Canadians on Carnival?

[Avril]

I'm from Burlington, Ontario. I've sailed with Carnival many times. :D I've sailed from Ft. Laudredale, Miami, Los Angeles (Long Beach) and Galveston. In 62 days, I'm sailing on the Carnival Victory out of New York heading for St. John and Halifax with 2 sea days!! Can't wait!! :D To make airfare cheaper, we usualy fly out of Buffalo as it is about the same distance from where we live as Toronto but it costs less. We also fly on the cheaper airlines such as Jet Blue.

[bellagirl]

To Midazolam in Hannibal,Missouri-my heartfelt prayers and thoughts are with you and your family,friends and neighbours at this time. I have been following the developments of the situation and cannot imagine what you must be going through at this time.

Hopefully, it won't be long before this tragedy comes to an end and you can pick up the pieces and move on again.

Just know that you are not alone. We'll be watching and waiting for better times. All the best, Shelly

[123traveller123]

Hello from Toronto! So far, flying out of Toronto has been manageable cost wise. All of the charter airlines have pretty reasonable fares and West Jet and SunWing have been having some amazing deals. However if things change, we will also most likely investigate flying out of Buffalo also but it would have to be a real big savings to make up for the 1 1/2 hour drive. :) My girlfriend went this route last March for March Break when they were flying to Miami for a Costa Cruise. She said the drive in the winter was not worth the savings...lol.

[SL HomeschoolMom]

We're about 1/2 hour west of YYZ. We used to drive to WDW by leaving at 4 am, and could be there by 10 pm or so, but we're too old to do that now :)

 

We're lucky enough to be able to fly on Aeroplan points (in fact, my hubby flies less when he's on vacation than if he was at work), otherwise airfare is expensive. The best part is he can bring 4 suitcases himself for free :)

 

I think though that even if we had to pay airfare, it's still cheaper (from Toronto anyway) to FL, than from many of the states.

[Keishas2Dads]

We will be travelling from Moncton, N.B. with our friends and neighbors, Littledipper, next April 2009 for a 2 week B2B on the Carnival Glory. We take every opportunity to earn AirMiles, and this will be paying for at least one of tickets to Orlando next year. We had enough AirMiles for 2 bookings however could not get both on same flight, so uses AirMiles for one flight and paid for the second. I was able to book on Air Canada out of Moncton to Montreal and onto Orlando for $960 return including taxes. We have our cruise booked, our flights are booked, we are flying two days before the cruise so our hotel is booked in Cocoa Beach, and our rental car is booked also. All that is left is looking into excursions. Now if we can just get through the next 300 days..............

[Grayce]

We were planning to fly this fall but decided to drive since the price of gas is going crazy.

[Casino Player]

Just wondering? How many Canadians are here and travel with Carnival, we are from Nova Scotia and heading out next week for Miami-Bahama...Without free airfare (aeroplan points) to Miami, I don't know how many Canadians can do this - as we don't have many 'warm weather" ports that are conveniently located..I mean we have Halifax and Saint John on the east coast - but I like the warm weather - so cruising to New England in the fall is not for me.

 

Howdy Canadians, my wife and I love to cruise to Canada. We have been to Nova Scotia about four times already and this next trip will be our second to Quebec City. We have been to Canada more times than anyplace else. This year we are going to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Onterio. Next year we are going to New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Neither of us really like going to the so called warm weather ports too much. Although we do like to go to St. Thomas. We want to go to some of the other islands, but, most cruises out of NYC only go to the Eastern Carribean.

[SenatorsFan]

We're from Ottawa and going on our third cruise in Aug. We've always flown, but this time we are going to drive to Syracuse, NY and take Jet Blue direct to Orlando for 1/3 of the cost of a non-direct Air Canada flight.:eek: At New Year's we lucked out with a non-stop Ottawa-Fort Lauderdale flight which was great, except that due to fog we were diverted to Montreal on the way home and then had to wait hours to be bused back home. Grrr, I was not a happy camper that night! I don't know when our next cruise is likely to be after this one in Aug., I hate to think of not having one to look forward to, but circumstances next summer may not allow us to cruise. Oh well, I'll keep dreaming....

