb said:

I think your big question is can you trust EZ Air. 

Yeah, I have heard positives and negatives about using EZAir. The negatives about rerouting planes with long stop overs or worse missing your cruise all together have me thinking, I don't know if I should take a chance or not. Again, I don't know if those other people's negative experiences would have been the same if they didn't go through Princess. 

43 minutes ago, 6rugrats said:

Look at British Airways.  I don’t know your dates or criteria, but you can get RT in Basic Economy for as low as $524.00 RT.  Make sure you understand the restrictions of these tickets.

my DD and I are going to the UK this spring on BA and paid $325 per ticket.  We did pay a small fee to choose seats, but can manage just fine with carry ons only.

I looked at BA but for me to be able to pick my seat it costs me +$124  for the seat and then I would have to upgrade from the lowest basic I think that was another $  to even have that option. My dates were Aug 6/Aug 22 from JFK- NY to London. I can do carry-on as well

2 hours ago, Alaskanb said:

When you purchase an airline ticket all you are buying is the ability to get from A to B. Times can change; routes can change; type of plane can change; seats can change; etc. It is important to be quite flexible in your outlook. EZ Air is an intermediary between you and the airline so when the airline changes something then they do also. Remember you are flying in high season. 

There is no magical way to predict air price fluctuations. 

 

 

Have you ever used EZAir? if so how did it go?

3 hours ago, dd likes to cruise said:

The 2 months ahead type of thing is more prevalent with domestic flights. With international, there are no sort of rules.  I have flown Norwegian twice and was happy with the flight and prices both times.

 

Have you relooked at Princess prices?  I have a cruise in August and when I first booked their flights were 1000.00 a person. A few weeks ago, they were 500. I changed them. So keep an eye on that too.  

I've been checking Princess prices pretty often and they have been going up just like the airlines. I could stick with the EZAir but have heard some not so great things about that as well as they often re-route your non-stop to stop overs at the last minute.

9 minutes ago, wowzz said:

They are safe enough at the moment, imho.

What do you think by the summer?

4 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

B) Given that pricing has increased 50%, are you expecting them to return to the lower pricing?  What rationally leads you to that expectation?

C) Are you willing to risk that the pricing will increase even further by your waiting?  In the hope of finding a price drop of X dollars, are you willing to risk an increase of X (or multiple X)?

Being a new flyer I guess that's what I'm asking others with more experience. Do the prices of the rates go up and down the same way the cruise ones do? In the past I've followed cruise prices pretty well and have a pretty good idea about what time of year things are "on sale". I haven't had that much history of using airlines and tracking prices so I don't have a good handle so to speak on that industry and how it works. In a few articles/recommendations that I have come across, others have mentioned that prices do go up and down (like a bell curve) so I guess that's where my thinking was that maybe this is the higher prices and i should wait it out for the "sale season" as it gets closer to my sale date like 2 months before so to speak. I know that if it's very close to the date then prices are very high.    

5 hours ago, dd likes to cruise said:

What is the fare with Princess?  That MIGHT give us a better idea. Not sure what unknown fees you think it will have also. 

The EZAir was about $390pp on BA basic economy ticket. The extra fees come to about $180/200 since I would need to upgrade to the next level of economy just thave the option to pick my seat and then to pick my seat it would cost me another $124pp so your really looking at a price of about $600. That price is with a $200 discount on the EZAir. So if I want to re-fare later, if I see a better cruise price I can't if I want to use the promo.

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

 

To get back to the original question, have you looked at prices with Norwegian?

I looked at Norwegian but others had mentioned that they were not a great option since they have been having money trouble I believe.

5 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Nobody here is going to be able to tell you what the airfares will do. Not sure why you didn't buy at $450-500...thats pretty darn good. 

 

Common advice here...buy when you are comfortable, and don't look back.

When I first booked the cruise, I was basically only looking at the comparisons between EZ Air and direct ticket prices. Being a new flyer out of the US I had no idea what prices were good or not so I just kept watching them. Some other sites/people had mentioned they don't buy till much closer to when they fly for best prices, like 2 months out.     

10 hours ago, Twickenham said:

What are your exact dates? Is there a reason you're limiting yourself to VA/Delta?

 

The prices you were seeing are pretty cheap for summer travel to Europe. That said, I've been seeing some insanely low fares between London and New York, so you could possibly find something lower by tweaking your dates or looking at other flight options.

