Question about purchasing air with Holland

[karensj]

We have purchased our air with Holland. They have notified my travel agent that we may have to fly down the day before or stay a day later if flights are not available. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? We will be flying from Hartford, CT in February. How does it work with the transfers? Will we have to get back to airport on our own? Do they recommend hotels?

Thanks

Karen

[sail7seas]

We never book our air through the cruiseline. We can always get a better price on our own and we pick the flights we want. Cruiselines do not take into consideration ease, convenience or comfort when booking passengers' flights. The price is the only factor that is considered. It is not unheard of for a cruiseline to book a person from Detroit (for example) to fly to Salt Lake City, to Houston to ultimately arrive at their Miami destination. It matters not the least if you spend a full day taking what should be a 3 hour flight.


Book your own if you have not already paid HAL. If you have already paid HAL, request Air Deviation, pay approximately $50 and you can pick the flights you wish to be on. If you have to overnight, you will be spending alot more than $50 for food, lodging, incidentals etc

A taxi from FLL airport to Port Everglades costs about $13 plus tip.

You still may wish to fly down a day ahead for peace of mind knowing you will catch the ship. Many cruisers do not risk flying on boarding day. We all kmow how undependable airlines can be.

[sheldrvrT6A]

We did the air with HAL 2 weeks ago for our Alaska trip and I have two views.
1. I probably would not use them again as I agree with Sail as their sole purpose is money and not schedule or comfort. I would book a day ahead but you know you are never to old to learn. 2. The opposite of this is that there was a couple who booked their own air from NY to Seattle on the same day and took an early early flight but the aircraft had problems and had to land at Chicago and they left 9hours late and missed the boat. Since they did not go through HAL it cost them 600+ dollars to catch up to the boat at JUneau. All in All if I do it again with my wife I will book my own go a day early and probably save many $$ even though I have to pay for food and hotel for a night. Live and learn
Have fun. Jerry

[taszmom]

When you purchase the air with the cruise line, the transfers are included, including if they fly you in day prior. Are they paying for the hotel? Or do you have to pay for that. If you can see if you get book your own flights (unless you will be charged cancellation fees) and then just purchase the transfers or make your own way to the pier. It's a very short distance from FLL to the pier.

[Stevesan]

Delta has a number of nonstops at $280 R/T. Previous comments are correct. Cruise lines book segments that are most advantageous to the cruise line. There are circumstances such as foreign and maybe some open jaw flights where it may make sense to book thru the cruise line, but not from Hartford to Fort Lauderdale. It's too easy to do on your own.

Since you're flying out of the Northeast in February, you'd be wise to fly in a day early. Book your return for the same day the ship returns as long as it's not too early to allow time for unexpected delays in disembarking. There's an 11:25AM flight which should be ok.

There are many good hotels near the port in Fort Lauderdale ranging in price from bargain to premium. Go to Travelocity or Excite and take your pick.

[MandyGirl]

Many times it is not undependable airlines ... but rather
- unpredictable weather in one part of the country that puts a plane (or planes) behind for the rest of the day wherever it may be,
- passengers cramming too much into overhead bins that break a bin's latch and cause a delay that way (been on one of those),
- too much overall airtraffic causing your plane being put into a holding pattern by ATC (Air Traffic Control - been in holding patterns twice in the past two months in London and Philadelphia on two separate airlines),
- airports losing electricity (like last year's "blackout" in the northeast),
- medical emergencies of a passenger onboard during the flight that cause a plane to make an unforeseen landing at the nearest airport (maybe even causing refueling to make it even later to final destination - can't predict heart attacks),
- mechanical swap at the last minute, which could possibly cause too long of duty time for the crew and then a required crew change due to duty time limitations by FAA and airlines,
- someone breaking security (going through wrong door, getting through checkpoint with wrong item, etc) and having to clear out a terminal for security breach (hear about those not too often in the news, but it happens every so often for TSA),
- etc.

Regardless, we're one of those who never fly down the day of because of all of the unforeseen variables that can risk delays. The airlines can only do so much to fix the unforeseen problems when they occur and try to make up time, but on paper, the schedules would work if everything goes as planned.

