Carnival flyaway program

[astrofan4ever]

Sorry if this has been discussed but I searched it and really did not get an answer.

We are thinking of using the fly away program for our next cruise, we have limited time and can't fly in the day prior to departure

Questions : can you choose your airlines?

When does carnival quote you the cost your air fare?

[twinklen01]

following...never heard of this program

[SadieN]

Check out the sticky at the top of the Cruise Air Board.

Also check out Our Most Excellent Adventure started by 4x4bob on the Princess board.

 

ETA-- found it

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=45786565

Edited September 11, 2015 by SadieN

[twinklen01]

Check out the sticky at the top of the Cruise Air Board.

Also check out Our Most Excellent Adventure started by 4x4bob on the Princess board.

 

ETA-- found it

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=45786565

 

:eek:

[klfrodo]

They will quote you immediately.

No, you can't pick airline UNLESS you want to pay additional Flight Deviation fees. Then, your price may be more.

The program does not get you assigned seats,,, only the flight.

You will not know flights until about 30 days out..

 

We did this for our first cruise.

A normal 6 hour flight,,, ended up being a 14 hour travel day after their convoluted schedule and routing.

 

Don't be mislead with what you perceive as they "guarantee" to get you to the ship on time. I believe they only guarantee to assist getting you to the ship.

 

After 12 cruises and multiple international travel,,,,run away from the fly aweigh program.

You can do much better yourself, and purchase directly from the airline. Now you are their customer. Not Carnivals customer or a 3rd parties customer. You belong to the airline and deal directly with them.

[SadieN]

In all fairness there are a few times it can work--- from some Canadian Provinces and one ways.

[evandbob]

In all fairness there are a few times it can work--- from some Canadian Provinces and one ways.

 

Carnival chooses the airline, # of connections, price, etc. I used their program once as a new cruiser, found out I could have gotten on the same plane for less on my own. Carnival will hold the ship for you plane if there is a delay; you won't be the only passenger on the plane flying to the cruise.

 

I have never heard of Carnival booking a flight so you arrive the day before. Carnival books your flight the morning of the cruise. Just to play safe, if you use their program, book their shuttle from the airport to the pier as well.

[Budget Queen]

Sorry if this has been discussed but I searched it and really did not get an answer.

We are thinking of using the fly away program for our next cruise, we have limited time and can't fly in the day prior to departure

Questions : can you choose your airlines?

When does carnival quote you the cost your air fare?

 

What do you think Carnival is going to benefit you with? They don't run the airlines, and some of their tickets are very restrictive. There are NO guarantees. Don't think, that you will always "make it" to the ship, and they won't hold a ship in all cases either. In the case of problems, you now are dealing with a third party- Carnival the booking agent.

 

You are FAR better off, booking yourself on the FIRST available flight out. And have back up plans in place, along with phone numbers and automatic knowledge knowing what to do.

[flc]

We let Carnival Book our Air Fare on our first cruise. That was a Disaster "Big Time"

 

Never again ..... I mean NEVER again will I let Carnival book our airfare. Now I enjoy Carnival Cruise vacations. BUT .... I will control my Travel Plans.

 

The flight to the pier was the morning of the Cruise. The flight home was a Late flight out with connections that was way out of the way. There were direct flights to my home city. But .... Carnival had DW & I going way outa of the way with a long lay-over.

 

Time wise .... its a 11 hour drive home. The flight took 12 hours. there were dirict flights home that took 1.5 hours. Go figure !

 

Now ..... I always fly in the day before and start the wind-down process from work.

Then I schedule my own flight home. that a MUCH ..... better arraingment.

Edited September 11, 2015 by flc

[astrofan4ever]

thanks everyone, I think I will just by trip insurance and book my own air fare.

I found this post on the cruise air board below to be the most informative, I cut & pasted it

 

 

Here is what everyone is trying to explain:

You can buy your tickets via the Choice Air booking software, and let's say you pick flight DL2197, from Columbus to Atlanta, and DL1627 to FLL arriving at 10:28 am, plenty of time to get to the ship. Another person can buy the same flights, for the same price or probably a little less, directly from the airline, and which happen to be different fare code because it was direct from the airline as an individual purchase. You both show up on Saturday, Feb. 4 for your 6 am flight and discover that flight is cancelled, for whatever reason, snow, ice, equipment failure, whatever. The other person can call Delta or go to Customer Service and get their ticket changed. On the phone immediately she is told the only flight with any real availability is the 7:30 flight that goes first to Memphis and then the connection to FLL. (DL6120/2311). So she and her husband do that.

