Should I book airfare now?

[KLMB]

I have checked into what Celebrity charges for airfare from KC to Vancouver and the internet has it alot cheaper. Do you all think I should book now or wait and see what comes up. Our cruise is the first week in June for six people, so I am trying to be smart about when I book! Thanks for any opinions!!

[hjrell]

Just a word of advice, if you do book this early, make sure you check the flight schedule every couple of weeks. We booked our return flight from our cruise with AirTran and they have changed our flight times 3 times already..One time when they changed our flight schedule, they even forgot to put my sister on the plane with us! Her husband was moved to the new flight plan but not her. If we had not been checking our reservations frequently, we would not have caught this until we were at the airport to board the plane! The last time they rescheduled our flight they moved us up by 6 hours making it impossible for us to be off the ship in time to make the flight. Air Tran informed us that they can change flight times up to 3 - 4 weeks before your flight. But all that being said, if you can find a great rate - I'd go for it. Just keep a close eye on your reservations. My understanding is that if they change your flight times, that they have to reassign you to a different flight at no extra charge if the new times will not work for you.

[greatam]

I have checked into what Celebrity charges for airfare from KC to Vancouver and the internet has it alot cheaper. Do you all think I should book now or wait and see what comes up. Our cruise is the first week in June for six people, so I am trying to be smart about when I book! Thanks for any opinions!!

 

It appears you are booking for Alaska. Book at the EARLIEST opportunity when you feel comfortable with the price. The cheapest seats are already gone. Not a lot of flights to Vancouver daily. Cruise passengers fill the planes up FAST.

 

Prices only go up. I send 4-6 employees to Alaska every summer and I have found the cheapest flights are usually mid October/early November. You are way past that time.

 

Don't try to book all six people at the same time. You will generally get a higher price.

[sad mama]

I have checked into what Celebrity charges for airfare from KC to Vancouver and the internet has it alot cheaper.

 

We just booked the May 7th Infinity from SF to Alaska and returning to Vancouver. Our travel agent strongly advised us to book all of our air through Celebrity even though we could find it cheaper elsewhere. His reasoning to us was that Infinity is an M-Class ship which is prone to mechanical failure and cancellation or delay. Apparently if you book your own air Celebrity does nothing to assist you with rebooking should it be necessary due to itinerary changes and definitely won't compensate you for airfare if they cancel the cruise outright. We were advised that if the air is booked through Celebrity they are 100% responsible for everything and you will not be out of pocket at all or trying to chase down repayment from an insurance company.

 

While the threat of a mechanical failure worried us we were reassured by the travel agent that it only happens at most once or twice a year and that Infinity was just recently fixed. They said just book the air with Celebrity as an added insurance policy. If we could find the identical itinerary elsewhere we would have booked that and removed any worrying from the equation.

[Baltic Express]

We just booked the May 7th Infinity from SF to Alaska and returning to Vancouver. Our travel agent strongly advised us to book all of our air through Celebrity even though we could find it cheaper elsewhere. His reasoning to us was that Infinity is an M-Class ship which is prone to mechanical failure and cancellation or delay. Apparently if you book your own air Celebrity does nothing to assist you with rebooking should it be necessary due to itinerary changes and definitely won't compensate you for airfare if they cancel the cruise outright. We were advised that if the air is booked through Celebrity they are 100% responsible for everything and you will not be out of pocket at all or trying to chase down repayment from an insurance company.

 

While the threat of a mechanical failure worried us we were reassured by the travel agent that it only happens at most once or twice a year and that Infinity was just recently fixed. They said just book the air with Celebrity as an added insurance policy. If we could find the identical itinerary elsewhere we would have booked that and removed any worrying from the equation.

 

I think you have a very wise Travel Agent!!! In the long run I imagine most M-Class passengers will do the same.

[Pisces11]

I would book sooner rather than later. You have no idea what is going to happen to oil prices in the world market. We waited to book our airline tickets to Vancouver last year and ended up paying a small fortune. We generally book through Orbitz and have never had a problem.