If you are ever booking through American (www.aa.com (http://www.aa.com)), you can see their ontime arrival percentages for each flight. We never try to book a flight with a past history of lower than 70% on time, although we know anything can cause a delay like listed above. Plan ahead and book flights accordingly based on the "what ifs" that can happen (and do happen) in the travel industry. :)

[Stevesan]

Karen, I just looked at the travel times for the one stops. Many of them 6 - 7 hours, some ten hours plus! Since The one stops far outnumber the nonstops, the odds of HAL putting you on one of them is very high.

This just reinforces the argument for booking yourself.

BTW-I used the ITA Software search engine which doesn't include the discount airlines, only the majors. You may get even a better deal thru a regional airline. Have your TA do a search for you.

[ASM]

Last year booked air through HAL . Transfers provided. Flew in the day of cruise. One stop. This year booked our own on HAL's recommendation. Said would probably be cheaper. Same flights exactly-roughly same price. I think it's all hit or miss.

[FlorenceItaly]

This is the first time I am using cruiseline air. I booked this trip a week ago and am leaving Aug 22 on an Alaska cruise. I fly into Vancouver, and fly out of Anchorage(we end in Seward). I have not found out my flight arrangements yet, and I am a bit nervous, but am hoping for the best. The cruiseline's air was $401, and I couldn't find that rate anywhere. I live in OKC. I am also flying in the day of(unelss HAL tells me differently), which I don't typically do, BUT, feel a little safer since I am using cruiseline air. I'll keep you posted when I find out my air times.

Marie

[iluvcruzin]

Everyone has great points.

What many don't realize is the cruiselines do not reserve flights until 30days or less before the sailing. By that time, many of the direct flights are gone which is why the connections and flying offtimes. Sure the price is generally cheaper on your own, however, there are times when it is not. ExhaltHim's situation is a good reason to book through the cruiseline. If you are doing a last-min booking, the standard cruiseline price could be cheaper. Also sometimes cruiselines have air promotions or if there are multiple flights it could be cheaper.

So besides that.. the original poster wanted some questions answered on transfers going a day early.. I personally haven't experienced this Karen. I would ask your TA what the possibilities will be.

[RevNeal]

Sometimes the cruise line can get you a cheaper price for air if your ports of embarkation and disembarkation happen to be different -- particularly if separated by a whole continent or an ocean or two. Think: departure Vancouver, arrival Pt. Canaveral; or: departure San Diego, arrival Rio. :) Especially that second itinerary, cheap "open jaws" are just not available.

After a lot of research I found could have booked my own air to Vancouver from DFW, and from Orlando to DFW. The best price would have been about $100 per person cheaper than HAL is offering ... a saving that would have been eaten by the price of accommodations in Vancouver. In the end, Christopher decided that he didn't want to change our original plans to have HAL handle the air; even if they fly us into Seattle, then put us on a bus to Vancouver (a strong probability), he said he'd rather do that and get to see some scenery, than stand in those long custom lines at Vancouver Airport. While I would rather fly direct into Vancouver, I also don't mind having such a transfer on land ... so ... that's what we're prepared for. :)

[sail7seas]

Most of the time, the cruiseline will get a better price for open jaws than we can on our own. That is about the only time I would imagine booking air with any cruiseline. Perhaps on certain international routes to cities/ports we don't want to deal with individual transers etc

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

The only time we let HAL book air for us is when we embark in one port and disembark in a different port. Then we pay the deviation fee and tell HAL what dates we wish to fly and when. We arrange our own transportation to and from the airports, to and from the piers, and book our own hotels.

Otherwise we book our own air.

Since you are talking about a cruise in Feb, you might want to consider flying down a day early in case of bad weather and flight delays.

We always fly to our port of embarkation 2 or 3 days early.

:)

[jhannah]

Our open-jaw for September that I purchased myself is $300 pp cheaper than what HAL charges. Only one time have I had an open-jaw where the cruise line was cheaper.

If you have a forced overnight, the cruise line will not pay for it. They'll get you what you're told is a good deal. Maybe so, but our room in Vancouver was still over a hundred dollars.

[cactuslady]

A few other considerations regarding getting air through HAL, even though I hear they no longer pay for the hotel as they used to:

1) Even if it's a strange city, you get the assurance of having a HAL representative meet you at the plane. This is one of the little things that make cruising solo more comfortable than vacationing solo in other ways. Plus, you can start meeting your shipmates as soon as you get off the plane.

