Advice needed 1st Europe cruise 2013 - air through Cel, on own or through online TA?

[true45]

I'm one of those who usually books through Celebrity but is seduced by online agency offering OBCs so eventually gives it to TA -- has worked well for us in the Caribbean but this is a whole different thing.

 

I hear Celebrity's European sailings in 2013 include OBC(thanks for info Host Andy) -- I have NO experience booking air. What is the best way to go about this?

 

Thanks.

[Algebralovr]

One of the questions you might want to answer up front is whether you need round trip or one-way air. It might make a difference to those who have the answers.

[true45]

Thanks -- Algebralovr. By the way, do you really love Algebra?

[true45]

Round trip air, thanks.

[Algebralovr]

Thanks -- Algebralovr. By the way, do you really love Algebra?

 

Actually, I enjoy teaching algebra. :) Kind of strange, I know. In my real life, I used to teach high school and community college math, and now I do other work and teach university math part time. My favorite class to teach really is College Algebra. It also helps that as a username, I never have to worry that someone took it. :D

[Oxo]

What does x want, then what can TA get it for? Or you want to go a day early, cruise line charges a deviation fee.go to kayak to see what's available and price.have never found cruise line to be better in cost, schedule, our flights.you don't want to wait until last minute to see what cruise lines have you scheduled on. They love milk ruins.

[Algebralovr]

I don't have the answer to your question, exactly, but I recommend that you read through the Cruise Air forum here on CC. I think I gave you the link to get there. You will read all about the issues people have had when the airline books your flight. There is also a sticky all about how the cruise lines reserve their seats and why you might want to self-book instead.

 

A number of people do find, however, that booking through the cruise line is the least expensive. So it all depends on how you want to handle it. Personally, I would probably self-book, as I would want to come in a day or two ahead of time and leave at least one day after the ship docks to be sure I didn't have issues. Also, if you self-book, you are in control of your ticket. I've read about horror stories when the airline and cruise company have played the blame game.

 

If you find a TA that is good, they might be very helpful with the airfare. It all depends.

[TRadle]

Kayak is good but keep in mind that a couple of the major airlines no longer allow them to post their prices. Apparently Kayak was giving priority to some airlines and others were not happy. Anyhow, these airlines guarantee their website will have the lowest price. Shop around and double check.

[CathyCruises]

I would definitely check fares on choiceair.com, which is now the cruiseline provider. I was pleasantly surprised to see that their fares on a one way TA were quite a bit cheaper than I could find on my own. I am an inveterate bargain hunter and have all my special sites that I use, and choiceair beat them all.

[Oxo]

I would definitely check fares on choiceair.com, which is now the cruiseline provider. I was pleasantly surprised to see that their fares on a one way TA were quite a bit cheaper than I could find on my own. I am an inveterate bargain hunter and have all my special sites that I use, and choiceair beat them all.

 

I have been playing with Choice Air and when you key in your cruise date, ship, Cruise line you do not have an option to deviate from the dates. If you can, I could not. So, I played with the exact dates and some of the routes, plane changes are definitely not the best flight times/routes. Maybe you can help to help me if I am doing something wrong. Is it possible using Choice Air to go into a city a couple of days before the cruise and leave a day or so after the cruise?

Never used Choice Air, but have flown around the world for year.

Thanks for your help.

[CarolinaMamma]

I just booked our east coast to Seattle air on kayak and saw all the major airlines that I would fly represented there (American, Delta, United, US Air.). Not sure about European ones as they do not fly the route I was looking at.

 

I had been looking at airfares for a couple of months and choice air was coming up with exact same prices as kayak. I really like the search tools on kayak, including looking at fares a day or two earlier or later, adjusting time windows, filters, etc.

 

We are flying in a few days early, so no danger for us of being late for the ship, which made me feel more secure about booking independently. If I were flying in same day, I might book through Celebrity.

[CathyCruises]

I have been playing with Choice Air and when you key in your cruise date, ship, Cruise line you do not have an option to deviate from the dates. If you can, I could not. So, I played with the exact dates and some of the routes, plane changes are definitely not the best flight times/routes. Maybe you can help to help me if I am doing something wrong. Is it possible using Choice Air to go into a city a couple of days before the cruise and leave a day or so after the cruise?

Never used Choice Air, but have flown around the world for year.

Thanks for your help.

 

Hmm, we are not flying home for almost a month after our TA and it let me put in any dates I wanted. Plus it gave me a huge range of options of flights, connections and prices. Are you using just the browse feature or the 'book now' feature? Sorry, can't recall the exact names. Also be sure to look at two one way flights--seems to be better pricing that way.

[Bobblsc]

What does x want, then what can TA get it for? Or you want to go a day early, cruise line charges a deviation fee.go to kayak to see what's available and price.have never found cruise line to be better in cost, schedule, our flights.you don't want to wait until last minute to see what cruise lines have you scheduled on. They love milk ruins.

 

I agree. KAYAK is a good place to start. It is generally accurate. Go to their site and try it without really booking anything. Then you will be comfortable when you go to book the real thing. Bear in mind that you can "pretend booking" all you want and not take any chance of final booking until you give your credit card info. Even then, there is sometimes an opportunity to cancel before you truly book, if you want to do so.