[greatam]

I think you have a very wise Travel Agent!!! In the long run I imagine most M-Class passengers will do the same.

 

I think they have a greedy TA. Booking everything together is absolutely NO guarantee that the cruise will come off as planned. Celebrity MAY help. Most likely it will be up to the TA to make alternate arrangements in conjunction with X.

 

A delay is one thing, a cancellation is quite another. AND unless you have X insurance on the whole package, you may get rebooked but not on the cruise you wanted. And what happens if you cannot go at the assigned time? Still have to file with X insurance or your own travel insurance.

 

Booking everything together INSURES the TA additional commission.

[dkjretired]

If you read your cruise documents and the cruise lines web site, they provide airfare as a courtesy only. All cruise lines do this and nothing is guaranteed.

[Baltic Express]

If you read your cruise documents and the cruise lines web site, they provide airfare as a courtesy only. All cruise lines do this and nothing is guaranteed.

 

So are you saying that if something goes wrong and your air is booked through Celebrity they have no obligation to hook you up with new arrangements. That would be news to me and alot of other people on these boards. I have read on this Celebrity board that if you are on a flight Celebrity booked for you they even hold the ship for you if your plane is late or make other arrangements to get you to the ship and further if you booked the flight yourself it is my understanding you are definitely on your own.

 

So which way is it?

[cruisinelsewhere]

So are you saying that if something goes wrong and your air is booked through Celebrity they have no obligation to hook you up with new arrangements. That would be news to me and alot of other people on these boards. I have read on this Celebrity board that if you are on a flight Celebrity booked for you they even hold the ship for you if your plane is late or make other arrangements to get you to the ship and further if you booked the flight yourself it is my understanding you are definitely on your own.

 

So which way is it?

 

Celebrity goes out of their way to hold ships, make arrangements and what not for those who book air with them but it is in no way guaranteed; simply a courtesy....much like what they might choose to do for comp. on missed ports and cancelled cruises. The contract clearly states that it is not their problem. With that in mind, they rarely (but on occasion do) give thought to those who book air on their own.

[greatam]

So are you saying that if something goes wrong and your air is booked through Celebrity they have no obligation to hook you up with new arrangements. That would be news to me and alot of other people on these boards. I have read on this Celebrity board that if you are on a flight Celebrity booked for you they even hold the ship for you if your plane is late or make other arrangements to get you to the ship and further if you booked the flight yourself it is my understanding you are definitely on your own.

 

So which way is it?

 

X will definitely help. However, the help may not be worth much. IF X does not have plane tickets available to reaccommodate, you will be refunded. IF there is no space for you on another identical cruise (cabin category, itinerary, etc), you will be refunded. And what happens if you cannot go on the new trip when it is available? You will be refunded.

 

You would be in the same situation IF you booked your own plane tickets, bought a decent travel insurance policy, and something happened to the ship or the plane. Sure, you would have to make your own arrangements, but after what happened to my son on NCL with NCL air, MY arrangements would have been far superior.

 

They missed almost 3 days of a 7 day cruise. Racked up over $500.00 in hotel, car rental, food, etc. waiting for NCL to get them on another plane. NCL (and Celebrity and all other cruiselines) are limited to what air tickets are available (consolidator fares/non transferable to other airlines without a lot of hassle). After the plane was late to Chicago, making them miss their nonstop to Honolulu, NCL flew the kids to LA, they spent the night, waited all day for NCL to get them out of LA, spent the night again and finally got to Honolulu the 3rd day of their vacation. This was their honeymoon, so no doubt they will never cruise again.

 

If they would have had "regular" airline tickets, they could have been endorsed to another airline. There were a lot of flights to get them to Honolulu. Just couldn't get there with cruiseline airline tickets.

 

X may only hold the ship for you IF there is a large group (probably 20 or more) on the same flight that is late. If it is only a couple of people, they will help make arrangements to the next port of call. But there again, it depends on airline availability. And most likely, you will miss 1-3 days of your cruise, for which there is no compensation without trip insurance.

 

You do what you want, but I wouldn't take a chance with cruise air tickets if they were free. Too many little gotcha's.