Free airfare questions

[JamieLogical]

7 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

Not sure how everyone is finding these free airfares; any cruises I have priced either don't offer it or do but then the base price goes up a lot.  Maybe it's because we are not in a major market, or just not choosing cruises that have 'free' air.

 

It's technically "Free or Reduced Airfare". It is not available on all sailings, but you can search for those that it is offered for by running a search for the dates you are interested in, then clicking "Specials" on the left hand side of the search results page and selecting "Free & Reduced Air Offer". The actual rate will depend on the airport you are flying out of and the port the sailing is leaving from. I live in Rochester, NY so the only "free" sailings are those departing out of NYC, which isn't surprising, because a flight between Rochester and NYC is usually pretty cheap anyway. Sailings from other ports seem to run the gamut. New Orleans was $99 when I looked, Miami is $199, Seattle was $399....

[bkrickles1]

I got free airfare from NYC to Miami for my Encore sailing next January for my wife and I. I had to pay $390 for my daughter as the 3rd person in my booking. That is high, even for January, but when I average it out it's $130 pp roundtrip for the 3 of us and that's definitely at least $100 pp cheaper than if I did it on my own.

I booked my sailing at the beginning of January and I can't come close to matching that now. I took all 6 perks and my grand total is $3662 for the 3 of us in a balcony cabin. I keep looking at other lines for the same week and can't get the same value.

I'm really intrigued by MSC and could get a deal on the Seaside for similar value (I'd have to get my own airfare) but I can't seem to get myself to commit to them yet. I'll keep looking but I'm pretty sure it's the Encore for me and I'm ok with that.

[JamieLogical]

4 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

I got free airfare from NYC to Miami for my Encore sailing next January for my wife and I. I had to pay $390 for my daughter as the 3rd person in my booking. That is high, even for January, but when I average it out it's $130 pp roundtrip for the 3 of us and that's definitely at least $100 pp cheaper than if I did it on my own.

I booked my sailing at the beginning of January and I can't come close to matching that now. I took all 6 perks and my grand total is $3662 for the 3 of us in a balcony cabin. I keep looking at other lines for the same week and can't get the same value.

I'm really intrigued by MSC and could get a deal on the Seaside for similar value (I'd have to get my own airfare) but I can't seem to get myself to commit to them yet. I'll keep looking but I'm pretty sure it's the Encore for me and I'm ok with that.

 

 

You could be like us and just do both! We are sailing the Seaside in September and the Encore in December. We were originally booked on the Encore's inaugural transatlantic, but the changes to the itinerary caused us to change our plans and do two separate cruises instead. Still missing the same amount of time off work and still spending about the same total amount of money between cruise fare, airfare, lodging, etc.

[bkrickles1]

11 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

 

You could be like us and just do both! We are sailing the Seaside in September and the Encore in December. We were originally booked on the Encore's inaugural transatlantic, but the changes to the itinerary caused us to change our plans and do two separate cruises instead. Still missing the same amount of time off work and still spending about the same total amount of money between cruise fare, airfare, lodging, etc.

That would be awesome but unfortunately my ungrateful daughter (lmao just kidding) started college this past fall and is sucking me dry so we're down to 1 true vacation per year and 1 summer excursion.

I'm sure MSC is in my future. I have no loyalty to any one cruise line even though I've cruised rccl way more than the others.

Can't wait to hear your review of the Seaside. It looks like a very cool ship and something my family would like as we love to hang out in the outdoor spaces and Seaside seems to focus on those.

 

[UWCorry]

Looking at a May 2020 MIA sailing and have the free air out of SEA. Now there is no flight that would make it day of... do they force you onto a red eye? I can come in the day before. That would be much better. 

[fairygirl1]

On 11/7/2018 at 4:00 PM, FLJIM said:

We signed up for the free airfare, ($149 each from my location) I asked to fly a day early - March is snow storm season - but they said it wasn't really possible. My biggest concern was having a delay due to a storm. 2ndary motivation was having an extra day in Miami.  They did say if you use their airfare, they will catch you up to the ship at the next port of call for free if you miss the sailing, so I guess that's OK. We'd have a couple nights in Miami or St. Thomas waiting for the ship.

 

Have any of you missed the ship due to delays?

We just booked  using the airfare offer and we are flying into Miami the day before,,, it cost us 99$ PP each way. So a total of $200 which made me pretty happy and no worries abt missing departure 

[YankeesFan4Life]

36 minutes ago, fairygirl1 said:

We just booked  using the airfare offer and we are flying into Miami the day before,,, it cost us 99$ PP each way. So a total of $200 which made me pretty happy and no worries abt missing departure 

 

Did they raise the Air Deviation?  I paid $25pp to go a day early

[Nola26]

24 minutes ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

 

Did they raise the Air Deviation?  I paid $25pp to go a day early

The $99 includes the airfare, it is free or reduced. In this case they have reduced airfare. Deviation is $25pp, may or may not be in the $200.

[YankeesFan4Life]

11 hours ago, Nola26 said:

The $99 includes the airfare, it is free or reduced. In this case they have reduced airfare. Deviation is $25pp, may or may not be in the $200.

 

Gotcha!  I had originally booked with free airfare, then took the deviation and it was $50pp.  Then when I re-booked with better rooms and what not, the air went to a couple hundred pp, but still made financial sense, then last thing we did was re-booked a third time with free air, better rooms, and deviation was only $25....They decide to change the rules on their own whenever they decide, depends on when you can catch it and what deals they feel like coming out with.

[1threadshort]

a few years back my husband and i flying out of la guardia and my sister were flying out of newark nj airport. bad storm came in all flights cancelled. we took a cab to jfk (int'l airport and larger). missed the ship but got a flight to puerto rico & picked up plane there. since the whole east coast wasnt moving hotels in p.r. were hard to get. but for $500 a night we got one. and put it into insurance when we got back and they paid. enjoy yourself!