[Thamsey]

Please tell me more about taking the train from Toronto to New York.Which companyis that and what are pprices like

Thanks

[123traveller123]

Please tell me more about taking the train from Toronto to New York.Which companyis that and what are pprices like

Thanks

 

 

I've have never taken the train so you may get more information from those who have but New York is a destination on the Via Rail website. I was looking for a fare over the Thanksgiving weekend and it worked out to $180 per person. There was a switchover so I am assuming that is when you pick up the Amtrak. I'd be interested in more information too so I hope our experienced Canadian Travellers will post. :)

[sodsmom]

When we fly out of Toronto to Miami or Ft Lauderdale it usually costs us $99-$199 PP one way :cool:

 

We are flying to Rome in November and it is a little more expensive...the best price so far was $750 pp one way...but I am sure we can get it for around $500 pp ;)

 

Hi there

I would like to know where you are getting that airfare from. It usually prices out at least 4x that when I look, so we usually fly SWA out of BUF cause I have have been able to get some really good DING fares

[magic&buddy]

We live in Kitchener, just west of Toronto and are sailing out of NYC in August as well. I didn't consider the train before. If I may ask, what is the cost of the train to New York. We were going to drive but found a flight on JetBlue out of Buffalo for $388.00 for two.

 

 

Amtrak from Toronto to NYC we are paying 245 return each - this is higher than norm as we booked Business Class. Price is reasonable but the train ride is 12.5 hours!

[cruisinbuddy]

We're doing a b2b on the Freedom next Jan. Did the Liberty in '07

[bellagirl]

We will be travelling from Moncton, N.B. with our friends and neighbors, Littledipper, next April 2009 for a 2 week B2B on the Carnival Glory. We take every opportunity to earn AirMiles, and this will be paying for at least one of tickets to Orlando next year. We had enough AirMiles for 2 bookings however could not get both on same flight, so uses AirMiles for one flight and paid for the second. I was able to book on Air Canada out of Moncton to Montreal and onto Orlando for $960 return including taxes. We have our cruise booked, our flights are booked, we are flying two days before the cruise so our hotel is booked in Cocoa Beach, and our rental car is booked also. All that is left is looking into excursions. Now if we can just get through the next 300 days..............

Hi MonctonTravelers-We're from the same city! What part of Moncton are you from?? We're in the West End! Nice to talk to you!! Shelly

[mrmrsmystery]

Hi fellow Canadians,we are also from Moncton NB,didn't relize there were so many Moncton cruisers on this board.We will be sailing on the Freedom in April 2009.Got great air through carnival out of Moncton to Ft Lauderdale,$633 taxes included ( includes overnight hotel and all transfers ) :)

[Prairie_Gal]

Hi from windy southern Alberta! We Canadians get ripped on airfare, IMHO. Not just the fares (which are high), but all the taxes, fees, and now the fuel surcharge. If you live anywhere near the U.S. border, it will almost always be cheaper to drive across the border and fly from the nearest border city.

 

Here is an example, as it happens we will be in Phoenix just before our upcoming November cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. To fly from Calgary to Phoenix is $300 one way

on Alaska Air (1 stop - 6 hrs) or $400 non-stop (3 hrs).

 

Then to fly from Phoenix to Ft. Lauderdale is $122, also one stop & 6 hrs (booked a while ago, it is more now).

 

Anyway, it is worth it to check the fares from the nearest U.S. city. We live near Great Falls, MT, which is to small for the big discount airlines. We could, however, combine a quick trip to Las Vegas with a cruise, and fly out of there. Now THAT would be a vacation. ;)

[misguidedangel]

I am from Western Canada, so it is even further and harder to get to Miami or Eastern ports from where I live in Edmonton. The first cruise I did in 1991 I flew on AC through Toronto and it took around 10 hours. The next two were also through Miami and the flight times was around 9-11 hours. The last cruise I did was through Galveston. The flight was 6 hours and another two hours to Galveston from Houston. I usually do cruise air becuase of limited flights to the ports, however, we didn't like the flights to Houston and booked on our own and it costed more to book on our own. I have another one booked for Septmeber through Miami and then one on January. My January cruise I have to book my own air and right now it looks like it will be at least $1000 or as much as $1500. The cruise itself is free, I won it, but the airfaire to Miami is going to break the bank!!!!

 

I'll book my Sept 09 cruise to Mexico, which means I can get there for under $1000 because it is much closer. I love the Caribbean, but it is so darn expensive to get to Miami. Houston is not bad in price, but the additional cost of transfer to Galveston and time adds to it.

 

As for how many Canucks on the ship. Jan 07 there were a fair amount. Sept 07 not many at all (all foreigners had to go to the show lounge to clear customs for St. Thomas and we could have all fit in the middle section floor area of the show lounge--75% at least were American. The last cruise was more like 90% American and 10% everyone else! It was Mardi Gras week and I am sure most of the people on the ship were from Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, and other Southern states!!! We ran into very few Canadians when we sailed out of Texas!!!!

