Budgeting for flights from Europe

[Hflors]

I have a deposit on a cruise in 2019. If everything goes well between now and then we will need to fly home from one of the cities in Europe. Either Amsterdam or Zurich, or even Rome. Since I won't be flying until May 2019 there are no flights that far out. We will be flying economy from One of these cities back to either Ft Lauderdale or Miami. I just don't know what to budget for airfare. Anyone who has done this before do you think $500.00 pp is enough?

 

BTW my cruise was just on sale for Thanksgiving so now I have free gratuities (about $800 worth for the two of us) Another thing to be thankful for!!!

[CruiserBruce]

You can always start with what is being charged for similar flights in 2018. Pretend your cruise is in 2018, and start figuring out the possibilities. There may not be any price relevance to 2019 at all, but it is a start. I think $500 pp is probably a low starting point. Better to start with a high number, then have some left over.

[Lady Arwen]

We use HAL's Flight Ease to book air for Europe. It tends to be less expensive than the airlines offer and it is most likely a flexible rate.......refundable if you need to cancel and you don't pay until cruise final payment. Before you book your flights do some checking around. We live in Canada and flights from here to Europe, especially multi- city bookings, cost way more more than $500.00 per person, even booking with HAL. For us it usually close to $2000.00 (Canadian) for both of us and sometimes even more. I'm sure some of my American cruise critic friends could give you better information regarding US fares.

[Hflors]

We use HAL's Flight Ease to book air for Europe. It tends to be less expensive than the airlines offer and it is most likely a flexible rate.......refundable if you need to cancel and you don't pay until cruise final payment. Before you book your flights do some checking around. We live in Canada and flights from here to Europe, especially multi- city bookings, cost way more more than $500.00 per person, even booking with HAL. For us it usually close to $2000.00 (Canadian) for both of us and sometimes even more. I'm sure some of my American cruise critic friends could give you better information regarding US fares.

We will only be flying from one of the cities in Europe. (It just depends on how long we decide to spend in Europe after we leave the cruise and how far we travel as to which of the three cities we fly from)

[Lady Arwen]

We will only be flying from one of the cities in Europe. (It just depends on how long we decide to spend in Europe after we leave the cruise and how far we travel as to which of the three cities we fly from)

Multi-city refers to flights that are in and out-bound from different cities. In other words as an example: New York - Rome - cruise - and then return from Athens - New York. This is different than the standard roundtrip flights.

[CruiseMGM]

I have a deposit on a cruise in 2019. If everything goes well between now and then we will need to fly home from one of the cities in Europe. Either Amsterdam or Zurich, or even Rome. Since I won't be flying until May 2019 there are no flights that far out. We will be flying economy from One of these cities back to either Ft Lauderdale or Miami. I just don't know what to budget for airfare. Anyone who has done this before do you think $500.00 pp is enough?

 

BTW my cruise was just on sale for Thanksgiving so now I have free gratuities (about $800 worth for the two of us) Another thing to be thankful for!!!

 

Hi, I'm assuming from your comments that you're doing a TransAtlantic, from the US to Europe, and will only need airfare from Europe back to the USA after your cruise and European touring end. If that is NOT correct (and you will need airfare both ways, but from different cities), Lady Arwen has the right of it; a multi-city is much different from the standard round trip. You can often get really good fares with a multi-city itinerary, where the one-way fares might be up quite a bit higher.

 

I agree with almost everyone who's posted, I think $500 is a pretty low starting point, especially depending on the time of year you'll be traveling (spring, high season summer, fall). Congratulations on your free grats, very nice perk! Have a fabulous trip!

 

Best wishes!

[Tampa Girl]

Just a little impossible to speculate what the prices will be, even approximately, for airfare at least 18 months out, from an unknown city in Europe, on an unknown date. I think that the suggestion of Flight Ease is best for one-way fares, assuming you have no FF miles to use. Other than that, it is unrealistic to expect even an approximate fare.

