Advice on future flight please

[Ellanora]

My questions might be rather elementary, but I have never had to fly for a cruise before.

 

I have just booked a cruise (just paid the deposit) out of San Juan for Sept 2009 (17 months away :rolleyes: ). We will have to fly from Orlando to San Juan. I turned down the cruise air, as it seemed remarkably expensive. So I will be purchasing the flights separately as soon as I am able. How do I go about getting trip insurance that covers both the cruise and the flight? Don't I have to purchase the trip insurance relatively quickly after booking the cruise? Will it let you cover flights that you haven't purchased yet, or do I have to do something separate for those.

 

Also it looks like Bahamas Air will be the likely choice for our flights. I have flown Air Jamaica in the past and had no problems, I'm thinking Bahamas Air should be fine to go with? Or does anyone know something else that might change my mind?

 

I appreciate any help or advice. I love living in Florida and being able to drive to all the ports, so it kind of kills me that the Caribbean itinerary I wanted the most required flying. :rolleyes:

[ab0si]

Does Bahamas Air fly to San Juan (Puerto Rico, I assume)? they do not show it as a destination on their web site.

 

If flying from Orlando, why not take a non-stop with Airtran or American? (I would not fly Spirit, the other non-stop choice.)

 

I have never flown Bahamas Air nor have I heard anything good, bad or indifferent about them.

 

Paul

[mfanderso]

My questions might be rather elementary, but I have never had to fly for a cruise before.

 

I have just booked a cruise (just paid the deposit) out of San Juan for Sept 2009 (17 months away :rolleyes: ). We will have to fly from Orlando to San Juan. I turned down the cruise air, as it seemed remarkably expensive. So I will be purchasing the flights separately as soon as I am able. How do I go about getting trip insurance that covers both the cruise and the flight? Don't I have to purchase the trip insurance relatively quickly after booking the cruise? Will it let you cover flights that you haven't purchased yet, or do I have to do something separate for those.

 

Also it looks like Bahamas Air will be the likely choice for our flights. I have flown Air Jamaica in the past and had no problems, I'm thinking Bahamas Air should be fine to go with? Or does anyone know something else that might change my mind?

 

I appreciate any help or advice. I love living in Florida and being able to drive to all the ports, so it kind of kills me that the Caribbean itinerary I wanted the most required flying. :rolleyes:

 

We always just insure the cruise at first. When you purchase the airfare, the insurance will let you adjust the amount to include that portion of the trip if you do it within a certain time period (7 days or so). We have adjusted our insurance on our upcoming trip 2 to 3 times. Also, if the price of the cruise goes down, they will let you adjust your insurance down and therefore pay less for the insurance.

[wrp96]

I have to ask why you would fly Bahamas Air to get from Orlando to San Juan. If you fly Bahamasair, you will have to fly to Nassau first to connect to San Juan and then be required to go through US immigration and customs once you land in San Juan which is just too much hassle. Why not take one of the nonstops offered by American, AirTran, or JetBlue?

[Ellanora]

Does Bahamas Air fly to San Juan (Puerto Rico, I assume)? they do not show it as a destination on their web site.

 

Paul

 

My bad, I was looking at them for a different trip and got confused. It would probably be American Airlines or JetBlue. Sorry about that.

 

We always just insure the cruise at first. When you purchase the airfare, the insurance will let you adjust the amount to include that portion of the trip if you do it within a certain time period (7 days or so). We have adjusted our insurance on our upcoming trip 2 to 3 times. Also, if the price of the cruise goes down, they will let you adjust your insurance down and therefore pay less for the insurance.

 

Thank you - that is very helpful.

[Ellanora]

I have to ask why you would fly Bahamas Air to get from Orlando to San Juan. If you fly Bahamasair, you will have to fly to Nassau first to connect to San Juan and then be required to go through US immigration and customs once you land in San Juan which is just too much hassle. Why not take one of the nonstops offered by American, AirTran, or JetBlue?

 

Sorry, sorry, as I said above, I was looking at a different vacation and got confused. I need to stop planning multiple vacations at the same time. :D

[wrp96]

Sorry, sorry, as I said above, I was looking at a different vacation and got confused. I need to stop planning multiple vacations at the same time. :D

 

Nah, it just makes it interesting. At least you weren't asking about excursions in the Bahamas on an Alaska cruise thread.:p

[Ellanora]

Nah, it just makes it interesting. At least you weren't asking about excursions in the Bahamas on an Alaska cruise thread.:p

 

LOL. Yeah at least I got the right direction.

 

On a more serious note, the cruise line quoted about $650 per person for the roundtrip Orlando to San Juan. I can't look up 2009 yet, but I checked Sept 2008 for a compare, and they are running $230 roundtrip per person. I knew cruise air is more expensive, but wow, that just seems completely out of proportion.

[wrp96]

Best advice I have is to book with cruise air first, especially since flights aren't available yet for your time period. Then you are protected in case flight prices rise because you can budget for the maximum amount. Then once flights open up you search for less expensive air - with flight times you like. With most cruiselines, like Carnival and RCCL you have up until final payment to cancel the cruiseair with no penalty.

[Ellanora]

Best advice I have is to book with cruise air first, especially since flights aren't available yet for your time period. Then you are protected in case flight prices rise because you can budget for the maximum amount. Then once flights open up you search for less expensive air - with flight times you like. With most cruiselines, like Carnival and RCCL you have up until final payment to cancel the cruiseair with no penalty.

 

Thanks - that's a good point. I may have to reconsider.