 

Some credit cards provide insurance, should you need to cancel before flying. Check it

 

Kayak will usually provide the airline link, as well as others, for tickets. You would always best book through the airline, unless another price is much less.

 

By purchasing your own air you will be able to select your airline, select your schedule, and almost always select your seat.

 

You should be able to find good fares for a round trip. Best travel to your destination at least a day early, to avoid to risk of being late for the ship departure. The cruise line air will get you to the ship if air is late, but buying your own air puts the burden on you. But we usually arrive at our ship departure destination more than a day early to enjoy that city's sights.

 

Give your own air booking a try.

 

Bob:cool:

[Oxo]

Hmm, we are not flying home for almost a month after our TA and it let me put in any dates I wanted. Plus it gave me a huge range of options of flights, connections and prices. Are you using just the browse feature or the 'book now' feature? Sorry, can't recall the exact names. Also be sure to look at two one way flights--seems to be better pricing that way.

 

I used the Quick Flight Search Only (QFSO) option and tried different sailing dates.

I tried using the Search and Make a Reservation option only to get 'booking part of B2B, contact CSupport.

We are going in 2013 so I can see the reason for this. Normally airlines will book only if within 330 or less.

However, when I try using QFSO using earlier dates to same locations, flights going are OK, but coming back home is really BAD! Going 1 stop, return 2 and 3 stops. Not even on the same airlines. We normally fly Delta and I know there are Delta flights to/from those cities daily.

 

That is why I normally get my own air. Just like my own hotels. Cruise lines charge you per person for a hotel. That almost doubles the hotel price. JMHO!

[dondiane]

We used ChoiceAir and were able to fly in early, we spoke with the reps didn't do it on line. Also if you are within the allowed transfer time you could still transfer to an on line t/a for the additional obc. We did make our own extra days at the hotel though.

[Oxo]

We used ChoiceAir and were able to fly in early, we spoke with the reps didn't do it on line. Also if you are within the allowed transfer time you could still transfer to an on line t/a for the additional obc. We did make our own extra days at the hotel though.

 

When you say 'reps' do you mean airline or cruise line reps? Did they charge you a 'Deviation Fee?'

[austinlw]

Last summer we were looking into flights to and from Rome for our October Equinox cruise. I was using Kayak to compare schedules and fares and determined that American was probably going to be our best airline option out of Austin. What I found was that I could find a lot of flight schedule options on the American Airlines' website that were not coming up for me on Kayak or other sites. If the flight schedule is important to you, I would suggest doing some research on the airline websites first to find all the available flight options. Then if you choose to work with a travel agent you can at least ask about a particular flight you prefer for your own situation rather than just taking whatever they come up with first (which may not work as well for you).

[boogs]

We recently used ChoiceAir to book our flights from San Francisco to Barcelona and home from Venice. After searching all the online sites and looking to my TA for the best fares, we settled on ChoiceAir because the fares were lower than anywhere else. We were able to get an unpublished fare that is refundable for less than the lowest published non-refundable fare posted on any online source. The difference wan't much, but with the guarantee of travel support from ChoiceAir during our flights, we felt this was the best way to go for us. We are flying in a few days early and coming home a few days later. This was no problem for ChoiceAir, and I believe you can arrive or depart several weeks from the cruise dates and still get the same rates. We are flying with Lufthansa to get the best flight departure and arrival times for us, including total travel duration.

[CathyCruises]

I have a whole arsenal of travel sites that I use when booking flights--I call it 'checking my traps'. I use Kayak as a baseline but then I go directly to the airline sites to check further. And I check sites they don't use--like IcelandAir, Southwest, AirBerlin, etc. It's quite a process. I have not booked our return air from our TA (next month!) yet because we can't decide when we want to come home (DH says we should just stay and come home on the Fall TA!) but I have checked multiple times and so far ChoiceAir has the best one way flights. I PLAN to book today, so we'll see if it works!

[true45]

Thank you everyone - lots that I never considered.

 

I see I should do a little more CCritic reading - Algebralovr

 

And I'll check Kayak and airline websites when I have the date -- interesting that too far in advance will not work? & then I'll check choiceair. & then compare with TA who are offering deals on inclusive cruise & air. Feel like I'm back in school

 

Linda

[CathyCruises]

Okay, I did it! Cheapest one way on Kayak from London to San Francisco was $765, and total travel time was 28 hours and 5 minutes. I booked on Choice Air, $595, total travel time 15 hours and 10 minutes. We like to stop (vs. nonstop) and we had four choices of places to stop; chose Minneapolis as it would be the least popular and therefore best seat availability.

 

We are very happy with our 'choice'--next time may be different! In any event it is certainy worth checking out.

[dondiane]

We used ChoiceAir and were able to fly in early, we spoke with the reps didn't do it on line. Also if you are within the allowed transfer time you could still transfer to an on line t/a for the additional obc. We did make our own extra days at the hotel though.

 

Reps... Choice air reps. We're elite so fees were wavied. I did book extra days at hotel directly with the hotel.