Unhappy with air darture time

[bucketsofbeer]

Just checked out my online reservations for our air travel to PR. We don't leave Boston until 3p.m. and arrive in PR at 7p.m. Which means we probable won't get to the ship until after 8(darn have to miss the muster drill):) . Called the TA and she called Princess, said we could leave earlier in the morning if we wanted to pay an additional fee. My thought is if this flight is available why aren't we on it in the first place. It just seems to me that we are wasting a day. Wanted to get on the ship, check out the room, relax and have a drink, now by the time we get there it will be dinner and off we go.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I'm sorry you're disappointed with your flight times--at least you'll be on the ship!! :) Unfortunately, when you purchase your airfare through the cruise line, you have to take what they give you unless you pay the deviation fee so that you can specify what time you want to fly. Princess will put you on flights that are the cheapest for them.

 

We rarely book air through the cruise line. Besides the fact that we want to choose our own flights, it's generally cheaper to book our own air.

 

Cheers!

Jayne

 

:)

[bubbadog]

your first mistake was booking thru the cruise line,cansel and rebook on your own,youll save money,get the seats you want,and get a better flight time:))))have a great cruise:)));)

[Toto2Kansas]

Princess definitely uses flights that seem to be some of the worst scheduled times. I agree, probably the cheapest flights for your destination.

We normally don't use Princess air anymore because of this fact, along with the fact we can normally find less expensive flights on our own. But even when we did book our air through the cruise line, it was well worth paying the small fee for a better flight time.

We usually got to our destination pretty well, but flying home was always with several connections and long layovers.

[fti]

Definitely check airfare on your own or through the TA you booked the cruise with. Boston to San Juan has some pretty inexpensive fares if they happen to be available for your dates. Though departing at 3pm and arriving at 7pm is a pretty good connection, albeit late.

 

If you can, you might want to try arriving a day early - even if it is very late. Often airlines have lower fares available on days that the cruise ship is not departing.

[willysgrandma]

Cruise lines don't take the best flights for you - they want you to pay them extra for the privelage of selecting the flights YOU want.

 

Cancel the air with them and book it yourself. And make sure you have travel insurance!

[drakes2]

I know this doesn't apply to you but we booked direct flights to PR from Pearson airport in Toronto with Air Canada and arrive in San Juan at 11:00 a.m. It would have been more through Princess plus a deviation fee as I did a cost comparison. Even for me to go out a day earlier via the US would have been more. If I were you I'd go online now and see what's available on the Friday as you can get some great deals. I was lucky and got a cancellation and booked my air before I even found a cruise. We leave on the Crown on March 31st.

Just checked out my online reservations for our air travel to PR. We don't leave Boston until 3p.m. and arrive in PR at 7p.m. Which means we probable won't get to the ship until after 8(darn have to miss the muster drill):) . Called the TA and she called Princess, said we could leave earlier in the morning if we wanted to pay an additional fee. My thought is if this flight is available why aren't we on it in the first place. It just seems to me that we are wasting a day. Wanted to get on the ship, check out the room, relax and have a drink, now by the time we get there it will be dinner and off we go.

[lvtotrvl1]

It seems that the OP is past FP , having her air...there will be penalties to cancel at this point. You will need to check that before cancelling. You may want to check what the diff in price will be if you take the earlier flight and pay the diff.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Just checked out my online reservations for our air travel to PR. We don't leave Boston until 3p.m. and arrive in PR at 7p.m. Which means we probable won't get to the ship until after 8(darn have to miss the muster drill):) . Called the TA and she called Princess, said we could leave earlier in the morning if we wanted to pay an additional fee. My thought is if this flight is available why aren't we on it in the first place. It just seems to me that we are wasting a day. Wanted to get on the ship, check out the room, relax and have a drink, now by the time we get there it will be dinner and off we go.

 

Take it from someone who has used the information from the muster drill, you do need to go and see where your station is. Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is an additional muster drill held the next day for those who missed it on Saturday. Since you will not be on the ship and they will be aware of it, you will get instructions to report for the muster drill on Sunday.

 

I agree, your flights aren't great. How much more is it to change your flight times?

[Globaliser]

My thought is if this flight is available why aren't we on it in the first place.

