? about transatlantic cruises and flight prices..

I am looking at one for maybe next summer...But one way flights are OUTRAGEOUS! 1/3 cheaper to book R/T... but we dont need the return flight. How does everyone else do this? Just not use the return ticket? Cancel it or something? Or does everyone just pay the extra and book one way?

The first time I did it I booked round trip and did not use the return.

The second time I did it I booked round trip and lined up the return flight with another transatlantic in the reverse direction in the fall (Nov.). We did not book the second transatlantic until the prices dropped after the penalty period. The two did not use the same European city but inter-Europe flights are very cheap. So we first sailed NYC to London. As a result we bought a London-Denver round trip flight. Then in the fall we sailed Rome to Texas. For this I used the return Denver to London flight. I think the flight from London to Rome was <$200 each. Maybe something like $134.

I felt like I got excellent value from the second trip. Even the first trip (where we did not use the return) had the round trip airline price less than one way. Within the US I found the one-way flights to be very reasonable.

Good luck and have fun. I love trans-Atlantics!

Michelle

Not done one yet but have booked our flights to match our outbound TA in Nov with the return in April 08.

We have another booked for Nov 08 and will book the flight to match a return TA in April 09 when the plane seats become available, booking the cruise for April 09 as late as possible.

One way flights coming back from the USA are so expensive.

Thanks! I didnt realize you could spread apart the returns so far! There are some GREAT prices on transatlantic cruises (we book inside to save $$$$!)... but the airfare was getting me! So say I wanted to go Barcelona to Boston... say leaving 11/07 .. I would book R/T tickets for Boston to Barcelona... book the first leg (Bos to Bar) for when I needed to cruise.... then find another cruise, Boston to Bar....and book the return ticket (Bar to Boston) for that... right? Or am I just totally off my rocker?

What I found was you could book airfare just short of a year out. So for your example....

You've found a great price on a transatlantic for this fall which is leaving from Barcelona and ending in the US. You live in Boston. You book your flight from Boston to Barcelona to make the fall cruise. Then you find an attractive looking cruise in the spring and book the other half of the round trip from Barcelona back to Boston. Your attractive spring cruise could leave from NYC, Florida or Texas and you could still get a cheap fare one-way in the states closer to cruising time.

Then take note of how far out you found this fall's great price. Often it is just after final payment when they know how many are sailing and they need to fill the ship. Its hard to wait but if your patient you can get a similar great price on your spring transatlantic. If your flexible on which cruise since alot of the transatlantics happen within a few days of each other you can keep an eye on the prices for several cruises and pick the best one after the prices come down. To do this you need to book your flight after the last of the ones your considering comes in. Then you may have an extra few days in Barcelona at the end if you choose an earlier cruise. You also have the option of choosing a transatlantic that ends in a city other than Barcelona, say Rome and taking an inter-Europe flight to catch your already booked flight home.

When the cruise prices do come down you need to act fast as they can go really quickly.

Michelle

I would agree with everything that Michelle has said. 330 or 331 days is about as far out as you can get. You can get tickets with AA that has a return date 1 year out and pay like $200 to change the date when you confirm it. For me thats not a good option. The best time to book a ticket is as soon as they are available around the 330 days before had date.

For our Nov 08 TA we will be booking our ticket in May 08 to match our April 09 TA coming back from the US. You obviously will be going the other way.

The TA we are doing Apr 08 goes in Barcelona and I booked a ticket to LHR in May of this year with BA and got 2 tickets for the equivalent of $120 in total.

We have not done a TA yet but if we enjoy this one we might end up doing 2 each year. I have not got a clue what we will do if we don't with another 2 already booked.

You said that you booked inside. We have just moved our booking from inside to Balcony Gty for an extra $100 each. We got this reduction from our West Caribbean after the TA so it cost us nothing to change. Keep watching the price and if it drops or the Balcony Gty are released then book.

What ever you do have a good cruise.

Be sure and check with RCI's transportation charges. Most times we get a much better price booking an open jaw ticket with them than trying to find something on our own. Your location is a determining factor here....we are not in a hub market.

We booked one way domestically twice and both times we were "chosen" for every security measure imaginable.

Just wondering if this occurs x2 with an international flight.

Be sure and check with RCI's transportation charges. Most times we get a much better price booking an open jaw ticket with them than trying to find something on our own. Your location is a determining factor here....we are not in a hub market.

Your quite right about that. When we booked our TA for this Nov RCI charged us £310 each for a one way Ticket from Miami to LHR. This was still cheaper than any one way ticket we wanted. In the end our return trip back in Nov out next Apr was £415 each with Virgin Atlantic.

You might want to check out the airfares to Dublin, Ireland from/to the USA. You can then catch cheap European flights from Dublin. We booked a one-way from Dublin to Orlando for about US$350. Flights between DUB and London are less that US$100, and those to Amsterdam, etc. are not too much more.