Easy Jet

[Lancaster Lad]

Doing stay/cruise on Celebration in November.

Booked through Cruise1st, and the flights are with Easy Jet to/from Sharm.

We did a cruise/stay on Celebration last November (booked with Cruise1st), and the flights were with First Choice.

We had a 20KG Baggage Allowance included in the initial price last year.

I paid a deposit when I booked our forthcoming holiday, and have just been billed by Cruise1st for the balance. But no mention about Baggage.

Should I assume that an allowance is included, or can I expect a 'sting' later on? Any clues please?

[Malch_uk]

Would also suggest you check with your supplier re airport to hotel and hotel to ship transfers. These may not be included as you are not flying with Thomson/First Choice.

[deepsix]

hmmmm.....no problems with easyjet however never known a Thomson cruise with easyjet flights sounds like the company selling the holiday are getting cheap flights with easyjet then doing the 'do it yourself' cruise bit, I to would definately check with the company, as your contract is with them, it maybe Thomson are chartering easyjet flights? however would be highly unlikely, easyjet charge for baggage and the transfers from airports are usually Thomson coaches, def check this out as sounds a little sus. :rolleyes:

[Lancaster Lad]

Thanks for the replies.

 

When I booked the holiday the advert said that transfers from Sharm airport to hotel, hotel to ship, and ship to Sharm airport WEREN'T included.

 

They offered those three transfers @ £35 each (two of us). So I checked on Travel Republic and Trip Advisor, and can get them for about £20 (total). So that's a 'no-brainer'.

 

Regarding the Baggage Allowance, I also e-mailed Cruise1st this morning.

They've just confirmed that we've both got 20KG included each-way on the Easy Jet flights.

 

So I'm a happy chappie.:)

 

Perhaps the above may help anyone else doing the same stay/cruise 22/11-6/12 on Celebration.

 

Thanks again.

 

LL

[WeeCountyMan]

As members above noted, this sounds like a package constructed by the travel agent, with a cruise only booking from Thomson and separate flights and transfers.

 

If EasyJet is delayed (God forbid) for any reason - would the ship wait for passengers who have not taken the full Thomson deal ?

 

Sorry to be a gloom and doom merchant - but what is the worst case scenario ?

[by767]

The ship won't wait. As far as Thomson are concerned, it's a cruise only booking. The ship only waits a few hours for its own Thomson Airways flights. After that, Thomson put on a special flight to the next port of call to meet the ship. Had it a few years back. On our way to Sharm, the aircraft had technical problems in flight so we diverted to Frankfurt. The following day when the original plane was fixed and another plane flown to Frankfurt, cruise passengers went on one to Taba to meet the ship (us) and all other passengers went to sharm for there holiday. Thomson handled it very well. A credit to them!

[Lancaster Lad]

The ship won't wait. As far as Thomson are concerned, it's a cruise only booking.

 

Fortunately it's a Stay/Cruise.

So, 7 nights AI in Sharm to kick-off with.

Fair warning though, and that's perhaps why Cruise1st arranged the 'Stay' as the first week.

Btw, the cost, which is 14 nights AI (inside cabin), excluding transfers was £699pp.

[deepsix]

Thats good news then lancaster, I would prefer stay then cruise but sounds ok if it's considerably cheaper if we are talking less than £100 cheaper each is it worth the hassle? only prob I see is that transfer if the flight arrives in the middle of the night due to delays, but being a popular tourist area shouldn't be a real problem. Always fancied building my own package and trying it.

[greensparrow]

proceed with caution....we were on the island escape during the Icelandic ash cloud flight cancellations 2 years or so ago, we flew into Tenerife KLM from Dubai and embarked on a cruise only tour of the canaries on our return to Tenerife we were confronted with the thought that we would have to disembark with no prospect of getting on a flight for several days and be stranded in Tenerife....we encountered many families in Tenerife who had been asked to leave their hotels with nowhere to go, no money and no way off the island! some were embarking on the island escape courtesy of Thomson's, we weren't sure if Thomson's would throw us of the ship to make room for their own pax? thankfully they didn't, we had children in tow, Thomson's looked after us all very well, they were marvellous actually! when the ship called at Madeira we chose to disembark there as the ship was sailing back to UK the next day packed to the rafters with stranded Thomson's passengers, Thomson's even helped us find accommodation in Madeira (not easy considering the situation at the time) then we sat it out in Madeira until flights resumed....never again tho...we always book package cruise & flights with Thomson's in the UK now

 

Also, my sister was in Johannesburg at the same time BA got her as far as Delhi and then stranded her there she was stuck in the airport for 3 days!

[greensparrow]

Another time we were on the Destiny sailing out if la Romana, one of the flights due to be joining the ship that day was delayed in Manchester for 2 days due to bad weather, the entire flight caught up with the ship 2 days later in Martinique pax were looked after in hotels all the while and were greeted with fresh fruit and flowers in their cabins when they eventually arrived at the ship....any unforeseen events and Thomson's will endeavour to look after you, in fact IMO they go above and beyond.