Flights aren't simply either available or not available. Each flight may be at a different price - you may have seen this if trying to price flights for yourself. The cruise lines will inevitably be looking at the lowest-priced flights to get you there. That's why you'd have to pay extra if you want a flight that suits you, rather than one that suits them.

 

The other thing to remember is that the earlier flights may be more expensive precisely because they're more attractive, and more people have booked on them. The more bookings on a flight, the higher the price tends to be for any new bookings for that flight. It's just the law of supply and demand.

 

There are pros and cons to booking air through the cruise line. This is one of the downsides.

[frannie]

We as well took Princess air . I did a comparison and the cost was about $50.00 less to do the princess air. We also paid $150.00 to do custom air and we picked flying Continental for a better route and times . The day the tickets ere to be issued we were advised Princess could only get a departure on Continental and had to do Air canada on the return . Because of the contract they have with the airlines both flights had to be with the same airline . They chose Air canada with crappy route and times. I still have not received the refund for the custom air . My agent is working on it

[cynbar]

Aside from missing most of the first day, that arrival flight for the OP is cutting it very close ----- any delay and you could well miss the ship. At this point, I would pay the fee for an earlier flight. The peace of mind alone will be worth it, not to mention the extra vacation time in San Juan and on the ship.

[patriot92]

We booked a flight to Florida wtyh Princess from Boston. It was a 6:10 AM through detroit and return through Cincinnati. Called TA at once, she got a new schedule from Princess with direct flights to Florida and return. We leave Boston at 8:10 AM with our seat selection. The cost of $50 per person is worth the changes.

[cruzisme]

re doing Princess Air.

you pay a fee to have P. look for a different route/airlines if you don't like what you are offered. in Canada it is $71 CDN per person per request.

when they come back with the change, let's say the new flight route cost $400 more per person. so now if I like the new reservation, I ante up the 400 x 2 and 71 x 2, right?

has anyone done this request and not like the change and then requested a second change? (again you would have to pay the deviation fee all over again, right?)

 

we have a cruise booked but for us it is too early to book flights yet (ie not yet available)

 

we booked the cruise without P. Air; we felt we had more flexibility with this.

any help would be appreciated!:D we are on the April 08 Sydney--SFO cruise. (flying from Vancouver)

[Colo Cruiser]

Thats why I never use cruise line air. :(

[frannie]

re doing Princess Air.

you pay a fee to have P. look for a different route/airlines if you don't like what you are offered. in Canada it is $71 CDN per person per request.

when they come back with the change, let's say the new flight route cost $400 more per person. so now if I like the new reservation, I ante up the 400 x 2 and 71 x 2, right?

has anyone done this request and not like the change and then requested a second change? (again you would have to pay the deviation fee all over again, right?)

 

we have a cruise booked but for us it is too early to book flights yet (ie not yet available)

 

we booked the cruise without P. Air; we felt we had more flexibility with this.

any help would be appreciated!:D we are on the April 08 Sydney--SFO cruise. (flying from Vancouver)

 

We are in Nova scotia . When we first made the arrangements with princess they had us HFX-MONTREAL -FORT Lauderdale and coming back it was Miami-toronto -halifax . We wanted a more direct flight so we paid the custom air fee $150.00 for both and asked for hfx-newark - ft lauderdale . They said they could only get seats on Continental going down and their contract states they must use the same airline both ways so we are now back to their original air . and we still have not received our custom air refund yet

[cruzisme]

if you pay for the custom air, I didn't think you would get it back as Princess has done extra work on looking at flights etc.

 

are you positive your TA can get it back? thanks!

[frannie]

if you pay for the custom air, I didn't think you would get it back as Princess has done extra work on looking at flights etc.

 

are you positive your TA can get it back? thanks!

