Cruise line booked air - a good tale

Yahoo! :) The e-docs came today. We are 5 weeks out and we are flying from Albany to Honolulu on United. All of our seats are booked and we are sitting together on all 4 flights (2 each way). The schedule is exactly what I had hoped for and I didn't even have to do a deviation. I can feel the waves now!

Have a great time . We will pray the booking gods work as well in our favour for our flights to South America. It is good to hear a happy story!

I wish that I could say the same thing! The cruise line booked our flights and getting to FLL is great, but we leave to come home at 7:10 am the morning the ship gets in. I really don't see how that is possible!! So not only is this my first cruise; now I am nervous about that. I would much rather leave later in the day and not be so rushed. The price was right, so it's no all bad I guess. Glad things worked well for you!

Kari

Are you saying that your return flight after the cruise is at 7:10am? If so, then there is absolutely no way you can make that flight, unless your ship actually gets into port the night before. What cruise are you on?

We are on the Star Princess November 18-25. Our flight leaves from FLL at 7:10 am and the 25th. We are going to have to be off the ship by 4 am to make it. That isn't even morning--it's the middle of the night!

Call Princess now, there is no way you can make that flight! The ship isn't even scheduled into Ft. Lauderdale until 7am!

Okay, so I called (way early this morning) the gal at Princess who is handling our cruise and told her about our early morning flight they booked us on and she said that they will tell us the night before what time to be ready to get off the ship. She said that since they are handling our transfers they have our schedules. We'll see how that goes!!! Thanks for your thoughts...I really am still not convinced that this is gonna work!

You need to post this question on the Princess boards, but I am honestly telling you that there is absolutely no way you can make that flight, despite what Princess tells you. If they persist in keeping you on that flight, then you need to be prepared to miss your flight.

Okay, so I called (way early this morning) the gal at Princess who is handling our cruise and told her about our early morning flight they booked us on and she said that they will tell us the night before what time to be ready to get off the ship. She said that since they are handling our transfers they have our schedules. We'll see how that goes!!! Thanks for your thoughts...I really am still not convinced that this is gonna work!

The whole thing does not sound right to me. Call the airline and give them your last name, date of FIRST flight and flight number. Have them confirm what your return flight and time is. There is a good chance that your 7:10 AM is a misprint and should be PM. I have had that happen to me before.

Otherwise Princess better have an early morning helicopter to scoop you off the ship at about 4:30 a.m. and fly you to the airport! Geez, sounds like a SNAFU.

LL

The times are correct. I will have to just plan on missing the plane and having a fun time in the airports, as there are few flights into Billings, MT. At least Princess arranged it so I will not get stuck paying any additional fees. Thanks all for your help!

KariB what dates are you traveling? What flight numbers have they put you on?

The times are correct. I will have to just plan on missing the plane and having a fun time in the airports, as there are few flights into Billings, MT. At least Princess arranged it so I will not get stuck paying any additional fees. Thanks all for your help!

If the times are correct as you say, check one more thing. Double check the date that they have you flying home. Is it the day the cruise ends or the following morning? If that is the only time there is a flight to your hometown, they may pay for an overnight. If not, contact them to redo your air.

I am leaving FLL on Nov 25, with the only direct flight to SLC on Delta. I checked the schedule after reading another post and the time is indeed correct. The reservations phone has me down for that flight that day! If nothing else, maybe I'll get another day of vacation stuck somewhere waiting for a flight home....that wouldn't be all that bad if I have my luggage with me!!

Kari, there is absolutely no way you will make that flight. AND the 25th is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so flights will be packed so you have little to no chance of getting on a flight standby that day or the next day. And hotel rooms will be hard to find. How many are in your group? If it's more than 2 of you, then it makes it even harder. In that situation you are looking at possibly Monday or Tuesday before you get home, especially since you are flying into a small airport with few flights.

You need to call Princess back now and talk to a supervisor and have them change you to a later flight, no ifs, ands, or buts. The earliest I have seen anybody get off any cruise ship is 6:30 am, in any port.

There are much later flights with seats available out of FLL and MIA into Billings (both are choices for cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale) on 11/25 on Alaska, United, US Air, Continental, Delta, and Northwest. There is absolutely no reason for Princess to have you on that flight.

Thanks for the speedy reply. It is actually me and my three kids (7,8,10) so I really wouldn't like having to deal with the flight issues. I will call Princess and see what they'll do. I think I will call them directly and not go through the cruise planner that I've been using. If the itinerary says has 7am for Ft Lauderdale is that the time the ship gets in port, or just a time they list for people to start disembarking?

Thanks again!

7am is usually the estimated time to get into port, then they have to be cleared by the authorities before they start letting people off the ship. You really don't want to be on any flight earlier than 11am, noon would be better.

Wow!

Someone really messed up on THAT!!

There is, as others say, NO WAY you could ever make that flight.

How could anyone book it for you? Perhaps there were no other flights so they thought you wouldn't notice until it was too late; you DO need to insist on a SUPERVISOR, period, and not let anyone talk you into the idea that you will make that flight.

With three little kids, they'd better come through for you............like, maybe three days at Disney World as you wait!;)

Wow!

Someone really messed up on THAT!!

There is, as others say, NO WAY you could ever make that flight.

How could anyone book it for you? Perhaps there were no other flights so they thought you wouldn't notice until it was too late; you DO need to insist on a SUPERVISOR, period, and not let anyone talk you into the idea that you will make that flight.

As I said, I looked and there are several later flight options into Billings that day from South Florida, all with plenty of seats available.

To all of you: you're input was amazing! Thanks for all the ideas. I called Princess directly, not the cruise "specialist" we were going through. They said that was an error leaving at 7:10 am and there is no way we could make it. What I found out happened is my oldest (who is in a room with my brother) had his air reservation pulled due to the error. My second son (who is in a room with my other brother) had a flight for 1:05 pm and me and my daughter (in a room together) had been forgotten about. They didn't even know that the four of us are together. It is a good thing I called or we all would have been on different flights! All is well with the air reservations now!!

I am so glad that is fixed for you!!