Choice Air or book flight independently

[6rugrats]

I learned so much on this thread! I booked a HAL cruise with a well known online Travel Agency from Istanbul to Tampa Oct, 2014. The agent told me that the agency refused to book the air with HAL and I have to find my own one way flight from Vancouver to Istanbul. The best fare I got was $830 pp with 5 hour layover in LHR and arrive at midnite in Istanbul. Return fare is $1100. The agent said the agency have nothing but problems with HAL Air.

 

Next time I cruise to Europe, I will try using Princess instead!

 

Again, thanks for the tips!

 

??? Why not just book air yourself? Are you buying two one way flights? Navybankerteacher is right.

[fortinweb]

NITPICK ALERT! :D

 

To be specific, CHOICE AIR is Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd's air reservation department available only to Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Azamara Club Cruises customers. Choice Air is NOT available to Princess customers since Princess is owned by Carnival Corp. This has always been confusing, and it is easy to make that very common error.

 

CRUISE AIR is the generic air reservation option offered by the other cruise line.

 

We have used RCCL's Choice Air several times and it has been a very positive experience each time. Benefits included lower prices, especially for multi-city itineraries, complete freedom to choose whatever cruise line we prefer as well as being able to select air schedules and seat assignments that matched our needs. Never needed to contact the Choice Air people in an emergency, so don't know how well that works. But, for the times we have used RCCL's Choice Air department, it was worth while every time.

Edited September 21, 2014 by fortinweb

[lost4sure]

What I was trying to say is that some TA (travel agents) don't want to book cruise line air (HAL) because of too many complaints of bad connections or layovers. There are some agents don't want to get involve on air travel at all. I always book air on my own but after reading the thread; there are some good pricing on cruise line air for TA (Transatlantic one way air).

[iancal]

We recently booked a Choice Air flight for an RCI cruise. We did it through our TA. We booked inside the final payment window. The cruise price was attractive and our one way air was even more so. We wanted to book both at the same time to ensure that we got the same air/same price as we saw on the Choice Air site. Process worked well..no issues. Far better than our recent failed experience with getting an air quote from Princess.

[Markanddonna]

We used choiceair only once because it was a one way flight for a TA. Problems occurred when a major hurricane (Sandy) was brewing and choiceair was only concerned about getting us to Europe for our cruise and were not concerned that we would miss THREE days in Rome that were scheduled. All it would have taken was for them to agree to let us on a connecting flight early, but they wouldn't. Finally, they allowed us to take the booking into our own hands and deal directly with the airline. After 3 1/2 of waiting, they agreed to do exactly what we had originally asked for.

 

This taught me to book DIRECTLY with an airline or cruiseline if at all possible, otherwise you have to wait for an overwhelmed or indifferent travel agent to help if there are problems.

[Markanddonna]

We used choiceair only once because it was a one way flight for a TA. Problems occurred when a major hurricane (Sandy) was brewing and choiceair was only concerned about getting us to Europe for our cruise and were not concerned that we would miss THREE days in Rome that were scheduled. All it would have taken was for them to agree to let us on a connecting flight early, but they wouldn't. Finally, they allowed us to take the booking into our own hands and deal directly with the airline. After 3 1/2 of waiting, they agreed to do exactly what we had originally asked for.

 

This taught me to book DIRECTLY with an airline or cruiseline if at all possible, otherwise you have to wait for an overwhelmed or indifferent travel agent to help if there are problems.

[navybankerteacher]

Travel agents generally do not like getting involved in booking air as the lines do not give them any commission/discount, and it can take a fair amount of time to find the best deal - which you can generally do just as well yourself.

 

The one area where cruise line arrangements are almost always preferable is getting a one way trans-Atlantic to tie in with a repositioning cruise. Most airlines have brutal pricing for one ways, and those that are at all competitive - usually Aer Lingus or Iceland usually involve a change/layover, which makes the bad enough trans-Atlantic flight a real ordeal.

 

This October will be our fifth cruise line related flight to get to our repositioning - we have had reasonably priced, problem free (except in 2012 when Sandy required us to fly out a day early - but still OK) flights - this time our non-stops to Rome are about $800 each - far better than anything we could find on our own.