Anyone book with the BOGO air fare?

[Derbie]

Currently, myself and DH have a 7 day cruise out of San Juan 12/18-12/25/21.  We booked when the BOGO air wasn't offered.  We have been looking at flights out of Nashville, to get an idea on our cost to get there.  Southwest doesn't have the dates out this far, as of yet.  So, we are considering cancelling and rebooking, with the  same cabin grade, etc.  I priced it out on  on NCL website, and it was approx $200.00 more than our current booking.  Of course, this didn't include the one ticket that has to be paid for out of pocket. So, my questions to you all are...have you booked with a BOGO, and if so, did you find it worth going this route?  Did you find the cost of the one ticket to outweigh the cost of booking a flight on your own?  Flights have gone way up, as I am sure most of you already know.  Just looking for a way to save a dollar or two, if possible. Whew! I will say this dang...the port fees were steep on this cruise!    All suggestions and comments are welcome!  Thanks in advance.

[ggTexasGal]

18 minutes ago, Derbie said:

Currently, myself and DH have a 7 day cruise out of San Juan 12/18-12/25/21.  We booked when the BOGO air wasn't offered.  We have been looking at flights out of Nashville, to get an idea on our cost to get there.  Southwest doesn't have the dates out this far, as of yet.  So, we are considering cancelling and rebooking, with the  same cabin grade, etc.  I priced it out on  on NCL website, and it was approx $200.00 more than our current booking.  Of course, this didn't include the one ticket that has to be paid for out of pocket. So, my questions to you all are...have you booked with a BOGO, and if so, did you find it worth going this route?  Did you find the cost of the one ticket to outweigh the cost of booking a flight on your own?  Flights have gone way up, as I am sure most of you already know.  Just looking for a way to save a dollar or two, if possible. Whew! I will say this dang...the port fees were steep on this cruise!    All suggestions and comments are welcome!  Thanks in advance.

Southwest opened their reservations yesterday before noon!  I just now copied from their website:

"Now accepting reservations through January 05, 2022."

[DCGuy64]

2 hours ago, Derbie said:

Currently, myself and DH have a 7 day cruise out of San Juan 12/18-12/25/21.  We booked when the BOGO air wasn't offered.  We have been looking at flights out of Nashville, to get an idea on our cost to get there.  Southwest doesn't have the dates out this far, as of yet.  So, we are considering cancelling and rebooking, with the  same cabin grade, etc.  I priced it out on  on NCL website, and it was approx $200.00 more than our current booking.  Of course, this didn't include the one ticket that has to be paid for out of pocket. So, my questions to you all are...have you booked with a BOGO, and if so, did you find it worth going this route?  Did you find the cost of the one ticket to outweigh the cost of booking a flight on your own?  Flights have gone way up, as I am sure most of you already know.  Just looking for a way to save a dollar or two, if possible. Whew! I will say this dang...the port fees were steep on this cruise!    All suggestions and comments are welcome!  Thanks in advance.

We definitely thought it was a good deal, roundtrip from DC to MIA for $199 for the two of us. I've never seen $99 pp before. This might be a moot question in light of what @ggTexasGal posted about SW. Best of luck, hope you have a great cruise!

[victory2020]

Mine was a huge bargain to Rome. Also, if for any reason the cruise is cancelled you will get your money back easily

[saltsandknit]

I have 2 cruises booked with BOGO. It is a huge bargain for us from Utah to Florida for 249$ for 2 usually airfare to Florida is around 400 each. The other cruise is 149$ for 2 from Utah to California. Occasionally we can find 99$ flights but most often it’s around 220 each. Flying from Salt Lake City is never cheap. 

[TACoor]

Travel agent recommended taking the BOGO Miami to Rome for a (hopefully) December transatlantic cruise. I snagged $499 one way for two people. As someone said, if that cruise gets cancelled, we get the airfare refunded along with the cruise price, won't have to deal with airline refund rules.

[saltsandknit]

30 minutes ago, TACoor said:

Travel agent recommended taking the BOGO Miami to Rome for a (hopefully) December transatlantic cruise. I snagged $499 one way for two people. As someone said, if that cruise gets cancelled, we get the airfare refunded along with the cruise price, won't have to deal with airline refund rules.

That is a great price on air. I hope you can sail. It’s looking more promising every day

[Lkozinko]

I have just booked a BOGO cruise and it was definitely cost worthy to go with NCL. New Orleans to Rome for a 7 day cruise was $1250 for both of us. Now we don't cruise until July 2022, but was trying to get the best deal.

[Selion]

$899 BOGO NCL Air from DC to Honolulu.  Not as big a deal as some others, but that's just under half for what we'd pay if we booked air separately.

