Transatlantic Crossing - Air Package?

[ninefishes]

We want to take the Disney Transatlantic crossing. But not sure how to book the airtickets. We are in Canada. Is it better to book through Disney's air package? Do they allow to stay a few days in the port city before and after the cruise? Thanks in advance!

[MiddleEarth]

We want to take the Disney Transatlantic crossing. But not sure how to book the airtickets. We are in Canada. Is it better to book through Disney's air package? Do they allow to stay a few days in the port city before and after the cruise? Thanks in advance!

 

It may indeed be less costly to book your air through Disney (or the relevant cruise line) but you you should check on air fares all the same and investigate which may be cheaper. As far as extra days in advance (or after) a cruise may only be available if you buy the extra days' hotel accommodations as well. We did so for a sailing from Rome and our one extra day in a Crowne Plaza hotel was on the order of $500 per night - far more expensive than the cruise per day cost! I think the cruise lines still would like to get some mark-up on air packages.

 

For our last Transatlantic, we spent an extra 2 days in Barcelona, booked our own flight and hotel and still saved over the air package offered by the cruise line.

 

You might want to try a website called for ITA Software (Click here for Link) to check prices and fares. From that site, click on search airfares with QPX.

 

You can't buy your tickets directly from this site but it is great in that it will show you just about every possible combination on almost every airline (including all taxes and fees in Canadian $ if you use a canadian airport code in the sales city field) and all the appropriate fare codes you can provide to your travel agent.

 

A very cool aspect of this tool is that it will also indicate "codeshares". Sometimes, buying a ticket from Lufthansa is cheaper than Air Canada even though the flight is actually on an Air Canada plane!

 

Another hint... Don't overlook flights a day earlier or later.

[Ginamarie]

We want to take the Disney Transatlantic crossing. But not sure how to book the airtickets. We are in Canada. Is it better to book through Disney's air package? Do they allow to stay a few days in the port city before and after the cruise? Thanks in advance!

 

 

We're doing the Transatlantic in three week :D

 

I found the cheapest airfare deals on Aer Lingus. You can search easily through any of the airfare search engines.

[calmpets]

We want to take the Disney Transatlantic crossing. But not sure how to book the airtickets. We are in Canada. Is it better to book through Disney's air package? Do they allow to stay a few days in the port city before and after the cruise? Thanks in advance!

 

DCL airfare usually costs a bit more, for the convenience of not having to handle it yourself. If you want to stay a few extra days and had air through DCL you would need to pay a $75pp deviation fee, along with any increase in the listed airfare. That being the case, it will be notably cheaper to book air on your own. One thing to bear in mind is that insurance through DCL will only cover the portions booked through DCL, so if you want your air and hotel covered you'll need to do the insurance independently as well. Not a big deal to do, but worth pointing out.

[ninefishes]

Thank you for all the great ideas. I have checked a few website, eg Expedia, but the airfare for one way ticket is terribly expensive. I'll try the websites recommended in your replies. To be honest, I'm still wondering if there's anything for adults to do on a Disney Cruise....:confused:

[val888]

We're booked on this cruise and I purchased air separately from disney. At the time(4 weeks ago), Disney was offering airfare from Toronto for $900+taxes. I managed to book airfare for $700/pp including taxes on all one way flight. I think the trouble is finding reasonable on way fares from Barcelona. What I managed to do was book a one way from BCN-LHR (london) for $98CAD. I find London has the cheapest one way coming back to Toronto. Not sure where your from. But air transat has really good one way deals but it's chartered so it might not fit your schedule. We ended purchasing from Air India for $400/pp. And theticket from Toronto to Orlando is $198CAD/pp on Westjet. It's alot a money for a family of 4, and luckily there are child fares in Europe. Hope this helps.

[ninefishes]

Thanks, Val888. We are in Vancouver. I am almost sure we'll book the September 2010 westbound cruise. From vancovuer to barcelona seems fine, I think Ait Transat really has a good deal. The pain is coming back from Orlando to Vancouver. I used the ITA software recommended by MiddleEarth, and it gives quite a few good choices, and also the cheapest I can find so far. By the way, did you book your cruise part directly from Disney website?

[val888]

I think if you book via the Disney website, you get $25 on board credit. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I ended up using a TA and got a $125 on board credit which I was really excited about. I bought the cruise for a total of $2600US for 2 adults and 2 child on the EB transatlantic and we got an upgrade to Cat 8 oceanview. Very excited. Not sure if I could list the TA. But you can PM me.

Regarding airfare, unless you find an awesome deal, you can keep checking the prices. I find at the 2-3 month mark, if the planes aren't filled, the airfare will come down. But don't wait too long. I would hold out up until 3 weeks before departure, then the prices start ballooning.