 

You, because of your ticket fare code which is consolidator, cannot. You are told to wait. What they politely don't tell you is you are waiting until passengers with more flexible fare codes get their tickets changed. So you call Choice Air, and they politely tell you to deal with the airline first. So you find a nice agent who tells you that your ticket is non-changeable, you can only fly through ATL, you cannot take the MEM flight. The next flight that goes CMH-ATL-FLL is at 7:15, but you cannot get on that one, because everyone with higher priority than you has taken the few available seats. So you hope for the 8:30 flight (DL 1009) and you manage to get two seats on that flight to ATL. But the 11:05 flight from ATL to FLL is full, so they book you on the 12:20 flight (1826), but there is only one seat and your DH is put on the next flight at 1:45 (1726) but it arrives at 3:39 in FLL which is only 20 minutes before sailing. You really don't want to split up, but the Choice Air person has been so nice and so positive sounding that they will hold the ship, so you and your husband decide you will take all the bags, yours and his, and pay the extra fees and meet each other at the gangway.

 

At this point you are really worried, so you call Choice Air back and they tell you that the airline has provided transportation, and to go ahead and hope for the best, and they will relay all this information to the captain to see if he will hold the ship for late arrivals, and that lady is so knowledgable and does this every week, so you feel hopeful. You cross your fingers and say thanks and get on your flights. Flight 1826 arrives 20 minutes late because it was delayed departing ATL. You go to baggage claim, after waiting 40 minutes, you realize you only have two of the three total bags, the other one having been misrouted because of the cancelled first flight. You file a claim, grab a taxi and head to the port. It is now 3:30 but you have been calling Choice Air all day and they keep saying thanks, we will let the ship know. You screech up to the loading area, heave your two bags at the porters, and pray that your husband is already in another cab on his way to the port.

 

You board, go through processing and just as you make it to your cabin, you feel the ship pulling away. It is 4:10 on your watch, you don't know if your husband is on the ship so you head down to the purser's office to find out. After many phone calls they finally tell you that he will meet you in the first port, which happens to be Labadee, Haiti. Whoops, they cannot fly pax to Haiti so they will get your DH to the second port, Jamaica. On Tuesday, and today is Saturday.

 

In a daze you head to the pool bar, for a big tropical drink in a coconut husk with an umbrella and fruit on skewers. You see the other 6am passenger who bought a non-consolidator ticket by the pool on a lounger. You say hi, and ask how she is. She starts in telling you her tale of woe, how she had to pay $150 each to change her tickets to route through MEM, and they were lousy little commuter planes and they got to FLL late, TWO whole hours after the original flight would have landed, and that really cut into her pool time. You are stunned, and cannot believe she it whining about such a little thing, so you dump your umbrella drink on her and walk away.

 

THAT is what Choice Air gets you.

[C_hasRedBottoms]

Simply HILARIOUS!!!! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] ...thanks for posting astrofan4ever!!!!!

[mommom of 7]

Carnival chooses the airline, # of connections, price, etc. I used their program once as a new cruiser, found out I could have gotten on the same plane for less on my own. Carnival will hold the ship for you plane if there is a delay; you won't be the only passenger on the plane flying to the cruise.

 

I have never heard of Carnival booking a flight so you arrive the day before. Carnival books your flight the morning of the cruise. Just to play safe, if you use their program, book their shuttle from the airport to the pier as well.

 

My Step-son let Carnival do all there travel from LAX Calif. to ort Canaveral. They flew them in the day before, took them to a hotel in Orlando, picked them up the next day & took them to the ship. He said it was very easy but a little pricy :eek:.

[GottaLuvCruising]

They will quote you immediately.

No, you can't pick airline UNLESS you want to pay additional Flight Deviation fees. Then, your price may be more.

The program does not get you assigned seats,,, only the flight.

You will not know flights until about 30 days out..

 

We did this for our first cruise.

A normal 6 hour flight,,, ended up being a 14 hour travel day after their convoluted schedule and routing.

 

Don't be mislead with what you perceive as they "guarantee" to get you to the ship on time. I believe they only guarantee to assist getting you to the ship.

 

After 12 cruises and multiple international travel,,,,run away from the fly aweigh program.

You can do much better yourself, and purchase directly from the airline. Now you are their customer. Not Carnivals customer or a 3rd parties customer. You belong to the airline and deal directly with them.

 

Well explained warning!! I sold cruises for five years and hated when clients used cruise air for reasons explained above. Retain control and carefully select your airline & flights.

[Retired_to_Cruise]

thanks everyone, I think I will just by trip insurance and book my own air fare.

 

The travel insurance you can buy from Carnival now provides coverage for independently-booked air, accident and sickness medical benefits,evacuation, baggage protection, and much more. Underwritten by Stonebridge Casuality Insurance Company.