2) #1 applies even more strongly if you are flying into a foreign city where you don't know the language (or perhaps even the alphabet). The fear factor for we inexperienced adventurers plummets.

3) If the ship is still sailing, the transportation to it will also be there. I once booked (and prepaid) a shuttle to pick me up in Phoenix after an overnight flight from London and learned from the driver that that was their last trip as they were going out of business!

So there are a lot of variables, and you may decide that peace of mind is worth a few more bucks. (After all, you upgraded to a suite so you would be taken care of better, didn't you? ;)) It all depends.

Revneal -- count yourself lucky if you get the (free) bus ride from Seattle to Vancouver. It's a beautiful trip and you will go right past most of the world's tulips on the way. Some people are willing to pay for it.

[doone]

I haven't used cruise line air in a very long time for a very specific reason, the price and convenience. You can, generally, book your own air alot cheaper than using the cruise line air. The only time I did use the cruise line air is when I sailed the Baltics, I wasn't familiar with where I was going and relied on them. Again, lousy schedules and lots of $$. Flying into to Ft. Lauderdale is easy and everything is close by.

I fly a day ahead, book a hotel through priceline. This way, I get the flights I like (non-stop) and the times I like. Last time I booked through the cruise line, I had a 5 hour wait at the airport and 1 stop on the way home, took forever to get home, that was the last time.

[ekerr19]

We used HAL's air twice - 1999 Veendam, what a nightmare! 14+ hours to get home from FLL, missed our connection in St. Louis - TWA (was still in business) said tough luck - cruise lines purchase bulk air, much like Priceline - they would do absolutely nothing for us! We had to wait for the next flight - almost 7 hours away!

Next time, flew to Costa Rica to board Amsterdam - because it was International, we decided to stay with HAL - MISTAKE - charter flight - Miami Air - was a complete joke, numerous delays, poor service, very small plane :eek:

We do much better on our own - example: upcoming Med cruise on Noordam - fly to Rome, fly home from Lisbon - RT on Bristish Air $526 - HAL's price $1200 pp (which is more pp than we paid for the cruise!)

[FlorenceItaly]

Well, I am NOT too encouraged by these cruiseline airfare stories. It's too late now, and I DID know I was taking a chance. I'll just go with the flow, and not do this again, LOL.

Marie

[Roz]

On my first ever cruise (Vancouver to Seward), I has a wonderful experience using HAL's air, hotel, and transfer. I went on the cruised with friends, but they were driving up from Bellvue, WA. We didn't meet until we were in our cabins. Since it was my first cruise and by myself, I appreciated the extra service HAL provided.

The flight up was on NW from Nashville to Minneapolis and then Minneapolis to Vancouver. There are no direct flights from Nashville to Vancouver, so HAL's air was as good as it was going to get. The Delta Resort Hotel near the airport was lovely, and there were HAL reps in the lobby that processed our paperwork so there was no waiting in the cruise terminal. The next day, our luggage was picked up at 8 AM and forwarded to Canada Place. An hour later Gray Line picked us up and took us on a 3-hr. tour of Vancouver and then dropped us at the pier.

So...using cruise air doesn't have to be a big, hairy, ugly thing.

Roz

[FlorenceItaly]

Roz - Wow! Thanks for sharing. Your wonderful experience almost makes me wish I was going in a day early. I'll post when I get my flight details.

Marie

[jazzsea]

For many folks, cost is not as important as peace of mind. Research your air and pick the ideal flights. Keep in mind that you should arrive in Ft. Lauderdale before 1:30 PM the day of sailing. Better yet, fly in the day before. Consider the cost of the hotel and meals as lost luggage insurance. Your return flight should be no earlier than 11:45 AM on day of disembarkation. Noon would be better. There is some construction going on now around the entrance to the port. Allow a little extra time until this is completed. We've been told that the new security facility will be finished by October of this year.

Take the notes that you have made on your specific flights to your TA and request an air deviation when you request your air from Holland America. The cost will be $50 per person on top of the HAL air cost and air tax.

If you request flights on the day of embarkation and the day of disembarkation your transfers will be included in your air price. They will also be included if you book the hotel the night before through Holland America. If you book your hotel on your own you will have to find your way to the hotel and from the hotel to the ship.