 

She said she gave princess the card # for the refund. I think they will refund because we picked the flights we wanted . they could get us a seat down based on their contract but not return so they picked a different airline..they should have known we couldn't take 2 diferent carriers per their contract . The flight we wanted down was available and we were willing to do their return flight but their contract for seats would not allow the 2 carriers

[makeup face]

Well I suppose I'm not the norm but.......I booked Princess air this cruise. I was very surprised and happy that I actually got the flight I wanted American Airline red-eye non stop from LAX to SJU. Lands in San Juan at 9:30am. Now returning to Los Angeles...they put me on Delta stopping in Atlanta....I have an hour to change to the plane departing for Los Angeles. So all in all I'm happy with my flights:)

I was a little nervous because of all the negative posts about Princess Air....but it's working for me.....this time;)

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We always book our own air and never had a problem, I research research and then do more research and we always fly down a day or more ahead of time as an extended vacation is always better than rushing to get the ship:eek: :eek:

[West Coast]

Just checked out my online reservations for our air travel to PR. We don't leave Boston until 3p.m. and arrive in PR at 7p.m. Which means we probable won't get to the ship until after 8(darn have to miss the muster drill):) . Called the TA and she called Princess, said we could leave earlier in the morning if we wanted to pay an additional fee. My thought is if this flight is available why aren't we on it in the first place.

 

Could you arrive at the airport for the earlier flight and ask to stand by? We're done that before when flying AA with success.

[joyride]

Well, I know that you are on our cruise on 4/14 and we are past final payment. At this point I do not think you can cancel your air without penalty, so you will probably have to go with the flight you have.

 

We only used the cruise line air on our first couple of cruises because we didn't know any better. I will be using Princess Air for our upcoming Tahiti cruise because there really is not a cheaper alternative. But, other than this one exception - we have always fared much better booking our own air. Plus, I do not like dealing with the unknown and getting flight information right before the cruise when it is too late to change...

 

Unfortunately, you will miss our first meet & greet (for our roll call) and the muster at 8PM. But, you will have a make-up muster the next day at 5PM - so you aren't off the hook for that.

 

You know what - it's only a few hours - you will be OK. Boarding will be fast when you get there because you will have missed the lines... :)

[Jimsgirl]

My own bitter experience with Princess air is posted just ahead of these postings.

 

I have another cruise with Princess for 2008, and most certainly will NOT be using their air. This time I paid for Custom air right from booking the cruise, I gave them routes, air lines times etc - all ignored, and they changed air lines times and routes four times before I said "enough is enough"

 

I feel for the original poster, I do wonder at the mentality of the staff doing the bookings. it is not just money, many posters say they paid less and got better routes and times doing it themselves. I think the answer is that the staff do not think, it is just "push button A, push button B and the result on the screen is the air booking" Certainly no one including the TA paid any attention to the info I gave them regarding my needs.

 

Instance for a 29 day August cruise leaving from UK I listed :-

 

Ft Myers to Atlanta to London -or- Ft Myers to New York to London -or Ft Myers to Boston to London -saying any one of these three routes will be acceptable for my Custom air.

 

What did they come back with ? Ft Myers 18 seater SMALL Commuter plane (which only allows small overnight cases not 2-50 lbs cases) to Miami and from there to London.

 

WHY? Who knows? Am I taking that trip - no way !

[Host CJSKIDS]

My own bitter experience with Princess air is posted just ahead of these postings.

 

I have another cruise with Princess for 2008, and most certainly will NOT be using their air. This time I paid for Custom air right from booking the cruise, I gave them routes, air lines times etc - all ignored, and they changed air lines times and routes four times before I said "enough is enough"

 

I feel for the original poster, I do wonder at the mentality of the staff doing the bookings. it is not just money, many posters say they paid less and got better routes and times doing it themselves. I think the answer is that the staff do not think, it is just "push button A, push button B and the result on the screen is the air booking" Certainly no one including the TA paid any attention to the info I gave them regarding my needs.

 

Instance for a 29 day August cruise leaving from UK I listed :-

 

Ft Myers to Atlanta to London -or- Ft Myers to New York to London -or Ft Myers to Boston to London -saying any one of these three routes will be acceptable for my Custom air.

 

What did they come back with ? Ft Myers 18 seater SMALL Commuter plane (which only allows small overnight cases not 2-50 lbs cases) to Miami and from there to London.

 

WHY? Who knows? Am I taking that trip - no way !

 

out of curiousity, what airline did they book you with from RSW to MIA?

[MQU]

In reading alot about booking your own flights and not booking with a cruise line, just a thought, if Princess books your flight and something happens, they will get you to the ship. If you book on your own and something happens and you miss the ship you're out your cruise. I just read about a family of 10 booked there own fights on Jet Blue and with the recent mess the family never made it to the ship and was out $10,000.