 

Happy sailing!

[nancydee]

I am all set for my first cruise.

We are driving 6 hrs down to New York to sail the Miracle.

 

I do not fly.....anywhere.

 

People ask why I am afraid to fly - I am not afraid to fly...I'm afraid to crash :p

[Keishas2Dads]

Hi MonctonTravelers-We're from the same city! What part of Moncton are you from?? We're in the West End! Nice to talk to you!! Shelly

 

Hi Shelly

 

We used to have an apartment in the downtown however we now own our own home and we live on Dover Rd, in Dieppe. We are travelling with our friends and neighbors, Little Dipper for our 2 week B2B next April '09 on the Glory out of Port Canaveral. This will be our 3rd cruise, first on Carnival. Now to just get through the next 300 days.

 

J

[Cardex]

We are also from the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. For our 2007 Carnival cruise we bought air with Carnival. $499pp and they flew us down to Miami the day before, put us up at a great Hilton hotel and included all transfers so not a bad deal.

[littledipper]

Hi fellow Canadians,we are also from Moncton NB,didn't relize there were so many Moncton cruisers on this board.We will be sailing on the Freedom in April 2009.Got great air through carnival out of Moncton to Ft Lauderdale,$633 taxes included ( includes overnight hotel and all transfers ) :)

 

Hello from Moncton...

We used the Carnival Air program back in 2006 after we were told that they would fly us in the day before the cruise and put us up in a hotel. They ended up booking us the day of the cruise flying into Miami at 1PM with a transfer to Fort Lauderdale for our cruise leaving at 4PM.:eek: It ended up being a very stressfull day which is why I don't want to use this program anymore. We booked with Aeroplan this time and are flying in 2 day before we cruise.

[tatay]

When we fly out of Toronto to Miami or Ft Lauderdale it usually costs us $99-$199 PP one way :cool:

 

Hi there

I would like to know where you are getting that airfare from. It usually prices out at least 4x that when I look, so we usually fly SWA out of BUF cause I have have been able to get some really good DING fares

 

Those rates are 1-way before taxes I presume. I just tried expedia and the lowest it quoted me YYZ-FLL was $535 return fare for the same dates I am booked with Southwest BUF-FLL at $206 return fare. I am saving $329 pp. With a family of 4, thats a total savings of $1316 (less $70 for parking in Buffalo and about $25 for gas). That's a lot of DOD for me and spa for the wife:D.

 

This one is from Air Canada, flying with tango. $149 one way;)yeah, right!!

 

Passenger Type Adult Flight 1 - Departing airfare (Tango) 149.00 Flight 2 - Returning airfare (Tango) 149.00 Surcharges NAV 115.00 Taxes, Fees and Charges Canada Airport Improvement Fee SQ 20.00 U.S.A Transportation Tax US 31.66 U.S Agriculture Fee XA 5.14 Air Travellers Security Charge (ATSC) CA 7.94 U.S Passenger Facility Charge XF 4.63 Canada Goods and Services Tax (GST/HST #10009-2287) XG 22.05 September 11 Security Fee AY 2.57 U.S.A Immigration User Fee XY 7.20 Total airfare and taxes before options (per passenger) 514.19 Options Flight 1: Prepaid Onboard Café voucher 5.71 Flight 2: Prepaid Onboard Café voucher 5.71 Canada Goods and Services Tax (GST/HST #10009-2287) XG 0.58 Total airfare, taxes and options (per passenger) 526.19

[jmcancruise]

Frm Woodstock New Brunswick here. We travel the 2 hours to Bangor Maine and fly from there. Find it to be a fair bit cheaper. Never considered the train. Anyone know if it comes as far north as Bangor?

[magic&buddy]

I am all set for my first cruise.

We are driving 6 hrs down to New York to sail the Miracle.

 

I do not fly.....anywhere.

 

People ask why I am afraid to fly - I am not afraid to fly...I'm afraid to crash :p

 

We will be on the Miracle a month before you --- we are taking a train from Toronto.

[MikeNKim]

We are Canadian and love Carnival. We drive to the US and get our flights from there....much, much cheaper. If not we would just drive the 24ishhours to the port. I love cruising but the high flight prices could start to be a issue.

 

Fortunatley our dollar is in great shape so that is helping

 

Kim