RCCL Air

[KAWS]

We booked our March 2010 cruise and for the first time have taken the cruise air.

 

I noticed today that the pricing for the flight only have gone up by almost $500 pp.

 

I know that if the cruise goes up we don't have to pay the increase, but if the flight portion goes up, does the same hold true?

 

Keeping my fingers crossed at the answers for this one.

[madibeme]

We are in th emiddle of a nightmare with them for our cruise in February. We are getting a non stop run around from the TA and RCCL. Good luck with them.

[Keith1010]

Most cruise lines implemented a policy that allows them to adjust the airfare. So there is no guarantee it will remain the same.

 

When you say the pricing of the flight has gone up are you talking about the price that RCI will charge?

 

I am assuming so since pricing through the airlines for a flight in March of 2010 will not be available for quite some time. When it is you ought to take a look at it to see if you would do better just booking it on your own.

 

What are the cities involved?

 

Keith

[jaspercat]

It didn't for me:(. When I booked the Alaska cruise, I booked +air 'cause at the time RCCL was cheaper than booking with either Air Canada or WestJet. Then we had 2 price drops on the cruise. The 1st one no problem, the second one -- yup. As soon as TA asked for the price drop on the cruise they increased the price of the airfare (almost $200 more so I would up not getting much of a price drop).

 

The good news -- Air Canada (and WestJet) finally had a decent seat sale -- I booked my air with AC and cancelled the air with RCCL.:)

[KAWS]

Most cruise lines implemented a policy that allows them to adjust the airfare. So there is no guarantee it will remain the same.

 

When you say the pricing of the flight has gone up are you talking about the price that RCI will charge?

 

I am assuming so since pricing through the airlines for a flight in March of 2010 will not be available for quite some time. When it is you ought to take a look at it to see if you would do better just booking it on your own.

 

What are the cities involved?

 

Keith

 

Yes, this is what I'm referring to. The cities are Toronto - Los Angeles. You're correct that the pricing has not come out yet on the airlines, but I figured if they honoured what they quoted in the first place, there would be no need for me to look. The price (round trip) that they quoted me was $1578 (for two) Cdn. That's not a bad price. I will, of course, monitor the pricing once the airlines come out with theirs but just wondered if I couldn't find a price lower, if I still get to keep this pricing as I would for the cruise, or not.

[weeza]

madibeme: I'm a little worried, we are also leaving in Feb on the Serenade and booked our airfare with RCL. What are they doing, that is such a nightmare? We still haven't got our flight info yet, so we don't know who we are flying with or what time we are leaving. Did you already get your flight info?

[6rugrats]

madibeme: I'm a little worried, we are also leaving in Feb on the Serenade and booked our airfare with RCL. What are they doing, that is such a nightmare? We still haven't got our flight info yet, so we don't know who we are flying with or what time we are leaving. Did you already get your flight info?

 

I looked at madibeme's other posts. All I could find was a post stating she was unhappy because she did not have seats together with her husband. This has nothing to do with the cruiseline or TA. She needs to work with the airline to change seats. Sorry if you are a "he" and not a "she"!

 

Is there something else going on madibeme? I think you said your flights are with UA. Our family flies them all the time; if you post the problem maybe I can offer a suggestion.

[madibeme]

We booked the cruise through a national travel agency at the mall. My family has used them for years with no problem. Booked over a year ago and were told the best way to do the air was through the cruise line. We were assured we would be on the first flight down and that concerns about seating would be addressed (I have arthritis and do better on isles where I can stretch and move my bad ankle). Fast forward 10 months and my husband is wondering why 60 days out we still have not found out what our flight info is. He calls the TA and she no longer works for the company. Finally gets someone else to call. We wait 2 days to get our information about the air. We finally get an email with a conformation number to find out that we were not booked on the frist flight and will be making additional stops along the way. They also gave us a reservation with another couple. NOt happy with this because when you log into United to try and move seats they have access to all our flight infomation and have the power to move us around. Now I am sure they wont but still. We were told by United that seating was closed and cannot move our seats to accomidate my needs. So my husband calls RCCL. After being bounced around he is told that he cannot make any changes to our reservation due to privacy issues. Doesnt matter that its our reservation the TA has to make the changes. So now we are going back and forth trying to fix the flight with RCCL that doesnt want to help us and a TA that isnt ours and has no reason to help us since they didnt get the booking to begin with. This is supposed to be our honeymoon and only on one flight am I actually sitting with my husband. This is nuts. I will never do air with the cruise line again.

 

If I were you I would call whoever you booked with and get a conformation number. Good luck.

[madibeme]

I looked at madibeme's other posts. All I could find was a post stating she was unhappy because she did not have seats together with her husband. This has nothing to do with the cruiseline or TA. She needs to work with the airline to change seats. Sorry if you are a "he" and not a "she"!

 

Is there something else going on madibeme? I think you said your flights are with UA. Our family flies them all the time; if you post the problem maybe I can offer a suggestion.

 

 

No one will speak to us about this. They will not help us. Everyone says they can't help us and is blaiming someone else. We have flown United before and had no problems but those reservations were booked on our own. I am just very frustrated.

