Are Airfares Affecting Your Cruise Plans?

[poocher]

51 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Are flights high, yes. 

 

Is that stopping me, no.

 

 

Helps living spitting distance from the port!! 😁

[neverbeenhere]

I’ve heard some folks live near the Galveston pier so they can go on gulf cruises ad nauseam.  Flights booked for months or with points are still cheap, but will they still fly? 

[Another_Critic]

The last time I flew domestic for a cruise (after TA) was Dec. 2012.

 

The last international flight for a cruise (after TA) was in May.  Going rate for air was $2200 one way.  😞  Used 30k airline points.  🙂

 

Previous international flight for a cruise (before TA) was August 2017.  One way non-stop flight was $282.  🙂

 

Five cruises since restart, and the only flight was the May flight after the TA.

[cruiselvr04]

I wouldn’t call them modest increases either.  Pre pandemic we could fly for 2 to Florida for $600.  Since then they have been closer to $900-$1000.  We can still get to KC cheap to visit our son but airfare to Florida is crazy.  And now we do wonder if they will fly or we’ll be left behind.  We book non stop and first flight of the day going always.

 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

I feel like I paid an outrageous price for 2 round trip flights from the west coast to Miami for a Thanksgiving cruise (it cost me $2,550, I was expecting around $1,000).
 

I booked the cruise before the airfare was available for purchase, and I think it's possible that if I'd seen the airfare prices before booking, I might not have booked the cruise based on principle alone.  
 

The cruise itself only cost $2,514 (ocean view balcony cabin on Symphony). The cruise was originally around $3,000 but there have been some price drops. I wonder if bookings are lower than normal due to the airfare.

 

We're taking a land vacation to Europe in September for a couple weeks, and the round trip airfare only cost me $2,200.
 

I expected the holiday airfare to be more than normal, but was definitely not expecting $2,550. It's not stopping me from taking the cruise but I'm annoyed by it.

 

It's no surprise that Florida residents cruise twice as much when they can pay half the price for the same vacation. Not to mention housing and the cost of living in the south-east is extremely cheap compared to bigger west coast (or northern-east coast) cities . "Expensive" is relative I guess.

 

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[Sweetnspicy]

The price of flights is definitely changing all of my vacation/travel plans unfortunately. 

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Carnival has been offering alaska almost free, just pay port fees and I dont want to take a chance the plane is delayed. I'm more worried about late and cancelled flights than the fare. That I will miss my flight or not get there in time for the hotel shuttle and extra costs.

 

I am flying to oasis next spring and made me think twice tbh.

 

Flight cost has always been a factor in our cruise planning.  Costs more now, but the primary concern, similar to yours, is the uncertainty because of cancellations and delays.  What a mess.  

[ONECRUISER]

Lucky so far Airfare same or Cheaper for my Cruises couple months ago and  my Flights this Sept, Oct, Nov 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Yes. We have been looking at a one week symphony out of Barcelona for next aug, however when added with the airfair/Hotels/transfers it was cheaper for us to do a two week from southampton on P&O Ariva around the Med. Just a nice three hour drive to the port.

[sgmn]

6 hours ago, HicksRA said:

Are any others rethinking some cruises based on the current steep airfares?  

I found a pretty good deal on an Alaskan cruise last month, but airfares were so high I decided not to book it although I would have otherwise. 
 

I have a NZ cruise booked for March out of Brisbane that is the result of several cancellations and L&S’s, but the airfare is over $4300 for 2 people so I’ll probably end up cancelling unless prices drop. Before, it was a repositioning on Radiance to Singapore and the airfare was $1400. 

I’m not booking anything else requiring a flight until/unless fares go back to normal. 

Definitely, we were looking in May for a last minute booking and found a really good price on Wonder OTS but the airfare was way too high

 We booked a cruise out if Southampton instead , one hours drive and £85 parking right next to the ship 

[Jam0610]

Airfare now plays a much larger part in planning a cruise. Tickets booked on Alaska Airlines for August from Kansas City to Seattle. Price was almost twice as much compared to last year.

After Alaska cruise we have changed our plans to booking cruises out of Galveston. Easy drive. No worries about flight delays or paying for baggage. 

