For cruises originating in one port but ending in another....

[sazzinfredericton]

I live in Eastern Canada and am interested in the Pacific Jewel Cruise out of Sydney ending in Singapore or the South Pacific originating in Sydney and ending in Honolulu (not sure if I can handle 4 days at sea for this one). Will have a better idea after my first cruise (two days at sea).

A bit of a challenge coming from Canada:

 

.one of them being where to begin and end the cruise in order to take advantage ($$$ wise) of a round trip flight and where (whether Eastern Canada or USA) would be the best fares for point of departure? Not sure whether this is remotely doable.

 

. or does Celebrity have discounted (flight) fares ie Choice for this particular cruise package ?

 

Thank you.

[Calgary North]

Regardless of the trip chosen, you'll have long, long flights, so ...

 

I suggest you try the Choice Air website and look at fares using potential cruise dates for either voyage.

 

For a different itinerary, I find that looking for two one-way fares (one each direction) work out more cheaply than a combined ticket.

 

Sea days are not to be feared but celebrated!

 

Regards

[CathyCruises]

We almost always fly out of a different airport than our original arrival one--although I have heard horror stories about 'open jaw' tickets, we have always had good luck. Last month we flew in to Venice and out of Paris--$1800 for the two of us, which I thought was a great deal.

 

I would go to various online sites like Kayak, bt-store, etc. and put in the dates and see how you do--then check Choice Air through the X website. It makes sense to check the prices before you commit to the cruise part! You can try different combinations and see what's better. Also some carriers do not use the consolidator sites so you have to check them individually--Southwest for instance, not that they fly your route!

[Denny01]

Many assume that a roundtrip is cheaper than different arr/depart flights but I've not seen that happen a lot. We've done a number of repositioning (TransAtlantic and West Coast wine cruises fm Canada to Calif) and one-way (Panama Canal and S America) cruises and the tickets are about the same as roundtrips to the departure ports. I check most of the time to just see if a one-way cruise is costing us more. Heck, we've done a few one-way flights on TAs and it's not bad.

 

The cost in flights can go up due to high vacation times going to Europe and so on so we try to go on less popular months. Your flts to Asia could be pricy more due to just the long flts and not due to varying the arr/departs. That's pretty common for Euro and Asian trips.

 

Agree. - compare the discount sites with Celebrity Choice Air. Dont know if leaving from a Canadian city is cheaper than going to the US (along with the expense and time getting to that 'cheaper' departure city). And don't cut yourself too close to your sail day on such a long Flt to a departure port. Enjoy!

 

Den

[sazzinfredericton]

Thank you for the feedback....was hoping for a seamless quick fix...but I don't mind doing the work....so will research my options.....guess that is part of the fun!

 

Much appreciated.

[Killington]

I don't know much about cruising yet (first cruise booked for Feb 2013) but as DH is retired airline staff I do know something about airline pricing. As already advised the more research looking at discount sites the better the chance of finding a bargain, but don't neglect the individual airline sites. Many airlines price by leg now which is why open jaw can be more or less equal to return, but also many discount returns versus 2 x 1 way so look at return to/from the nearer point plus a single for the extra leg. Personally my inclination would be to fly out to Sydney making the return home after disembarking as straightforward as possible.

[Hapytocruise]

Air Canada allows you to book departure to one location and return from another. We did a trans-atlantic from Fort Lauderdale to London England in the Spring then in the Fall did a trans-atlantic from Rome to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Getting to and from Fort Lauderdale we fly out of Buffalo....however to get back and forth from europe we fly from/to Toronto.

 

The europe flight details were from London to Toronto in the Spring then from Toronto to Rome in the Fall. That was all under one return ticket and far less money than two separate one-way flights.

[sazzinfredericton]

Thank you CC posters for making me aware of:

 

. open jaw...never heard of this term before....:)

 

. always thought round trip tickets were the way to go

 

It will take a bit more thought and planning but your feedback has been tremendously helpful.

[Denny01]

OP

 

Thanks for coming back and thanking the posters - always nice to get feedback and a thanks for taking the time to help each other. Even us 'oldhands' get good info and help.

