Why NOT to book NCL air

[daffodiliaz]

Booked 4 weeks in advance of our Alaska cruise out of Vancouver. Chose the NCL air as it was less expensive (at the time) than booking separate. There are many many flight options from Phoenix to Vancouver, including a couple nonstops, so I figured how bad could it be. Flights assigned today and our flight out of Phoenix leaves at 5:40 AM! I had to laugh. What would be a 3 hr nonstop will be 8hr travel time with the connection. lol. At least NCL got us a nonstop return. Live and learn...and caution others. ;) Yes I knew it was a risk. At least our seats were preassigned.

[jame_g]

We booked NCL air for our first cruise. You don't find out what they booked for you until you get your docs about 30 days before the cruise. They booked us on a flight that was scheduled to land at the airport 5 minutes after everyone was supposed to be on-board. That didn't take into account time to get off the plane, collect the luggage, board the bus, get to the port, and check in. Hmm. Yes we made it, with security literally locking the doors behind us. But the cruise departed 3 hours late, and all the pre-arranged treats in our cabin were rancid after sitting out for hours and had to be tossed. The muster drill was held an hour before we even landed. Never booked NCL air again and never will.

[scopewest]

5:40 a.m. Wow. We're flying to Vancouver in September and booked the nonstop at 10:15a.m. We've been tracking the flight and it leaves about half an hour late every day. I'm assuming there's a lot of planes ahead of it in line to take off. But so far (cross fingers) it's never missed taking off!

[deladypilot]

I have heard this before. On my cruise to Hawaii the ladies in the cabin next to us had booked their flights through NCL. They lived in Louisiana and had to fly to Honolulu. NCL booked them flights that flew from New Orleans to Atlanta to Los Angeles to Honolulu. Good thing they asked to fly out the day before as they were still jet lagged when the cruise started.

[WatchHill]

NCL is not known for its ability to book air.

 

A number of years ago, my parents booked a repositioning cruise, BOS to SJU, and took the one-way air that was offered by NCLdue to its minimal cost. Big mistake. The flight was scheduled to leave SJU at 10:30AM. Problems with the luggage unloading, customs and immigration in SJU prevented pax from leaving the ship until close to 10: so my parents didn't arrive at the SJU airport until close to noon. They got nowhere with the airline, so they called our TA who quickly got them on a non-stop to BOS, and then the TA called me at work to let me know about the incident and gave me the new airline and flight arrival time so I could pick them up at Logan.

 

The ultimate insult was NCL's response to the situation. They chastised my parents for booking a flight before noon and in the letter, told them to book through NCL beacause they would never book anyone on a flight from SJU that left at 10:30!

 

Darcy

[goose30]

Why would anyone think that a company that knows how to run a cruise ship would know anything about air travel?

[halos]

Booked 4 weeks in advance of our Alaska cruise out of Vancouver. Chose the NCL air as it was less expensive (at the time) than booking separate. There are many many flight options from Phoenix to Vancouver, including a couple nonstops, so I figured how bad could it be. Flights assigned today and our flight out of Phoenix leaves at 5:40 AM! I had to laugh. What would be a 3 hr nonstop will be 8hr travel time with the connection. lol. At least NCL got us a nonstop return. Live and learn...and caution others. ;) Yes I knew it was a risk. At least our seats were preassigned.

 

Yuk.

I always tell people who ask, to book their own air. I have seen issues such as yours (and far worse) on most every (mass market) cruise line on these boards when folks book air through the cruise line.

 

I appreciate your posting your issue so it helps others to know that they definitely should book their own air. Having control of your own travel is just so much better. I wish the moderators would make a sticky of it!!

[daffodiliaz]

5:40 a.m. Wow. We're flying to Vancouver in September and booked the nonstop at 10:15a.m. We've been tracking the flight and it leaves about half an hour late every day. I'm assuming there's a lot of planes ahead of it in line to take off. But so far (cross fingers) it's never missed taking off!

 

We took that very US flight last September and was hoping NCL would book us on it considering it's less expensive than the UA flight they booked. I have to think NCL has some sort of arrangement with UA (and AS on the return). I'm just glad we booked to arrive the day before because this schedule would've been worse arriving day of with a 1:40 arrival for a 4pm sailing. That would've been too close with Vancouver immigration and all. I just didn't think it was that risky booking the NCL air just flying up the West Coast. We'll survive. :)

[daffodiliaz]

My angel of a PCC got us switched to the nonstop flight for no additional charge. I didn't even have to ask! I just emailed me about the flights because I thought they were laughable but I accept them, and he emails me back that we're switched to the other flight. Now that is GREAT service. After 4 cruises on NCL I am still only silver Latitudes, but this PCC treats me like PLATINUM! :D Would I could tell you his name.

[johnql]

My angel of a PCC got us switched to the nonstop flight for no additional charge. I didn't even have to ask! I just emailed me about the flights because I thought they were laughable but I accept them, and he emails me back that we're switched to the other flight. Now that is GREAT service. After 4 cruises on NCL I am still only silver Latitudes, but this PCC treats me like PLATINUM! :D Would I could tell you his name.

That's great news! I'm glad they were responsive to your concerns. Kudos to NCL's customer service in this case.

[Steamboat Holly]

My angel of a PCC got us switched to the nonstop flight for no additional charge. I didn't even have to ask! I just emailed me about the flights because I thought they were laughable but I accept them, and he emails me back that we're switched to the other flight. Now that is GREAT service. After 4 cruises on NCL I am still only silver Latitudes, but this PCC treats me like PLATINUM! :D Would I could tell you his name.

 

I love my PCC too! I always have a million questions for him, and he is so patient! He responds to any e-mail I sent right away, and even wrote to see how things were going because it had been a few weeks since he had heard from us. And our cruise is already booked! He even returns my calls on his days off! I hope he's with NCL for a long time.

[sdmike]

NCL doesn't make their money on selling flights. They make their money running cruises. It's in their best interest to quote the lowest airfare possible (so you can spend more of your budget with them, I presume), and quite often you can lower cost through inconvenient routings.

[jdvmd]

My angel of a PCC got us switched to the nonstop flight for no additional charge. I didn't even have to ask! I just emailed me about the flights because I thought they were laughable but I accept them, and he emails me back that we're switched to the other flight. Now that is GREAT service. After 4 cruises on NCL I am still only silver Latitudes, but this PCC treats me like PLATINUM! :D Would I could tell you his name.

That is wonderful!

[slidergirl]

Reminds me of some friends who booked a weekend to Las Vegas back when Priceline did the "name you price" and you rolled the dice on the flights. Their Saturday flight ended up getting them to Vegas around 9pm and their return was scheduled Sunday around 8am....

[beachchick]

We never book air with any cruise line. I can almost always find a better deal with better timing and routing.

 

beachchick

[delily]

I live an hour from the airport so those early morning cheap flights are miserable for me. I'll never book air without knowing the schedule.

[bluesea777]

A story from me .... when I was changing the cruise from XMAS 2008/New Year 2009 SUN South America to JADE Med I managed to grab round trip flight from Bermuda-JFK-Barcelona and back for $1250 pp (great price in my opinion as it was at Xmas time when the air fares are at peak). When we called NCL to change the cruise the NCL rep gave us a NCL air sale pitch saying that the NCL air from New York to BCN was at $1400. DH laughed at him and said we already got the air for $1250 from Bermuda to BCN via JFK!