An Airline Hack That Just Worked for Us--Hope it Helps Others

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, Redtravel said:

It works on all airlines.  It’s great when you book using miles.  Direct flights cost more miles.   Once there is a flight change, you can ask for the direct flight.   

 

And just what are these "all airlines"?  Award tickets are a completely different animal, with different fare rules.  There is no automatic entitlement to a non-stop flight.  Nor to just any flights you want.  There must be availability in the appropriate award fare bucket -- and only in very rare circumstances (usually for high-level elite flyers) can they force additional inventory into the award bucket.

[FlyerTalker]

16 minutes ago, fasterflier said:

They then take responsibility for deviations that might cause you to delay or miss the ship or a myriad of other malaise.  

 

Please show me where this is provided for in the actual terms and conditions of cruiseline provided air.

 

It's one of the great urban legends of cruising.

 

 

[fasterflier]

3 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Please show me where this is provided for in the actual terms and conditions of cruiseline provided air.

 

It's one of the great urban legends of cruising.

 

 

Really?  

[YoPhilly]

34 minutes ago, fasterflier said:

Really?  

To wit:

Oceania Cruises accepts no liability or responsibility, whether occasioned by railroad, motor coach, private car, boat, aircraft or any other conveyance, for any injuries, damages, loss, accident, delay or irregularity which may be caused either by reason of defect through the acts or defaults of any company or person or in carrying out the arrangements of the cruise or cruise tour as a result of any cause beyond the control of Oceania Cruises. 

Further,

In making these arrangements, Oceania Cruises acts only as an agent on the Guest's behalf, and does not operate, control, or supervise any airlines and is not responsible for carriers failing to meet schedules. Air tickets are refundable to Oceania Cruises only and considered a part of the total cruise tour fare. Any airline-imposed fees that result from changes to or cancellation of air arrangements are the sole responsibility of the Guest. Due to government regulations, if you are delayed or unable to board at embarkation, you may not be able to board at a later time. In such event, Carrier shall have no liability to refund any cruise or cruise tour fares.

Edited April 11, 2023 by YoPhilly

[fasterflier]

1 hour ago, YoPhilly said:

To wit:

Oceania Cruises accepts no liability or responsibility, whether occasioned by railroad, motor coach, private car, boat, aircraft or any other conveyance, for any injuries, damages, loss, accident, delay or irregularity which may be caused either by reason of defect through the acts or defaults of any company or person or in carrying out the arrangements of the cruise or cruise tour as a result of any cause beyond the control of Oceania Cruises. 

Further,

In making these arrangements, Oceania Cruises acts only as an agent on the Guest's behalf, and does not operate, control, or supervise any airlines and is not responsible for carriers failing to meet schedules. Air tickets are refundable to Oceania Cruises only and considered a part of the total cruise tour fare. Any airline-imposed fees that result from changes to or cancellation of air arrangements are the sole responsibility of the Guest. Due to government regulations, if you are delayed or unable to board at embarkation, you may not be able to board at a later time. In such event, Carrier shall have no liability to refund any cruise or cruise tour fares.

Thanks for extracting that...in hindsight, it is probably always best to go to the embarkation port city one or two days before.  

[jonthomas]

Yes and now if you use O air and accept the flights they give you, there is no deviation fee for going in earlier.

For those of you that have 15 loyalty credits with O , how does this new policy affect you. Have you just lost a loyalty perk?

[Fam_Cruise]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:12 PM, FlyerTalker said:

Pricing for revenue tickets is often high when schedules are just released because airlines need to hedge against cost increases that may occur between release and flight date.  In general (and that is a broad concept), prices will lower as you move towards flight date and then rise.  However, there is no universal, or even accepted, time when that turn about occurs.

For economy fares that is true.  However for business class that used to be the case sometimes, however IME post-covid I have found with all the revenge travel happening that people are purchasing business class earlier and prices ALMOST always rise.  An example is the Iberia business class round trip fare I purchased 354 days out (many non-US airlines you may book 354 days out) for $1749 USD and it is now pricing out at $4385.

