Flights to San Juan

[Aqua23]

Hello All,

I booked a cruise for April 2010 on Adventure of the Seas departing from San Juan. Since doing so I’ve been looking religiously for a cheap flight leaving from Buffalo. So far I haven’t been able to find anything cheap and I’m thinking I should have just stuck to a cruise that leaves from Miami. Does anyone have any thoughts or helpful hints?:confused:

[Ocean Boy]

I think it is way too early for good pricing on flights for next April. We sailed Adventure this past March. I booked the flights for the trip much earlier than I usually do. Sure enough, in January there was a big price drop that I was not able to take advantage of.

 

My recommendation is to find the flights that you are interested in. Periodically check how much seating is available. If you see that the seats are selling out go ahead and book. If not sit tight and watch the direction that the pricing is going in. It is always a bit of a gamble. But again, I think this is way too early to get good pricing for next April.

[Sue L]

Doesn't Jetblue fly to SJU from Buffalo? Wait until their schedule opens for that time period.

[mikepmcm]

Hello All,

I booked a cruise for April 2010 on Adventure of the Seas departing from San Juan. Since doing so I’ve been looking religiously for a cheap flight leaving from Buffalo. So far I haven’t been able to find anything cheap and I’m thinking I should have just stuck to a cruise that leaves from Miami. Does anyone have any thoughts or helpful hints?:confused:

You might also look at flights from Pittsburgh not that far away. Consider what it is worth to you to see more islands and have less sea days.

[Aqua23]

Ocean Boy Did you enjoy Adventure of the Seas?

Thanks for the tip:), your right way to early to buy a decent priced ticket. When do you think would be a good time to book 4 months before? This is the first time I’m booking a cruise without a travel agent and I’m a little anxious.

[Aqua23]

I have read a few horror stories about Jetblue so I’m a little hesitate to book with them.

[Debde]

Doesn't Jetblue fly to SJU from Buffalo? Wait until their schedule opens for that time period.

 

Sue L

Do you know when that opens up? I've been checking almost daily for my Serenade sailing and they are not showing end of January yet?

 

So far AA has the best price from JFK but don't want to book until Jet blue comes out.

[cheaptravel]

I was playing around just yesterday to see how much it would cost us to fly to SJ from Chicago. I also checked the fares from Atlanta, thinking we could drive down there, visit my MIL for a couple days, and fly from there thinking that would be cheaper still. Surprise ! ..... the flight non-stop from Chicago O'Hare to SJ was cheaper than the flight from Atlanta to SJ. Go figure !

[olemissreb]

I too am booked on AOS next April (April 4) out of SJU. Living in Atlanta, I thought I could get cheap airfare - NOT over $500 per person right now! There's 4 of us and I just can see paying an additional 1/4 the price of the cruise just for airfare! Here in Atlanta we have Clark Howard who does a radio talk show. On Friday's he usually does his "Friday Flyer" and talks about cheapo airfares. I'll be listening intently for cheap fares to San Juan. You can also check him out at clarkhoward.com.

[LMZinSC]

There is a website called yapta dot com that will track the price of flights for you and e-mail you when the price drops.

[CruisinManiac]

We are looking for flights for this coming October. So far, the cheapest is $350pp from our area - and that's a 1 hour drive to the AVL airport. ATL is a 5 hour drive, but they do have a $224 non-stop.

 

My DH says he would rather pay an extra $100 pp to fly locally. We would probably have to spend the night in Atlanta if we took that flight, so the cost ends up averaging out. I have YAPTA tracking for a better price. If nothing comes up, then we may change our plans and go out of Port Everglades on the Freedom.

 

I read somewhere that the AOS is pulling out of San Juan and heading for Europe because they are having trouble filling the ship in San Juan. Does anyone know when this will be?

 

Another thought...if RCCL is having trouble filling the ship, they may start reducing the pricing to entice locals and others to cruise. If the pricing goes down, then we could get a rebate to balance out the flight cost. :)

[Aqua23]

"Another thought...if RCCL is having trouble filling the ship, they may start reducing the pricing to entice locals and others to cruise. If the pricing goes down, then we could get a rebate to balance out the flight cost. "

 

I like your thinking!!! :D

[ken_nyc]

We had booked in beginning of October 2008 for our August cruise, I painstackingly was going crazy whether to book our flights as soon as I booked the cruise or not. I went on an AOS thread and asked our fellow CCer's if they thought $308 round trip per person was good or not or should I wait until JetBlue's fares came out closer to January...everyone told me that the $308 was a good fare and I should book (this ended up being over a week after we booked the cruise). Well I decided to go along with what everyone told me, so I booked our Delta flights...glad I did, because almost a week later the fares went up and steadily climbed and came down some (never that the fare ever went down near what I had paid) and then rose to $275 more than what I had paid. Good luck in finding a god fare. Ask opinions on the boards...sure helped me!