[kruzseeka]

Another time we were on the Destiny sailing out if la Romana, one of the flights due to be joining the ship that day was delayed in Manchester for 2 days due to bad weather, the entire flight caught up with the ship 2 days later in Martinique pax were looked after in hotels all the while and were greeted with fresh fruit and flowers in their cabins when they eventually arrived at the ship....any unforeseen events and Thomson's will endeavour to look after you, in fact IMO they go above and beyond.

 

Your story about the ash cloud situation certianly brings it home how important it is to be covered by a package deal - or have contingency plans in place in the event of unforeseen delays.

 

We have had two instances when there were significant issues. Once the Celebration hadn't arrived form Zeebrugge after a mechanical failure (actually I believe it was a computer part). It was a Bank Holiday Monday and Thomson found coaches to transfer 1200 passengers from Harwich to mainly Stanstead Airport to the Hilton or Radisson for an overnight stay then collected us early and we embarked about 8am next morning - with hot breakfasts ready for us all! In the circumstances they did a brilliant job - after all break-downs cannot be predicted but of course there were the moaners. The only criticism I had was a lack of communication early on which would have allayed the confusion and concerns of passengers who didn't know what was going to happen.

 

Another occasion, we were flying out of Corfu and out of all the flights Thomson were expecting to arrive (about 15+ ?) only two landed because of torrential rain and thunderstorms. We were lucky that ours was one but apparently some flights were diverted to Thessaloniki, took off again and were diverted again to Athens. All the in-coming flights ended up in Athens too where passengers were put up in 4* or 5* hotels for two nights as the ship had to sail as waiting for passengers flying in from Athens the next day would be too great a delay. The homeward bound passengers were accommodated in hotels in Corfu until the following day. The passengers were picked up in Athens on the 3rd day as the 2nd day was a sea day. Personally I'd have been delighted with that - an extra day in Athens plus an overnight to sample the city at night would be a real bonus in place of the sea day!

 

I must say we have been very impressed with the way they handle the logisitics when things go wrong - and all credit to them too.

[WeeCountyMan]

proceed with caution....we were on the island escape during the Icelandic ash cloud flight cancellations 2 years or so ago, we flew into Tenerife KLM from Dubai and embarked on a cruise only tour of the canaries on our return to Tenerife we were confronted with the thought that we would have to disembark with no prospect of getting on a flight for several days and be stranded in Tenerife....we encountered many families in Tenerife who had been asked to leave their hotels with nowhere to go, no money and no way off the island! some were embarking on the island escape courtesy of Thomson's, we weren't sure if Thomson's would throw us of the ship to make room for their own pax? thankfully they didn't, we had children in tow, Thomson's looked after us all very well, they were marvellous actually! when the ship called at Madeira we chose to disembark there as the ship was sailing back to UK the next day packed to the rafters with stranded Thomson's passengers, Thomson's even helped us find accommodation in Madeira (not easy considering the situation at the time) then we sat it out in Madeira until flights resumed....never again tho...we always book package cruise & flights with Thomson's in the UK now

 

Also, my sister was in Johannesburg at the same time BA got her as far as Delhi and then stranded her there she was stuck in the airport for 3 days!

 

We had a similar experience in Malta that April 2010 on a Thomas Cook deal.

 

We stayed on in the hotel another three nights until an Air Malta plane could be chartered to take everybody back to Glasgow, all paid by TC.

 

Unfortunately others who had made DIY packages were either asked to leave the hotel or pay upfront for extra nights.

 

That's when Ryanair showed their true colours - a party from Ireland attending a wedding, including many young children, were left to fend for themselves and had to arrange to get to the south of Italy to join a coach heading for the French channel ports en route to Eire via the UK. Costing almost a grand per head to get the whole party back.

 

AS a result, I'm 100% convinced that major holiday operators packages are the best deal.

[790294]

Thanks for the replies.

 

When I booked the holiday the advert said that transfers from Sharm airport to hotel, hotel to ship, and ship to Sharm airport WEREN'T included.

 

They offered those three transfers @ £35 each (two of us). So I checked on Travel Republic and Trip Advisor, and can get them for about £20 (total). So that's a 'no-brainer'.

 

Regarding the Baggage Allowance, I also e-mailed Cruise1st this morning.

They've just confirmed that we've both got 20KG included each-way on the Easy Jet flights.

 

So I'm a happy chappie.:)

 

Perhaps the above may help anyone else doing the same stay/cruise 22/11-6/12 on Celebration.

 

Thanks again.

 

LL

Not doing stay/cruise but we are on the cruise on your 2nd week:)

[Lancaster Lad]

Not doing stay/cruise but we are on the cruise on your 2nd week:)

 

You look like you've done more sea-time than I did in 22 years in the RN.:)

[wkdsal]

We are doing a week in Sharm first then the celebration both AI all booked through thomsons.

Really looking forward to it, anyone any ideas on trips to do, my head is buzzing with all this research lol.

Might meet up with you sometime x

[WeeCountyMan]

Ref. EasyJet - they now have no weight limit on carry on luggage.

 

As long as your cabin bag is within their regulation dimensions and you can lift it up into the overhead lockers - you are good to go.