[CaptainWoody]

I've purchased airfare through NCL once, and that was one time too many.  IIRC, we had no choice in when or how we got there.  They scheduled us for a ridiculous plane switch at LAX that almost didn't make it (this was one of those running through the terminals situations) and the flight back from Hawaii left at something like 7:00 at night.  The sun was up before we got home the next morning.

[reeinaz]

I got Philly to Reykjavik - Southampton to Philly for $499 (sailing solo). No way could I manage that on my own. 

[dadroy]

We booked a 2023 med cruise from Rome. Round trip from Los Angeles is $499 per person. This includes the transfers from Rome airport to the ship.  I know the flights may not be the best, and we really hate the cattle car transfer buses, but this should save us at least a few dollars to be able to buy some art at the art auction. LOL!

[Derbie]

I am glad you all got great prices.  I contacted my TA and she got me Nashville to San Juan for the both of us for $799 for the two flights.  So, it is at less than half of what I tried to book through Southwest. So, I am pretty happy.  $400 pp is a good deal.  Does anyone know who NCL usually use for flights?  The TA didn't have any idea who we would be flying with.  Thank you all for all the great advice and comments!  

 

 

 

[DCGuy64]

2 hours ago, Derbie said:

I am glad you all got great prices.  I contacted my TA and she got me Nashville to San Juan for the both of us for $799 for the two flights.  So, it is at less than half of what I tried to book through Southwest. So, I am pretty happy.  $400 pp is a good deal.  Does anyone know who NCL usually use for flights?  The TA didn't have any idea who we would be flying with.  Thank you all for all the great advice and comments!  

 

 

 

From what I’ve read they often use American or United, but ultimately NCL decides which airline to book you with. 

[Derbie]

On 6/11/2021 at 6:46 PM, CaptainWoody said:

I've purchased airfare through NCL once, and that was one time too many.  IIRC, we had no choice in when or how we got there.  They scheduled us for a ridiculous plane switch at LAX that almost didn't make it (this was one of those running through the terminals situations) and the flight back from Hawaii left at something like 7:00 at night.  The sun was up before we got home the next morning.

Oh goodness!  I hope we don't have the same experience.  May I ask, what airliner did they book you on? 

 

[victory2020]

If they put you on an airline that you have a frequent flyer account, can you get miles?

[saltsandknit]

1 hour ago, victory2020 said:

If they put you on an airline that you have a frequent flyer account, can you get miles?

yes, once your flight is booked you can attach the booking number to your miles account

[barbiecruiser27]

when do you know flight dates and times? this will factor into my PTO request

[saltsandknit]

NCL usually starts booking around 40 days but it might be around 30 or even 15 days before sailing. when its booked you will get a booking number on your reservation and an itinerary of your flight. Once you have a booking number you can log into the airline and look at seats, upgrade if available and add your flight to your air  miles account. We fly out of Salt Lake City so we usually fly Delta but have also flown AA. We almost always have a red eye flight the night before when we fly to Florida.

[Selion]

14 minutes ago, barbiecruiser27 said:

when do you know flight dates and times? this will factor into my PTO request

NCL said flight schedules will be sent 60 to 45 days out.  Unless you requested deviation on the flights, NCL will book departure flights that arrive on the same day as embarkation and return flights on the same day as disembarkation.  For cruises out of US ports including Hawaii, all ports can be reached with same-day flights from the east coast (yes, NCL booked me on a 5am flight from east coast to Honolulu connecting at DFW).  With European flights, they depart a day earlier.  You can play around with Google flights and get a general sense of the dates.

Edited June 13, 2021 by Selion

[barbiecruiser27]

This would be Orlando to Greece- so assuming we'd land the day prior and need to book a hotel on our own? Do they select seats together for the flights? Or can you pay extra on the flight to sit with your travel partner?

[saltsandknit]

NCL says at 60 to 45 but ours have always been 40 days or less. we usually fly out at around 11 pm the night before with a layover usually arriving around 10 am. This is totally dependent on your departure airport YMMV.

[barbiecruiser27]

10am embarkation day?

[saltsandknit]

2 minutes ago, barbiecruiser27 said:

This would be Orlando to Greece- so assuming we'd land the day prior and need to book a hotel on our own? Do they select seats together for the flights? Or can you pay extra on the flight to sit with your travel partner?

you will almost always be together and there should not be a fee with the airline to find seats together if for some reason you are not. You will only pay if you purchase upgraded seats. I have not flown out of the country with NCL so I can't give an answer about Greece.

[saltsandknit]

Just now, barbiecruiser27 said:

10am embarkation day?

yes. we seldom fly in the day before a cruise, only if we are traveling in a group