BREAKING NEWS: Royal Caribbean Announces Air2Sea Program

[Royal Caribbean International]

Royal Caribbean's ChoiceAir is now our Air2Sea program. Enjoy the lowest fares and guaranteed arrival to your ship. It's easy to reserve, with your preferred choice of airlines and 24/7 air specialist support. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/air2sea

Edited September 23, 2015 by Help@
order change

[Clarea]

Can you tell us how Air2Sea differs from Choice Air?

[SilkySal]

Just clicked on the link and the flight search won't come up for me!!:(:confused: Too new? Not ready? What's up?

[bouhunter]

Just for grins I clicked on the "search for flights" icon and it went nowhere.

 

I think we'll continue to book our own air. No need to insert a third party for air travel and I doubt their claim of "matching the lowest price". Likely a lot of fine print to that. I suspect they are still selling restricted airfares with lots of limitations on changes, seats, and god knows what other rules etc. I'd rather deal directly with the airlines.

Edited September 23, 2015 by bouhunter

[Clarea]

Just clicked on the link and the flight search won't come up for me!!:(:confused: Too new? Not ready? What's up?

I saw that too. It just goes back to the same page. I think they just programmed the wrong link into the button.

[bouhunter]

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Air2Sea/15045551_Air2Sea_Trade_Flyer.pdf

 

"Most airlines charge a fee for seat assignments........". Hmm, we currently have three trips scheduled on three different airlines and none charged us for assigned seats.:rolleyes:

[RiotAct]

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Air2Sea/15045551_Air2Sea_Trade_Flyer.pdf

 

"Most airlines charge a fee for seat assignments........". Hmm, we currently have three trips scheduled on three different airlines and none charged us for assigned seats.:rolleyes:

 

Lol yeah I'm pretty sure it's only the deep-discount airlines like Southwest that do that.

[DaytonCruiser]

Wish they went back to allowing pax to pay for the air portion at final payment rather than at time of booking air.

[Clarea]

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Air2Sea/15045551_Air2Sea_Trade_Flyer.pdf

 

"Most airlines charge a fee for seat assignments........". Hmm, we currently have three trips scheduled on three different airlines and none charged us for assigned seats.:rolleyes:

Thanks for this. So far, I'm having a hard time telling the difference between Air2Sea and ChoiceAir.

[Clarea]

Wish they went back to allowing pax to pay for the air portion at final payment rather than at time of booking air.

Me too, we used that "Flex Fare" several times, and it came in handy a couple of times when we had to cancel the trip.

[blackshirt]

Lol yeah I'm pretty sure it's only the deep-discount airlines like Southwest that do that.

 

Southwest does not even have assigned seating.

[Fouremco]

Flight search link still not working. :( As someone new to RCI and wanting to compare its flight program, new or old, to my normal flight purchasing, this isn't a very good introduction.

[Retired LEO]

Flight search link still not working. :( As someone new to RCI and wanting to compare its flight program, new or old, to my normal flight purchasing, this isn't a very good introduction.

 

Welcome to RCI. As the saying goes "Get use to it, you ain't seen nothing yet". :D

[Biker19]

Is this another marketing ploy to make the existing product more appealing without making any changes?

[nivek82]

At least it's like all their other websites. Junk! Well here is another way their IT department is going to cost them money. If they can't even get the site to work on the day they announced it who will bother?

[Fouremco]

Welcome to RCI. As the saying goes "Get use to it, you ain't seen nothing yet". :D

 

At least it's like all their other websites. Junk! Well here is another way their IT department is going to cost them money. If they can't even get the site to work on the day they announced it who will bother?

I'm starting to suspect that RCI, along with HAL and Celebrity, my normal stomping grounds, all hire their IT specialists from the same third tier school. And not necessarily graduates! :rolleyes:

[The Grumpus]

Just for grins I clicked on the "search for flights" icon and it went nowhere.

 

I think we'll continue to book our own air. No need to insert a third party for air travel and I doubt their claim of "matching the lowest price". Likely a lot of fine print to that. I suspect they are still selling restricted airfares with lots of limitations on changes, seats, and god knows what other rules etc. I'd rather deal directly with the airlines.

Yeah, there's two long paragraphs of the restrictions:

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/include/misc/web_page/air2sea-terms-conditions.htm

 

The program also says: "When your vacation comes around, you don't want to miss the ship because of flight delays or cancellations. Book airfare through us and we guarantee our travel experts will get you to your cruise."

 

I would like to know how they can guarantee that and if additional travel fees & penalties would apply to "get you to your cruise". For an example: if your initial flight is cancelled and you have to fly to St Thomas two days later to catch-up to the ship, do you have to pay for the flights to St Thomas or is that price picked up in the guarantee? And what about a hotel for waiting for the flight? If not, then I don't see the point in using this.

Edited September 23, 2015 by The Grumpus

[1992cruiser]

Does RCI know how bad their IT problems are? I'm just wondering, do the people working there think they are doing a heck of a job? Do they get a pat on the back at the end of the day? Does the boss go home and talk about what a great job his staff is doing? I just picture a bunch of five year olds at a birthday party with crayons and milk stashes---I think I just insulted all five year olds.

[nelblu]

Lol yeah I'm pretty sure it's only the deep-discount airlines like Southwest that do that.

 

It's not Southwest, as they don't charge for luggage--probably the last airline not to charge. JetBlue, just changed their policy on luggage. If I was to guess, one of those is probably Spirit.

[bouhunter]

I'm starting to suspect that RCI, along with HAL and Celebrity, my normal stomping grounds, all hire their IT specialists from the same third tier school. And not necessarily graduates! :rolleyes:

 

It will never change all you can do is laugh. Poor employee comes on cruise critic and posts a great new website and it doesn't work......:D

[ken_nyc]

Cannot get on either!

[Clarea]

... I would like to know how they can guarantee that and if additional travel fees & penalties would apply to "get you to your cruise". For an example: if your initial flight is cancelled and you have to fly to St Thomas two days later to catch-up to the ship, do you have to pay for the flights to St Thomas or is that price picked up in the guarantee? ...

The implication is that they will pay whatever it takes to get you to the ship. I don't know the reality.

[bouhunter]

The implication is that they will pay whatever it takes to get you to the ship. I don't know the reality.

 

It's probably similar to excursions if a ship sponsored one misses the ship. At one point at least the language said something to the effect that they would "do their best" to catch you up to the ship. It's no ironclad guarantee and one wouldn't expect that they can't control airline schedules and availability.

Edited September 23, 2015 by bouhunter

[fly2cruises]

A long time ago, I got my BS degree using a slide rule.

 

During my Masters program I had to "learn" ANSI Fortran and TI Basic. What little I knew I have long since forgotten.

 

I can (usually) get my iPhone to do what I want it to do.

 

I have never written any code, debugged a program, or developed an app.

 

I feel these qualifications are more than enough for me to be considered for the position of IT Manager at your company.

 

My compensation requirements are reasonable, I believe:

1. Enough salary to cover gratuities on all of my cruises.

2. Unlimited free cruises in at least a Grand Suite (so I can interface with

the end users over a cocktail to see how we are doing).

3. A Premium Drink Package for each cruise.

 

We have our own airplane; we won't need your new air program.

 

Thank you!

 

:cool::rolleyes::eek:

[Retired LEO]

I'm starting to suspect that RCI, along with HAL and Celebrity, my normal stomping grounds, all hire their IT specialists from the same third tier school. And not necessarily graduates! :rolleyes:

 

I believe they're graduates of the Jethro Bodine school of technology. :)