Princess Air Experiences from west coast to FLL

[Murphey]

We are using PA from PDX to FLL and are wondering what your experiences have been coming from the west coast. Wondering if they may put us on a red eye, or fly us out the day before. Anyone????

[Midnight Rain]

We fly from the west, and we go out a day early. We did however get a red eye flight.

 

Mel

[Druke I]

I think whether or not you may have a "redeye" flight might depend on the ship and its itinerary.

 

When we did the Amazon, years ago (Dec 91) on the original Pacific Princess, we had a daytime flight SFO to Miami. Princess put us up in a hotel overnight, and we took a Princess charter flight the next AM down to Manaus, Brazil, to embark the ship. The cost of the hotel was included in either the ship's fare, or Princess' air, I don't recall which at this late date.

[Murphey]

Thanks for your responses. Yes, I remember in the old days, a hotel was always incuded in the package. I'm not so sure they do that anymore. We never take PA anymore, but we are this time because it's a repo. I have no problem paying for our own hotel the night before. There is only one red-eye out of Portland on Continental, and I would not like to be on it :p .

 

I was hoping someone would have a recent experience and could let me know their routing......I'm very curious ;)

[chasetf]

I would never do PA from the west coast to the east coast. We fly out of the bay area. We always go the day before, book our own air at the time / airport / airline of our choice...... and save money. We have the evening to rest up and the morning to have a leisure breakfast before heading for the ship.

 

It also saved our bacon on time because we arrived as scheduled but our bags didn't. By flying in the day before, I was able to go back to the airport the next morning to collect our bags (that came in that morning) before heading for the port.

 

While I was getting our bags there was a young woman in the office looking for hers. SHe had flown in that morning. They told her that her bags would arrive on the 8pm flight from Boston.... and she tried to explain the ship sailed at 5pm :eek:

[Sea Fan]

It looks like Jet Blue has a Red Eye from Portland but you have to connect in New York and don't get in till around 2:00 pm. We did Jet blue from Oakland Ca and loved them but I have to be there at least a day early for my peace of mind, I'm a worrier.

 

Dianne

[Murphey]

While we are in complete agreement about flying out a day early and booking yourself, we can't do it this time. We fly into FLL, but out of Rome. It's tons, tons cheaper to book this time thru PA. Our other option was to "throw away" the leg to FLL, and book that part ourselves, then use Princess Air to return (still would have been cheaper to do that than book our own). But if you do that, Princess cancels your return :o . Why they care is beyond me!

 

I was really hoping to be flown to Florida a day early (at our expense for the Hotel).

[Desert Cruisers]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news...Princess will book your flight to save money and not for your convenience or comfort. Be prepared for a redeye flight (perhaps to Chicago, Dallas, or Atlanta) with a change of plane to Fort Lauderdale. You may catch a break and get a daytime flight - miracles do happen. Good luck.:)

[cruiserjanet]

If you choose Princess Air and pay the air deviation fee, then you have control of the flight you want, when to book it and seat assignment. This was the case with our recent cruise and it worked out great. We also had a direct flight from LAX to FLL. Gotta shop around though because sometimes Princess Air can be more expensive than getting it on your own and sometimes it's the opposite. In our case, we had gotten the travel insurance and the air would have been covered if we were unable to make the cruise for allowed reasons.

[imsulin]

Princess is not alone in this. Different CRUISE lines CONTRACT with different AIR ines, and not all airlines are available if they have not been contracted. Also, cruise lines buy - in advance - what they call BULK AIR - meaning that they pay a bulk rate for future seats on their contracted air lines for future flights. Also, booking air through the cruise line does NOT necessarily mean that you will reach your port of embarkation on time. If you want certain airline/itinerary, dates of travel, or class of service, you must then pay an AIR DEVIATION FEE per person to the cruise line. The price depends on what you want, and in most cases, it's cheaper to book your own air. If you buy cruise AIR, you cannot expect to fnd out the airline or itinerary until 30 days before travel..if you have not paid the AD fee. Just some info.....

[Cruisin' Chick]

Years ago for my second cruise, we decided to go with Carnival air with hotel. When I got the tickets, I screamed. They were for a red-eye flight getting into Miami in the early morning with the hotel as a day room. I immediately got on the phone to the TA and demanded they get changed (can't remember if we got charged for this). From then on, if we're not leaving from the Port of L.A., we'd made our own arrangements, including getting into the city of embarkation at least a day early.

 

From what I've seen on these boards, it's not unusual for passengers booking flights thru the cruiselines to get red eye flights or get flights involving very tight connections.