Do you think this is too expensive?

[Sunshine101]

Another question...just cause there is so much info here from you guys!

 

We got a good deal on the cruise with a balcony on the Serenade...however, our big cost is the airfare which the TA described as an "open jaw", meaning we fly to Vancouver, Canada and sail out of there, but fly home from Honolulu...

 

We were told it was more expensive to book separate one way tickets for this, since we cant do round trip. They gave us a quote for $1009 pp Canadian which is through RCI, which is kind of expensive for airfare!

 

So right now, our total cost for our trip (11 day Hawaii, E3 category room), with airfare, taxes ect, is $5800 Canadian...

 

Since we've never had a balcony before or gone as far as Hawaii, just wondering if this is too expensive? There are a few other TA's I'm going to be contacting on Monday (CruisingFan, thanks again for Teresa's name!)

 

Just wondered what you experienced cruisers think of the price...

 

Thank you SO much! :)

[The Moyers]

There are advantages and disadvantages to booking the flights through the cruise lines. I usually book my air with them when I book the cruise and then check out the various airline web sites and "fare shop". This Feb to Hawaii I got air fare for a little more than half what NCL wanted but I've also had incidences when I would have paid a lot more.

The plus side of booking with the cruise line is that you know up front what you are going to be paying so you can budget. It you cancel your cruise (or it the cruise line chartes the cruise and cancels you) you're not stuck with airline tickets that you can use and may not be refundable/transferrable. And if you purchased travel insurance through the cruise line, travel problems are covered.

The minus side is that it can be more expensive and you have not control over flight times. We were booked with the cruise line for a day prior in Miami one time and they had us arriving at 10PM. Sort of defeated the idea of going down the day before to enjoy Miami.

My Advice would be to check out the prices and then decide

[Cruise Junky]

Hi there, I'm from Vancouver...and when we looked at doing this cruise with one of our local discounters it was going to be about $2,500 cdn per person for a balcony so the extra $300 for a one way to Ottawa isn't that bad. It's tough with those land in one port and leave from another. For kicks you could contact CruiseQuick.com for a quote for cruise only and then work on the airfare. You could get a cheap return on Westjet from Ottawa to Vancouver and then maybe see if you can get a cheap one way from Hawaii to Vancouver.

[Family of 14]

We are on the 9/26 cruise. We bought ($50 pp) cruise air deviation flights from RCI...meaning we picked our flights and we are flying in a day early (I suggest you do this) and flying out two days later from Honolulu.

 

The following is an old post where I was explaining the airfare. Buying from Cruiseline versus buying from airline:

 

OK! I just checked the air for our cruise going to Orlando in July.

If we book thru RCCL, the cost to fly from the TRI Cities, TN to Orlando is $412.41 pp. Since we want to fly down a day prior and return a day late, we would need to tack on another $50 pp deviation fee($467.41 pp).

If we book on our own, our price through all major airlines is $266 pp... a savings of $201.41 pp X 5 people = $1007.05 savings over the RCCL price.

However, for our Serenade cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii (an open jaw cruise)in September, there was no way we could arrange our flights and come out any cheaper than the price we got through RCCL. We fly to Vancouver from Atlanta (not a far drive ) a day prior(we picked the times) and fly home from Hawaii two days after our cruise ends for $447.61pp + $50pp deviation fee ($497.61 pp) X 2 = $995.22 total.

 

Our Junior Suite (Cat. C) and flights come to a total of $5668.44 (this price did not include our insurance which we bought separately (I do not recommend buying the cruiselines insurance).

 

My parents are cruising with us. They are staying in the same type accomodations as we are, but there total price is $600 less because of a Senior discount.

 

 

We are all also getting a $200 per stateroom shipboard credit to spend. Our TA booked the cruise while on board and was able to get this credit for us.

 

So, the total for our cruise is actually $5468.44 for a JS.

My parents total cost is $4868.44.

 

I am sure prices have change since we booked in January, but not by much. However, I am sure that the price of flying HAS gone up!

You will be better off booking through a TA than RCI. I will be happy to send you the name of our TA if you are interested?

[Sunshine101]

Thanks everyone for the info...

 

Family of 14 ~ The price you mentioned of 5468, is that in US or CND dollars? Also, I was a bit confused, you said booking your flights separately with a TA rather than through RCI was a better way to go?

 

Thanks!

[Family of 14]

That statement was to reflect booking your total cruise package through a TA rather than through RCI.

We booked our own air for our Florida trip, but used the cruiselines air for the Hawaii trip. We could not have done so well on our own wih the open jaw.

 

I just realized that your price was CAD. Ours is US, so we are probably about even except we are staying in a Junior Suite.