My exact dates of flying are fly out Aug 6 (later evening flight, as my DH and I need to work part of that day) and RT Aug 22 evening flight so we have a little time after cruise to sight see. The cruise is Aug 8-20. So no real wiggle room with dates. I was looking at prices for main cabin/economy classic. Whichever one is a step above the basic no frills economy, so we can pick our seats in advance. I started limiting myself to Delta/VA from just reviews, opinions of other friends and family that fly. They also have a lot of flights with the 2-3-2 configuration so I don't have to pay extra for not having someone next to me. BA charges $84 for those seats in the back of their planes each way pp so it adds up. I wanted non-stop as well, less off/on and moving parts so to speak. I'm bit anxious flying and since I've only flown 2x in my life the terminals are a bit daunting knowing where to go and what to do.   

I'm a newbie traveler and I've been obsessing over the price of booking my plane fare for my up coming BI cruise this Aug. I've been watching non-stop VA and Delta flights from JFK to either HLR or Gatwick. In the beginning the flights were around $450/500ish but now they are $730ish. Did I miss my window to buy tickets for cheaper? Should I just buy them now and cut my losses before they go higher? Do I just wait a month or so out and hope as it gets closer it will drop? Since it's traveling in the summer, am I unrealistic about how cheap they will be? I do also have back up EZAir through Princess for pretty cheap but that doesn't include unknown fee prices. TIA for any feed back or suggestions you may have.

13 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

A matter of opinion, but IMHO in your circumstances Heathrow is marginally better.

A little quicker & cheaper from Southampton, and (encumbered with only hand luggage) cheaper into central London by tube.

And with the option of the Int Friends' tour/transfers from or to the airport - you can put off that decision until after you've booked air..

But to repeat, the differences are marginal - and airfares to Gatwick are usually cheaper.

 

JB 

Thank you for your feedback. 😊

1 hour ago, John Bull said:

But the pros & cons of the two airports are quite trivial - best to choose by airfare, most convenient departure airport, preferred airline and preferred flight timings. And you'll end up at whichever airport that means.

Good point. Flight times and price are similar so that's why I was thinking to ask if one was better than the other.

6 hours ago, Bob++ said:

Choose a hotel near the cruise port like the Holiday Inn or the Grand Harbour, which are a 20 minute walk to the station and close to the dock gate. 

 

https://goo.gl/maps/UNpfHwKTiLx76WWi9

 

Edit - You don't have to walk all the way round the loop as shown on the map - you can cut through a car park and cross West Quay Rd at the traffic lights.

 

Thank you for your reply😊

5 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Aha, that makes a big difference 

Post-cruise use the Int Friends tour/transfer from ship to Salisbury (only a brief stop, at the cathedral), Stonehenge (about 90 minutes), Windsor (up to 2 hours) to central London hotel. IMHO it achieves a lot and is good value.

Buy your admissions to Stonehenge with your tour/transfer tickets (same advantage as the Stonehenge ho-ho, no delay in admission)

You then have what's left of that evening plus the full day & evening on friday in London, mebbe even a big chunk of the saturday if you take the evening flight (hotel will hold your bags for you after check-out).

 

It also frees-up your pre-cruise time - you could either lodge at LHR & take the tube into London for a quick recce, or stay at a hotel in London Victoria and take the Nat Express coach to Southampton from there.

Or (my advice) skip London pre-cruise & take the Nat Express coach from LHR to Southampton & spend the rest of the day there. Any hotel on the map linked on my last post is fine for the coach & rail stations, the city centre, the old-town sights, & the cruise terminals.  Some are walkable, and anywhere on that map  to anywhere else on that map is less than a £10 taxi ride.

 

Finally there's still the option of taking the Int Friends Stonehenge-only tour/transfer to join the ship on the Saturday from LHR or central London. Not such good value & you miss Salisbury & Windsor, but it means that post-cruise you could go straight from ship to central London (Nat Express at £5+ pp or train at £44 pp or private transfer about £120 the car or even ship's over-priced transfer) giving you that extra half-day or more in London.

 

Various options.

Even more if you skipped Stonehenge.

All have their pros & cons.

So brew a big pot of coffee, sharpen a pencil, open up a huge spreadsheet and a box of headache pills and figure which is best for you.

And don't open the whiskey until after you've decided. 

 

BTW hand-luggage only won't make a big difference except much easier for using the tube from LHR into London.

Unlikely to save you time at the airport - luggage is usually on the carousel by the time you've cleared immigration.

 

JB 

 

 

What do you think about flying out of Gatwick vs LHR and doing the different options? Is LHR more centrally located for getting in and out of London than Gatwick? Some said the Gatwick airport was less busy so not as much time in lines etc.