Celebrity to organise our flights, hotel and transfers?

[crazyman3]

What are the benefits of getting tour choice of flights, hotel and ship-to/from-hotel transfers?

Thanks.

[ipeeinthepool]

2 minutes ago, crazyman3 said:

What are the benefits of getting tour choice of flights, hotel and ship-to/from-hotel transfers?

Thanks.

 

Not for me, I'd rather stay in control of my own travel plans.  Some have selected Flights through Celebrity to get cheaper international fares, I would check that.  But with a little research you can do better and cheaper than Celebrity.  I also fly in a day earlier.

[crazyman3]

5 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Not for me, I'd rather stay in control of my own travel plans.  Some have selected Flights through Celebrity to get cheaper international fares, I would check that.  But with a little research you can do better and cheaper than Celebrity.  I also fly in a day earlier.

 

Thanks. We won't use X -selected hotels or flights. My agent has told me that we can specify our own choices.

I agree totally about travelling the day before.

[Highpeaklad]

The advantage is that if there is a delay/disruption they will get you to the ship as soon as they can. 

[waterbug123]

Air can be an advantage, in that if there are flight delays and cancellations, they are responsible for helping you catch up to the ship at a subsequent port.  Sometimes the cruise airfare has additional restrictions though so there are both pros and cons.

 

For hotel, you'll likely pay through the nose, as the cruiseline charges per person, not per room.  We only considered that once before realizing we'd be paying almost double what we could book the same hotel for ourselves.  Same for transfers- unless it's some crazy route between airport and cruise port that involves an exceptionally long distance or something, you can likely get a cab or Uber yourself for less than the cost of two transfer fees from the cruiseline, plus you won't have to way for a large van or bus to fill up.

[cruisestitch]

There are other advantages for UK passengers which aren't available to US passengers.  For UK passengers there are certain travel protections in place if you book two or more aspects of your vacation together.  Like cruise + flights or cruise + hotels. Then certain government regulations kick in.  This isn't the case for US passengers, so keep that in mind when reading any advice from US passengers.

[ipeeinthepool]

2 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

There are other advantages for UK passengers which aren't available to US passengers.  For UK passengers there are certain travel protections in place if you book two or more aspects of your vacation together.  Like cruise + flights or cruise + hotels. Then certain government regulations kick in.  This isn't the case for US passengers, so keep that in mind when reading any advice from US passengers.

 

Agreed, there may be additional protections for residents of other countries.  Please keep that in mind when you compare prices to the US or other countries.

[JBare]

Plenty of research is the answer when it comes to cost. Sometimes Celebrity can be cheaper depending on the flights, if for example its a common flight and they make a block booking for an expected amount of people say travelling to Rome. Other times maybe not.  Most times I have found their international flights to be close in cost to booking direct with an airline, say British Airways or Emirates. The advantage to UK customers is that if you add a flight to the cruise they become a package and are ATOL protected so in  the event of an airline going bust (like Monarch a year ago) all costs are protected.  You can also travel the day before if you wish, in fact for some cruises they insist on it.  I have always found Celebrities direct agents in the UK to be extremely helpful and will often say you may be better off booking direct with an airline, they usually have the same number of flight choices to offer as if you went on Kayak or anywhere else.

 

I usually book my own hotels direct as this is often cheaper, but the two times Celebrity have done it for me the costs were comparable and they did NOT charge per person, its still a room rate and the hotels were fantastic, I chose them from the list they offered after checking details on Trip Advisor, location photos etc. Celebrity usually have quite a range of hotels to pick from and again personal research will help decide the best choice.

