Flights through Carnival

[woodsy64]

Carnival is making our flight arrangements. I've always made my own before. What experiences have you had? Good? Bad?

[rickcop44]

We did this twice. The first time had us getting into Miami about three hours before the ship was due to sail and after flying out of Salt Lake City and being routed through Chicago, Raleigh-Durham and finally into Miami. The second time we flew from SLC to Long Beach to Houston to Atlanta to Miami. And it was a same day as the cruise flight. Princess made the arrangements the first time. Carnival made the arrangements on the second one.

 

Never again. I make my own flight arrangements.

[MSRussell]

I did that on my first cruise, because I was nervous as He** and wanted everything taken care of for me.

They fly you in the same day of the cruise....be sure and check your airline's web site for any changes often.

Delta had me catching my connecting flight 1/2 hour after they took off. I called Carnival, they advised me to call the airline, which made sense. So I did and straightened it out.

There was a Carnival Shuttle waiting for me when I landed, holding a big sign so I could see it easily.

The only problem I had was I was so tired and nervous, I don't remember half of what went on.

From then on, I fly in the day before, stay in a hotel and get shuttled over.

When I think back, I could have had a big problem, if there was a delay in one of my connections. But it worked out ok.

Melanie

 

[riffatsea]

I'd try and get out of it if you can!

Make your own arrangements so you can get what you want instead of what they throw at you!

I don't think it is a big savings and not having control over my flight choices would make me nuts!

[SadieN]

Look at the Sticky on the top of the CruiseAir Board.

 

From what I can figure out CruiseAir isn't good for many people. Heard too many horror stories of flights scheduled to arrive at 2pm for a 4pm sailaway.

[excitedcruzr]

When I sailed Royal Caribbean, they made my flight arrangements. Flew out of Minneapolis/St. Paul, went to Atlanta (with a 46 minute layover), then to Orlando. We had a 45 min delay at MSP, due to snow, made me really nervous. We made it safely, then sat at Orlando for a over an hour waiting for the shuttle. The ship was scheduled to leave at 5, and we had to be on the ship by 3:30...well, we got on the ship at 3:30. The agent did say, if we hadn't booked everything through the cruise line, we wouldn't have been allowed on the ship.

 

After that stressful situation, I made my own flight arrangements for my Carnival cruise, so I was able to fly in a day before.

 

Good luck, OP!

[tiggerman101]

We did this twice. The first time had us getting into Miami about three hours before the ship was due to sail and after flying out of Salt Lake City and being routed through Chicago, Raleigh-Durham and finally into Miami. The second time we flew from SLC to Long Beach to Houston to Atlanta to Miami. And it was a same day as the cruise flight. Princess made the arrangements the first time. Carnival made the arrangements on the second one.

 

Never again. I make my own flight arrangements.

 

Wow. Even I would be stressed with that craziness. Then again, I would be busy frantically looking for help to deal with my partner's nervous breakdown.

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

We have done airfare through the cruise line in the past three times. The first time was fine.. Boston to Orlando, Boston to Miami, both were direct flights day of & had no issues at all. We arrived early both times with plenty of time to board the ship before it departed.

 

The third time (last year) wasn't so smooth. We had a flight from Boston to Atlanta to Melbourne and vice versa for the return. The flight going to Melbourne was nerve racking since Delta's on time performance was not so great and we only had a 30 minute layover in Atlanta (Atlanta is a HUGE airport). We had to really hustle to make our connecting flight. Luckily, everything went smoothly and we boarded the ship around 1 PM. The return flight sucked because there was a huge thunderstorm that delayed our flight 4 hours and almost made us stay a night in Melbourne (Melbourne is a TINY airport near Orlando).

 

For upcoming cruise, we made our own flight arrangements so we could be in control of times and make sure it was a direct flight.

[Dee777]

We've used Carnival's "Fly Aweigh" flight booking twice, and I have to say that it went well for us both times. The first time was a few years ago when we did a Panama Canal cruise. I'll shorten the story a bit, but if you have questions please ask: We flew in the day of the cruise. The morning we left we awoke to a blizzard. Flight delayed 3 hours as we sat on the tarmac. By the time we took off, we had missed our connecting flight in Seattle. Called our PVP prior to takeoff, he had a new connecting flight waiting for us as soon as we landed. Got us to the ship in time...

 

Second time we used, they flew us in the night prior to cruise, put us up in a fancy schmancy hotel in Miami (Hotel Sofitel) and when cruise was over, we boarded the flight to go home... but there was a mechanical problem and the remaining flights out of Miami headed our way were booked for that day and the next. Carnival put us up in a hotel and found us a flight home the next day.

 

Remember, when you book with them, they are responsible to get you to the ship. If you miss the sailaway time, they are responsible to get you to the next port of call to meet the ship. I liked that reassurance. This time, we booked our own air but we are flying to San Diego two days ahead of time. Who knows how it will end up, I broke my freaking foot and am the proud owner of a boot cast today so who knows what will happen next?

[big_duck]

Unless you are getting significant savings (always possible from Canada) then you are better off doing your own. If you can always fly in the day before too.

 

 

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[aidansaunt2004]

I've researched flights for cruises through Carnival and other sites. Carnival has always wanted several hundred extra dollars to "arrange" your flight. I'm much happier doing it myself. I know when I'm arriving and I know ahead of time which seats I will have. On the plus side, we can save money for vacation! :)

[golfadj]

Wow. Even I would be stressed with that craziness. Then again, I would be busy frantically looking for help to deal with my partner's nervous breakdown.

 

I would be suffering from my own so sorry no help here.

[IMSAILING]

We have used Carnival air. On our second cruise our flight had mechanical problems and was cancelled. There were no other flights from Toronto. Bour first port of call was Half Moon Cay so they could not fly us in there. They flew us first class to St. Thomas and we met spent a couple of days there before catching the ship. It ended up being a good trip but very stressful at the time.

[golfadj]

 

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Thank you for sharing that with us.

[jayscore]

"DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!"

After a couple of cruises, I signed up for the CCL flight deal, because it was a better deal, AT THE MOMENT. I soon canceled, finding out you won't know when your flight(s), coming or going will be.

Book your own flight(s), you will be a happier person for it! ;)

[mikelaw11017]

I agree with most people that cruise air is a bad idea, especially if you are traveling with kids. They buy bulk airfare on high traffic routes and you will not usually get a seat assignment on the aircraft until 30 days out. In other words your get the left overs. In our case, my wife, DD15 and DS11 were seated in various seats throughout the aircraft. No two within 4 rows of each other. Book the air your self and have some piece of mind. If you have a significant distance to travel (like we do from the west coast) then always book a day early. You can usually get everything yourself for less.:):)

[Dee777]

Unless you are getting significant savings (always possible from Canada) then you are better off doing your own. If you can always fly in the day before too.

 

 

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LMAO @ your location! Thanks for the laugh!