Is now to early to book a flight in June?

[cruisinmait]

We are going on the AOS from June 19-26, 2005. I would like to fly in the day before and our TA talked my husband out of it saying it would be cheaper for us to fly in same day as departure and to go through the cruise line because of transfers. He believed her and then I found out we are paying $579 pp for the flight and transfers. That seems like a lot to me.

 

 

I found a flight for us on AA that is $431 and that seems a lot better. My only concern for that flight was that it leaves at 2:18 pm and I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time to get to the airport from the pier.

 

 

My question is: Should I go ahead and book this flight or wait a while to see if the price goes down? I just don't want to pay a fortune to get to our cruise when we have already spent so much to go on it in the first place.

 

[Guest nhrich]

Best advice I can give you is if you're comfortable with the airfare you're finding now, then go ahead and book it....and then stop watching the prices. A 2:00 flight should be fine from San Juan. I'd suggest flying in a day early, as you're thinking about.

 

As for the TA recommending the cruise line's air & transfers, I've never recommended that a client use the cruise line air, and the transfers can be purchased separately from the cruise line if you want their transfers. Often, it's cheaper to take a cab, though. Your TA is probably recommending it because (1) it's easier for her, and/or (2) she gets a commission on the cruise line air.

 

Rich

Carefree Vacations

[parody]

 

My question is: Should I go ahead and book this flight or wait a while to see if the price goes down? I just don't want to pay a fortune to get to our cruise when we have already spent so much to go on it in the first place.

 

I would definately book your own flight. However, I would keep checking a little longer since your cruise isn't until June. I'm not sure where you are departing from, but a couple of weeks ago I was checking air fares from BOS to SJU. Typically, fares were in the $450 range. However, a couple of times the lowest fare on AA was $337. This fare existed for only about 4 hours on one day and thus I do not think it was part of a systemwide fare sale that AA had at the time. I'm sure others would disagree, but in June I do not think it is necessary to fly down the day ahead unless you want to tour San Juan or have relatives/friends in the area. Now, a cruise in January, when weather is an additional issue, is another story.

[MamaParrotHead]

We just booked our first cruise...and I found that the air was much cheaper booking on our own. I had heard of "good deals" that can be found "once in a blue moon", but honestly, when it came down to it, we set a price that we didn't want to pay OVER, searched and searched for arriving and departing flight times that would work for us, and just went for it when we found one. With gas prices being so volatile right now, the last thing we wanted was to be paying the extra $ up the wazoo for higher fuel charges. And after about 24 hours of searching and searching, I was ready to pull my hair out. We're flying in to port the day before, just because it happens to be a Saturday (no extra vacation days) and we didn't want to be rushed or worried about anything. We're going with another couple, so a night "on the town" in Miami didn't sound like such a bad idea.

 

good luck!

[cruisinmait]

Thanks everyone. We are going to book our own flight. My husband thought I was crazy spending so much time on here and now he is glad I am saving us money;)