 

P.S. I am glad that I did NOT WAIT for JetBlue's fares...they were significantly higher than Delta's!

[Aqua23]

Thank you Ken NYC thats very good to know!

[BillOh]

I have read a few horror stories about Jetblue so I’m a little hesitate to book with them.

 

On the other hand, they have ranked at the top of customer satisfaction many times over the last few years among all carriers. They did have the one incident were people were trapped on the tarmac for hours.

[ken_nyc]

Thank you Ken NYC thats very good to know!

You are very welcome!

[CruisinManiac]

We had booked in beginning of October 2008 for our August cruise, I painstackingly was going crazy whether to book our flights as soon as I booked the cruise or not. I went on an AOS thread and asked our fellow CCer's if they thought $308 round trip per person was good or not or should I wait until JetBlue's fares came out closer to January...everyone told me that the $308 was a good fare and I should book (this ended up being over a week after we booked the cruise). Well I decided to go along with what everyone told me, so I booked our Delta flights...glad I did, because almost a week later the fares went up and steadily climbed and came down some (never that the fare ever went down near what I had paid) and then rose to $275 more than what I had paid. Good luck in finding a god fare. Ask opinions on the boards...sure helped me!

 

P.S. I am glad that I did NOT WAIT for JetBlue's fares...they were significantly higher than Delta's!

 

So in my case, with just 4 months until the cruise, I should go ahead and book the $350 fare?

[stobe1]

I have read a few horror stories about Jetblue so I’m a little hesitate to book with them.

 

I'm sure you can find a few horror stories about every airline. They all have their ups and downs, good stories and bad.

 

:rolleyes:

[chazg]

I used Yapta and it alerted me of a price drop for my cruise this August. The fares were running about $300 PP round trip, and last week I got an alert that the price had dropped to about $280. So I then went online direct to USAIR and found that it was even lower then Yapta quoted. So I ended up booking the flights for $170 PP Round Trip.

 

So I would register for the service and check the alerts but then check direct with the carrier as thay may be lower then quoted.

[nosmothj]

We live in the Kitchener area and are sailing out of San Juan January 9 th 2010. I have been checking on flites out of different areas for about the last 90 days. At present have it booked with RCCL. This is what I have found.

RCCL out of Toronto $1718

Toronto on own $1060

Buffalo on own $ 870

Detroit on own $ 650

 

Prices are all in Canadian dollars.

[stobe1]

So in my case, with just 4 months until the cruise, I should go ahead and book the $350 fare?

 

 

You should probably do what you think is best for you budget. If you can afford the $350 with no problem, I would go ahead and book it just in case the price does go back up; because it is, after all, a roll of the dice. It could stay at $350, spike to $500 or drop to $200. You just never know.

[Aqua23]

We live in the Kitchener area and are sailing out of San Juan January 9 th 2010. I have been checking on flites out of different areas for about the last 90 days. At present have it booked with RCCL. This is what I have found.

RCCL out of Toronto $1718

Toronto on own $1060

Buffalo on own $ 870

Detroit on own $ 650

 

Prices are all in Canadian dollars.

We Canadians don't get the greatest deals eh? What websites are you using to search for flights?

[nosmothj]

I Generally check weekly and go to Orbitz.ca, Expedia.ca & travelocity.ca.

[Stelladoro]

We live in Burlington, Ont. and also fly out of Buffalo to US destinations. However, for our recent TA cruise out of San Juan, the best price (one way) and connections that I could find were actually out of Toronto on US Airways, with a connection in Charlotte. US Airways is part of Star Alliance, so we also earned some Aeroplan points.

[Ocean Boy]

Ocean Boy Did you enjoy Adventure of the Seas?

Thanks for the tip:), your right way to early to buy a decent priced ticket. When do you think would be a good time to book 4 months before? This is the first time I’m booking a cruise without a travel agent and I’m a little anxious.

 

I love Adventure. This was our third time on her.

 

My past experience has been that 3-4 months out from the flight seems to produce the best pricing. It doesn't always work that way but in general I would say its a good time frame. I understand the feeling for wanting to get everything done and out of the way but just be patient. Airlines know that there are people like that. They don't worry about filling up the plane so far out so they price it high and hope to catch a few fish paying a premium price. They also do this as the flight gets close. They know that there are a few people who will have to book at any price so they sell off some last minute seats at a very high price. When I went to London last October American was selling the flights I wanted for appox. $720.00 r/t for months. Two weeks before departure the flights were selling for appox $1200.00 r/t even though there were plenty of seats. They know that some people will find out at the last minute that they have to travel and will do so at any price. So they sell of a few last minute seats at a premium.

 

Keep checking the seating availability. As long as there are plenty of seats you at least know that you will be able to get to San Juan and back. As I said before it is a bit of a gamble. Sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. Patients is key.:)