 

 

[RSLeesburg]

Quick question - last year, we needed to book two one-way flights for our trip to Alaska - one way from Florida to Anchorage and one way from Vancouver to Florida.  I did tons and tons of research on my own to find the best combinations of flight times, connections, and price.  But I read that cruise lines often have better prices for these types of trips.  Is this true?   Next year I need to do the same - two one way flights, this time Florida to Santiago, and Buenos Aires to Florida.  I have already started to look at options, but wondered whether I should consider using Celebrity.  For me it is not just about price.  As we can drive to Miami, I believe we can get direct flights so connections may not be an issue, but just curious what other people have found for these types of unique one way flights.  

[cruisestitch]

That's particularly advantageous for most people as they compare to Choice Air (Flights by Celebrity).  Yes, you should consider using it.

[Hlitner]

4 minutes ago, RSLeesburg said:

Quick question - last year, we needed to book two one-way flights for our trip to Alaska - one way from Florida to Anchorage and one way from Vancouver to Florida.  I did tons and tons of research on my own to find the best combinations of flight times, connections, and price.  But I read that cruise lines often have better prices for these types of trips.  Is this true?   Next year I need to do the same - two one way flights, this time Florida to Santiago, and Buenos Aires to Florida.  I have already started to look at options, but wondered whether I should consider using Celebrity.  For me it is not just about price.  As we can drive to Miami, I believe we can get direct flights so connections may not be an issue, but just curious what other people have found for these types of unique one way flights.  

Some cruise lines (Princess and HAL are examples) make it relatively easy for booked passengers to look at various flight possibilities (like most search engines) online.  It gives you the ability to try lots of different flight combinations and see the prices...before you decide if you want to book the flight.   We recently went through that exercise for an upcoming HAL cruise embarking from Yokohama and disembarking at Vancouver.  With that cruise line (and many others) we were able to lock-in flights without paying any additional deposit.  With Flex Air options you do not pay for the flight until final payment (or about 45 days prior to the cruise) and can cancel or change the air reservation without any kind of penalty.  In a sense it is a win-win for the passengers.  You can book your flight and then take your time looking for better deals.

 

Our own experience has been that the cruise line deals are really nothing special when it comes to domestic flights.  But for International (especially Business Class and First Class) the cruise lines often have amazing deals.

 

Hank

[hiccups]

19 minutes ago, RSLeesburg said:

Quick question - last year, we needed to book two one-way flights for our trip to Alaska - one way from Florida to Anchorage and one way from Vancouver to Florida.  I did tons and tons of research on my own to find the best combinations of flight times, connections, and price.  But I read that cruise lines often have better prices for these types of trips.  Is this true?   Next year I need to do the same - two one way flights, this time Florida to Santiago, and Buenos Aires to Florida.  I have already started to look at options, but wondered whether I should consider using Celebrity.  For me it is not just about price.  As we can drive to Miami, I believe we can get direct flights so connections may not be an issue, but just curious what other people have found for these types of unique one way flights.  

 

You can do a price search on the X website by going to the cruise and clicking on "Itinerary Details.'"  On that page is a link for a flight quote.

However, I've found more up-to-date pricing information using the Choice Air link on the Azamara website.  Under "Plan," click on Choice Air, then "Book Your Choice Air flights."  On the screen that comes up, you can enter your cruise reservation number, but there is also a tab behind that one where you can get price quotes without a reservation number.  You just have to select which of the three RCI cruise lines you're interested in, then the ship and sailing date. 

I agree that the prices on domestic flights generally aren't any better than booking directly with the airline, but for international flights, they are hundreds less (and sometimes thousands less for business class) than the airlines.  For our upcoming X cruise sailing out of SJU we have booked through Flights by Celebrity because we have to fly in on the day of the cruise, and the added protection of getting us to the ship made it worth it.  Just hoping we won't need that assistance  🙂 

We also used the "Book Now, Pay Later" option and have had three price drops on our airfare, so right now I'm pretty happy with Flights by Celebrity. 

[RSLeesburg]

Thanks.  I know I need to wait till 330 days out before I can book flights, but will look into flights.  We are definitely flying international, and I already mock-booked flights for this Christmas just to get a ballpark - so would be very eager to explore this option.  I would love to book BC for the family as they are long overnight flights.  Thanks for the quick responses.   