 

Some of you may find the following of interest so I thought I'd share it:

 

Also there are RTW products that a few of you may be interested in.  I was doing one yearly prior to Covid, and actually finished up one last fall that I started in December of 2019 as they extended the 12 month deadline by a couple years due to the pandemic.  I'm not going to going to go into too much detail but will provide some info and a couple examples of pricing, and if you're interested you can check out more in the The Oneworld Explorer User Guide from the flyertalk oneworld forum. 

 

Prices are based on originating country and vary based on currency fluctuation.  Examples in USD and exclude taxes and fees which can add $1200-2500: Originating in Norway 3 continent business class $4965, 4 continent business class $5492; originating in Egypt 3 continent business class $4214, 4 continent business class $4570; originating in Japan 3 continent FIRST class $7501, 4 continent FIRST class $8841. The reason for originating these in other countries; here are prices for originating in the US for 3 and 4 continent business and 3 and 4 continent first class respectively excluding taxes: $10426, $11071, $14296, and $15479 

 

Within each continent you can fly back-and-forth, but you must circumnavigate the world in one direction.  3 continent tickets only include the northern hemisphere continents of NA, EU (includes Middle East and northern Africa), and Asia. If you want to include a southern hemisphere continent, then you are required to do a 4 continent ticket as all northern hemisphere continents are accessed (in theory per the rules) even if they are not actually accessed. A lot more rules so see the link above or for the actual rules go to https://www.oneworld.com/world-travel and scroll to the bottom of the page and click the down arrow next to the question: How Much Does A Round The World Ticket Cost.  There is a link there to download the oneworld Explorer fare rules.

 

FWIW, in the past I've done the first class RTW tickets. First class is really nice on the TPAC, TATL and Asia/Australia to Europe flights and Cathay Pacific is the nicest of the oneworld first class IMO with JL and QR coming in a close second, and MH and QF coming in third.  QR has limited routes though.   I hesitate doing first class now until researching the increase of first class availability on Cathay Pacific as they just resumed operations in the past few months. Also in that respect, researching transiting Hong Kong, too. I'm resuming my RTW tickets spring of 2024 but will probably do business class ex-OSL or ex-CAI depending on what originating city has the best price when I book. 

 

I use oneworld Explorer tickets that originate in another country for two trips as the first half will bring me home, then I use a few of the 16 flights segments to fly within the US, and then resume my travel for the latter half to go elsewhere and finally return to my originating country. While these are used primarily for land-based travel I often insert a 14-25 day cruise into the itinerary. You have 12 months from the date of the first flight to complete the RTW ticket.  Note: Star Alliance also has a RTW product but it is mileage based instead of continent based; I find the oneworld RTW product more to my liking.  SkyTeam RTW product has been suspended since the onset of the pandemic.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Fam_Cruise
Typo

[Fam_Cruise]

< Duplicate Post Deleted >

Edited April 12, 2023 by Fam_Cruise

[davencl]

18 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

 

 

It's one of the great urban legends of cruising.

 

 

I could not agree more.  So many threads on CC where posters thought getting to ship using cruiselines airfare was guaranteed.  

Edited April 12, 2023 by davencl

[Sthrngary]

25 minutes ago, davencl said:

I could not agree more.  So many threads on CC where posters thought getting to ship using cruiselines airfare was guaranteed.  

@davencl My first attempt at cruising on Oceania was 2020 with our best friends.  Covid-19 forced a cancelation as happened to so many others.  When planning that original cruise, I begged my friends to absolutely come at least the one day before the cruise embarkment.  They had never cruised before and told me,

 

"if we book our air with Oceania Air, they will hold the ship for us if the flights

they gave us are late."

 

Their real issue was the Pre-Hotel Expense if they came in a day early, because they are stretching their budget.   

 

I knew better and it was even worse since the flights were to Europe.  Nothing I could say or do would change their minds.  Then the cruise got cancelled.  Fast forward. We rebooked for November 2023.  This time I booked everything for both couples. This included the Oceania Pre-Cruise Hotel in Athens on purpose and did not ask permission.  This meant Oceania would be obligated to fly them in the day before if they choose to use Oceania Air.  I know this rule allowing a day or two early has recently changed but at the time, that was NOT the case. 

