Purchased cruise/air with RCCL to Alaska

[atv girl]

I need some advice, when I scheduled my cruise package, the airlines were cancelling alot of flights over maintance issues and I forget the other reason, but I felt at the time I would be better booking with Rccl, because I thought they were responsible to get you there, but after reading not sure thats the case, I have been on a cruise where we waited for 6 guest. I checked prices and the difference is only about 190.00 total, the money is not a huge issue.

Does anyone know that when I get my documents if the air is not to my liking can I pay a fee to change it or am I stuck with it. or can I cancel it now and have the TA book be something separate. the only good thing our land portion is first not the cruise,so it will be easier to catch up. so any advice on what you would do,Thanks for the help.

[Keith1010]

If this me, I would talk with my TA to get the facts from Royal Caribbean.

 

Once you get your documents (that means you have already been ticketed) you will likely have no opportunity to change the ticket.

 

When going through the cruise line I always recommend going with custom air. Otherwise you are at the mercy of the cruise line and may end up with flights that you do not want with poor connections.

 

If the price is close and you would rather book the air yourself just have the TA confirm that there are no penalties and assuming there are none have the air removed from your booking and book the air yourself.

 

Again, this is one of the reasons you have a TA to assist you with this.

 

Keith

[atv girl]

Keith Thank you I kinda new I`d be stuck with it,I was hoping for some other news,maybe I could switch to custom air now,I`ll call on Monday.

[wrp96]

It's always best to request custom air as far in advance as possible if you are going to stick with cruise air. The longer you wait the more likely there will be a charge for difference in airfare in addition to the custom air fee.

[atv girl]

It's always best to request custom air as far in advance as possible if you are going to stick with cruise air. The longer you wait the more likely there will be a charge for difference in airfare in addition to the custom air fee.

Yea I`ll call on monday, and see what the fees will be,and go from there.

[greatam]

Yea I`ll call on monday, and see what the fees will be,and go from there.

 

PLEASE read your cruise contract. There are NO guarantees that you will get to the ship on time. Most cruise contracts contain wording to the effect "we book air, hotels, excursions and land transportation as a CONVENIENCE to our passengers. We have NO liability for THIRD party vendors." Meaning you are mostly on your own. Alaska is a tough trip if anything goes wrong with cruise air. PSA regulations, not a lot of airports OR flights IF you mis connect with your original flights.

 

Please read through the sticky at the top of the forum. Yes, it's mine, BUT. You have no protections with cruise air tickets. You could miss a day or three or four of your cruise if there is a problem.

 

Post your dates, departure and arrival airports. I think we can all come up with something as cheap if not cheaper than the cruise air tickets. With independently purchased tickets, you have full protection from the airline. Transfers from either the cruiseline or independent shuttle services are easily available in Alaska.

 

Please plan to fly in a day early. As a general rule, you will NOT have that luxury with a normal cruise air ticket. You MUST book deviation, pay the deviation fee and any extra charges. Please take the time to read some of the horror stories about cruise air tickets to Alaska. One couple ended up spending 3 days in Juneau waiting for the ship to arrive (HAL) and missed most of their cruise. One couple essentially got dumped in Dallas because the cruise line could not get them to the ship until 3 days into a 7 day cruise.

 

REALLY think this through. While cruise air MAY save a few bucks, IF you miss the ship, what did you really save?????

[atv girl]

Post your dates, departure and arrival airports. I think we can all come up with something as cheap if not cheaper than the cruise air tickets. With independently purchased tickets, you have full protection from the airline. Transfers from either the cruiseline or independent shuttle services are easily available in Alaska.

 

Thank you for your original post, thats when I realized I really was`nt protected.

 

okay here goes,

June07-09 arrive in Ancgorage,from Orlando Fl.

7to12 land portion of cruise

June12 board ship Radiance of the seas, till June 19, depart Vancouver BC to Orlando Fl.

I looked on expedia for airfare and I think from memory it was 897.00 or 919.00. I paid 1099.00 with Rccl. price is not my main concern,Its just going to be very difficult for me to leave on the 6th. I was hoping for a red eye flight on the 6th and arrive on the 7th. but there were`nt anyreal late flights.I`m a hairdresser and its hard to take that much time away.finacially and client inconvience bothers me {I know I should`nt care its my vacation,but can`t help myself}If you can just rec a better place other than expedia to look for tickets I can look those up on Tuesday, I`ll be at a convention for the next 2 days. Thanks for your insight.

[scottbee]

Post your dates, departure and arrival airports. I think we can all come up with something as cheap if not cheaper than the cruise air tickets. With independently purchased tickets, you have full protection from the airline. Transfers from either the cruiseline or independent shuttle services are easily available in Alaska.