[varoo]

 

Booking open-jaw flights is usually a lower price than booking 2 one-way flights.

But is always pays to check out the various options available and compare.

 

We usually book flights, hotels, etc. on our own, but occasionally have found it advantageous to let the cruise line handle the arrangements for us.

It depends on a combination of price and circumstances.

 

[JBare]

17 hours ago, RSLeesburg said:

Quick question - last year, we needed to book two one-way flights for our trip to Alaska - one way from Florida to Anchorage and one way from Vancouver to Florida.  I did tons and tons of research on my own to find the best combinations of flight times, connections, and price.  But I read that cruise lines often have better prices for these types of trips.  Is this true?   Next year I need to do the same - two one way flights, this time Florida to Santiago, and Buenos Aires to Florida.  I have already started to look at options, but wondered whether I should consider using Celebrity.  For me it is not just about price.  As we can drive to Miami, I believe we can get direct flights so connections may not be an issue, but just curious what other people have found for these types of unique one way flights.  

 

Most airlines have a multi-city option which is considered similar to a return ticket and is nearly always much cheaper than two singles. I traveled to Miami from London and returned from Santiago with British Airways and it was considered a return.  Obviously the same airline has to fly to both locations for this to work. In your case as you know American Airlines fly to both locations, have you checked their Multi-City option under advaned search.

[waterbug123]

19 hours ago, RSLeesburg said:

last year, we needed to book two one-way flights for our trip to Alaska - one way from Florida to Anchorage and one way from Vancouver to Florida.  I did tons and tons of research on my own to find the best combinations of flight times, connections, and price.  But I read that cruise lines often have better prices for these types of trips.  Is this true?   Next year I need to do the same - two one way flights, this time Florida to Santiago, and Buenos Aires to Florida.  I have already started to look at options, but wondered whether I should consider using Celebrity..... just curious what other people have found for these types of unique one way flights.  

 

I'm not sure what it is that you say makes these flights "unique."  Is in the fact that you are flying into one city and flying home from another?  That's very common.  Most airlines have an option to book either one way, round trip or multi-city.  What you are talking about is multi-city.  If you click that option on an airline site, you then enter, in order, the flight segments you want to fly.  Depending on the type of trip you're putting together, you can string together more than 2 segments, although for what you're talking about you would only need two.

[jwlane]

Flights by Celebrity lets the traveler choose their preferred travel dates.  In a couple of months earlier this year, we NEVER saw the airlines offer a lower fare (DFW-LHR) than we eventually booked thru Celebrity.

[FloatSomeMore]

On 7/10/2019 at 11:00 AM, RSLeesburg said:

Quick question - last year, we needed to book two one-way flights for our trip to Alaska - one way from Florida to Anchorage and one way from Vancouver to Florida.  I did tons and tons of research on my own to find the best combinations of flight times, connections, and price.  But I read that cruise lines often have better prices for these types of trips.  Is this true?   Next year I need to do the same - two one way flights, this time Florida to Santiago, and Buenos Aires to Florida.  I have already started to look at options, but wondered whether I should consider using Celebrity.  For me it is not just about price.  As we can drive to Miami, I believe we can get direct flights so connections may not be an issue, but just curious what other people have found for these types of unique one way flights.  

We used Celebrity Air and booked business class from Miami to Buenos Aries for $1,200 each.  We separately booked air from NC to Miami for $144.  When we looked at a total ticket to BA from NC it was several hundred dollars more.  Research your options.

[RSLeesburg]

6 minutes ago, FloatSomeMore said:

We used Celebrity Air and booked business class from Miami to Buenos Aries for $1,200 each.  We separately booked air from NC to Miami for $144.  When we looked at a total ticket to BA from NC it was several hundred dollars more.  Research your options.