 

We ended up booking our flights direct with the airline.  We also cancelled the pre-cruise hotel and booked it directly with the actual hotel for a huge savings. All it takes is one cruise to feel the anxiety and stress of Airline Issues.  I and many others have felt this feeling and I want to avoid it for the rest of my life.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[scamper]

On 4/11/2023 at 3:00 AM, JoePDX said:

1.  As soon as air routes are available, generally 330 days in advance, I start checking fares and routings.   I use Kayak and Google Flights in addition to airline websites. We fly almost exclusively Delta, so I also check Air France and KLM for code shares.   Kayak and Google Flights are good at finding  these.   I have found it is often less to fly on a KLM or Air France code share than on a Delta flight number, or a mix and match.  And I still get my full Delta Skymiles benefits (I am Platinum).  I do this to start understanding where fares are and the fluctuations.

 

 

Not to go off topic, but educate me: does the extra special relationship between Delta/KLM/Air France provide full MQM/MQS/MQD (especially MQD) when booking through any carrier's site, or just on Delta (for Medallions)?  I'm a lowly silver and I'd like to keep it since Delta raised qualifications for higher levels and I don't travel that much.  I also know that sometimes the earnings have as much to do with whichever carrier's metal you fly on.  I also use ita matrix to check fares and oftentimes the fare differences are extremely wide.

[JoePDX]

5 minutes ago, scamper said:

 

Not to go off topic, but educate me: does the extra special relationship between Delta/KLM/Air France provide full MQM/MQS/MQD (especially MQD) when booking through any carrier's site, or just on Delta (for Medallions)?  I'm a lowly silver and I'd like to keep it since Delta raised qualifications for higher levels and I don't travel that much.  I also know that sometimes the earnings have as much to do with whichever carrier's metal you fly on.  I also use ita matrix to check fares and oftentimes the fare differences are extremely wide.

 

 

Hi @scamper -

 

Yes, it has been my experience that MQM/MQS/MQD all are earned regardless of Carrier.  Now my experience has been booking a KLM flight number that actually flies on a Delta jet.   If yoku want to get into the details - this seems to confirm:   https://www.delta.com/us/en/skymiles/how-to-earn-miles/airline-partners

 

One other hack - I have the AMEX Delta Platinum.   It is very easy to charge $25,000 a year and get the MQD waived.   I charge our car insurance, house insurance, cable, cell phones and all of our utilities to the card.   Add on top of that any travel expenses and it is easy to get to $25,000 a year.

 

Joe

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

@Sthrngary  I am looking at a comparison of O vs. RSSC vs NCL vs X for next year.  I know that you are also a compulsive planner like me.  Would you mind sharing your spreadsheet that lists the factors you used to determine which cruise line for your European cruise?  I have put one together, but feel certain I have missed some critical point.  TIA!  Karla.

[Sthrngary]

8 minutes ago, Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin said:

@Sthrngary  I am looking at a comparison of O vs. RSSC vs NCL vs X for next year.  I know that you are also a compulsive planner like me.  Would you mind sharing your spreadsheet that lists the factors you used to determine which cruise line for your European cruise?  I have put one together, but feel certain I have missed some critical point.  TIA!  Karla.

@Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin I am happy to help.  Please remember some of the prices/fares have changed.  I want you to know WHY I originally did this sheet and be completely transparent. 

 

I wanted to cruise on Regent Seven Seas Cruises because I originally thought it was totally and completely all inclusive.  Study told me it was close but not 100%. When I say that the fares for RSSC were close to buying a New SUV, I extended my search out to other brands and stateroom categories. 

 

I love the "Ship-With-In-A-Ship" concept that MSC, NCL and Celebrity so I included NCL and Celebrity. I than included the suite below the VIP area for comparison.  I then added Added Oceania.  

 

Once Oceania had the four category upgrade in Sept of 2022, my decision was made.  I like bigger suites and I am not ashamed to say having a butler can make my cruise. I booked two penthouse suites (PH3) and stopped working on the spread sheet.  Let me add, there is a tab at the bottom of the spread sheet that has some good information as well. 

 

If you have any question, simply reach out to me using @sthrngary and I will respond. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Regent_Excel_01252023.xlsx

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

@Sthrngary  Thank you for sharing, Gary.  I think that we are usually looking for similar cruise experiences, so knew that you would include items I am also concerned about!  Karla.

[PaulMCO]

7 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin I am happy to help.  Please remember some of the prices/fares have changed.  I want you to know WHY I originally did this sheet and be completely transparent. 

