Has anyone used Priceline ? ?

[Shippy]

I am desperately looking for a cheap flight from San Francisco to Tahiti for the Tahitian Princess 6/26 cruise. The rates are awful because I want to return the day the cruise is over, 7/6. If I stayed an extra day it is cheaper. I do not want to do that. Can I be specific with a date on priceline? I am concerned because I heard you need to be "flexible" with your dates. I want to put bid but only for the specific dates.Any advice appreciated.

[rnjoel]

Hi Shippy!

 

From my experience, the date is the only thing that you CAN specify. The airline, times, etc are what you don't know until you buy. Now, I know nothing about Tahiti flight times, so I'd guess you'd have to be worried that disembarkation wouldn't start until 7, and Priceline might give you a 7:30 flight. Just be sure and do your research about that issue before you bid. Priceline doesn't give refunds!

 

Burbunny (Amber) on this board is the Priceline expert. She has a website with a lot of good info. I don't remember the address, but search for some of her posts, and it's in her signature.

 

Happy Sailings!

 

Joel & Ron

 

2004 Alaskan Adventure on the Island Princess departs

 

 

[sneekpeek]

My friend uses Priceline. I think you give them very tight options to start out and then you broaden them until you get what you want. For example - exact date, time, non-stop, airline, etc. Then when it comes back "nothing available" you go in and change things. I don't feel comfortable giving them my credit card number, because once you put in your criteria, they will charge it to your card before you have a chance to decline it. We travel a lot and some of the airlines (America West) have sort of a "stand by" type fare for the last minute. If you're good with the computer you can usually find a flight that is pretty empty and get one of those fares at the last minute.

[JRarey]

Shippy,

 

With Priceline you have no choice over the time other than 'not redeye'. I think trying to do Priceline and travel on debark day (or Embark day for that matter) has a high risk of being a disaster. In short, there is a good probability that you would end up booked on a flight too early to make after debarkation. These are going to be the only flights with lots of empty seats, thus they will be the ones offered by the airlines to Priceline.

 

Travelling in late June, you still have about a month to shop. Check often, two or three times a day. If a decent fare that works appears, jump on it as it might be gone in an hour. If you still haven't gotten anything by about the 24th or 25th of May, be ready either to spend the extra money or extend your stay. Once you get inside 30 days you are likely to see fares go WAY up, even for travelling a day later.

 

Hope you find a solution that works well for you. Any way you look at it over a week in the South Pacific is a good thing. Enjoy!

 

Carnival Inspiration 12/99

Carnival Destiny 12/02

Celebrity Galaxy 01/04

Golden Princess 06/04

Celebrity Century 01/05

[marc334]

i booked my cruise with priceline-you now have the option of choosing a specific time and such-of couse the price will be more in line with other e-travel co's

[geoherb]

I've booked hotels and rental cars through Priceline lots of times but haven't been successful in bidding on airfare. My brother was able to get a cheap flight to Seattle, but his times were really flexible.

 

If I were trying to get airfare for a cruise through Priceline, I'd definitely book it to get there the day before the cruise and leave the day after.

[BurBunny]

With Priceline and air, trying to match up with a cruise, you *have* to schedule your flights in the day before your cruise and home the day after. No other option is really "safe." But of course 2 extra days in Tahiti isn't exactly torture.

 

Remember that most flights to Tahiti are red-eyes, so you don't want to select the no-red-eye option

 

Now, about the Priceline option where you can choose the times, that is basically a regular booking engine like Orbitz, Expedia or Travelocity. When I've checked it, no significant savings over the other search engines - Priceline has added it to increase revenue from those who decide the "name your own price" option is too risky. Good strategy, but realize it's not as much of a bargain.

 

<font face="Imprint MT Shadow" size="5" color="#FFCC00">Amber</font>

<font size="4" face="Berlin Sans FB">Cruise Resource

BiddingFun and BiddingHELP</font>

 

 

[pfibilly]

Shippy,

 

Were you not able to book your air thru Princess or your TA? I found that it was much cheaper ($815) RT to do so.

 

Carnival Carnivale January 1978

Carnival Jubilee December 1998

Golden Princess May 2003

Tahitian Princess June 2004