That is fantastic - we would book business class for fares like that...lol.   I did a mock booking on AA site for this upcoming Dec, around the same dates as we would be flying next year, and they were quoting $30,000 for three BC tickets (Miami to Santiago, and then Buenos Aires to Miami).  Our cruise is not costing that much...  

[JBare]

10 hours ago, RSLeesburg said:

That is fantastic - we would book business class for fares like that...lol.   I did a mock booking on AA site for this upcoming Dec, around the same dates as we would be flying next year, and they were quoting $30,000 for three BC tickets (Miami to Santiago, and then Buenos Aires to Miami).  Our cruise is not costing that much...  

 

Was that Multi- City return or two singles ?  I just did the same and two singles were $30,000, Multi-City was $24,000. But of course certain dates in December are very expensive so without knowing the exact dates there could be huge variation.

[upwarduk]

On 7/10/2019 at 3:14 PM, cruisestitch said:

There are other advantages for UK passengers which aren't available to US passengers.  For UK passengers there are certain travel protections in place if you book two or more aspects of your vacation together.  Like cruise + flights or cruise + hotels. Then certain government regulations kick in.  This isn't the case for US passengers, so keep that in mind when reading any advice from US passengers.

We have done this x2 on Celebrity and once on Azamara.  It becomes a package holiday., so is subject to ABTA T&C.( ie if the Travel Agent defaults / goes into liquidation  you are covered by insurance and your cruise is protected).

We were also able to choose to fly the day before .

However, we did have a problem when we cancelled a TA on Reflection out of Rome. We had booked direct with Celebrity and had our deposit transferred to another cruise at no charge ( we are Elite) but they tried to charge us Air fare to Rome, as it was a Charter flight, but not the return flight from Miami, as it was a schedule flight. Celebrity tried telling me we were told at booking, but I didn’t have it in writing. Eventually after 3 months, I did get the money back, as I wasn’t able to listen to the supposed recording of the booking. I did however have to post on Social Media before I had a phone call from Miami, telling me that I was wouldn't be charged for the flight, which was due to be paid with the final balance.

Edited July 12, 2019 by upwarduk

[RSLeesburg]

2 hours ago, JBare said:

 

Was that Multi- City return or two singles ?  I just did the same and two singles were $30,000, Multi-City was $24,000. But of course certain dates in December are very expensive so without knowing the exact dates there could be huge variation.

I priced it out as multi-city on the AA web site, leaving Dec 20 and returning Jan 4.  Our cruise sails on Dec 19, 2020 and ends on Jan 3, 2021, so tried to look at comparable dates.  It may be far cheaper when I book 2020 if I book very early.  But interestingly enough, when I priced out economy - AA site quoted $7,500 and Expedia quoted $5,000 for the same flights, so lots of variation in price.  But I will continue to search around, and come 330 days out, we will be looking to book some flights to get the best pricing...lol.   Luckily we live within driving distance of Miami.  We can fly out from MIA, FLL, WPB, or MCO, but so far MIA is showing the best combination of price and direct flights.  

[crazyman3]

On 7/10/2019 at 10:11 PM, varoo said:

 

Booking open-jaw flights is usually a lower price than booking 2 one-way flights.

But is always pays to check out the various options available and compare.

 

We usually book flights, hotels, etc. on our own, but occasionally have found it advantageous to let the cruise line handle the arrangements for us.

It depends on a combination of price and circumstances.

 

 

Open-jaw flights? What are these? Is this an American expression? Please explain. Thanks.

[hiccups]

47 minutes ago, crazyman3 said:

 

Open-jaw flights? What are these? Is this an American expression? Please explain. Thanks.

Open jaw flights are those that fly into one city, but depart from another (for example,  EWR to LIS, and the return is BCN to EWR).  I don't think it's solely an American expression.  They are also called multi-city flights.  You can usually price these flights under the "advanced search" options of airline websites.