 

I wanted to cruise on Regent Seven Seas Cruises because I originally thought it was totally and completely all inclusive.  Study told me it was close but not 100%. When I say that the fares for RSSC were close to buying a New SUV, I extended my search out to other brands and stateroom categories. 

 

I love the "Ship-With-In-A-Ship" concept that MSC, NCL and Celebrity so I included NCL and Celebrity. I than included the suite below the VIP area for comparison.  I then added Added Oceania.  

 

Once Oceania had the four category upgrade in Sept of 2022, my decision was made.  I like bigger suites and I am not ashamed to say having a butler can make my cruise. I booked two penthouse suites (PH3) and stopped working on the spread sheet.  Let me add, there is a tab at the bottom of the spread sheet that has some good information as well. 

 

If you have any question, simply reach out to me using @sthrngary and I will respond. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Regent_Excel_01252023.xlsx 34.2 kB · 6 downloads

It is unfortunate you have to do same with every cruise.

 

We did same with Crystal versus Marina for a 2018 Amazon Cruise PH for both and Crystal won

 

Our upcoming Japan cruise Regent versus Nautical versus SS  -- Regent came out ahead because they had a special on a 2 cabin free upgrade.

 

Of course what I usually do (the Engineer in me) is to equalize each and get rid of the fluff.  Because when comparing Oceania and Regent there is lots of "free" which is not really free.

 

Get rid of the air, get rid of the "free one night", get rid of the excursions if you can (or use a value of $100 for each), free 3 day land tour on Regent -- there is a credit for this if you do not want it...

 

Then you can compare... decide what you want to buy or use frequent points/miles for air or hotels.

[Sthrngary]

10 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

It is unfortunate you have to do same with every cruise.

 

We did same with Crystal versus Marina for a 2018 Amazon Cruise PH for both and Crystal won

 

Our upcoming Japan cruise Regent versus Nautical versus SS  -- Regent came out ahead because they had a special on a 2 cabin free upgrade.

 

Of course what I usually do (the Engineer in me) is to equalize each and get rid of the fluff.  Because when comparing Oceania and Regent there is lots of "free" which is not really free.

 

Get rid of the air, get rid of the "free one night", get rid of the excursions if you can (or use a value of $100 for each), free 3 day land tour on Regent -- there is a credit for this if you do not want it...

 

Then you can compare... decide what you want to buy or use frequent points/miles for air or hotels.

@PaulMCO I always love your posts.  I have to agree that doing a comparison needs to be done to decide on every cruise.  It becomes easier because the Amenities are the same based on stateroom.  Also that you basically use the spreadsheet you make as a template for the next cruise adventure.  

 

I am sure you would agree, once you have done this kind of due diligence once or twice, you kind of know the three brands that will be the top choice.  Either way, I find the entire process enjoyable where some really do not.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[PaulMCO]

4 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@PaulMCO I always love your posts.  I have to agree that doing a comparison needs to be done to decide on every cruise.  It becomes easier because the Amenities are the same based on stateroom.  Also that you basically use the spreadsheet you make as a template for the next cruise adventure.  

 

I am sure you would agree, once you have done this kind of due diligence once or twice, you kind of know the three brands that will be the top choice.  Either way, I find the entire process enjoyable where some really do not.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

It's the Engineer in me that does this   🙂

[SNUBES]

On 4/11/2023 at 5:09 PM, Sthrngary said:

@fasterflier All very true. Pros/Cons to doing it either way. My point in all this is, know what works best for you. Do your due diligence.  Every one has different needs and approach. Evaluate and decide. 
 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I absolutely agree. For those who are not very savvy with the airfare games or just don’t want to get into it for whatever reason, cruise line airfare is the ticket.

I am for one enjoy the game and spend couple of hours a day playing with it (retired). For our O cruise out of Sydney in march of 2024 I started to play with it way out of 330 days out (mock up dates) just to get a feel of who flies where and different combinations and flights share possibilities. You be surprised what you can come up with. But again you have to enjoy doing it. Same goes for hotels. 
still have not pulled the trigger even though it’s within the date range for outbound flight but not for return. Will have to do two one ways. Comes out much better than multi. So the game is still on. 

