Princess Air

[go sea]

Has anyone ever used Princess Air to fly from Cincinnati to Fairbanks ? If you have what kind of connections did they give you?

[FlyerTalker]

Past experiences have NO bearing on what your own cruiseline air will be like. You could have any airline, through any hubs, with an unknown number of connections.

 

Please read the sticky at the top of the forum to get a good understanding of how cruiseline air works.

[JackWP]

In August 2007, our flights were on Northwest. CVG, DETROIT, MSP, FAIRBANKS. No problems.

[go sea]

tHANKS FOR THE INFO ,JACKPW. I HAVE TALKED TO TWO OTHERS AND THEY HAD SAME ROUTING

[greatam]

tHANKS FOR THE INFO ,JACKPW. I HAVE TALKED TO TWO OTHERS AND THEY HAD SAME ROUTING

 

 

Wow!!!! Post # 2 went right over your head, didn't it????

 

What routing someone else got has NO BEARING on what you may get. There is NO rhyme or reason when it comes to cruise air routings. And purchasing cruise air tickets for Alaska cruises have MORE limitations than normal cruise air flights.

 

IF you misconnect on a flight to Vancouver or Anchorage and do not fly in a day or two early, the chance of missing 2 or 3 days of your cruise is VERY great. PSA/no flights to small cruise ports/full flights to small cruise ports.

 

One lady and her family spent most of their cruise in Juneau in a hotel. FOUR DAYS until the cruise got to Juneau and they could join the ship. So they actually saw one port and disembarked. NOT the way most want to spend their vacation.

[Globaliser]

Past experiences have NO bearing on what your own cruiseline air will be like. You could have any airline, through any hubs, with an unknown number of connections.

Wow!!!! Post # 2 went right over your head, didn't it????

 

What routing someone else got has NO BEARING on what you may get. There is NO rhyme or reason when it comes to cruise air routings.

Some people only hear what they want to hear!

 

Just like some people think that if a certain combination of numbers comes up in the lottery this week, that combination has a lower chance of coming up next week.

[Lookingforfacts]

The OP asked what flights others have recieved, via cruise air, from CVG to FAI.

 

He didn't ask for an opinion regarding the pros and cons of cruise air.

 

Post 2 didn't go over his head but the post didn't answer his question.

 

I don't know of any cruise port in FAI. The consequence of landing a day late would be missing a day of his land vacation, not waiting in Juneau for 4 days for a cruise ship. Does anyone think the cruise line would have a problem finding alternate land transportation?

[Globaliser]

The OP asked what flights others have recieved, via cruise air, from CVG to FAI.

...

Post 2 didn't go over his head but the post didn't answer his question.

Actually, post number 2 went a long way to addressing the underlying point of the OP's question.

[greatam]

The OP asked what flights others have recieved, via cruise air, from CVG to FAI.

 

What flights others have received has NO bearing on what the OP may receive. Could be any airline, any connections, any flight times.

 

 

He didn't ask for an opinion regarding the pros and cons of cruise air.

 

Post 2 didn't go over his head but the post didn't answer his question.

 

You are correct about the first sentence.

 

But incorrect about the second one. I could tell the OP I flew CVG/ORD/DFW/LAX/SEA/ANC/FAI. That is a POSSIBLE routing on AA/Alaska. Is that what the OP will get???? No answer is possible. And believing this phrase- "I HAVE TALKED TO TWO OTHERS AND THEY HAD SAME ROUTING"-sets one up for disappointment if the routing is different and is naive.

[Shorex]

T

Post 2 didn't go over his head but the post didn't answer his question.

 

Herein is yet another recurring theme on this board. Post #2 provided information that was accurate, useful, and specific to the underlying question (which is, IMO, "What is the routing Princess routinely uses for cruise air from CVG to FAI so that I know what to expect"?) The answer was useful in that it advises to OP to be mentally prepared for "any routing, through any hubs, with an unknown number of connections."

 

However, accurate, useful and specific information is routinely rejected on this board when it is not what the poster wants to hear. There is a decided preference for information that is useless, but somehow comforting.