 

[Jimbo]

9 hours ago, HicksRA said:

Anyone who can afford the World Cruise can surely sustain modest airfare increases…. 👍😉

See Below, Probably saved $75,000  each on airfare  he hasn't had to buy for all cruises he has been on.😉

8 hours ago, poocher said:

Helps living spitting distance from the port!! 😁

So true..............Doesn't seem so bad to pay the high price for airfare when 75% of the cruises he goes on he drives to the port. 😉

Edited July 11, 2022 by Jimbo

[Jimbo]

11 hours ago, HicksRA said:

Are any others rethinking some cruises based on the current steep airfares?  

I found a pretty good deal on an Alaskan cruise last month, but airfares were so high I decided not to book it although I would have otherwise. 
 

I have a NZ cruise booked for March out of Brisbane that is the result of several cancellations and L&S’s, but the airfare is over $4300 for 2 people so I’ll probably end up cancelling unless prices drop. Before, it was a repositioning on Radiance to Singapore and the airfare was $1400. 

I’m not booking anything else requiring a flight until/unless fares go back to normal. 

Change cruise lines, it's allowed. Look at NCL for Alaska

FREE AIRFARE^

Buy our airfare for one guest, and the second guest flies FREE. Offer includes roundtrip flights to and from where this cruise departs. Airfare is refundable under our risk-free cancellation policies.

[A&L_Ont]

9 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Are flights high, yes. 

 

Is that stopping me, no.

Do you even have to fly for your world cruise?

[Jimbo]

2 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Do you even have to fly for your world cruise?

I would guess not.

 

Ocala to Miami.............only 300 miles, he could make it into a 2 or 3 day drive...😁🤣

Edited July 11, 2022 by Jimbo

[John&LaLa]

10 hours ago, HicksRA said:

Anyone who can afford the World Cruise can surely sustain modest airfare increases…. 👍😉

 

I can afford world cruise because I'm careful with my money on a day to day basis😉

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, poocher said:

Helps living spitting distance from the port!! 😁

 

Flying to Copenhagen in 4 weeks

 

Airfare was 7 grand. Used to be under 5

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

The last time I flew domestic for a cruise (after TA) was Dec. 2012.

 

The last international flight for a cruise (after TA) was in May.  Going rate for air was $2200 one way.  😞  Used 30k airline points.  🙂

 

Previous international flight for a cruise (before TA) was August 2017.  One way non-stop flight was $282.  🙂

 

Five cruises since restart, and the only flight was the May flight after the TA.

 

Our flights to Barcelona for the '21 TA were about 1200 one way

[robmtx]

We had a Feb 2023 cruise get chartered and opted to shift to another offer from Royal. We picked the same itinerary, just a different week in February. We completely neglected to check airfare and are looking at $832pp from Philly to FLL or MIA. So we've started looking at switching again, this time paying the $100 change fees, but we can reduce our expenses by almost $600.

 

And now we remember to always check flight and hotel pricing trends first!

[John&LaLa]

30 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Do you even have to fly for your world cruise?

 

Airfare is included. 

 

Us locals, however, get a paltry $1500 discount off our cruise fare😪

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

I’ve heard some folks live near the Galveston pier so they can go on gulf cruises ad nauseam.  Flights booked for months or with points are still cheap, but will they still fly? 

 

FL cruises ate lame enough after a while. I couldn't imagine just going out of Galveston over and over.

 

PC is doing new southern itineraries to Bermuda and also Southern Caribbean.  Those have added some new life into our choices.

[SimplyAlbert]

We regularly fly from the Northeast to Florida and for the most part spend $250/pp or less roundtrip.  For our cruise this fall it was $340/pp.  I was happy with that as I expected it would be much higher than that.  When we flew to New Orleans in February it was $264/pp.

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

The last time I flew domestic for a cruise (after TA) was Dec. 2012.

 

The last international flight for a cruise (after TA) was in May.  Going rate for air was $2200 one way.  😞  Used 30k airline points.  🙂

 

Previous international flight for a cruise (before TA) was August 2017.  One way non-stop flight was $282.  🙂

 

Five cruises since restart, and the only flight was the May flight after the TA.

 

Forgot to ask. What does (TA) refer to?

[BecciBoo]

We never pay cash for flights, only use our AMEX points for Delta, so I got our flight for Odyssey months ago at normal points.  My go to alternate plan is to drive down but it's a 2 day trip to Ft. Lauderdale.  Hoping all goes well, no cancellations.

[BecciBoo]

43 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

I couldn't imagine just going out of Galveston over and over.

 

HA!  We have for years, in fact I'd say maybe 65% Galveston until we moved here to Arkansas, now we continue to drive down to Galveston for shorties.  7 days will always be out of FL.