Princess Air

[Lisas mom]

Does any one have any experience with Princess Air from Boston to San Francisco? Are there any non-stop flights offered? Thanks for your help.:o

[travelntreats]

Does any one have any experience with Princess Air from Boston to San Francisco? Are there any non-stop flights offered? Thanks for your help.:o

When booking air thru the cruiseline you are at their mercy regarding the flights. BUT, if you want to capture a non stop flight, you could do an "air deviation" for a non refundable fee and possibly higher air costs than you currently have been quoted. Did you check into pricing and flight options on your own ?

[6rugrats]

Read this sticky at the top of the forum for an explanation of how cruise air works:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

 

You could get any combinations of flights possible, and what someone else got in the past has no correlation with what you might get.

 

This is an easy route to book on your own; you have control of the flights and it's usually much less expensive.

 

I see you are booked on the Island Princess which leaves San Francisco on 16 Sept. You can currently get a nonstop flight from BOS-SEA on AA, UA, Virgin America and Jet Blue for $119 per person, leaving the day before, which I recommend. Is Princess offering you a better price than that??

[greatam]

Does any one have any experience with Princess Air from Boston to San Francisco? Are there any non-stop flights offered? Thanks for your help.:o

 

Please read the sticky at the top of this forum, Cruise Air and Air Deviation, to completely understand cruise air. Please understand what you are buying.

 

Without air deviation, which incurs AT LEAST a deviation fee and quite likely a hefty upcharge for a nonstop, the chances of getting a nonstop are slim and none. You will be flown in the day of the cruise, very few hours before the cruise departs. You will also have NO choice of flights and will have consolidator class tickets, which are the lowest fare class and consequently at the bottom of the barrel if you have a problem and need to be rebooked.

 

Be aware the cruise line DOES NOT guarantee you will make it to the ship. Nor does the cruise line have any responsibility or liability for shore excursions, hotels, ground transport OR air. Those services are handled by third parties and booked by the cruise line as a CONVENIENCE to passengers. Please read paragraph 15, section F of the Princess cruise contract.

 

http://www.princess.com/legal/passage_contract/index.jsp

[6rugrats]

Sorry - can't edit my post, but it should read flights from BOS-SFO!!

[Lisas mom]

Thanks for all who responded. We are flying in 3 days before we sail, so timing should not be a problem. I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience on the Boston to San Francisco flight through Princess, good or bad. Also, we are returning to Boston from Ft. Lauderdale, and I understand that if we were to book this ourself, there would be an extra charge since we are not leaving and returning from the same airports.

[greatam]

I understand that if we were to book this ourself' date=' there would be an extra charge since we are not leaving and returning from the same airports.[/quote']

 

You were given incorrect info. Either use the multi city option on booking site or airline sites. Or book an airline like JetBlue that offers TRUE one way pricing.

 

You will have the FULL protection of the airline if you book your own tickets. You will not if you book cruise air tickets.

 

AS 6rugrats posted, some pretty darn good fares out there from BOS/SFO.

Should be able to book tickets for no more than $300. In fact, I can see Jet Blue flights on Sept 13 and returning to Boston on October 1 for $294.00pp, taxes included nonstop both ways, with acceptable flight times. Other options with one stop (JFK) for about $275.00pp.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for all who responded. We are flying in 3 days before we sail' date=' so timing should not be a problem. I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience on the Boston to San Francisco flight through Princess, good or bad. Also, we are returning to Boston from Ft. Lauderdale, and I understand that if we were to book this ourself, there would be an extra charge since we are not leaving and returning from the same airports.[/quote']

 

When you go with cruise air and do not add custom air you are at the cruise lines mercy. The routing from say last year will not help you for this year. Cruise lines establish new contracts with certain airlines and eliminate others and flights even with the same carrier vary year over year based on factors such as cost.

 

If you want to go with cruise air I would highly recommend going with custom air. You pay more but it provides you with the ability to choose flights.

 

Don't make any assumption on what your air will run R/T even though you are not returning from the same city. You may be surprised.

 

Here is my recommendation. Price out the air on your own. Price out the air with the cruise line. Factor in if you would go with custom air (added cost) and if the transfer would apply (some savings) Personally if the pirice was close I would book it on my own.

 

Keith

[gunner22a]

Flying to China and home from Bangkok next year. Going business class for that length of trip. Has anyone had a cruise line book it for you and if so how did the price compare with doing it on your own? I have the status with the cruise line to get custom air requests at no extra charge other than the fare difference.

 

Thanks

[greatam]

Flying to China and home from Bangkok next year. Going business class for that length of trip. Has anyone had a cruise line book it for you and if so how did the price compare with doing it on your own? I have the status with the cruise line to get custom air requests at no extra charge other than the fare difference.

 

Thanks

 

IF you are saavy, you can probably buy a coach ticket and through a variety of methods accumulate enough FF miles to upgrade your seats. Upgrades are very available this year.

 

 

Have you priced the cruise line's business class air??? When you find out what that price is, only then can you get suggestions about the BEST routing/price/airline for a business class ticket to Asia. I KNOW for a fact you can fly some of the MidEast airlines at a VERY reasonable price in First/Business class. Superb service and great prices.

[Strawberry]

I have noted my experience before here but will repeat it again. Even if you pay extra for the deviation and select the airline you want it is not guaranteed. We had requested and paid to fly a specific flight on Continental, particularly to avoid flying on United or US Air. Several days before we were to depart we got call from Princess advising us that they had cancelled their contract with Continental and would be putting us on US Air. It was too late for us to do anything about it. (We did not get the deviation fee refunded because we were not flying in on departure day.)

[Lisas mom]

Thanks. I decided to book my own flights. Got a non-stop on United to SFO and Jet Blue from FLL to Boston on the way home. I saved aboaut $400 by booking it myself.

[happy cruzer]

Good job to the OP! Well done.

 

Hi strawberry, I had asked that question, I think in the sticky at the top or in a seperate thread, and yep got it confirmed that your air dev fee once spent was spent if the airlines changed your flights you were out of luck. I never dreamed that the cruise line could also cause you to lose your air dev requested flight and fee. Just another reason to avoid the air dev.

[Dietemann]

We had paid for air deviation last year to fly to Sydney, were then caught up in the AA MD plane cancellations and lost all our connecting flights and super seats on Qantas out of LAX. After a 3 hour wait we were lucky to get a terrific agent at the AA check in at the Tampa airport who worked wonders to get us out the same day. The phone lines were swamped so we just went to the airport. No refund for air deviation, no help from Princess "help desk" to get rescheduled. They just asked us to call with new flight info when we got it.

[AZjohn]

...we were lucky to get a terrific agent at the AA check in at the Tampa airport who worked wonders to get us out the same day. The phone lines were swamped so we just went to the airport. No refund for air deviation, no help from Princess "help desk" to get rescheduled. They just asked us to call with new flight info when we got it.

You were luck Dietemann! It makes all the difference in the world when you find that "one out of a million" agent who goes out of their way to help you. Sadly your story is just like mine, cruise line wouldn't help, travel insurance wouldn't help, and we learned a hard (but valuable) lesson;)

 

 

Thanks. I decided to book my own flights. Got a non-stop on United to SFO and Jet Blue from FLL to Boston on the way home. I saved aboaut $400 by booking it myself.

Outstanding lisa's mom. Glad to hear you took control' date=' followed suggestions, and saved money at the same time. Now you can share your story to the next person you find that wants to do cruise air;)[/size']