[sanger727]

Well, that budget sounded way too low, but did a quick kayak search and you may be able to get airfare for that. What I do is check what the rates are now for the month you will want (you didn’t way when in 2019 you are cruising so I would check the same month and day of the week for 2018 to get a rough idea)

 

 

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[mcrcruiser]

Recommend that you use a Google search for the low cost airlines that fly to & from Europe ,like Norwegian airlines & there are others no frill air lines which give spectacular airfares :) You definitely can fly back for less than $500 pp

 

Good luck :D

[WisRiver]

We have done four transatlantic cruises (Fort Lauderdale to Europe). One of the big issues was finding a one way fare back to the US. The major carriers (Delta, American and United) charge a hefty premium for one way fares. Budget intercontinental airlines such as Icelandair, Norwegian Air or Condor charge more reasonable fares. Some of these airlines may not be in business in 2019, e.g. Alitalia. Nevertheless, I would budget US $750-1000 per person for a one way plane fare for 2019 and hope for something cheaper. The cheapest fares will be on high traffic routes such as London/New York. This year we planned our itinerary to end our trip in Amsterdam because we could get a reasonable one way fare back to Minneapolis in Icelandair.

[mcrcruiser]

From Google here is a link :

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2014/05/08/cheap-airfare-deal-europe/8814027/

 

This is an idea if you use Iceland airlines you can stop in Iceland's capital & then continue your flight at no additional cost :)

[Daisyloo]

Do check with HAL flight ease to see what they can get for you. We saved quite a bit booking through HAL for our one way flight to Rome.

[pwake]

Airlines start taking reservations for flights 330 days out. Airfares are very seasonal with winter travel much cheaper than summer and lower mid-week than weekend. Best advice is to use kayak.com to look at 2018 pricing for one way tickets on the days you are considering for 2019. That will be the closest estimate you can get.

 

 

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[drowelf]

Agree that $500pp is probably a bit low for one-way fares. We fly quite a bit to Europe from IAH and its generally around $1000pp for round trip airfare. We have a cruise booked in August 2018 and we have $2000 budgeted for airfare. But in general one-ways are sometimes as expensive as round trips. Also who knows what airfares will be over 18 months out.

 

The price of oil is the largest factor and if you could predict the price that far in advance, invest and make a killing then just fly business class :D

 

Budgeting more money now, means less surprises when you actually book the fare. Any excess is just a bonus that you can bank or spend on your cruise.

 

Cheers,

[Hflors]

Thanks everyone for your response. We are doing a transatlantic and then on to the Baltic so we will only need to fly one way, (back) I have upped the budget for flights and I am going to call HAL when the time comes and see what price they are offering. I did check prices for 2018 and see that it can be done for $500, but I want to go with a "known" airline. I guess I just need to be patient.

[Lady Arwen]

Thanks everyone for your response. We are doing a transatlantic and then on to the Baltic so we will only need to fly one way, (back) I have upped the budget for flights and I am going to call HAL when the time comes and see what price they are offering. I did check prices for 2018 and see that it can be done for $500, but I want to go with a "known" airline. I guess I just need to be patient.

We're sailing on Prinsendam in April 2019 and would love to know what to budget for airfare. We've always had good luck with HAL's Flight Ease, so we'll also have to be patient. I've done a few "mock" flights for April 2018, and they're quite favourable, but who knows for 2019. Also, I have to hope that the Canadian dollar doesn't lose value in the next year and a half. We also will only fly with airlines that we're familiar with.

[kazu]

We're sailing on Prinsendam in April 2019 and would love to know what to budget for airfare. We've always had good luck with HAL's Flight Ease, so we'll also have to be patient. I've done a few "mock" flights for April 2018, and they're quite favourable, but who knows for 2019. Also, I have to hope that the Canadian dollar doesn't lose value in the next year and a half. We also will only fly with airlines that we're familiar with.

 

Did your cruise qualify for the early booking Prinsendam bonus? If it did there is also a credit resulting in a discount with flights booked with flight ease.

 

flight prices were all in Canadian dollars for us.

 

Our one way flight crossing the pond was very reasonable. Far cheaper than I could have gotten if I had booked it on my own. Huge reduction - more than 50%. KLM.

[Lady Arwen]

Did your cruise qualify for the early booking Prinsendam bonus? If it did there is also a credit resulting in a discount with flights booked with flight ease.

 

flight prices were all in Canadian dollars for us.

 

Our one way flight crossing the pond was very reasonable. Far cheaper than I could have gotten if I had booked it on my own. Huge reduction - more than 50%. KLM.

