Cruise Only bargains but are DIY long-haul worth the risk?

[Bertie Doe]

We've been looking at cruises on board NCL Sky for May or June '23, round trips from Miami. The cruise only, seaview cabins look good with a 33% reduction.

 

Example ; The Miami/Caribbean, round trip 10 day, 8 ports, comm on 29th May '23 Seaviews down from £1238pp to £840pp two sharing. However, the fly/cruise price is £2144 pp. Which means that the flight element is £1304 pp. I guess these are charter overnight direct flights from UK, arriving mid morning on the 29th.

 

The ticket search engines I looked at, do not offer overnight's, but direct flights arriving late afternoon on the 28th had prices from £522 to £594 pp return, via KLM, Virgin, BA, Iberia and AA. This gives you a surplus fund of £700+ pp to cover overnight hotel, food and taxi to terminal, with perhaps Miami sightseeing thrown in?

 

We've done shorthaul flights to say Barcelona and Rome with Easyjet but they provide numerous flights per day - so plenty of backup. The dangers of missing the ship's departure are real but has anyone had problems with DIY longhauls please? Also any feedback on the positive side of arranging your own flights, would be welcome. TIA. Bertie.

[alysonofagun]

Fellow UK-er here! I've done lots of cruises out of the US and always booked everything separately, never had any problems (touch wood) and been able to pick dates/flights that suit me. 

 

My only suggestion would be to fly in at least 2 days early if possible - that first afternoon on arrival can be a bit of a write off with travel, tiredness and fighting jetlag, and secondly, if your bags don't make your flight for whatever reason, they can be put on the next day's without you having to worry about arrival time. Always take some spare clothes, meds etc in your hand luggage just in case. Slightly less of a worry with direct flights than if you have a connection, so it would probably depend on where you're flying from. 

 

[phillygwm]

20 minutes ago, alysonofagun said:

My only suggestion would be to fly in at least 2 days early if possible - that first afternoon on arrival can be a bit of a write off with travel, tiredness and fighting jetlag, and secondly, if your bags don't make your flight for whatever reason, they can be put on the next day's without you having to worry about arrival time. Always take some spare clothes, meds etc in your hand luggage just in case. Slightly less of a worry with direct flights than if you have a connection, so it would probably depend on where you're flying from. 

 

And always have trip insurance.  Doesn't really matter where you're traveling from/to, something can go wrong.

[KeithJenner]

We never use NCLs flights.
 

There is extremely little risk in doing your own flights to the US as you have to fly in the day before anyway, so it would need a quite major issue for flight delays to cause you a problem getting the ship.

 

As said above, if you can fly in a couple of days early then that is better, but I never find jet lag a problem going that way to the east coast, so it isn’t a major problem for us to fly in the day before. 

[sanger727]

I think that most people in the US book their own flights. We always do. And yes, we have done long haul flights for cruises. I agree with @alysonofagun. I wouldn't arrive late on the 28th for departure on the 29th. It's unlikely that you won't make it but between customs and jet lag, you certainly won't have any time for sight seeing. Why not arrive on the 27th and have zero worries if you flight comes in late?

[Bertie Doe]

Yep, thanks all, getting in 2 days early makes sense and we've always wanted to grab some excusions in Florida. I guess it'll be like New Orleans without the humidity 😀

[phillygwm]

16 minutes ago, Bertie Doe said:

Yep, thanks all, getting in 2 days early makes sense and we've always wanted to grab some excusions in Florida. I guess it'll be like New Orleans without the humidity 😀

Hate to disabuse you but Florida heat and humidity is as bad as/worse than NOLA.  That said, definitely agree with those who advise getting in a couple days early.  Miami, Fort Lauderdale, etc. are nice places to visit.

[Bertie Doe]

12 hours ago, phillygwm said:

Hate to disabuse you but Florida heat and humidity is as bad as/worse than NOLA.  That said, definitely agree with those who advise getting in a couple days early.  Miami, Fort Lauderdale, etc. are nice places to visit.

Ah, I didn't realise Miami's humidity. Our only 2 trips to the US were 30 years apart, both to NO, quite energy sapping 😎 but enjoyable. Will def check out excursions for Miami and Fort L, thanks.

