Must Cancel Epic for Feb. - Airfare crazy!

[LynneL]

Sailed the Epic a few months ago & LOVED it so much we booked our family & friends for Feb. 2013 - week NY schools closed (some of us have jobs in schools so must go when school's out). Most I've ever paid to go to FL was around $300. round trip. Fuel's high so we figured we may be paying near $400 r/t.

 

Delta released their fares shortly after midnight for flights on Friday evening, Feb. 13th. $550. ONE WAY to Miami!!! That still leaves the return fare on Sat. 2/21 as an unknown. Come on! Are people really going to pay a grand pp to get to and from Florida?? Then the cost of the cruise?

 

Guess we'll be cancelling that cruise : (

[valleyvillage]

I just found a ton of flights, JFK - MIA only Delta was that high. American RT was 230. I think it might have something to do with the dates being so far out. Try googling JFK MIA. Don't cancel!:eek:

[ladysplenda]

Do you have to go Delta? I looked and most airlines have not posted that date yet. What is the last day you can cancel and get a refund? I would keep looking till the last min.:rolleyes:

[SeaShark]

Sailed the Epic a few months ago & LOVED it so much we booked our family & friends for Feb. 2013 - week NY schools closed (some of us have jobs in schools so must go when school's out). Most I've ever paid to go to FL was around $300. round trip. Fuel's high so we figured we may be paying near $400 r/t.

 

Delta released their fares shortly after midnight for flights on Friday evening, Feb. 13th. $550. ONE WAY to Miami!!! That still leaves the return fare on Sat. 2/21 as an unknown. Come on! Are people really going to pay a grand pp to get to and from Florida?? Then the cost of the cruise?

 

Guess we'll be cancelling that cruise : (

 

Why would you even look at airfare at this point? :confused:

 

Plane fares generally are at their lowest around 4 months prior to the flight. You should be doing your airfare shopping during Sept/Oct for Feb flights...it is waaaaaaay to early to be looking now.

[youngestof9]

We're sailing that same week. I definitely expect airfare to be high.

 

My advice is don't cancel until final payment is due and watch the flights up until then. Stalk the websites daily! There's no harm not canceling until the final payment is due!!

[mylesf]

I just priced Delta in Feb 2013, roundtrip from LGA to MIA and with taxes it is $305. Unless you are going with a low cost carrier don't price the trip one way. It is, almost always, cheaper purchasing a roundtrip ticket if you are flying on a major airline carrier.

[youngestof9]

Continental won't even price the return date yet. We're flying down on the 15th and returning on the 23rd. They only have pricing through the 21st. Way to early to start pricing!

[Davechipp74]

you can do it!

make it work

:)

[slotaddict]

Can you fly Southwest? and did you know you can better flight times if you fly in Ft. Lauderdale...take a shuttle to and from the ship...I have never flown into Miami, its cheaper to fly into Ft Lauderdale....

Edited March 21, 2012 by slotaddict

[RNPJN]

Sailed the Epic a few months ago & LOVED it so much we booked our family & friends for Feb. 2013 - week NY schools closed (some of us have jobs in schools so must go when school's out). Most I've ever paid to go to FL was around $300. round trip. Fuel's high so we figured we may be paying near $400 r/t.

 

Delta released their fares shortly after midnight for flights on Friday evening, Feb. 13th. $550. ONE WAY to Miami!!! That still leaves the return fare on Sat. 2/21 as an unknown. Come on! Are people really going to pay a grand pp to get to and from Florida?? Then the cost of the cruise?

 

Guess we'll be cancelling that cruise : (

 

Try JetBlue southwest they always have flights for under300 but as others have said your looking too early also try flying into fort lauderdale (FTl)fairs are cheaper and only a 5to10 min travil distance to the port

[Sauer-kraut]

Continental won't even price the return date yet. We're flying down on the 15th and returning on the 23rd. They only have pricing through the 21st. Way to early to start pricing!

 

Continental is gone, its UNITED now.:mad::D:rolleyes:

[janetz]

Delta always seems to be the highest. Flying from NY you have so many options...Southwest, Jet Blue, Spirit.