Many, many hotels in Ft. Lauderdale offer airport shuttles and shuttles to the pier on sailing day so not having transfers is not really a big deal.

If you book your hotel on your own be sure to request your transfer to the ship at the time that you check in to the hotel the day before. These shuttles are in great demand on sailing day and require advance reservation through the front desk or concierge.

[sail7seas]

Roz....that does sound like a very good experience you enjoyed.


The HAL reps can no longer process documents the night before the cruise as they used to do. All docs must now be processed in the terminals.

I agree that was very convenient when they did that.

[ger_77]

Depending on where you live, it can be less expensive using the cruise line's air than booking on your own. We live in the frozen tundra in the north called Saskatchewan (about 400 miles north of the Montana/Canadian border) and when we cruise it's usually about -30 to -40 degrees. With those temperatures, one can never be assured there won't be a severe blizzard hiding behind the next heavy snowfall, so we leave the flights up to the cruiselines. When you live in certain areas of Canada, the seat sales don't always accommodate your city's airport (sometimes you must drive to an airport 7 or 8 hours away during winter to access a seat sale), so we just relax and let someone else do the worrying.

The benefits (as we see them) are:

1. Leave the flying to them - present our tickets and get on board. Make our connections(we've never had more than 1), arrive refreshed. If there's a delay, we don't worry because it's the cruise line's responsibility to get us to the ship on time.

2. There's a cruise line representative waiting to greet us at the airport, help collect our luggage and show us the way to the motor coach taking us to ...

3. Overnight in a nice hotel in the port city, a leisurely dinner the evening before, sleep in, and a leisurely breakfast before we ...

4. Board the "Happy Bus" waiting outside the hotel for the transfer to the ship.

5. Board the "Unhappy Bus" waiting outside the ship for the transfer to the airport after the cruise has ended.

We try to make our cruise vacations as stress free as possible, and that means letting the cruise line do all the work for us. It's nice being able to board the ship fresh and relaxed, rather than taking a day or two on board trying to de-stress from the trip to the port city.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[ger_77]

Oh, and I forgot to mention one very important point:

- they take care of your luggage and if it's lost, it's the cruise line's responsibility to get it to you on board the ship.

That happened to us recently on the Black Sea & Beyond cruise - our luggage didn't make it and we didn't see it until Day 3 of the cruise when we were leaving Istanbul. HAL made sure we received our luggage and we didn't have to worry about trying to retrieve all our belongings from some faraway airport.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[kryos]

We have purchased our air with Holland. They have notified my travel agent that we may have to fly down the day before or stay a day later if flights are not available. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? We will be flying from Hartford, CT in February. How does it work with the transfers? Will we have to get back to airport on our own? Do they recommend hotels?
From what my TA told me, transfers are included. You just see the Holland America rep at the airport when you arrive and they get you to the cruise terminal.

As for booking air with Holland America, I did it on this cruise and never again. I am running tight with vacation days and needed to work the night before and the night after I return from my cruise. Since I had a problem the last time doing the air on my own, and thus incurred expenses getting to the ship, I figured I would use Holland America as my air "insurance." If you book air through them and there is a problem, THEY are responsible for getting you to the ship.

Well, this didn't work out as I had hoped. True, they "fixed" it so that I can fly down from Philly to Fort Lauderdale on the morning of my cruise, but they booked the flight at 6:00 a.m.!!!!! Since I work graveyard shift, it looks like I'm gonna wind up needing to take the night off anyway as leaving work half-way through the shift (at 4:00 a.m.) is not going to be feasible. Sure, we can "slip out" early on occasion, but this is wayyyyyyy early. In effect, I'd be "cheating" on half the shift.

They also, for some unknown reason, scheduled my return at something like 3:30 in the afternoon. Why that late, I have no idea. By the time my flight arrives at the Philly airport and I then get home, it's gonna probably be after 8:00 p.m. Not much time to sleep if I'm due in work at midnight.

I could have done much better, and for a much cheaper price, on my own. Supposedly, for $50 and any additional cost of the flights, I can change these. But, Holland America could probably veto any schedule that places them at risk of my not getting to the port on time.

Kinda sucks, but now I'm stuck with it.