[KeithJenner]

25 minutes ago, Bertie Doe said:

Ah, I didn't realise Miami's humidity. Our only 2 trips to the US were 30 years apart, both to NO, quite energy sapping 😎 but enjoyable. Will def check out excursions for Miami and Fort L, thanks.

When we’ve stayed in Miami pre or post cruise we have often headed out to the Everglades, which I would recommend. There are plenty of decent hotels around the airport and further West, which are a lot cheaper than being in the city. You could do with a car though.

[CruzinMel]

6 hours ago, Bertie Doe said:

Ah, I didn't realise Miami's humidity. Our only 2 trips to the US were 30 years apart, both to NO, quite energy sapping 😎 but enjoyable. Will def check out excursions for Miami and Fort L, thanks.

I live in Middle Georgia, with its fair share of humidity - when I get to Miami, those first few breaths feel like I need gills.  Sunscreen is a must, drinking fluids is vital, and don't be surprised if you feel like a souffle in the middle of the day.

 

That said, I love Miami.  My experience has involved more driving than I did in NOLA - there, we got a hotel close to the Quarter and walked or took a bus/train.  In Miami, we rented a car or did Uber - it seemed less walkable to me.

[SimplyAlbert]

I always book my own airfare.  I like being in control.  Even traveling domestically for a cruise we get to the port city two days before.  We used to just go the day before, but almost missed a cruise one year due to intense thunderstorms up and down the East Coast, so now we start our trips two days early.  

[Bertie Doe]

Thanks Keith, Mel and Albert, getting there 2 days early looks fave. I hadn't thought about a car for Miami and the Everglades. I'll have a look at Hertz' prices.

 

[Mlake09]

I’m sorry if this is an obvious question, but what is the difference between Cruise Only and Cruise Next?

[eileeshb]

I’m based in Ireland and have cruised out of Miami 3 times, each time flew over via Heathrow arriving at least 2 days before the cruise. 
For the first one I booked via a travel agent as it was my very first cruise and I booked it within 30days of departure so they got me a deal including a hotel on the seafront. 
 

on that first cruise I met an Irish guy also on his first cruise, his flight from Ireland got delayed and he wound up arriving into New York in the wee hours, staying over night then flying down to Miami just in time for embarkation.

at the end of that cruise British Airways had their IT meltdown so my flight home was cancelled, thankfully I’d spotted the news and went to the airport early enough that they got me a seat on the Virgin Atlantic flight which made my connection back to Ireland.

 

on the second cruise Ireland and the UK got hit by a major snowstorm and lots of flights got grounded, thankfully it hit after I was in Miami and had cleared in time for my return flight.  
 

I don’t think there was any airline drama for the third one out of Miami.

 

But my most recent cruise was out of Puerto Rico and there was a major snowstorm hitting the northwestern & mid western US states so a lot of my fellow cruise guests had to do major scrambling to get to an airport that was open, there were hertz vans being rented in some cases! And 2 sets of NCL cruise+flight guests were impacted, one lot arrived late but the ship waited for them, however the second lot didn’t make it in time for embarkation and the cruiseline couldn’t get them on flights to meet us at the first port so they were flown to the second island and had to stay there a couple of nights until the ship arrived. 
 

so even booking your flight via NCL is not a guarantee of making it to the ship in time for the whole cruise. 
 

basically if you’re booking long haul save yourself some stress by flying in a couple of days early, and perhaps make sure you know what the alternative flights might be. The day of the BA IT meltdown people in the queue were telling the desk staff what the viable alternatives would be for their particular routing. The local news crew arrived at the airport to do interviews with people in the queue cos it too *hours* to process new bookings for everyone. 

[eileeshb]

20 hours ago, Mlake09 said:

I’m sorry if this is an obvious question, but what is the difference between Cruise Only and Cruise Next?

It’s cruise only or cruise+flights,  cruise next is something else entirely.

Cruise next are vouchers for future cruise deposits you buy during your cruise. 

[lovetravel63-65]

We have done 30+ cruises and we always arrive at least one day before with no problems booking our own flights However with Covid there is an advantage with booking with the cruise company if you have to isolate they can help you to reschedule your return flight if you have booked with the airline I am not sure how easy it would be or if an additional cost.We are now reconsidering future cruises and booking flights with the cruise company for piece of mind but it when I have compared prices sometimes the cruise company price is more or sometimes cheaper