[6rugrats]

We booked the cruise through a national travel agency at the mall. My family has used them for years with no problem. Booked over a year ago and were told the best way to do the air was through the cruise line. We were assured we would be on the first flight down and that concerns about seating would be addressed (I have arthritis and do better on isles where I can stretch and move my bad ankle). Fast forward 10 months and my husband is wondering why 60 days out we still have not found out what our flight info is. He calls the TA and she no longer works for the company. Finally gets someone else to call. We wait 2 days to get our information about the air. We finally get an email with a conformation number to find out that we were not booked on the frist flight and will be making additional stops along the way. They also gave us a reservation with another couple. NOt happy with this because when you log into United to try and move seats they have access to all our flight infomation and have the power to move us around. Now I am sure they wont but still. We were told by United that seating was closed and cannot move our seats to accomidate my needs. So my husband calls RCCL. After being bounced around he is told that he cannot make any changes to our reservation due to privacy issues. Doesnt matter that its our reservation the TA has to make the changes. So now we are going back and forth trying to fix the flight with RCCL that doesnt want to help us and a TA that isnt ours and has no reason to help us since they didnt get the booking to begin with. This is supposed to be our honeymoon and only on one flight am I actually sitting with my husband. This is nuts. I will never do air with the cruise line again.

 

If I were you I would call whoever you booked with and get a conformation number. Good luck.

 

This is one of the problems with booking cruise air. If you did not pay for a deviation, you could be placed on any flight; not necessarily the first one of the day, and no one should have promised you that you would be. Also, seating is between you and the airline, and the cruiseline and your TA have nothing to do with it, and should not have told you they did. Sounds as if your TA really was not very informed or not too good at their job. It is normal when booking cruise air to not get your information until pretty close to the sailing date. I really don't understand why your reservation would be linked with another couple (I am assuming you do not know these people). I don't understand the phrase, "seating is closed".

 

It's true if you booked with a TA, RCCL will not speak with you directly; it has to go through your TA. From your story, it appears your main issue is not having seats together with your husband, correct? However, UA should speak with you with no problem.

 

Would you mind posting your flight numbers and dates? I have lots of experience with UA, and I would be happy to look at it and see if I can figure out what they are talking about with the "seating is closed" statement.

[KAWS]

This is one of the problems with booking cruise air. If you did not pay for a deviation, you could be placed on any flight; not necessarily the first one of the day, and no one should have promised you that you would be.

 

When can you pay for that deviation? I asked about it when I booked my cruise/flight and they said that deviation can be requested at final payment time and not before. Was that true? I do NOT want to go in on cruise day and am happy to pay the deviation fee to get direct flights and day before flights. I do think though that we'll wind up having to pay deviation plus a hefty fee because at that time the rates will be quite different than what we were first quoted as well.

[wrp96]

You can request an air deviation starting at 9 months before the cruise.

[weeza]

6rugrats: I was wondering if you might know this - when can I find out our flight information (how many days before our cruise)? I booked through a local TA. For some reason I had in my mind that we wouldn't find out until 2 weeks before our cruise. Is that correct?

 

Thanks in advance for any info!

[KAWS]

You can request an air deviation starting at 9 months before the cruise.

 

Thanks for the info! Good to know.

[greatam]

Thanks for the info! Good to know.

 

Book your own flights!!!! Not only will you generally save some money, but you will be in control of your destiny. To find out just some of the things that can go wrong with cruise air tickets, read the sticky at the top of this forum (Cruse Air and Deviation).

 

I wrote it-it spells out all the reasons NOT to book cruise air. A VERY bad option as a general rule.

[madibeme]

This is one of the problems with booking cruise air. If you did not pay for a deviation, you could be placed on any flight; not necessarily the first one of the day, and no one should have promised you that you would be. Also, seating is between you and the airline, and the cruiseline and your TA have nothing to do with it, and should not have told you they did. Sounds as if your TA really was not very informed or not too good at their job. It is normal when booking cruise air to not get your information until pretty close to the sailing date. I really don't understand why your reservation would be linked with another couple (I am assuming you do not know these people). I don't understand the phrase, "seating is closed".

 

It's true if you booked with a TA, RCCL will not speak with you directly; it has to go through your TA. From your story, it appears your main issue is not having seats together with your husband, correct? However, UA should speak with you with no problem.

 

Would you mind posting your flight numbers and dates? I have lots of experience with UA, and I would be happy to look at it and see if I can figure out what they are talking about with the "seating is closed" statement.

 

 

Thanks for the offer. After 2 weeks my husband of going back and forth between the ta and rccl he went to the TA corporate offices and they looked into the issue. They were able to get the airlines to fix the problem. The biggest problem was not not sitting next to my husband it was not being in the aisle. I have severe RA and when I am in the aisle I tend to arrive with less stiff ankles because I am able to sit with my bad ankle elevated and it does not swell as badly.

[lovinlife58]

I booked a cruise with RCI over Thanksgiving and the day before we were to leave my DH suffered a detached retina. Long story goes to short-bought Travel Guard-with 100% trip cancellation. Travel Guard told us part of the refund comes from them, a small part from the travel agent and the "air refund" has already been refunded to my credit card. But...funny thing, I did not use a credit card, I paid cash. So now I have to go to the travel office (best way for me) and find out where the air refund is. I would have been fine with a credit for a future flight. I've learned some important things-use a major credit card, book my own flights when possible and keep a smile on!LOL

I have a feeling this will get interesting as to who has my flight money!