We did not get this promo, however, we received a $900.00 per person casino discount, plus free gratuities and a beverage card. We're very happy, as this translates into about a $2000.00 total savings! We will fly from Toronto to Lisbon, where we'll spend a few days prior to the cruise, and then from Rome back to Toronto. Sailed with HAL many times, but first time on Prinsendam.

[kazu]

We did not get this promo, however, we received a $900.00 per person casino discount, plus free gratuities and a beverage card. We're very happy, as this translates into about a $2000.00 total savings! We will fly from Toronto to Lisbon, where we'll spend a few days prior to the cruise, and then from Rome back to Toronto. Sailed with HAL many times, but first time on Prinsendam.

 

Nice savings :). Still check out flight ease when it opens up. Pricing was really good for our flight.

[1980dory]

I have a deposit on a cruise in 2019. If everything goes well between now and then we will need to fly home from one of the cities in Europe. Either Amsterdam or Zurich, or even Rome. Since I won't be flying until May 2019 there are no flights that far out. We will be flying economy from One of these cities back to either Ft Lauderdale or Miami. I just don't know what to budget for airfare. Anyone who has done this before do you think $500.00 pp is enough?

 

BTW my cruise was just on sale for Thanksgiving so now I have free gratuities (about $800 worth for the two of us) Another thing to be thankful for!!!

 

We did a TA going to England. Toured around there for awhile and then took another TA back to NYC on the Qm2. As I recall the price on the Queen was only about $799 for an inside.

From NYC, we took Amtrak back to Miami and had a private sleeper cabin with all meals provided.

Bottom line: No flying, no TSA, no cramped seats, no overbooking, no airline food, no strip searches, patdowns, etc.

A very relaxing trip! :D

[Roz]

I've always been able to get cheaper overseas flights from the cruise line than purchasing on my own, especially on one-ways or where I embark and debark in different cities.

 

Roz

[drowelf]

I've always been able to get cheaper overseas flights from the cruise line than purchasing on my own, especially on one-ways or where I embark and debark in different cities.

 

 

Yeah, thats always been the kicker when trying to book your own tickets on cruises. Unless your cruise starts/ends at the same port, you're really looking at 2 one-ways from the airlines perspective.

[Rotterdam2018]

We have done four transatlantic cruises (Fort Lauderdale to Europe). One of the big issues was finding a one way fare back to the US. The major carriers (Delta, American and United) charge a hefty premium for one way fares. Budget intercontinental airlines such as Icelandair, Norwegian Air or Condor charge more reasonable fares. Some of these airlines may not be in business in 2019, e.g. Alitalia. Nevertheless, I would budget US $750-1000 per person for a one way plane fare for 2019 and hope for something cheaper. The cheapest fares will be on high traffic routes such as London/New York. This year we planned our itinerary to end our trip in Amsterdam because we could get a reasonable one way fare back to Minneapolis in Icelandair.

 

 

 

We live in The Netherlands. When we did a repo cruise from Miami to Barcelona it turned out that buying a return trip Amsterdam to Miami and back to Amsterdam was 3 times cheaper. We paid euro 750 per person instead of a single fare of euro 2.100 . We did not use the return trip

[sammiedawg]

We’ve not done a transatlantic as it doesn’t interest us. Consider using credit card points/air miles/cash and points offers.

We once flew Iceland air for a last minute cheap one way then used cash and miles for the return trip.

We have also used a consolidator for better one way or round trip prices and/or business class seats. I suppose I’m not allowed to post the name of my consolidator agent.

[joanna111]

Same situation a few years ago on a transatlantic that ended in Rome. One way flights were as expensive, or more than round trips. So I booked a round trip from Rome to DC with the return leg to Rome 6 months later bring timed so that we could take the return cruise back to the US in the fall if we wanted to. We ended up taking a non-cruise trip around Italy and found an Icelandair one way flight from Paris that was 1/2 the cost of the round trip. So we paid €64 for a hop to Paris and spent a few days there.

This was 2013 and the fare was $450 which was a bargain. As others have said we could have done an open jaw (airlines call them multi-city) flight with the last leg being anywhere we might want to go on the next trip. Beware! Airlines will know if you book a round trip and don't use the return leg and they have the right to go back and bill your credit card for the additional cost.