Booking Air with Carnival

[broadway13]

Has anyone booked there Air through Carnival Leaving Newark New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale. My question is was your trip non stop or with stops. And what airline.

 

Thank you for your help.

[jimbo5544]

Has anyone booked there Air through Carnival Leaving Newark New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale. My question is was your trip non stop or with stops. And what airline.

 

Thank you for your help.

There are many variables and people's past experience may not be an exact indicator of what you will experience. My guess would be that you would get non-stop, but there is no guarantee.

[Cape]

Of all the threads I have ever read on here about airfare - the consensus is the same - DON'T book your airfare with Carnival!

 

They charge more than you would be able to book on their own, they are notorius for tight schedules and it is a myth that they will hold the boat for you if there is a delay.

 

Book the flights you want the day before your cruise and use the money you saved by not paying Carnival's high flight prices on a hotel.

[stargate fan]

Has anyone booked there Air through Carnival Leaving Newark New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale. My question is was your trip non stop or with stops. And what airline.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

We booked air from BOS to MIA with Carnival for our very first cruise. We were at the mercy of the airline as to the time and # of stops. (It was an 0:dark hundred flight and we had one long layover.) We also found out after the fact that we paid much more for airfare than had we booked ourselves.

Four, soon to be five, cruises later, we always book our air with the airlines we choose. We also usually book non-stop flights when possible. And, since we live in New England, we fly to our port destination the night before. Mom Nature can be a booger to deal with.

That's our story and I'm sticking to it. :D

[CruiseLover824]

I would agree with the other posters....try to book your airfare on your own. Here are my reasons--and I have done it both ways:

 

1. We flew into FLL from Detroit. Our first flight that we were scheduled on got us there too close to the time the ship was leaving. This flight made us stop in Indianapolis. They switched it to a flight that arrived an hour earlier, and it was now a direct flight. Even though it was switched, we didn't get to the ship until almost 3pm, with a 4pm sail away. I felt extremely rushed!

 

2. The cost is considerably higher with Carnival. For our next cruise in April 2010, we booked directly through the airline and paid $330 plus tax into San Juan. Had we booked it with Carnival, they were charging $689 for the flight! If you book early enough, you should be able to get a much better deal!

 

I doubt that we will ever book with the Carnival Fly Aweigh program again! By booking our air on our own and almost a year ahead of our cruise we saved over $300!

[dustyroad]

on my first cruise we waited at the dock for over an hour while a few passengers who had booked their flight with carnival were rushed to the ship to make the cruise. the flights they had been given by carnival were horrible for layovers and they missed their final flight in too the port city untill a couple of hours later. what a mess, and they were all pretty frazeled and wore out when they boarded. no, i dont book my air with the cruise line. i go to the port city the day before the cruise too make sure i can enjoy the city and not miss the ship. but the main reason i wouldnt is because the price is wayyy to high, you have no controll of how much time your layovers are and it is just a few weeks ( so i have read ) before the cruise that you find out your itinerary and times of flight. i dont think you can choose your own seat either, but i may be wrong about that. no, i will keep being in controll of my flight and feel stressfree about my choices for my flight.

[robsvacation]

Book your own flights, there is absolutely no value in booking through Carnival. You'll pay more, have no choice on your flights, overpay to be herded on a bus, etc.

 

I did book through Carnival once out of Newark (it was many years ago) and I connected in Atlanta (Delta) but basically you can end up on any airline at random.

 

Other negatives: often by the time you get your tickets it's hard to get seats together, sometimes you get no points for your flight, upgrades are not possible even if you have status on the airline, etc, etc...

[mrmrsmystery]

I keep hearing these horror stories about booking air through Carnival.I guess weve been lucky so far.Maybee because of were we live in Canada. Booked through Carnival our last 3 cruises, we were flown in the day before,put up in a great Hotel and paid about $300-$600 less per person then what it would cost to book on our own.Was a great deal for us.:)

[law638]

Normally, I book all my flights myself but for my cruise in November, I am travelling w/ a group who booked thru a TA. So far the flights seem to be the same as I would book, only more expensive. It should be noted that we are flying down to FLL the day before. I could have booked cheaper flight though.

[nofishforme]

There are to many choices out of newark(and delays as well ) to fort laurderdale I would not use carnival air . i would fly out first thing in the morning or the night befor .With carnival air there could be a layover and if its Atlanta that could be an other nightmare

[Cruzman]

Flying rule #1; Never, never, never book air through the cruise line; ANY cruise line!

