More ?s about Mediterranean cruise

[cruzecontrol]

As I look more and more into the med cruise I come up with more questions for my Cruise Critic experts.

 

I'm considering booking the whole cruise, cruisetours and flights through RCI to ease the burden of trying to put the whole thing together myself. Is it worth it to do it this way or book the land tours and flights through a travel agent? A quick check of prices reveals the RCI flights to Europe to be about twice cost of direct booking.

[buffalogrill]

The research may take a lot of time, but you can customise the vacation to your exact requirements if you book cruise only as a starting point. The only reason I may be tempted to book all with RCI was if I'd never travelled to Europe before.

[JackieJ]

We booked our air and hotel in the Med last year through RCI. We locked in the price about 18 months in advance. It seemed like too much at the time, but we knew we could drop the air if we found a better deal. We were so glad we locked it in because prices soared and we ended up paying half of what we would have paid if we booked it on our own. I'm sure we paid more than we had to for hotel, but at that point it was just easier.

 

We did private tours in Florence/Pisa, Rome and Naples/Amalfi Coast that we booked on our own. The private tours could not have been more enjoyable. There were only four of us and after that, I don't know how I'll get back on another tour bus!

[mjldvlks]

. . . A quick check of prices reveals the RCI flights to Europe to be about twice cost of direct booking.

Not to be flippant, but doesn't that answer the question? Half the price for a flight to Europe can justify a lot of inconvenience.

 

Plus consider that, if you book through RCI, you may lose the opportunity to enjoy price drops. Understand we have never booked air through RCI since we are usually using frequent fleyr miles. But, if you book air through RCI, it is my understanding that, if the cruise price drops, they re-price the whole thing, so if air fares are higher [which is almost inevitable if you are close to the cruise date (which is when the most dramatic drops usually happen)]. As a result you may lose any benefit of a potential drop in the cruise price. I am not saying that is fair or justified, Indeed, I believe it is neither since RCI doesn't really have to rebook the airfare. But I have seen too many people on here who have run into that precise issue to doubt that it is the case. It also seems to me that cruise tours are over priced compared to booking your pre-cruise or follow-on touring yourself.

[DEL67]

I always book my own air - not just to save money, although it can be significantly cheaper but also because I can pick my own flights. If you book cruise air, you will most likely be get whatever routing is cheapest at the time the cruise line books your flight.

 

For example, RCCL wanted $1,300 per person for flights from NYC to Rome in August. I was able to find non-stop flights from Newark (my preferred airport) for $824. As a result, I saved almost $600 per person, most likely shortened our travel time by over 2 hours in each direction, and gained most of a day in Rome since we will be arriving at 8 AM instead of 1 PM or later.

[TBSCruiser]

You sound like you could benefit from the expertise of a good travel agent. Not an online order taker but a live agent that you can sit in front of. Med cruise/land/air are not the easiest thing to plan for so ask friends and co-workers for reccomendations of their agents and go see them

 

Not only will they help you find the best flights but they will have hotel recommendations and outline a complete trip and most likely save you a ton of money over what RCL sells the above for.

[peteranddan]

I actually enjoy the planning part of our vacation. I have always booked the air seperate to suit our scheduling needs and for cost factors.

 

Last year, prior to our West Med cruise, I found a great deal on airfare but we were leaving out of Venice and the airfare was to Paris??? The flight was dirt cheap so we decided to extend our VA and spent five days in Paris then took the overnight train to Venice. The cost was still cheaper than the cruiseline air and we had a wonderful extended VA!

 

It was all very easy to do myself over the internet.

[marci22]

Any vacation is better if you do your own research. It does take time and effort, but it will pay off in the end.

 

I do not discount travel agents who may be specialists in a particular area, but my experience has been that no one looks after you like you do for yourself, whether it is investing your money, buying a furnace, or planning a vacation.

 

Maybe try doing it yourself and if you hit a roadblock, contact a travel agent and discuss the options you have found. They will either know more than you, or they won't. The only way to find out is to attempt to do it.

[cruzecontrol]

Not to be flippant, but doesn't that answer the question? Half the price for a flight to Europe can justify a lot of inconvenience.

 

I don't consider your response flippant. It is interesting to have my own words come back to me. However, I'm really interested in hearing from those cruisers that have tried doing it both ways and what their experiences were. Thanks for the response.

[cruzecontrol]

You sound like you could benefit from the expertise of a good travel agent. Not an online order taker but a live agent that you can sit in front of. Med cruise/land/air are not the easiest thing to plan for so ask friends and co-workers for reccomendations of their agents and go see them

 

Not only will they help you find the best flights but they will have hotel recommendations and outline a complete trip and most likely save you a ton of money over what RCL sells the above for.