[Sthrngary]

5 minutes ago, SNUBES said:

I absolutely agree. For those who are not very savvy with the airfare games or just don’t want to get into it for whatever reason, cruise line airfare is the ticket.

I am for one enjoy the game and spend couple of hours a day playing with it (retired). For our O cruise out of Sydney in march of 2024 I started to play with it way out of 330 days out (mock up dates) just to get a feel of who flies where and different combinations and flights share possibilities. You be surprised what you can come up with. But again you have to enjoy doing it. Same goes for hotels. 
still have not pulled the trigger even though it’s within the date range for outbound flight but not for return. Will have to do two one ways. Comes out much better than multi. So the game is still on. 

You just made a really important point.  I hesitate to even mention it because there are some who are really experts on flights.  They are sure to correct my thoughts which is always welcomed.  

 

The point you made was a Multi-Flight (Arriving at one airport/country and leaving from another) cost more money or points than round trip to the same country/airport.  I did mock bookings and that became clear.  I also realized I could do one ways and it would work out also.  However since I was going into Athens and out of Barcelona; it was better to book at the same time. I even looked what it would take if I did round trip to Barcelona and took another flight from Barcelona to Athens.  

 

All the research was fun and really helped me do the right things.  Thank you so much for your comments. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[FlyerTalker]

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

The point you made was a Multi-Flight (Arriving at one airport/country and leaving from another) cost more money or points than round trip to the same country/airport.  I did mock bookings and that became clear.  I also realized I could do one ways and it would work out also.

 

Semi-technical discussion to follow.  Because terminology and fare rules matter.

 

This discussion about "multi-flight" or "multi-city" deals with the airline concept known as "open jaw".

 

Open jaw refers to a ticket where you have a triangle of three cities in a maximum of two regions (basically continents, for simplicity).  You fly two out of the three sides of the triangle, with the unflown segment being the "open jaw".  For example, let's use New York, London and Rome.  You can fly into London and back from Rome and that's an open jaw.  You could also do this with the open jaw in the region of the origin city.  You could fly New York to London and then London to Miami.  Two sides of that triangle.

 

The price for this ticket is the sum of a) half the round trip for the cities on the first flown leg, plus b) half the round trip for the cities of the second flown leg.  For hypothetical purpose, let's say the r/t for NYC-LON is $2500 and the r/t for ROM-NYC is $3000.  Your price would be $1250 + $1500 = $2750.

 

It's because the overall price depends on the pricing for each segment, this can thus result in a price that is either more or less expensive than a simple round trip to either of the cities.

 

Now, there is a limitation to this fare construction.  Looking at the triangle, the unflown leg must be shortest distance (and all these distance calculations are straight line distances, without consideration for connections or flight paths).  If it's not, then you can't use an open-jaw fare construction.  (For a great resource on great circle distances, try www.gcmap.com)

 

An example of this limitation is if you flew NYC to BCN for a crossing, then wanted to fly home to New York from Miami.  The distance from BCN to MIA is the unflown leg, but it's not the shortest.  That's the MIA-NYC segment, which is flown.  Thus, this routing would not be eligible for open jaw pricing.

 

There are some crossings where you can do open jaw.  For example, if you were in San Francisco and flew to Lisbon for a crossing to Rio.  Interestingly, the distance from Lisbon to Rio is shorter than either SFO-LIS or SFO-GIG.  Same with Seattle or Los Angeles.

 

Hopefully that clears up when you can get a quasi-roundtrip pricing and when you can't.

 

 

[AMHuntFerry]

25 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Semi-technical discussion to follow.  Because terminology and fare rules matter.

 

This discussion about "multi-flight" or "multi-city" deals with the airline concept known as "open jaw".

 

Open jaw refers to a ticket where you have a triangle of three cities in a maximum of two regions (basically continents, for simplicity).  You fly two out of the three sides of the triangle, with the unflown segment being the "open jaw".  For example, let's use New York, London and Rome.  You can fly into London and back from Rome and that's an open jaw.  You could also do this with the open jaw in the region of the origin city.  You could fly New York to London and then London to Miami.  Two sides of that triangle.

