Med. Cruise and Flights

[Bcshur]

Hi everyone!

 

My husband and I are looking into doing a Med. cruise. We did it last year and loved it so much we want to go back! Last year we left from Rome and it was a bit expensive to fly from JFK into Rome. Does anyone have any input about flying into Turkey and/or Barcelona? We're trying to do this trip a bit cheaper than last year; so we would probably pick a port of departure based on the cheapest one to fly into.

 

Any input would be great!

[Clarea]

We have been able to fly into Barcelona (one-way) from the Midwest US for under $500pp twice in the last few years. That was using Royal's Choice Air.

Edited January 9, 2015 by clarea

[Norwich Cruiser]

An easy twenty minute €35 taxi ride from the airport to the cruise terminal

 

Same price to Barcelona City centre lots of excellent hotels then another twenty minute taxi ride to the port on the morning of the cruise.

 

Can highly recommend this.

[critterchick]

My advice is to find a fare that you can live with (that corresponds to a cruise you want to take:)), book it and don't look back. Go to a booking sight and do some dummy bookings, which will give you an idea of the airfare for the cities in which you're interested. There are websites and that will track air prices for you - if you do a search on the Cruise Air forums, some will pop up.

 

You can quickly drive yourself mad trying to track air prices because they change constantly. I like to find bargains, but I'm only willing to dedicate so much time to the process. Happy hunting!

[sddsddean]

Barcelona is pretty easy to get to from the US. Make sure you are going to Barcelona (BCN), not Girona(GRO) or Reus (REU). The last 2 are advertised as Barcelona, but are miles away! If you have got a couple of days to play with, you can easily do a couple of days pre or post cruise in BCN. Another option (if it works money/time wise), fly into Madrid for a couple of days then take the train to BCN...its only about 3 hrs on a fast comfortable express. Just trying to give you options!!

 

Simon

[Mjoellnir]

Try http://www.norwegian.com/us/ they have nice prices jfk-barcelona bcn. With connection in London.

[pcc1342]

We are doing a cruise from Barcelona in September. The airfare from Newark has been about $1200pp. Keep checking to see if it goes down!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[tidygirl]

We did a cruise out of Barcelona in Sept. flying from Pittsburgh flight had been running about $1200 on travel sites and $1000 through Choice Air I kept an eye on flight morning and supper time daily one evening about 8 I decided to check it again the prices had dropped to just under $800 I bought them immediately! I saved alot of money when you figure I was buying for 6!

I am now watching for flights to Venice for Oct hoping I get lucky again as they are even more expensive!

[Ashland]

Many on this board will be "horrified" but we flew from the west coast connecting in ATL and arrived at 9:00am morning of our western med cruise out of Barcelona...Would have no problem doing it again if the budget and time off required it.

[Bcshur]

After doing some research it appears as if it's cheaper to fly into Istanbul. The cruise price for a 10 day Med. just can't be beat either. Any know of any good hotels in Istanbul, preferably centrally located and perhaps a free airport shuttle? We could always take a cab to the cruise port the morning of, but having that shuttle when we arrive in Istanbul would be nice.

[jmf123]

After doing some research it appears as if it's cheaper to fly into Istanbul. The cruise price for a 10 day Med. just can't be beat either. Any know of any good hotels in Istanbul, preferably centrally located and perhaps a free airport shuttle? We could always take a cab to the cruise port the morning of, but having that shuttle when we arrive in Istanbul would be nice.

 

Bcshur, the Other Mediterranean Ports forum has hotel discussion for Istanbul: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=234. :)

[Ashland]

After doing some research it appears as if it's cheaper to fly into Istanbul. The cruise price for a 10 day Med. just can't be beat either. Any know of any good hotels in Istanbul, preferably centrally located and perhaps a free airport shuttle? We could always take a cab to the cruise port the morning of, but having that shuttle when we arrive in Istanbul would be nice.

What cruise is this ?

[papaflamingo]

Try http://www.norwegian.com/us/ they have nice prices jfk-barcelona bcn. With connection in London.

 

Thanks for the website link! We are going out of Rome in Sep. and there are some great prices. :)

[Hoopster95]

After doing some research it appears as if it's cheaper to fly into Istanbul. The cruise price for a 10 day Med. just can't be beat either. Any know of any good hotels in Istanbul, preferably centrally located and perhaps a free airport shuttle? We could always take a cab to the cruise port the morning of, but having that shuttle when we arrive in Istanbul would be nice.

 

The airport is a long distance from center of town, so you will definitely want a taxi (I did taxi) or pre-ordered private car. I don't think any of the central hotels have shuttles because of the distance, and if you stay close to the airport you'll be transiting a long way to from all the sites. When I researched hotels there were an endless variety in town so you won't have a problem. Definitely stay in the center of town, and specifically near the old town & Hagia Sofia which will be walking distance (15-20min) to all the major sites.

 

Istanbul is an amazing metropolis to see in the same league as Rome, London, New York... a must-see city for any world traveler who hasn't yet visited. You will not regret flying there, even if it's a couple hundred bucks more. Definitely stay at least two days pre-cruise... you will so regret only one day. The site seeing and culture is off the charts! (google images for Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Bosphorus, Galata Tower, etc).

 

Have a great cruise! :D