Airfare question for cruises over one year away

[wncretired]

I have been looking to book a cruise to the Mediterranean in July, 2024. I have been trying to see the difference in using NCL’s airfare cost vs booking our own airfare. I can’t seem to find any airline that will price a flight over one year out. Am I missing something here?
 

[Novastar]

Most airlines open flights for booking about 11 months in advance.

[SpacemanSpiff]

^ What Novastar said.

 

However, you might look at similar flight prices for a month or two prior to see what's going on for those flights (though if you're flying on a holiday weekend like July 4, that might not be an accurate representation). 

 

We originally went with the NCL airfare deal, which included a three-day flight deviation that required us to stay in the "official" NCL hotel.  Once airfare became available, we realized we could get a much cheaper hotel (in a better location) which offset the additional cost on the airfare, bought the flights directly from the airline, and were able to cancel the NCL airfare easily.  As always, YMMV.

[julig22]

As long as you are in the US, just book with the airfare now.  Cancel the airfare before final payment if you don't want it. No harm, no foul.

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, julig22 said:

As long as you are in the US, just book with the airfare now.  Cancel the airfare before final payment if you don't want it. No harm, no foul.

We once had a Baltic cruise for our 30th anniversary booked way in advance. (This was on Princess actually, not NCL.) Airfares were not yet posted that far out. Our TA advised us to book the cruise line airfare and then start checking airfares as we could as you said always cancel that before final payment.

 

And then I found a great online only limited time offer deal. I went to book it, and I kept coming up with technical difficulties. After I few tries, I called the phone number provided. After I explained my situation, the customer service rep said my DW's name as well as mine. I had not got to the point of providing that when trying to book the airfare online. It seems we were already booked on the flight by Princess which is why it would not book us when I now tried to get the much, much, better rate. I explained that I had not yet paid anything and could in fact cancel everything before final payment. The rep suggested I cancel and then try again. I said please book us as I never want to have no flight booked. She relented as I promised to cancel with the TA as soon as I got off the phone with her.

 

So, it may not be quite as easy as you have said.

 

 

 

[hallux]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

So, it may not be quite as easy as you have said.

NCL doesn't book the BOGO airfare until less than 60 days before sailing, your situation would not arise with that deal.

[celestialcruiser]

It is my understanding that you have no control over the flights that the cruiseline books for you. That alone is reason for me to want to book my own flights. I'd rather pay a little more than have horrible connections or late/inconvenient departure/arrival times. 

[SpacemanSpiff]

 

6 minutes ago, celestialcruiser said:

It is my understanding that you have no control over the flights that the cruiseline books for you. That alone is reason for me to want to book my own flights. I'd rather pay a little more than have horrible connections or late/inconvenient departure/arrival times. 

 ^  This also.

 

When we started looking at what flights were available for our trip (east coast U.S. to Europe and back) we found very few flight pairs that didn't either have a very long layover (over six hours) or too short for my taste for an international flight (90 minutes or so).  We zeroed in one that end up with about a three to four hour layover each way.

 

A secondary issue is seat selection.  Yes, once NCL books your flights you can go to the specific airline and get seat assignments, but at that point the selection is pretty limited.

[julig22]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We once had a Baltic cruise for our 30th anniversary booked way in advance. (This was on Princess actually, not NCL.) Airfares were not yet posted that far out. Our TA advised us to book the cruise line airfare and then start checking airfares as we could as you said always cancel that before final payment.

 

And then I found a great online only limited time offer deal. I went to book it, and I kept coming up with technical difficulties. After I few tries, I called the phone number provided. After I explained my situation, the customer service rep said my DW's name as well as mine. I had not got to the point of providing that when trying to book the airfare online. It seems we were already booked on the flight by Princess which is why it would not book us when I now tried to get the much, much, better rate. I explained that I had not yet paid anything and could in fact cancel everything before final payment. The rep suggested I cancel and then try again. I said please book us as I never want to have no flight booked. She relented as I promised to cancel with the TA as soon as I got off the phone with her.

 

So, it may not be quite as easy as you have said.

 

 

 

NCL does not book airfare more than 90 days out, which is the deadline for requesting a deviation.  So yes, it is quite easy.

[bluesea777]

We prefer to book all our own flights and hotels (pre-cruise & post-cruise). I have been lucky to find good deals on one-way and open-jaw flights as well as round trips on highly rated airlines.

 

 

[wncretired]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

NCL does not book airfare more than 90 days out, which is the deadline for requesting a deviation.  So yes, it is quite easy.

How can NCL give you an airfare price now for a cruise 14 months out? Do they have a contract with the airlines basically guaranteeing them a semi-firm pricing structure?

[julig22]

1 hour ago, wncretired said:

How can NCL give you an airfare price now for a cruise 14 months out? Do they have a contract with the airlines basically guaranteeing them a semi-firm pricing structure?

No different than how they give you cruise prices 2 years out - they may have contracts but hard to actually say. They take the hit if they miscalculate.  And adjust prices on new bookings - which they are currently doing.  

When you book, you sign a contract for the prices given.  Which is why I always book early, then keep an eye on prices.  If they go down, I rebook. If they go up, they will abide by the contract. So always a win on the passenger side (US bookings anyway), up until final payment, if you pay attention.

[nimbex1970]

So to clarify, one can cancel NCL airfare up until final payment which is 90 days out?  