 

As I read all of these responses, I tend to agree with you about consulting a travel agent. In the past I have always booked my own cruises through the cruise line. I also agree that a face to face travel agent, someone I can sit down and talk to, is the best way to go. My only problem is I live in a small town and all the local TAs have closed up shop. Maybe I'll check out the towns in the area and see if there's a TA close by.

 

Thanks for your response:)

[cruzecontrol]

Last year, prior to our West Med cruise, I found a great deal on airfare but we were leaving out of Venice and the airfare was to Paris??? The flight was dirt cheap so we decided to extend our VA and spent five days in Paris then took the overnight train to Venice. The cost was still cheaper than the cruiseline air and we had a wonderful extended VA!

 

It was all very easy to do myself over the internet.

 

Wow -I really am envious of the ability to do that kind of thing. That is really thinking outside the box.

 

This is what I really enjoy about Cruise Critic - all of this helpful advice without any of the snide remarks.:) My wife and I are over 70 years old and this is the biggest trip we have ever started planning.

 

I'm looking forward to any other contributions to this thread. Believe me, we are paying attention to you all.

[bay guy]

We've done things both ways: 1) All cruise, air and tours through the cruise line and 2) Cruise only through cruise line and booked our own air and most ground tours.

 

You can usually save a great deal of money by using plan #2. What I've done for ground tour information is to go to the library and check out the Fodors, Frommers and Rick Steves book that cover the countries we're stopping in. I get an idea of what we may want to see and then go from there.

 

Fodors and Rick Steves have great web sites and Q&A forums similar to CC with lots of experienced travellers who can give you plenty of detailed info, just like the folks here can about various ports.

 

We saved an outrageous amount of money by taking trains from the ports into Florence and Paris and met guides there that took us around or we did alot on our own as well. We found that we also had much more time to tour when doing this (about 4 more hours in Paris using the train versus the cruise lne buses).

 

We had an Eastern Med cruise planned for later this week but had to cancel due to family health issues. However, when I was setting the trip up, I was able to book some great land tours by contacting various companies I learned about through CC and the other web sites I've mentioned and was going to get better tours for significant cost savings with small group size versus by the bus load off the ship.

 

You'd have to find a well traveled TA, with lots of independent travel experience, who could do as good a job as you can on your own. They're hard to come by in my experience.

 

Plan as much as you can yourself. You'll learn alot more, enjoy the trip more, see more and save lots of money.

[cruzecontrol]

We've done things both ways: 1) All cruise, air and tours through the cruise line and 2) Cruise only through cruise line and booked our own air and most ground tours.

 

You can usually save a great deal of money by using plan #2. What I've done for ground tour information is to go to the library and check out the Fodors, Frommers and Rick Steves book that cover the countries we're stopping in. I get an idea of what we may want to see and then go from there.

 

Fodors and Rick Steves have great web sites and Q&A forums similar to CC with lots of experienced travellers who can give you plenty of detailed info, just like the folks here can about various ports.

 

We saved an outrageous amount of money by taking trains from the ports into Florence and Paris and met guides there that took us around or we did alot on our own as well. We found that we also had much more time to tour when doing this (about 4 more hours in Paris using the train versus the cruise lne buses).

 

We had an Eastern Med cruise planned for later this week but had to cancel due to family health issues. However, when I was setting the trip up, I was able to book some great land tours by contacting various companies I learned about through CC and the other web sites I've mentioned and was going to get better tours for significant cost savings with small group size versus by the bus load off the ship.

 

Plan as much as you can yourself. You'll learn alot more, enjoy the trip more, see more and save lots of money.

 

Thanks - lots of good information here. It all sounds a little bit scary doing all that by myself but we have a good library here and I'll check into those references to see what they have to offer.

[cruisingnewyorkers]

May I also suggest that you use the roll call for your cruise. It was my first time to Europe this past March, and I learned so much from the other cruisers.

We stayed at the same hotel pre cruise and did many private excursions together. I did book my own air. I like choosing my flights and seats.

[cruzecontrol]

May I also suggest that you use the roll call for your cruise. It was my first time to Europe this past March, and I learned so much from the other cruisers.

We stayed at the same hotel pre cruise and did many private excursions together. I did book my own air. I like choosing my flights and seats.

 

I am a big believer of using the roll calls to meet people and get information. However, my big first big hurdle is to pick the cruise, then I will be able to check out the roll call. Thanks for the input.