How soon did you book land/air after booking cruise?

[maygoddess]

Hey all! For those that have travelled on the TP and booked their cruise, say more than 6 months out, how soon after booking the cruise did you book your land/air part of the trip if you did NOTdo this thru Princess?

 

I am using an online TA who has been slow to get back to me about the land/air part of our trip..but I booked in January for September cruise. Should I be worried that they are slow..they may just be busy with current bookings and not too worried because I am so far out. I am just wondering what is the norm for getting everything settled. Perhaps waiting closer to the tripwill mean we get better deals? I don't know.

 

We plan on flying in a day or two before the cruise and stay a day or two after..so I am wanting her to research various options..just don't know if I should be pushing harder now or wait another month or two since we are still over 6 months out?

 

What do you all think? This is our very 1st cruise..so I don't know how this works!

[rberne1]

Hi!

I booked last Sept. for this coming May. After waiting for the Princess pre/post cruise hotel options to be "open" for booking, I decided to go about it all myself. I believe they became available in November. I did, however, book my air thru Princess, paying a deviation fee for our post-cruise stay. I also booked the hotel myself, online, directly with the hotel. Again, that was in November.

 

Since your going in Sept., you might want to check the Princess air rates. Because Sept. is still a *dryer* month to visit, you probably won't find many great airfare rates yourself. Example, Jan. & Feb. aren't the best times to visit FP (rainy season) so Air Tahiti Nui was "giving" away airfare for under $400 pp. Staying pre/post cruise is an excellent idea. It will probably save you some money if you went with Princess air, paid the deviation fee if need be, and book your hotel yourself online. Example, Tahiti Beachcomber has their own online booking and I found their rates the best - so I did it myself.

 

Hope this was helpful. I've *been there, done that* so ask away. This will be our second trip on the TP in May. (can't wait.) :D

[Toto2Kansas]

Is your current TA looking to book air and land independently for you or going through Princess? I do know that Princess often has a weight list for flights as they fill up quickly. If you are booking apart from Princess, then your guess is as good as any about when the best time for price breaks are. Sometimes they are best booked well in advance unless you can find one of their 'deals' on ATN, which are great but most times do not jive with the cruise dates of the TP.

 

Hope you find a great deal out there.

[laurieb]

we booked our January 05 cruise in Feb. 04, and booked our air as soon as I found a good price. I think I bought our tickets LAX to PPT in June, and our pension on Moorea June or July. you can find some excellent prices if you check around on the interenet regularly. we booked with travelocity for our ATN flights, and directly with the pension and resort we stayed at.