 

The price for this ticket is the sum of a) half the round trip for the cities on the first flown leg, plus b) half the round trip for the cities of the second flown leg.  For hypothetical purpose, let's say the r/t for NYC-LON is $2500 and the r/t for ROM-NYC is $3000.  Your price would be $1250 + $1500 = $2750.

 

It's because the overall price depends on the pricing for each segment, this can thus result in a price that is either more or less expensive than a simple round trip to either of the cities.

 

Now, there is a limitation to this fare construction.  Looking at the triangle, the unflown leg must be shortest distance (and all these distance calculations are straight line distances, without consideration for connections or flight paths).  If it's not, then you can't use an open-jaw fare construction.  (For a great resource on great circle distances, try www.gcmap.com)

 

An example of this limitation is if you flew NYC to BCN for a crossing, then wanted to fly home to New York from Miami.  The distance from BCN to MIA is the unflown leg, but it's not the shortest.  That's the MIA-NYC segment, which is flown.  Thus, this routing would not be eligible for open jaw pricing.

 

There are some crossings where you can do open jaw.  For example, if you were in San Francisco and flew to Lisbon for a crossing to Rio.  Interestingly, the distance from Lisbon to Rio is shorter than either SFO-LIS or SFO-GIG.  Same with Seattle or Los Angeles.

 

Hopefully that clears up when you can get a quasi-roundtrip pricing and when you can't.

 

 

Thank you. While I am no expert, I have found open jaws to be cost/time effective (i.e., half the price of RTs for both combos). Sometimes I play around with variations (like flying RT to LHR than regional one-ways) and find something better, but it's often not worth the hassle.

[Sthrngary]

33 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Semi-technical discussion to follow.  Because terminology and fare rules matter.

 

This discussion about "multi-flight" or "multi-city" deals with the airline concept known as "open jaw".

 

Open jaw refers to a ticket where you have a triangle of three cities in a maximum of two regions (basically continents, for simplicity).  You fly two out of the three sides of the triangle, with the unflown segment being the "open jaw".  For example, let's use New York, London and Rome.  You can fly into London and back from Rome and that's an open jaw.  You could also do this with the open jaw in the region of the origin city.  You could fly New York to London and then London to Miami.  Two sides of that triangle.

 

The price for this ticket is the sum of a) half the round trip for the cities on the first flown leg, plus b) half the round trip for the cities of the second flown leg.  For hypothetical purpose, let's say the r/t for NYC-LON is $2500 and the r/t for ROM-NYC is $3000.  Your price would be $1250 + $1500 = $2750.

 

It's because the overall price depends on the pricing for each segment, this can thus result in a price that is either more or less expensive than a simple round trip to either of the cities.

 

Now, there is a limitation to this fare construction.  Looking at the triangle, the unflown leg must be shortest distance (and all these distance calculations are straight line distances, without consideration for connections or flight paths).  If it's not, then you can't use an open-jaw fare construction.  (For a great resource on great circle distances, try www.gcmap.com)

 

An example of this limitation is if you flew NYC to BCN for a crossing, then wanted to fly home to New York from Miami.  The distance from BCN to MIA is the unflown leg, but it's not the shortest.  That's the MIA-NYC segment, which is flown.  Thus, this routing would not be eligible for open jaw pricing.

 

There are some crossings where you can do open jaw.  For example, if you were in San Francisco and flew to Lisbon for a crossing to Rio.  Interestingly, the distance from Lisbon to Rio is shorter than either SFO-LIS or SFO-GIG.  Same with Seattle or Los Angeles.

 

Hopefully that clears up when you can get a quasi-roundtrip pricing and when you can't.

 

 

@FlyerTalker You are one interesting and educated traveler.  I can't thank you enough for your incite.  Flying and flight are truly you area of expertise and we can all learn a lot from you.  Thank you for taking the time to educate us all.  It matters. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[FlyerTalker]

Glad to share what little I know.  There are lots of misconceptions out there, and I'm a big believer in making people educated consumers. And glad to answer questions, either here or in the Cruise Air forum - where there are folks that know more then me.

[the more ports the better]

Flyer, you should explain the UA policy of filling in the open jaw with an extra stop for no cost.  You can probably explain it better than me!  
 

Say sailing BCN to Venice but want to spend four days in Athens pre cruise.  Fly ORD-ATH ATH-VCN BCN-ORD