Ups and Downs of Cruise Air

[Cruise Arizona]

Craziness of Cruise Air -

 

8 of us are booked on an Alaska Cruise.

 

Our immediate family chose not to do cruise air and did a combination of frequent flyer miles and purchasing to only spend about $1300 total for the 4 of us. Cruise air was over $500 per person when we booked, so we feel like we came out ahead.

 

Then my MIL and her sister are in a balcony cabin, booked their cruise at the same time as us and chose the around $500 cruise air. We did a deviation on thier flight to get them in a day early. They are starting at two different points, meeting at the single connection city and arriving the day before around noon. They are flying home around 11:30 after cruise. A winning situation for them.

 

But then my poor SIL and her husband wanted to do the same thing. They could get there on the cruise air no problem, but then there were no other seats available at the cruise air price for that 11:30 flight.....They wanted to put them on the 11:00 pm Red Eye or charge them $110 extra. ..... But there is light at the end of the tunnell.

 

They can still cancel their cruise air and book flights on their own for less than their cruise air price. They booked a standard outside cabin and their cabin price went down since their original booking so the TA made the change to the lower cabin price with a higher cruise air price because it was still $80 less total....Now if they cancel the cruise air they will save $709 for their airfare, not just the $500 for the original booking.

 

So they will just need to book the air on their own, and since they already wanted to come in the day before, the only thing they loose it the transfer from the ship to the airport...

 

The whole thing is just very confusing... but I think the lessons is that if you want to come in a day early, you might save enough money or more to pay for you hotel room.

 

I am sure that there are more examples either way, but in our case, it looks like 2 out of three of our party did better booking on their own.

[chessbriar]

I always do better by booking my own. Usually, price wise, but also flight times and connections. I did cruise air on my first cruise. Everyone since, on my own. Our cruise last week, X wanted $500/pp for CA using their flights and long layovers. We ended up booking for $300/pp with fewer delays. I would be hard press to us CA, I want control of my flight times

[hajekfam]

We find that the only time that we get cruise air is when we need one way fares for a repositioning cruise. Currently our TA books us with cruise air and then we look for better deals. If we find a lower fare, we cancel the cruise air. If we don't, at least we have a flight.

[kruisecat]

We are a party of 13. DH and I were lucky enough to have friends give us their ff points and our airfare is free. The rest of the 13 have opted for cruise air. The reasons being a) they locked it in at the "seattle" airfare pricing which is considerably less than the "Vancouver" pricing that is now in effect and b) there are several elderly members of this group that are traveling alone and we all agreed that it made more sense for them to not have to hassel with getting their own transportation once flights landed. I'm sure that the transfer process will have it's own set of hassels but we're hoping that just being able to find and follow a sign will be worth it. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Cruise Arizona]

I was little freaked out this morning when it looked like the only option for my SIL was to fly home on a red-eye, but when I found fares for less online I was relieved.

 

We ended up booking her on the same flights with MIL and Aunt going out to Vancouver, but then put her on a different airline going home with departure and arrival time at the final destination around the same time. It turned out to be $118 cheaper per person, so she and her DH saved over $230. That certainly covers their hotel the night before the cruise, and transfers.

 

It worked out for us, and I think Rick as a good idea, lock into the cruise air and then look and see if we could find something better.

 

We never do cruise air out of San Diego because we either drive or fly South West as they are the only ones who fly direct from Tucson to San Diego.

[Bodger]

The only time we missed a ship was when we had cruise air. They will send you anywhere and make any number of transfers to save a nickel.

 

I would only look at cruise air if the ship started and ended a cruise in different places, then you have little choice. If I book my own air I save money and have the flexibility of coming and going at times of my (and the airlines) choosing.

 

Cruise air from Toronto to Florida invariably involves a transfer, if I book my own I get a direct flight.

 

Bodger

[plane2port]

We are using cruise air for our trip ATL-FCO (Rome). Cruise air is $1000, and the lowest price we can find is $1400. I think that this price discrepancy is unusual, however...OR, flights to Europe are just plain expensive this summer.

[jezzdogg]

We are doing air to Miam(NYC-Mia for 69 per person) and one way from Barcelona to NY for 375 on Swiss..which is certainly less than what RCCl wanted, which was 899 per person..difference is more than paying for our hotels rooms on each end, and we decided flights and times. Ever since they had us fly from San Juan with 3 stops, we never book cruise air and find our own for a lot less

A great website is http://www.itasoftware.com, log in as guest, search engine that is used by Kayak, orbitz and most major airlines.

[TeaBag]

I plugged in out flights to the ita website and they wanted $3600 airfare for the same flights we are getting through Cruise Air for $1100. However, I will keep it bookmarked as a reference for future flights. Thank you.

[Host Kewlguy]

We've booked the air through the cruise line a couple of times but have decided we won't do it anymore. Not worth the stress or the hassle.

[negc]

We've booked the air through the cruise line a couple of times but have decided we won't do it anymore. Not worth the stress or the hassle.

Anthony, on those occasions where the cruiseline is charging less than you will have to pay if you book directly with the airline, use Celebrity's Custom Air program and you can eliminate the stress and hassle and pay less at the same time. That's what we are doing when we fly to England for the Connie TA next September and we have our flight and seat assignments and a lower fare than we could get if we booked directly with AA.:) If a lower fare becomes available we can still book it and cancel our cruiseline air before final payment, without penalty. A win win situation all around.

[Cruise Arizona]

Is customer air different from what my TA called a "Deviation".

 

In the case of the Deviation there as a $50 charge to my MIL's sister because she was not a Captains Club member. It was waived for MIL because she is a captain club memeber. We were able to have them come in the day before and get them on our choice of flights.

 

But they ran out of room on the flight home for my SIL and her Husband and would not put them on a different airline.

 

When I booked on line I was able to put them on one air line going and a different one going home, which Celebrity Air was not able to do.

 

How does custom air work?

[negc]

Custom air and air deviation are the same. Whenever we have used it, we have found the flights that we thought were the best for us and requested them from the cruiseline (in our case, both RCI and Celebrity). Within days, the line has confirmed our request. I know that there can be cases where it doesn't always work, or where there is an additional charge because of a difference in the airfare, but when that happens, we have been able to decline it and make our own flight arrangements. More times than not, however, the arrangements we requested were agreed to by the cruiseline and our status with the cruiseline's loyalty program allowed the fee to be waived. I think that it always pays to investigate all your options before deciding how to book air. In many cases you can do better on your own, but occasionally, the cruiseline's airfare is better and if you can still pick your flights that is ideal. We are using Celebrity's custom air for our flights to London and home from Newark when we sail on the Constellation Transatlantic in September, and we are not only saving money but also getting our choice of flights.:) That, IMHO, is a win-win situation.

[Karynanne]

We have used Celebrity's air deviation on our transatlantic last year. After doing an extensive search for air, we found that the flights we wanted were substantially less than if we booked it on our own. And we did get non-stop flights. I do think that living close to a major airport...in our case San Francisco, made this process work for us.

 

In Sept. we are on the westbound transatlantic...and this time booked air on our own. But before securing those flights, I did book air through Celebrity, just in case we didn't find what we wanted.

 

Karyn

[chessbriar]

Here's a link to a bad cruise air experience. Now this could have happened even if you booked your own air. So always be careful.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=513933