 

Some posters stubbornly cling to the fallacy that the past predicts the future. It doesn't, not in the stock market and not for cruise air.

[Lookingforfacts]

But incorrect about the second one. I could tell the OP I flew CVG/ORD/DFW/LAX/SEA/ANC/FAI. That is a POSSIBLE routing on AA/Alaska. Is that what the OP will get???? No answer is possible. And believing this phrase- "I HAVE TALKED TO TWO OTHERS AND THEY HAD SAME ROUTING"-sets one up for disappointment if the routing is different and is naive.

 

It's likely the OP is flying to FAI at the beginning of a land/cruise package. Your warning about missing the cruise isn't relevent and I might understand the OP taking a chance with less then optimum flights as long as the saving was large enough.

 

I read the thread regarding cruise air, deviation etc. Is it common for a cruise line to use a code share/multiple airline routing using a consolidator fare? I was under the (possibly wrong) impresssion that those type of reservations were typically done with one carrier.

 

That said NW and Delta are the two carriers that directly service CVG and FAI. Those airlines are merging. It's certainly plausible that at least some of cruise reservations might wind up with a connection at Atlanta. Book direct and you'll probably look for a flights that connect at MSP or DTW.

 

The OP has to find out how much money he'll save using Princess Air vs booking it yourself. Unless the saving is significant I'd book it myself. I'd rather control my reservation.

 

The information the OP asked for would at least confirm the carriers Princess uses.

[wrp96]

To give an example of why what people in the past have gotten may not work for others, on our 2nd cruise using cruise, RCCL had us flying into FLL and flying home from MIA. Other people on the same cruise as us flying from the same home airport flew into MIA and home from FLL.

 

Just because other people have gotten that routing in the past does NOT mean you will get the same routing in the future.

 

And flying in for a cruisetour it's still the same thing as a cruise. They should fly in a day before it starts because they don't want to miss it.

[greatam]

I read the thread regarding cruise air, deviation etc. Is it common for a cruise line to use a code share/multiple airline routing using a consolidator fare? I was under the (possibly wrong) impresssion that those type of reservations were typically done with one carrier.

 

Multiple carriers are commonly used with cruise air. The cruise line/airline contracts are generally let a year in advance. And they are let on a city pair basis-XXX tickets from CVG/ATL, CVG/DTW, CVG/ORD, etc. etc. Those city pairs can be used for a flight to FAI, a flight to LAX, a flight to Europe or a flight to Florida. Then you have city pairs LAX/ANC, SEA/ANC, ORD/ANC, DFW/ANC and on and on. It is the job of the cruise air dept to marry all those individual pieces together to get pax from A to B on ANY cruise.

 

That said NW and Delta are the two carriers that directly service CVG and FAI. Those airlines are merging. It's certainly plausible that at least some of cruise reservations might wind up with a connection at Atlanta. Book direct and you'll probably look for a flights that connect at MSP or DTW.

 

The information the OP asked for would at least confirm the carriers Princess uses.

 

Evidently, you think that when a pax requests a cruise air booking, the cruise air dept actually BOOKS a flight. NO, the cruiseline already OWNS the flights. They are generally in pieces, as explained above (especially from a non hub airport). So what air carrier Princess uses is the function of what "pieces" of the trip are available.

 

In your example, NW/Delta flights would only be valid if the city pairs-CVG/DTW or CVG/MSP-were available. If the cruise line had had a big run on cruise air tickets for a cruise out of FLL/MIA leaving about the same time as the Alaska cruise, the CVG/DTW, CVG/MSP connecting pairs could well be GONE. The routing could then be CVG/ORD on AA, ORD/SEA on USAir and SEA/ANC/FAI on Alaska. All those individual pieces except SEA/FAI can be used on MULTIPLE cruises and that is the way the cruise line buys them. They do not generally buy individual flights-CVG/FAI or CVG/MIA or even CVG/VCE. They buy PIECES and then mix and match.

 

All the OP has to do to find a price difference between cruise air and self booked is do a multi-city booking from CVG to Fairbanks and return from wherever. The cruise line price would be easy to determine through the cruise line or from a TA. But I don't think that is the question at all.

