7night Caribbean but flying from UK questions

[DaisyDoo246]

Hi everyone

 

We are looking at possibly a Caribbean cruise next year flying from Manchester.

 

As its a long way for 7 nights how did you manage your holiday ie did you cruise and stay and if so where?

 

Also, do you always book the flights with RCI as a package or do you find it more cost effective to book separately?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Kamloops50]

Hi everyone

 

We are looking at possibly a Caribbean cruise next year flying from Manchester.

 

As its a long way for 7 nights how did you manage your holiday ie did you cruise and stay and if so where?

 

Also, do you always book the flights with RCI as a package or do you find it more cost effective to book separately?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

There are TA's in the UK that put package cruise holidays together.

On our Emerald cruise there was a group of people from the UK

that got a package cruise that included airfare . hotel , transfers and cruise.

[odettemcf]

Hey DaisyDoo,

 

I've just booked 8 nights Caribbean for this xmas and will have to fly from London to Florida. This time I booked direct with RCI, but for cruise only and then I secured flights myself (at a cheaper rate than RCI was offering:p).

 

The other two cruises I've done at least one person was flying from London to either Florida or Puerto Rico. Typically, that person would arrive at least a day before the cruise, stay at a hotel and then board the cruise the next day.

 

If you look at the other threads around ports of call etc you'll be able to get more info and where you can stay prior to your cruise, theres tons of great info there!

 

I would definitely advise arriving at least a day before the cruise and make sure you take out good travel insurance.

 

Hope this helps!

[Grandma Dazzles]

Assume you are making your own arrangements and also that you are considering a cruise out of Florida.

 

There are endless possibilities of places to stay either before or after your cruise - would suggest doing some research on the boards and/or try giving everyone a little more information. For example - would you prefer a beach-type vacation, are you more interested in a theme park, e.g. Disney, or are you looking for a golf/tennis resort - answering those kinds of questions might make it easier for everyone to try and give advice. What port are you thinking of departing from, etc.

 

Would most definitely arrive at least the day before the cruise is due to leave.

 

Have personally found booking on our own to be the cheapest - American Airlines has good service in and out of Manchester. They fly to Chicago direct (have used them quite a bit), and would assume they would fly Manchester/Miami direct - not sure about other carriers.

[villauk]

Hi everyone

 

We are looking at possibly a Caribbean cruise next year flying from Manchester.

 

As its a long way for 7 nights how did you manage your holiday ie did you cruise and stay and if so where?

 

Also, do you always book the flights with RCI as a package or do you find it more cost effective to book separately?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

We've done both ways. Check out what price RCI are offering for the flights, then see if this is good value or if it's cheaper booking cruise only and arrange your own flights. Take into consideration any pre-cruise hotel stopover and transfers that you would have to add to your flight costings. Always plan to arrive at least one day before cruise departs (gives you more assurance should you flights be cancelled etc.), especially when flying to US.

 

We used RCI for our Alaska cruise as I couldn't get flights any cheaper booking myself, yet our New England cruise was a different story. We'd booked flights independently on that cruise, including stopovers etc. In fact, I was so pleased we'd booked our own arrangements as all the airports had been shut, due to the hurricane, and those that had booked with the cruise company had to stay on the ship and travel back to Canada. It was another line not RCI, but the cruisers had to pay for the privilege and then reclaim the costs from their insurance company. Luckily, we disembarked and went directly to our hotel.

 

We usually stay one or two days before the cruise and then a few days post cruise. Personally, there is no better feeling than leaving the cruise knowing you haven't got to travel straight home - it's such a good feeling ;).

 

Check the boards for the areas you are visiting to get local information on hotels and transfers etc. Ask on the roll call what others in your group are doing? There is so much information on this site, everyone is very helpful - just ask ;).

[NorbertsNiece]

Hi,

 

I've booked flights once through RCCL, from Heathrow to Miami. Subsequently I've self booked flights as I want to be able to use Air Miles to reduce costs.

This next trip I decided to do a B2B so as to see as much as possible but only need one return ticket if that makes sense. Will be flying from Gatwick direct to San Juan with a stop (no plane change).

 

Due to the flight schedule I will arrive 2 days pre cruise which is perfect for me to get over the lag and do some sights. Post cruise I get one night in San Juan (again due to the schedule) which isn't ideal but hopefully will mean less crowds at the airport.

[tweenie123]

I've booked flights with RC once from Heathrow to Miami which included a pre cruise stay which gave us the opportunity to see a little of the city. We then also had a day room included when we came off the cruise.

 

Usually most of our cruises are out of Port Canaveral after a week in Orlando and I book our flights independently out of Manchester. I usually use Virgin (with airmiles) although I've had good deals with Thomson. We don't usually stay in Port Canaveral overnight as we travel down on the morning of the cruise and tend to head back to Orlando for a couple of nights after the cruise.

[DaisyDoo246]

Thanks for all your responses,I'll enjoy our med cruise in 8 weeks then get saving!

[holiday forever]

We always fly in 2 days before cruise and also stay 5 to 7 days after cruise and book are own flights. Have a cruise booked on Allure from

Fort Lauderdale in october waiting for a sale on flights to Miami as the last sale only went up to 30th sept. Going to do 2 nights Miami before

cruise and 5 days at Fort Lauderdale after cruise.

[Lottycruiser]

We did the Caribbean sept 2010 we booked with a high street TA and did a package , we got an extremely good price , it cost us almost the same as our week long med cruise .We got flights from heathrow to Orlando , picked up hire car (Avis) spent four nights in the Sheraton four points hotel on I Drive , drove to port Canaveral dropped the hire car off a few minutes away from the port , they shuttled us to the port , boarded Freedom of the seas for a 7 night eastern Caribbean cruise in a balcony cabin , then got transfer back to airport for return flight , we paid a few pound over £3000 , oh and in that package was free park tickets to Universal . If you book a package then royal is responsible for you getting to your ship , that's what our TA told us , if you book your flights yourself then it's at your own risk if flight is cancelled or delayed etc , not so much of a worry if you are spending a few days before your cruise but I would rather know I am not taking any risks .

[spirite]

We have done this a couple of times and learnt the following (which repeats some of what others have said):

 

- go a few days early - this ensures you get there on time and have time to recover from any jet lag before you sail

- never fly on the same day - even small delays (flight, connections, immigration, transfer) can compound up and mean you miss the ship

- it is cheaper to book flights separately - we have never got a cheaper flight price from RCI than we could get ourselves

- DIY transfers can be fun - we once got a limo from Orlando to Tampa surprisingly cheaply, great to arrive at the port in a limo!

- fly into a hub and get a connection - often cheaper to fly into NY/Chicago and connect to Miama than fly direct to Miami, particualry during holidays. You can then choose to stay in NY for example for a few days. You can also be flexible on the US leg of the trip - eg if the start and end ports are different.

- ask your TA about combined flight and hotel packages - often hotels or internal flights are very cheap when booked with international flight

- always print off everything and carry a lot of paper. Never rely on being able to have internet access for booking references/contact numbers etc.

 

BUT - beware you do not have the same package protection as buying flights from RCI.

 

- we once flew into Miami knowing that a developing hurricance meant we might miss our ship. We could not cancel flights without losing money or if the ship was delayed/rerouted we would incur all the additional costs. It was a very stressful 48 hours.

- so, make sure you have good insurance.