[KEPE]

Try Kayak, they have a feature where you can get email alerts when the price for your dates is released, changes, etc. It's great. I was pricing a trip to FL during a holiday week and they wanted $485 in two weeks it went down to $260. I got the email, booked right away :D

 

Good luck, hope you get to take your trip.

[soaringfalcon]

We're sailing the Epic in Jan and I too am having sticker shock but as everyone else has said it's WAY too early to be pricing. If worse comes to worse, we'll drive from Ohio but there is no way I'm letting airfare get in the way of my Epic dreams.

[MikeandAmy]

One reason the fares are high, is because Southwest has not opened up there schedule that fare in advance yet, they are only booking up till November 2012.... So once they open their schedule up for booking at that time airfares should drop some, since the airlines will now have competition... But with these higher fuel prices do not expect much of a decrease... Also have you dried Spirit Air? I do not know if they fly to NY or not... But its early so dont freak yet!

[duggage]

As others have said, I think it's too early to look at pricing. This is probably exacerbated by current international tensions. You can start looking at prices now if you want, but I wouldn't commit to anything more than 6 months out unless it is rediculously low. I usually book my flights between 5 to 3 months out. Season, time til departure, and destination are the three biggest factors I can think of (aside from oil prices/tensions).

 

You might want to also look at Fort Lauderdale to fly into. Sometimes it is cheaper.

 

Other things to consider would be taking the train. If you can reduce it down to one leg, it should be rather competitive compared to flying. Young children are half-price. You might also get a discount code from the cruise line (I read somewhere that carnival had one, so I'd assume NCL might too).

 

Stick with and don't give up your cruise! :)

[Medtech2]

Don't cancel!

 

And the train would be a consideration...it would be fun with a group and you could break it up to stop in different cities along the way.

 

With the price of gas going up, up, up I know it is frustrating, but way to early to panic.

[willysgrandma]

It's too early to look at flights. Once JetBlue and Southwest put prices outvyou may see lower prices. You have plenty ofvtime to cancel- keep an eye on pricing and check prices on Tuesdays- flights are usually lower prices on Tuesdays.

[NMLady]

Sailed the Epic a few months ago & LOVED it so much we booked our family & friends for Feb. 2013 - week NY schools closed (some of us have jobs in schools so must go when school's out). Most I've ever paid to go to FL was around $300. round trip. Fuel's high so we figured we may be paying near $400 r/t.

 

Delta released their fares shortly after midnight for flights on Friday evening, Feb. 13th. $550. ONE WAY to Miami!!! That still leaves the return fare on Sat. 2/21 as an unknown. Come on! Are people really going to pay a grand pp to get to and from Florida?? Then the cost of the cruise?

 

Guess we'll be cancelling that cruise : (

 

Roundtrip air won't be twice the one-way fare.

Price some closer dates, comparing one-way with roundtrip and I think you'll start to get a better idea of how much the fare will be.

I'd wait until a few weeks before final payment is due to make a decision about cancelling. You might find a much better airfare by then.

But keep in mind you should be looking at roundtrip air, not one way, if ship is returning to the same port.

 

When the ports are different, use multi-city rather than two one-way tickets. That's cheaper.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Sailed the Epic a few months ago & LOVED it so much we booked our family & friends for Feb. 2013 - week NY schools closed (some of us have jobs in schools so must go when school's out). Most I've ever paid to go to FL was around $300. round trip. Fuel's high so we figured we may be paying near $400 r/t.

 

Delta released their fares shortly after midnight for flights on Friday evening, Feb. 13th. $550. ONE WAY to Miami!!! That still leaves the return fare on Sat. 2/21 as an unknown. Come on! Are people really going to pay a grand pp to get to and from Florida?? Then the cost of the cruise?

 

Guess we'll be cancelling that cruise : (

 

I see American is charging $286 one way.

 

I thought i found a nice cheap fare but I was going by your dates and they are not correct.

 

February 2013 Friday is actually the 15th and the following Saturday is the 23rd.

 

If you went on the 13th which is Wednesday the fare is only $114 on American.