 

I'm doing the Viva TA in april 2024 from SanJuan to Lisbon and I live in Alaska, so the multiple legs of the journey could be very challenging to be at the whim of the cruise line.  Booking my own may be best. 

[julig22]

Just now, nimbex1970 said:

So to clarify, one can cancel NCL airfare up until final payment which is 90 days out?  

 

I'm doing the Viva TA in april 2024 from SanJuan to Lisbon and I live in Alaska, so the multiple legs of the journey could be very challenging to be at the whim of the cruise line.  Booking my own may be best. 

Not quite.  Final payment is 120 days so you have to decide yay or nay by then to avoid a penalty.  The 90 days is the time limit for deciding what days you want to arrive/depart.  

As to flying from difficult locations, I fly from a small regional airport in Oregon.  So leg 1 of my trip is always to a hub of some sort (Seattle, LAX, SFO are common from my location). Due to their booking guidelines I tend to get more direct flights when going overseas. - international flights are generally limited to 2 layovers.  For example, I flew to Montreal, then non-stop from Montreal to Rome.  Those leaving from Montreal had 1 or 2 layovers.

[nimbex1970]

2 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Not quite.  Final payment is 120 days so you have to decide yay or nay by then to avoid a penalty.  The 90 days is the time limit for deciding what days you want to arrive/depart.  

As to flying from difficult locations, I fly from a small regional airport in Oregon.  So leg 1 of my trip is always to a hub of some sort (Seattle, LAX, SFO are common from my location). Due to their booking guidelines I tend to get more direct flights when going overseas. - international flights are generally limited to 2 layovers.  For example, I flew to Montreal, then non-stop from Montreal to Rome.  Those leaving from Montreal had 1 or 2 layovers.

Thank you, and like you.. I have to leave from a small village, then to Anchorage, then to Seattle and off I can go from there, so this information helps me plan.  Appreciate it. 

[amypintx]

I posted about this a few weeks ago so it may be redundant, but another thing to consider when you do the NCL airfare is potential price drops. We are doing a Med cruise this summer that we booked with a BOGO airfare offer in Nov 2021. What happened to us is that the actual fare for the cruise dropped but the airfare price had gone up. Since the overall cost was not less, they couldn't reprice just the cruise fare part and leave the airfare as it was. When I cancelled the airfare part, they were able to match the new price. It dropped again after that and I was again able to reprice. Given all the horror stories I've read on here of NCL booked flights and times, I do not regret cancelling and booking my own airfare. I would have missed out on 2 price drops that gave us more money to put toward our own air and we can pick our days/times/flights. It's a trade off for sure (we're paying more for our own airfare than we would have with theirs) but, for a big European trip, it's well worth it in my opinion.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

The 90 days is the time limit for deciding what days you want to arrive/depart.

The T&C's say 75 days..

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

• Date deviations can be added up to 75 days prior to embarkation.

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, hallux said:

The T&C's say 75 days..

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

• Date deviations can be added up to 75 days prior to embarkation.

It's absolutely 75 days, not 90 days.

[julig22]

3 hours ago, hallux said:

The T&C's say 75 days..

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

• Date deviations can be added up to 75 days prior to embarkation.

My bad, I thought it used to be 90. I don't usually wait that long!

Edited May 19, 2023 by julig22

[bluesea777]

@nimbex1970 thought you might be interested … there are non-stop Alaska Air flights between ANC and Chicago ORD and hotels near ORD are a lot cheaper than Seattle!! 
 

That’s why I researched and booked our own flights. 
 

I think you should be able to find nonstop flights from ORD to SJU. 
 

 

[nimbex1970]

On 5/19/2023 at 7:53 PM, bluesea777 said:

@nimbex1970 thought you might be interested … there are non-stop Alaska Air flights between ANC and Chicago ORD and hotels near ORD are a lot cheaper than Seattle!! 
 

That’s why I researched and booked our own flights. 
 

I think you should be able to find nonstop flights from ORD to SJU. 
 

 

I can't thank you enough, I just looked them up!!!!! I appreciate you so much!

[bluesea777]

36 minutes ago, nimbex1970 said:

I can't thank you enough, I just looked them up!!!!! I appreciate you so much!

 

No problem, you're welcome. May I add, I like to research which major airport hubs that have cheaper hotels near that we can stay overnight when making connections. ORD just under $200; SEA, JFK, BOS $300-350 and up; YYZ pretty okay but YVR so expensive!

 

I see you're on the Viva TA from San Juan to Lisbon .... if this helps, TAP air does non-stop LIS to ORD!! We're doing TAP from JFK to LIS for our Viva TA from Lisbon to Miami this November.

 

[nimbex1970]

On 5/21/2023 at 3:52 PM, bluesea777 said:

 

No problem, you're welcome. May I add, I like to research which major airport hubs that have cheaper hotels near that we can stay overnight when making connections. ORD just under $200; SEA, JFK, BOS $300-350 and up; YYZ pretty okay but YVR so expensive!

 

I see you're on the Viva TA from San Juan to Lisbon .... if this helps, TAP air does non-stop LIS to ORD!! We're doing TAP from JFK to LIS for our Viva TA from Lisbon to Miami this November.

 

THis is amazing!  It really DOES help, I can then take Alaska air from MCO to Seattle! I appreciate your help and time.