NCL Air Fare Offer

[Waglitt]

Hello everyone,

 

Just looking to hear some experiences of cruisers who booked their airfare through NCL.  I ma looking to book a cruise in March on the Prima and they include the 2nd Guest air fare.  It is a major savings compared to booking the air fare myself.  Just not sure if I 'm ready for it.

Thank you

[EvanBedar]

Ok.   Let us know either when you are, or have a question about it, yeah?

[MeHeartCruising]

1 hour ago, Waglitt said:

Hello everyone,

 

Just looking to hear some experiences of cruisers who booked their airfare through NCL.  I ma looking to book a cruise in March on the Prima and they include the 2nd Guest air fare.  It is a major savings compared to booking the air fare myself.  Just not sure if I 'm ready for it.

Thank you

Look down thru the pages of NCL posts. There are numerous posts about people’s experiences.  Some of the threads are several pages long.   
 

Here’s one for example

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by MeHeartCruising

[DAVLIB007]

17 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Look down thru the pages of NCL posts. There are numerous posts about people’s experiences.  Some of the threads are several pages long.   
 

Here’s one for example

 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Waglitt said:

Hello everyone,

 

Just looking to hear some experiences of cruisers who booked their airfare through NCL.  I ma looking to book a cruise in March on the Prima and they include the 2nd Guest air fare.  It is a major savings compared to booking the air fare myself.  Just not sure if I 'm ready for it.

Thank you

I'm doing the same in march on the prima. i have used the free airfare once with NCL it wasn't too bad just a longer layover on the way back. we flew nonstop in and one stop back. we fly from dallas which seems to get better flights. we will see. I am going in 2 days early so it shouldn't be too bad. you can request to come in earlier with a little add on charge

[NightOne]

19 hours ago, Waglitt said:

Hello everyone,

 

Just looking to hear some experiences of cruisers who booked their airfare through NCL.  I ma looking to book a cruise in March on the Prima and they include the 2nd Guest air fare.  It is a major savings compared to booking the air fare myself.  Just not sure if I 'm ready for it.

Thank you

 

I've heard all the negative stuff about NCL Air but the price was just too cheap to pass up for our November NCL Joy cruise to Bermuda.

 

We paid $298 with the BOGO sale. We asked for a 2 day deviation (early) and they gave us back $25 for doing that. So the total airfare we paid to NCL was $273 which is the equivalent of $136.50 per person. We figured at that price we could afford to completely purchase new flights if they were so horrible that we wouldn't accept them.

 

We have almost no direct flights from our airport (MEM) except for Atlanta and a couple of other cities so I was expected to have long connecting flights and a 12-15 hour day.

 

64 days before the cruise we received the flight info from NCL.

 

We were booked on the 6:28am flight on United that is a nonstop flight to Newark.  The return flight is at 9:06pm from Newark. We were able to login into the United website and see our flights. Seats had been assigned on the departing flight but not on the return flight but we were able to immediately choose seats on the return flight.

 

Flights were economy so they included carry-ons and assigned seats. Baggage fees for our checked bags were to be $35 per person per flight so $35+$35+$35+$35 = $140 in baggage fees. 

 

United is now offering "bundles" of options and we choose one that included premium economy seats and checked bags for $121 per person per flight. So we booked that for $484 total. Add in the $273 we paid up front we are in for a total of $757 or $378.50 per person. We could have stayed in the regular economy seats and been in for a total of $413 total or $206.50 per person. We made the decision that we wanted the roomier seats and $378.50pp is still a good deal from MEM. Sometimes the prices are so high here that we drive to Nashville to take flights for 50% less (or more).

 

The current price today of the economy flight direct from United is $805 and $1124 for economy plus. That price does not include checked bags. So the totals would be $945 and $1264 respectively.

 

So we saved $507 vs booking on our own. If we would have stayed in the economy seats our savings would have been $532 and we would only have put out $140 more.

 

So in this case we're happy with the flights and the pricing. We still have to take the flights but the 2 day deviation makes me not worry about delays.

 

Hopefully everything goes well in regards to weather and flight cancellations. 🙂

[rodndonna]

19 hours ago, Waglitt said:

Hello everyone,

 

Just looking to hear some experiences of cruisers who booked their airfare through NCL.  I ma looking to book a cruise in March on the Prima and they include the 2nd Guest air fare.  It is a major savings compared to booking the air fare myself.  Just not sure if I 'm ready for it.

Thank you

 

You can compare the cost of the flights yourself as they will quote the cost for the flight. You can then compare to what you can find on your own or what you would expect the airfare to be. 

[NightOne]

One tip I would also add:

 

Before booking NCL Air go to Google flights and search for all the possible flights for your cruise. You will see the worst possible flights and the pricing. In our case the worst flights were acceptable and the pricing was a lot more than we were paying.

 

NCL doesn't have their own airplanes so you are getting booked on one of the commercial carriers. 😉

 

 

[EvanBedar]

I just want to point out that every single respondent is making “price” their only talking point to sell this package to the OP.   “Use NCL.  It will be cheaper.”  
 

Not everyone considers only price when making a purchase decision, although… I know … it’s how we’ve been trained in America to be good little consumers.   But I personally also need to consider space on an 8 hour flight.  I do not want to die of a pulmonary embolism for a cruise.  And as long as I’m considering it, I may as well consider advantages.   So even if I do use NCL’s flights, the first thing I do after I have a confirmation number is look for the offer from the airline to upgrade to premium economy.   In the case of United this gives me 4 inches of leg room, priority boarding, and 2 free checked bags.   Then?   I mozey on over and choose my seats.  A little more?   Yes.   But as I said, it just depends on whether you’re a “price is all that matters” person.  

[DebA2]

We received our flight info today 43 days out, and I am very pleased. Outbound we are on Delta with a a brief layover in CDG, and I was able to use their app and my status to select preferred seats. Return flight is AC, but the times are great. Yes, we saved money, but also received a good itinerary.

[NightOne]

1 hour ago, EvanBedar said:

I just want to point out that every single respondent is making “price” their only talking point to sell this package to the OP.   “Use NCL.  It will be cheaper.”  
 

 

 

Maybe you didn't read all of my post. Price was just one factor. I did pay more to upgrade seats which clearly wasn't the cheapest option. 🙂

[Oxo]

2 hours ago, EvanBedar said:

I just want to point out that every single respondent is making “price” their only talking point to sell this package to the OP.   “Use NCL.  It will be cheaper.”  
 

Not everyone considers only price when making a purchase decision, although… I know … it’s how we’ve been trained in America to be good little consumers.   But I personally also need to consider space on an 8 hour flight.  I do not want to die of a pulmonary embolism for a cruise.  And as long as I’m considering it, I may as well consider advantages.   So even if I do use NCL’s flights, the first thing I do after I have a confirmation number is look for the offer from the airline to upgrade to premium economy.   In the case of United this gives me 4 inches of leg room, priority boarding, and 2 free checked bags.   Then?   I mozey on over and choose my seats.  A little more?   Yes.   But as I said, it just depends on whether you’re a “price is all that matters” person.  

Thanks for your opinion. Now we have yours and others, too. 

That is the best part of having choices. We choose and we have choices.