Like I said ... never again. I'll take my own chances in the future.

Blue skies ...

--rita

Thanks

Karen[/QUOTE]

[Nasmas]

My experience with cruise flights is varied. Our first 5 cruises we booked with HAL and had no problems at all. Last year we booked the 10 day Southern Caribbean on the Volendam last minute and the air was the pits. We thought well, its spring break and all the flights are full. That was not so. But, anyway, the flight down was ok. US Air, very pleasant. But the return was the trip from hell. We didnt' leave FLL until 6:00 in the afternoon and when we got to Atlanta, we'd been bumped. I was irate. Plus, Delta (we'll never use them again) had the cruise pax downstairs and they were checking people in according to flight time. We stood outside in a line for 3+ hours and it was hot, hot, hot. We called Delta before we left home and they had a flight at 12:45. But, they wanted $500 pp over and above what we'd paid HAL. But, they told us to go to the counter when we got to the airport and if there were seats left, we could get on the plane. The lady at the counter was rude, rude, rude. No wonder they are verging on bankruptcy. She said she couldn't help. Our cruise ticket was only worth $40. We'd paid almost $500 for them. Then she said even if there was a seat, she couldn't check our luggage because we had to be there 4 hours before the plane left, a blatant lie. We almost swore off ever cruising out of FLL again. But, experienced as we were, we didn't know much until we started reading these boards. DUH!! So, we're going in Sept. on the Z and booked our own flights at a total price of what HAL wanted for one person, and we're going down the day before. Staying at the Pier 66. Got a great deal on their web site. So, even considering the extra for the room & etc, we're still saving money and our flight out is 12:30. So, my advice is go early and book your own flight. We didn't know until this year about being able to change your flight for $50. We would have paid a lot more last year. The return almost ruined all whole trip, which was a beautiful trip.

[jhannah]

That's what life is about ... learning from the past. You obviously did well by purchasing air on your own. It's always been the best deal for me with only one exception. FLL is easy to schedule for yourself ... and with a great cost savings to boot!

[Randyk47]

We got caught in kind of a wierd double bind last March with our Oosterdam cruise and finally let HAL arrange the flights. Initially our TA thought she could do better or that we might be able to leverage some of our frequent flyer miles to get from San Antonio to Ft Lauderdale and back. Turned out that our cruise was right in the middle of the spring break blackout window for frequent flyer miles so that was not an option. We could have still used the miles but would have had to cash in more miles to overcome the blackout. Then we looked into just buying them ourselves....mind you we were doing all this in the Fall of 2003, way ahead of the cruise in March 2004. Turned out that many flights were blocked or booked and there really weren't any "bargains" to be had unless we wanted to fly all "red-eye" flights. We could have done better booking ourselves but only marginally...like $20-$30/person less but would have had to arrange our own transportation to the ship and would have had to fly at really off hours. Went back to HAL and they obviously had some of the blocked seats because we got great connections at reasonable times. So this time the cruise line was just a lot easier and not that much more expensive.

[RevNeal]

Ok, people, y'all are making me nervous about going ahead and sticking with HAL for the airfare on our Panama Canal cruise. These nightmare stores really are not helping my Saturday any. :)

You've given me mental images of flying out on Friday night, red-eye flight, with connections in Chicago and LA before arriving in Seattle at 9 am, then bus to the ship ... with the bus breaking down and our having to walk the last 2 miles to Canada Place. Please ... tell me it won't be so. :eek: :confused: :(

[FlorenceItaly]

Revneal - I am anxiously awaiting my flight itinerary, and hope to be able to calm your anxiousness :). The good news is, it is still not too late for you to make other arrangements. I'll keep you posted.

Marie

[Roz]

Sail,

I'm not surprised that you can't check in the day before and have to check in at the terminal. It was nice while it lasted!

Roz

[RevNeal]

Revneal - I am anxiously awaiting my flight itinerary, and hope to be able to calm your anxiousness. The good news is, it is still not too late for you to make other arrangements. I'll keep you posted.

Actually, it IS too late. The final payments have been made (they were due no later than July 12th), and that includes HAL air. :)

We should get our documentation sometime between August 25 - September 1. Then, we'll know.

[FlorenceItaly]

Oh dear....I didn't realize. Let's both hope and pray for the best :).

Marie