 

Thank you for your original post, thats when I realized I really was`nt protected.

 

okay here goes,

June07-09 arrive in Ancgorage,from Orlando Fl.

7to12 land portion of cruise

June12 board ship Radiance of the seas, till June 19, depart Vancouver BC to Orlando Fl.

I looked on expedia for airfare and I think from memory it was 897.00 or 919.00. I paid 1099.00 with Rccl. price is not my main concern,Its just going to be very difficult for me to leave on the 6th. I was hoping for a red eye flight on the 6th and arrive on the 7th. but there were`nt anyreal late flights.I`m a hairdresser and its hard to take that much time away.finacially and client inconvience bothers me {I know I should`nt care its my vacation,but can`t help myself}If you can just rec a better place other than expedia to look for tickets I can look those up on Tuesday, I`ll be at a convention for the next 2 days. Thanks for your insight.

 

The best way of getting decent, cheap air for this flight is to sign up for an Alaska Airlines credit card ($75 fee). Then buy an Alaska Air, open jaw flight (on AS or QX metal, ie no code shares), for MCO-SEA-ANC and YVR-SEA-MCO, and pay full fare for the 1st portion, and use your $50 companion cert you got with the credit card to buy the second ticket.

 

So that's $988 for the 1st ticket, and probably close to $100 (50+taxes) for the second. Only issue I see is the later AS flight out of SEA-MCO leaves at 13:30, which means it's pretty tough to make a valid connection out of YVR, there's a 10:30 YVR-SEA, but that'll be tough off the ship. Consider a night in Vancouver before heading back.

[AF-1]

Royal Caribbean will not honor a flight delay; you can buy trip interuption/cancellation insurance. I was on Majesty of the Seas and we waited in port of Miami for two hours. We were waiting on a group of 25 passengers who were all on the same United Flight out of Chicago. So I guess if there is a large group who's airline is delayed, then the cruise ship can wait.

[YooperGale]

Hi, you mention coming up with a comparable (orcheaper) price than Carnival Air. I have searched for my ownflights and notf ound anything as low as Carnival. Do you have any suggestions?

 

We are flying from MSP to LAX for a 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal. We will return from Miami to MSP on April 5th. If we stick with Carnival air arrangements, I will ask for a deviation to fly in a day early.

That would bring the Carnival air to $1047.00 for the two of us.

Do you have any susggestions as to where I could look to beat that?

Thanks very much,

Gale

 

 

 

PLEASE read your cruise contract. There are NO guarantees that you will get to the ship on time. Most cruise contracts contain wording to the effect "we book air, hotels, excursions and land transportation as a CONVENIENCE to our passengers. We have NO liability for THIRD party vendors." Meaning you are mostly on your own. Alaska is a tough trip if anything goes wrong with cruise air. PSA regulations, not a lot of airports OR flights IF you mis connect with your original flights.

 

Please read through the sticky at the top of the forum. Yes, it's mine, BUT. You have no protections with cruise air tickets. You could miss a day or three or four of your cruise if there is a problem.

 

Post your dates, departure and arrival airports. I think we can all come up with something as cheap if not cheaper than the cruise air tickets. With independently purchased tickets, you have full protection from the airline. Transfers from either the cruiseline or independent shuttle services are easily available in Alaska.

 

Please plan to fly in a day early. As a general rule, you will NOT have that luxury with a normal cruise air ticket. You MUST book deviation, pay the deviation fee and any extra charges. Please take the time to read some of the horror stories about cruise air tickets to Alaska. One couple ended up spending 3 days in Juneau waiting for the ship to arrive (HAL) and missed most of their cruise. One couple essentially got dumped in Dallas because the cruise line could not get them to the ship until 3 days into a 7 day cruise.

 

REALLY think this through. While cruise air MAY save a few bucks, IF you miss the ship, what did you really save?????

[greatam]

Hi, you mention coming up with a comparable (orcheaper) price than Carnival Air. I have searched for my ownflights and notf ound anything as low as Carnival. Do you have any suggestions?

 

We are flying from MSP to LAX for a 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal. We will return from Miami to MSP on April 5th. If we stick with Carnival air arrangements, I will ask for a deviation to fly in a day early.

That would bring the Carnival air to $1047.00 for the two of us.

Do you have any susggestions as to where I could look to beat that?

Thanks very much,

Gale

 

I just posted the flights, dates and price on your other thread in the cruise air forum. $50.00 higher than Carnival BUT it allows the deviation you wanted (fly March 20). When you add the deviation fees ($50.00pp) AND the potential increase in airfare for deviation, the flights I posted are cheaper.