[Jade13]

I have used cruise air once, on HAL, not Princess, and to Alaska. I did pay for deviation and picked the exact flight (from airlines they used, so it was NW), and the benefit at the time besides a $50.00 pp savings (including the deviation fee) was good for that cruise. At the time we paid $169.00pp for their Platinum Protection Plan, and besides the $10K medical and $50K Med evac, we could decide not to go anytime 24 hours prior to departure for ANY REASON (such as my pet is sick - actually didn't have to give any reason) and get back 90% INCLUDING the AIR.

 

Of course the price of this plan has gone up considerably and there are more considerations in picking insurance when going far far away.

 

I just wanted to post one positive in going with cruise air, but it was in combination with an inexpensive Cancel for Any Reason plan that included that air.

[Keith1010]

To the Original Poster, if you want a guarantee for routing you will have to use air deviation.

 

Also has changed since 2007 so as some of the wise people have said on this board, history does not mean much because of many factors, from changes in contract pricing where a cruise line uses other carriers to carriers entering or pulling out of markets along with the time of year of the flights.

 

I would never take the air without doing an air deviation so that I could select my own flights. And, from time to time we do use air from the cruise lines (not often but once in a while for various reasons) but only if we can dictate the flights.

 

Keith

[Lookingforfacts]

Thanks for the insight, I didn't realize cruise lines would typically piece together flight segments.

Sounds like paying the deviation fee is the best way to insure reasonable flights. Particularly if the passenger is starting the land portion of a trip or is arriving a day earlier and can handle the inherent risks of consolidator fares.

 

My point regarding Dl/NW and Atlanta is that schedules, resulting from a NW/DL merger might result in connections in Atlanta instead of MSP.

 

You said contracts are made a year in advance. What happens if an airline drops, or dramatically changes, service from a given airport? Wouldn't the consolidator passengers, who haven't been given their tickets, be more likely to get the less desirable connections? or Would the airline contractually give the cruise lines the seat on the remaing flight from CVG to DTW (as an example).

 

 

 

 

Multiple carriers are commonly used with cruise air. The cruise line/airline contracts are generally let a year in advance. And they are let on a city pair basis-XXX tickets from CVG/ATL, CVG/DTW, CVG/ORD, etc. etc. Those city pairs can be used for a flight to FAI, a flight to LAX, a flight to Europe or a flight to Florida. Then you have city pairs LAX/ANC, SEA/ANC, ORD/ANC, DFW/ANC and on and on. It is the job of the cruise air dept to marry all those individual pieces together to get pax from A to B on ANY cruise.

 

 

 

Evidently, you think that when a pax requests a cruise air booking, the cruise air dept actually BOOKS a flight. NO, the cruiseline already OWNS the flights. They are generally in pieces, as explained above (especially from a non hub airport). So what air carrier Princess uses is the function of what "pieces" of the trip are available.

 

In your example, NW/Delta flights would only be valid if the city pairs-CVG/DTW or CVG/MSP-were available. If the cruise line had had a big run on cruise air tickets for a cruise out of FLL/MIA leaving about the same time as the Alaska cruise, the CVG/DTW, CVG/MSP connecting pairs could well be GONE. The routing could then be CVG/ORD on AA, ORD/SEA on USAir and SEA/ANC/FAI on Alaska. All those individual pieces except SEA/FAI can be used on MULTIPLE cruises and that is the way the cruise line buys them. They do not generally buy individual flights-CVG/FAI or CVG/MIA or even CVG/VCE. They buy PIECES and then mix and match.

 

All the OP has to do to find a price difference between cruise air and self booked is do a multi-city booking from CVG to Fairbanks and return from wherever. The cruise line price would be easy to determine through the cruise line or from a TA. But I don't think that is the question at all.

[go sea]

I just wanted to hear what other people got from Princess Air. I have been on seven Princess ships and have always done my own air and plan on doing it again. AGAIN I just asked What others had received. Also everything will change after the DELTA NWS merge. Boy, alot of people like to jump the gun.