Air/Cruise Package

[lovacruz]

When you book with the ship your air you do not know what air line or time you leave. Has anyone gone from Newark to Miami. Was just curious what air line and time they booked you on.

[cmh]

When you book with the ship your air you do not know what air line or time you leave. Has anyone gone from Newark to Miami. Was just curious what air line and time they booked you on.

 

I have done this many times, but always sailing from San Francisco to Miami. You never know your flight information until the edocs are ready to be printed. They usually put us on the first flight out of San Francisco.

[JokerABC]

so who actually uses the cruise airfare if they are not going to tell you the flights until the last minute? i guess this is only for people who have tons of vacation time or retired.

[garycarla]

so who actually uses the cruise airfare if they are not going to tell you the flights until the last minute? i guess this is only for people who have tons of vacation time or retired.

 

Not true. You already know what DATE you are flying, so the time is not an issue until it is time to go. Nothing to do with number of vacation days at all. Not sure why that comment?

 

Meanwhile, I prefer to book my own flights and be in control. And of course, like many people, I would not fly in the same day due to various delays, flight cancellations, etc.

 

Nor would I ever use the cruiseline shuttle/transfer. Cabs are cheaper and less expensive.

 

As to the OP - which airline? Depends on who they can get a deal with at the time.

[Chuck2810]

Not true. You already know what DATE you are flying, so the time is not an issue until it is time to go. Nothing to do with number of vacation days at all. Not sure why that comment?

 

Meanwhile, I prefer to book my own flights and be in control. And of course, like many people, I would not fly in the same day due to various delays, flight cancellations, etc.

 

Nor would I ever use the cruiseline shuttle/transfer. Cabs are cheaper and less expensive.

 

As to the OP - which airline? Depends on who they can get a deal with at the time.

 

I agree - booking your own gives you much more flexibility, and I have yet to see a price break on the NCL airfare - even the '$99' sale is not much different from booking your own. As for vacation days, for many of us, every hour counts. Getting a 7 day window of not being bothered means working like a dog right up to departure time. It's the curse of success...

 

When I finally am in my cabin, with luggage (see review of 2009 Sky), and a cold beverage - then I am officially On Vacation... (Still love to hear that)...

[Sauer-kraut]

I agree with the poster who said you already know your date of departure. For a European sailing figure that you'll leave a day early as your flight will arrive on the day of embarkation. Why would you need to take MORE vacation time? If you book your own you might need more time as you might want to fly into the port city a day or two earlier or depart later. The cruiseline will not bring you in early as they are not going to pay for a hotel for you. Not much pre-planning involved.

 

I would suggest that you look into what if offrered when using the cruiseline for air package. I did just that for our Oct cruise from Dover to Orlando. It worked out a bit cheaper going through NCL as I didn't have to figure in the cost of ground transportation to get me from London to Dover as well as back to Orlando from Port Canaveral. For me it was worth it to have NCL worry about getting the bus to the port rather than dragging luggage and 2 non-travellers around Heathrow trying to catch the bus to Victoria Station and then getting on the correct train. :D

[garycarla]

I will add there are a few times when the transfers might make sense, like London to Southampton, or Orlando as the ships are nowhere near the airport.

 

In most cities - Miami, Barcelona, Seattle, New York, etc, cabs work great.

 

And as noted, the cruiselines are okay with flying you in the day of the cruise and taking the chance you will make it okay. That does show that in most cases, it does work out. But, we still prefer to fly the day before, especially if a long ways away, or if first port day is days after the initial sailing. Some think that by taking cruise air, they are sure to arrive on time or the cruiseline will take care of them. Sure, they will. But, they can never, ever give you back that first day or two of cruising once it is gone.

[Freckles_51]

When you book with the ship your air you do not know what air line or time you leave. Has anyone gone from Newark to Miami. Was just curious what air line and time they booked you on.

 

Regardless of what others were booked on, airline and time for your booking could differ.....

 

We had a Group (13 people) booked cruise/air from T.O. to MIA, some were put on a 6:30am AA flight and some were on a 9:30am AC flight. The following year we were put on a 10:30am AC flight for the same cruise as the previous year....that time we arrived at Miami cruise port at 2pm for 4pm sailaway :eek:. Never again!

 

Having said that I believe you can tell the cruise line which flight you want and they will book that for an extra cost, I think it's called "air deviation", or something like that :o.