Transatlantic Cruises

[runnerandme]

Grace, Hello. Tammy, Tina, Maryann and I are doing a TA in April. On NCL, now before you go eewwww, they upgraded us to a Courtyard Villa. Our airfare from Barcelona to Newark via Geneva was 606.73 each. Some of the folks on the thread got the air for under 450. I had to wait to book as Bill(DH) and his parents were not sure if they were going. It is another 330 RT from Knoxville to EWR...(Swiss Air and Cont.) We are taking a private tour in Rome and Florence. 500 EUROs each..The port is about an hour away from Rome. The trains are an easy way to go but, I did not want to do it with Tina.

Tammy, Tina and I did the Ultimate Alaska last Sept.on Infinity and loved it. I know you have done Alaska before.

Connie

[jerseygirl3]

Jo-Ann...The more I hear about horror stories re X air, I am now convinced to try and figure out our own air.

 

I went to Airatalia web site and they do offer sales, so I will keep checking with them as well.

United, Continental and American all seem to have flights out of Newark, (your area...lucky you!) and I could not find anything from Delta.

I guess I will keep checking various airline sites, and also hope we can get some good info on the Equinox web site re flights.

 

Just reading about the connections on flights made me tired.

 

I did not take the air from X on our Alaska trip, and did ok on my own.

 

Thanks for your advice and info..

 

Grace, a couple of years ago we were booked for a Mediterrean cruise and I got RT air, Newark to Rome (nonstop) for $660 pp on Continental. The times were great too! But then Bob got sick and we had to put all travel plans on hold for almost a year so we couldn't make that trip. But I'm hoping we can find a price similar to that, and not worry too much if we have to throw away the return ticket. Your choices may be more limited coming from the midwest, but I wouldn't completely discount X air just yet. I think since there are so many flights out of our area, the cruiselines just automatically gives us the least expensive. Your flights are probably somewhat limited, so the cruiseline may not have as many choices to put you on something undesirable. Does that make sense? It's probably worth it to book the air with X and then just cancel if it isn't what you want. Although I think they give you your air info only 60 days prior to sailing.

 

Jo-Ann

[TenerifeSharon]

Jo-Ann...The more I hear about horror stories re X air, I am now convinced to try and figure out our own air.

 

I went to Airatalia web site and they do offer sales, so I will keep checking with them as well.

United, Continental and American all seem to have flights out of Newark, (your area...lucky you!) and I could not find anything from Delta.

I guess I will keep checking various airline sites, and also hope we can get some good info on the Equinox web site re flights.

 

Just reading about the connections on flights made me tired.

 

I did not take the air from X on our Alaska trip, and did ok on my own.

 

Thanks for your advice and info..

Grace,

Although it's still too early to book anything (direct booking generally starts at 330 days before flying), do some searching at http://www.kayak.com, http://www.itasoftware.com (log in as a guest) and http://www.bt-store.com for good one-way possibilities - or cheap round-trip fares. The fares will definitely not be accurate for a future date, but there are always sales going on. Also, what about the possibility of getting to New York and then doing a non-stop direct flight to Rome on http://www.euroflyusa.com?

[TenerifeSharon]

Grace, Hello. Tammy, Tina, Maryann and I are doing a TA in April. On NCL, now before you go eewwww, they upgraded us to a Courtyard Villa. Our airfare from Barcelona to Newark via Geneva was 606.73 each. Some of the folks on the thread got the air for under 450. I had to wait to book as Bill(DH) and his parents were not sure if they were going. It is another 330 RT from Knoxville to EWR...(Swiss Air and Cont.) We are taking a private tour in Rome and Florence. 500 EUROs each..The port is about an hour away from Rome. The trains are an easy way to go but, I did not want to do it with Tina.

Tammy, Tina and I did the Ultimate Alaska last Sept.on Infinity and loved it. I know you have done Alaska before.

Connie

Hi Connie (and greetings to Tammy & Tina),

WOW - fantastic upgrade to the Courtyard Villa. No eewwww from me, because I have to say that we really enjoyed our NCL cruise (on the Dream) about 4 years ago through New England during Indian Summer. Hope to see you all on a cruise again sometime soon.

[CathyCruises]

I have to say here that I booked business class air through =X= (it was a special promotion) and it was flawless. We had our flights and our seat assignments probably 6 months out. We did do a deviation for extra days, and flew into Barcelona and then back out of Paris. They were a little hesitant at first to let us fly out of Paris when the ship docked in BCN, but they let us do it anyway. Great flights and all went incredibly smoothly. It was I believe $75/pp for the deviation, but we accepted the flights they chose for us and did not request specific carriers or times.

 

So SOMEtimes it works well! FYI, business class on Lufthansa (outbound) is incredibly superior to United (inbound). United planes were old and tired and showed their age. The Lufthansa plane was new and they had amazing individual "pods" instead of traditional seats that fully reclined and had special remote controls to let you adjust the seat in infinite ways. Highly recommended.

 

I wish they'd run that business class air special again--I'd do it in a heartbeat!

 

;) Cathy

[gracecarmo]

You would think we are going next week, the way I am searching! But I am typing in Nov.08, just to get an idea.

 

Well....(taking Jo-Ann's and other's advice) I went to some of the cheap ticket web sites.

 

I did find a price of $427 one way from KCI to Rome, on Delta, via Atl. there were others less expensive too. Adding a nice non stop from FLL to MCI, would be another $220 (guess, on Midwest). Then transfer from airport to hotel, E 40. Not bad....and we get to choose our flights.

 

Thanks Sharon, for alerting me to all these "bargain" web sites. Too early to purchase now, but will try next year.

 

Also found a good taxi tour/transfer in Rome to think about.

 

Connie: good to hear from you, and will be anxious to hear about your TA trip.

[bigdogrp]

Taking our next cruise aboard Summit 4/09 San Juan to Barcelona, and was wondering if any one has gone eastward and was a CS a good choice for us celebrating our 20th. Previous experience was on HAL Westerdam in a Veranda.

[halbfl2]

I'm that one that wrote you a few days ago and said how we are looking forward to booking the same TA that you're on this Apr for next yr. Boo-hoo.

Celebrity is out w/their schedule, and the itinerary is changed. They aren't doing Ireland and the Normandy coast, but instead, stopping in Spain, Portugal and an Atlantic port in France before heading for Harwich. We had so liked the itinerary of the one this yr. because of the ports. We may go ahead and book this anyway, and do a river cruise from Paris to the Normandy coast at a later date. Do you know if they rotate around and may possibly do your cruise another yr? There must not be an overwhelming demand for that itinerary, as so many do the Portugal, Spain, Italy route, and very few do the France, England one. I noticed that your cruise wasn't sold out as of a couple weeks ago, either, so that may tell me something.

 

I'll still look forward to your review (w/a tear in my eye).:(