[JXR]

I keep hearing these horror stories about booking air through Carnival.I guess weve been lucky so far.Maybee because of were we live in Canada. Booked through Carnival our last 3 cruises, we were flown in the day before,put up in a great Hotel and paid about $300-$600 less per person then what it would cost to book on our own.Was a great deal for us.:)

 

 

Which airport are you flying out of, and where is the ship leaving from? I'm trying to find reasonable airfare on my own, but not having much luck. I live just 10 minutes from Moncton, so I would love to leave from there if at all possible.

 

Also, which hotel were you put into.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Joanne

[mrmrsmystery]

Hi JXR,we are flying out of Moncton( where we live ) to Ft Lauderdale on the Carnival Miracle in March.Did the same thing last year on the Freedom.We were met at the airport by a carnival rep and was shown were to get our ride to the hotel.Stayed at a Mariot hotel.Transportation to hotel,hotel to pier and back to airport was also included.Price this year with Taxes was about $730 US per person.Had a short layover in Montreal but got to Ft Lauderdale around 1 PM there time.Hope this helps.

[saltmom1]

Unless there are no flights with stops, you have to pay $50pp for nonstop. It's called a deviation fee. I did this on my first cruise. Knew better after that. We had a flight that kept changing departure times and ended up spending 11 hours in MCO.:mad: Now book flights independent of the cruise line with much better flight times.

[yogi2929]

Fourth sticky down on the CruiseAir board is all you need to know about how the cruiselines do air-

 

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

[astropilot]

Of all the threads I have ever read on here about airfare - the consensus is the same - DON'T book your airfare with Carnival!

 

They charge more than you would be able to book on their own, they are notorius for tight schedules and it is a myth that they will hold the boat for you if there is a delay.

 

Book the flights you want the day before your cruise and use the money you saved by not paying Carnival's high flight prices on a hotel.

 

Ditto. If you make your own reservations YOU can pick the flights and times that work for you. If you le CCL book it for you you are at their mercy as to when and who you fly with. :rolleyes:

[njmomof2]

Given that you are flying out of Newark, you can almost certainly do better on your own. You can choose Continental or Jetblue direct non stop and more than likely you'll get your choice of flights at better prices. And if something from Newark is not to your liking, you always have LaGuardia or JFK as back up options.

 

Is there a reason you are considering booking cruise air? Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed with booking air on your own? Anyone on the boards can give you help with flights, if you were to give us dates...and even though we don't get paid by the airlines any more, if you're using a TA, they will probably be willing to give you a hand finding appropriate flights.

[soozles]

I don't have any experience yet traveling with booking air through Carnival, but I can tell you that for the time we're looking to go, it was way more expensive to book the air ourselves. Granted, it's a pretty high season (damn that Christmas-New Years season). Our travel agent looked all over, since we live in NYC, and flying to Miami, you would think there would be plenty of choices, but they all cost a couple hundred more per person than booking through the cruise line. And going down a night early isn't really an option, because of work schedules.

[Ken076]

Has anyone booked there Air through Carnival Leaving Newark New Jersey to Fort Lauderdale. My question is was your trip non stop or with stops. And what airline.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Carnival has a bad rep for scheduling very tight connecting flights and very tight port arrivals. If you feel compelled to book with Carnival, pay the extra $50pp and choose your flights/schedule and even fly the day before.

 

Generally you can get better pricing and better scheduling by taking the time and scheduling your own airfare, or let a TA do it, separate from your Carnival booking.

 

ken

[JXR]

Hi JXR,we are flying out of Moncton( where we live ) to Ft Lauderdale on the Carnival Miracle in March.Did the same thing last year on the Freedom.We were met at the airport by a carnival rep and was shown were to get our ride to the hotel.Stayed at a Mariot hotel.Transportation to hotel,hotel to pier and back to airport was also included.Price this year with Taxes was about $730 US per person.Had a short layover in Montreal but got to Ft Lauderdale around 1 PM there time.Hope this helps.

 

Thanks so much for the info. I can't do Carnival Air to Orlando out of Moncton, and really don't feel like driving to Halifax. I'm 15 minutes from the airport. (Shediac area)

 

Have a great trip !!

 

Joanne

[nofishforme]

if you live in the city try white plains airport air tran has a non stop out of there

[laurie -canadian]

We had Carnival book our flights for a trip at Easter , as we could not get our own flights due to the pre booked flights at that time of year. We barely made the ship , no photos etc that how close we were to missing the ship. Problem is, if you live within a 4 hour flight they booked you for same day . We were travelling Calgary to San Diego. Carnival uses United which required a transfer at San Francisco, plus United always overbooks.The flight from Calgary, we start out as standbys!!!! Way too much stress for me.

 

Any way travelling from Calgary to a California port , book your own flights the day before.