Airfare with NCL

[Duncan28]

Is there an advantage or disadvantage to booking your airfare with NCL? We are looking to fly to Miami for a cruise.

 

Thanks!

[Sauer-kraut]

Booking your own airfare for domestic flights might be more advantageous. You can fly in earlier by a day or two and fly out later. With NCL flights you don't know when you'll be flying and what kind of layovers you might get. They will book you late enough in the afternoon that it won't be a problem getting to the airport but you might be stuck there for several hours. You might be able to find cheaper flights on your own as well.

 

The only advantage is if they are including all ground transport in their fee.

 

If you were flying internationally it would be a different story, because their fare for flying and ground transport was actually cheaper than I could have done it and had no hassles trying to get from the airport to the bus terminal in the city.

 

You have to weigh the pros and cons and do a bit of your own homework in pricing flights and hotel and see which one is better for you.

 

Good luck. :)

[Duncan28]

Thanks. I didn't realize that you might get layovers with NCL. I'd rather fly non-stop. I'll have to take that into consideration.

[lyndseyscaife]

we booked out own flights to meet the ship in barcelona. we saved over £700 on what ncl wanted to charge us

[chrispb]

We've always found it cheaper to book cruise and flights separately, the savings are significant, at least they are for us Brits.

[scapino]

Is there an advantage or disadvantage to booking your airfare with NCL? We are looking to fly to Miami for a cruise.

 

Thanks!

 

The cruise lines air add-ons are a rip off. They charge MUCH, MUCH more than you can find on your own. And you can also control the flights/times that are best for you.

[wg6530]

Book your own. If at all possible fly in a day before. remember you can use other south Florida airports, just allow extra ground transportation time. we often fly into FLL as we get nonstop , better prices, and like the airport better than MIA.

 

I might be tempted to let the ailine handle the arrangement is some very exotic international location, but not US, Canada or UK.

[Zimomiller]

Never ever never book air fare through NCL. (or just about any other mass market line)

 

1) You will pay more. Usually dramatically more.

2) You will be given inconvenient flights (think connections and odd times) and there is no guarantee your party will be ON THE SAME FLIGHT let alone will be seated together. You will not have a say in this.

3) You will be given middle seats and seats that no one else wants. Guaranteed. (Think by the bathroom, in front of exit rows with no recline etc)

4) Do not believe for a second that the cruise will wait for you if your flight is late. The cruise line will do as little as possible to help.

5) God help you if your flight is cancelled. You most likely will be part of a group reservation that paid bottom dollar for the seats.(Guess who will helped last?)

 

Once you have booked a cruise, start studying the airline routes to and from your destination. Figure out the flights that work for you and track them with an air fare tracker and be ready to pounce when you find a price that works.

 

Plan to arrive a day before your cruise. Boarding the ship is so much more enjoyable after a relaxing night of sleep vs at the end of a tedious and often frustrating travel day.

[DMH15]

Zino- perhaps your points are true some of the times, but not all. I let NCL book my flights with my SA cruise, it was cheaper, non stop from Dallas and I had an aisle seat up front. I could not go in a day early due to job. Similarly, my TA flight home from Athens did have a connection in NYC and it was painless... Again an aisle seat. I agree domestic I usually book myself, but on one cruise the hotel, air and transfer was a great deal. On a few other cruises it was better to do my own. I agree, you give up control if you take cruiseair. And never have misconception it helps if your flight is delayed if you miss sailaway. However, on my Santiago flight last year the plane was 90% full of NCL and X cruisers!

[bigfoot88]

When I booked my 12 June 2011 cruise on the Epic out of Barcelona I had NCL quote the airfare, I booked the cruise a year out.

 

I figured that once I booked the prices were looked in. I started to look on the web for prices and itinerary. NCL told me they flight you out so you arrive the day the cruise leaves, I didn’t like that.

 

I found flights that get be to Barcelona at 10 PM the day before. I booked a hotel on my own, and will have the next day to site see. I saved over $400 pre ticket and I got the flights I wanted.

[luv2cruise1958]

I agreee with the majority of the posters.... ALWAYS BOOK YOUR OWN FLIGHT.... and arrive at least 1-day early.

[4774Papa]

Is there an advantage or disadvantage to booking your airfare with NCL? We are looking to fly to Miami for a cruise.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Generally, it is better to book on your own, but I think if you are doing a repositioning cruise, or a transatlantic, a one way flight may be cheaper with NCL.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Twice I had NCL book flights for me. One was Boston to Honolulu. We had a change in Chicago, then straight into Honolulu. We had them book the flight 1 day ahead of the cruise, and the return was for the day after.

 

We did pre & post cruise hotel.

 

The second time NCL booked for me was Boston to L.A. I asked for a non stop with an aisle seat and got my wish.

 

Because of my work schedual, I could not fly out early. The ship sailed at 4pm, and I was there in plenty of time.

 

One time when Carnival booked our flights, the flight to Miami was cancelled at the last minute. Calls were made, and we were on another flight soon after. We arrived at the pier on time.

 

Never had trouble with cruise air.

 

Barb

[Sauer-kraut]

I would just like to mention that once you get your booking code for the airline you can go to their website and choose your own seats, just like if you booked yourself. At least I know that United and American let us do it, so there are options for seating. It isn't neccessarily the luck of the draw, nor that you will be separated when travelling in a group. Because we were 3 people on the booking of course we had an aisle between us as I chose the 2 seat configuration and the seat across in the same row.

[Budget Queen]

There are some assumptions here that aren't factual. It is simple to book Florida flights on your own. Plenty of flights, plenty of airlines, several airports to go into. You most likely will be better off booking this yourself. There is NO advantage, despite mentioned about about the "transfer". In Florida- it is a simple matter of a cab, car rental, or shuttle service.

 

As for Europe, there can be significant savings, depending how you book and how knowledgable you are about flight options, routings, and transfers. As an example, I was on the same Dover sailing as Sauer-kraut and my London transfer, was $20 for two, via the well run National Bus. FAR cheaper than the cruise transfer.

 

Cruise hotels, are just about ALWAYS, significantly more, than just booking direct. They use a per person rate and include transfers. These are good choices for those who don't want to make any arrangements on their own.