 

Enjoy your cruise

 

Den

[CaroleLee]

I live in Eastern Canada and am interested in the Pacific Jewel Cruise out of Sydney ending in Singapore or the South Pacific originating in Sydney and ending in Honolulu (not sure if I can handle 4 days at sea for this one). Will have a better idea after my first cruise (two days at sea).

A bit of a challenge coming from Canada:

 

.one of them being where to begin and end the cruise in order to take advantage ($$$ wise) of a round trip flight and where (whether Eastern Canada or USA) would be the best fares for point of departure? Not sure whether this is remotely doable.

 

. or does Celebrity have discounted (flight) fares ie Choice for this particular cruise package ?

 

Thank you.

Have family in Montreal & Toronto. They usually drive to Buffalo,New York & fly from there. They state that the fares are less expensive than from Canada.( I know it would be very difficult to drive from NB to Buffalo :) ) I would start checking airfares (Air Canada etc) to get a rough idea of the cost of flights. If you have a travel agent get them started on this part of the trip-often TAs have "deals" As for the 4 sea days. Sea days are usually the most relaxing mellow part of a cruise. Suggest you weigh this against the airport chaos that is present in every airport and the additonal flight time.

Let us know how it works out.

Carole

[sazzinfredericton]

Yes I am definitely going to check out prices out of Bangor or Portland ME for a comparison.

 

I will be on X in January so I will be checking what X offers in terms of flights and perks regarding cruises I am interested in. I may just book the cruise and do the research on flights later.

 

RE sea days

 

I am afraid I may be bored. I can only sit and soak rays for couple of hours, I get very restless. I am not a gambler so rules that out....but I am checking out what is available activity wise so I will know what to sign up for....gym is not my favourite thing to do on vacation :).

[billie5]

I find that looking for two one-way fares (one each direction) work out more cheaply than a combined ticket.

 

Interesting. I almost always do better with open jaw itineraries than with two one way fares. Perhaps the difference is flying out of the U.S. rather than Canada.

[sazzinfredericton]

Interesting. I almost always do better with open jaw itineraries than with two one way fares. Perhaps the difference is flying out of the U.S. rather than Canada.

 

 

I had never heard the term before....and I am a seasoned traveller. So you may have a point we may not have this as an option in Canada.

 

But I definitely will look into "open jaw" from Bangor or Portland and compare it to two one ways....

 

Thank you for the added info.

[Breezey]

Since Air Canada does one way fares all the time, agree with previous posters, do research on one way fares. We are leaving on the Australian/NZ cruise next week.

Quite the planning and juggling we had to do since we had points but Air Canada didn't have available seats using points for all legs of the flights. So we are going to Sydney via Vancouver with Air Canada, then flying Air NZ from Auckland to LA , then from LA back to Toronto using Air Canada points.

 

While we have gone down to Buffalo to fly to Florida, it would have been a major headache to go through Buffalo at this time of year and the last thing we wanted to do is drive for about 2 hours after that long overseas flight.

 

We have used flight offerings from cruise ships twice when we first started cruising and they didnt seem to offer the most direct and easy routes either.

[alidor]

Seasoned traveler and you don't know the term open jaw? Very unusual. It's a term that has been around for 40 years or so..

[sazzinfredericton]

Yes I thought as much (mucho planning and research).... your flight path sounds gruelling and I am in the Maritimes so that means an extra leg for me.....Fred - TO and then onward.....

 

The one way flights tho may be the way to go as I can spend a few days recouping in Sydney or Singapore, or Honolulu before the long flight home :).

 

 

Gosh....to be so lucky to complain about these departure points :).

 

PS Happy sailing downunder Breezey...

[sazzinfredericton]

Seasoned traveler and you don't know the term open jaw? Very unusual. It's a term that has been around for 40 years or so..

 

Hmmmm perhaps 40 years of travel to Europe, Asia and most of North America does not qualify me as a "seasoned traveller".....have heard of "open-end" but no never "open jaw".

[AkSusan]

I have found that doing a multi city itinerary versus two one ways usually saves me money. All I can say is thank goodness for the internet, because we have so many tools to figure this out. I usually start with www.kayak.com and go from there.

 

Susan :)