 

Bill

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Roundtrip air won't be twice the one-way fare.

Price some closer dates, comparing one-way with roundtrip and I think you'll start to get a better idea of how much the fare will be.

I'd wait until a few weeks before final payment is due to make a decision about cancelling. You might find a much better airfare by then.

But keep in mind you should be looking at roundtrip air, not one way, if ship is returning to the same port.

 

When the ports are different, use multi-city rather than two one-way tickets. That's cheaper.

 

I saw someone else post this info earlier in the thread and i don' believe that's the case as it was back in the day.

 

For instance i just priced out a round trip flight from PHL to FLL departing of 8/4/2012 and returning on 8/11/2012.

 

This was on USAir.

 

leaving PHL on 8/4 at 7:45am on flt. # 1885 and returning from FLL on 8/11/2012 at 2pm flt #1556 the price was $315.60

 

I then priced out the same flight from PHL to FLL as a one way fare and got a price of $157.60

 

I then priced out a one way fare on the same flight coming home from FLL and the fare was $157.60.

 

Total $315.60 which is the same as the round trip price.

 

I don't know if every airline is like this but i think it is.

 

Bill

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Try JetBlue southwest they always have flights for under300 but as others have said your looking too early also try flying into fort lauderdale (FTl)fairs are cheaper and only a 5to10 min travil distance to the port

 

If OP is cruising from MIA and flys into FLL it is about 45-60 minutes to get to the port.

 

Also Southwest doesn't have service to MIA.

 

Bill

[LynneL]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

We are going to hold off on any cancelling until it gets closer & more airlines post their fares to make it more competative. I'm not going to book any air until I can get a round trip ticket & know the full cost for anyone. In the past, I didn't worry the return could be way more so I would book one way as it came up & do return when posted. We really don't want to pay over $400. r/t since we are paying for all our immed. familiy's costs. I'm just preparing for the worst (cancellation of cruise) because I can't imagine it dropping drastically. Though you never know. As someone mentioned, the world events effect all this and maybe if things simmer down so may the fares.

 

I'm not locked into using Delta, have some points but not enough to make that a deal breaker. We would like to use JFK cause its the closest & easiest for us to get to, especially since we're heading out after work on the Friday & time is limited.

 

I did realize later I had the date mixed up in posting. I checked the correct day for fares. I'm planning something else for a Friday the 13th & had that on my mind. We'd be leaving on Fri. 2/15 & sailing 2/16 - 2/23.

 

We did check into the train price & it was good. About $135. each way. We've taken it quite a few times to Florida when my kids were young. Miami is a 30 hr. train ride if you have no delays, which on a trip that long there almost always is something that throws you off schedule. Unfortunately, the schools we work for would not take kindly to us taking off the day before a vacation.

 

Well, I'm going to expect the worst & hope for the best! Thanks again folks for giving some hopeful light to the situation!!

[nbsjcruiser]

Sailed the Epic a few months ago & LOVED it so much we booked our family & friends for Feb. 2013 - week NY schools closed (some of us have jobs in schools so must go when school's out). Most I've ever paid to go to FL was around $300. round trip. Fuel's high so we figured we may be paying near $400 r/t.

 

Delta released their fares shortly after midnight for flights on Friday evening, Feb. 13th. $550. ONE WAY to Miami!!! That still leaves the return fare on Sat. 2/21 as an unknown. Come on! Are people really going to pay a grand pp to get to and from Florida?? Then the cost of the cruise?

 

Guess we'll be cancelling that cruise : (

 

Way too early to cancel. Hang in there. I've noticed prices for return air from Portland Maine to FLL pretty much the same as last year. Don't do anything rash. Use kayak.com and set a price alert. I bet you'll get round trip for $275-300.

Edited March 22, 2012 by nbsjcruiser

[perkydebrajean]

I'm flying from Atlanta to LGA for a cruise this summer. It was cheaper flying to LGA than to JFK.

 

I booked last September for a flight this June because I got a good price (or what I thought is a good price $250 round trip). I applied for the American Airlines credit card that gives you 6 months no interest. That way my tickets will be paid for before I leave.