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NCL Epic-TransAtlantic April/May 2019 Airfare


Sagi1971
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Took our very 1st Cruise EVER earlier this month. So impressed with it that we purchased a cruise next year from Port Canaveral to Barcelona on the Norwegian Epic.

When we booked, we were encouraged to purchase the "Air" option to fly back from Barcelona to Orlando through NCL. NCL is charging us about $640 each for the one way flight. I have been looking around and see airfares well over $2000 for the flight route.

I have called NCL twice now and they have been very nice in explaining to me how it works. NCL will not tell us about the flight reservations until 30 days before we sail.

Well, it's making us nervous.... Just because we have seen some flight available but with 3-4 stops, taking 2 days to get home. With layovers in different cities, of over 14 hours.

Has anyone purchased the "Air" option on NCL back from Europe and been given some "Crazy" itinerary?

How likely is it that we would be given one of those WAY overpriced 1-way fares on American (for example)?

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Took our very 1st Cruise EVER earlier this month. So impressed with it that we purchased a cruise next year from Port Canaveral to Barcelona on the Norwegian Epic.

When we booked, we were encouraged to purchase the "Air" option to fly back from Barcelona to Orlando through NCL. NCL is charging us about $640 each for the one way flight. I have been looking around and see airfares well over $2000 for the flight route.

I have called NCL twice now and they have been very nice in explaining to me how it works. NCL will not tell us about the flight reservations until 30 days before we sail.

Well, it's making us nervous.... Just because we have seen some flight available but with 3-4 stops, taking 2 days to get home. With layovers in different cities, of over 14 hours.

Has anyone purchased the "Air" option on NCL back from Europe and been given some "Crazy" itinerary?

How likely is it that we would be given one of those WAY overpriced 1-way fares on American (for example)?

 

purchasing through NCL has its ups and downs

you wont be charged more than the $640 which is good because as you have discovered 1 way air fares on the major airlines cost more than round trip for some stupid reason

however you have no control over the flight and will be the cheapest available to NCL and not the most convenient to you

so chances are you could get a direct flight at a decent time or at a time leaving you kicking your heels at the airport for hours

or even worse as you have mentioned connecting flights taking stupid times to get home

all out of your control and as you say only get to know flight details 30 days ahead

 

we did that same transatlantic on Epic this year and found decent 1 way fares on Norwegian air[airline not associated with NCL]

Iceland air also do decent 1 way prices with stopover in [would you believe it] Iceland

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I booked thru NCL for flight to Barcelona. It was $649. Flying out of Tampa to Dulles. Then from Dulles to Barcelona. All on United. The layover in Dulles is only 1.5 hours. I didn't think that was bad at all. And, as previously reported, if you book independently, you will find that one way flights are over the moon. Hope this helps.

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I second Norwegian Air, their premier service, which is better than premium economy but not business class, is excellent and very good value. We use them as airline of choice in Europe and used them for BCN to FLL this Spring.

 

They do have flights to Orlando and Tampa now but I suggest you check their site.

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Norwegian air only do one way flights, but it is worth checking legacy carriers for round trip fares but be sure to start at the right end of your journey :eek: ie BCN to wherever and ditch the return to BCN portion (or book the return leg as far out as possible and retain for possible use)

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We requested quotes from NCL for our 2017 Epic transatlantic . We went through premium air . I made specific parameter request ie. legacy airline and no more than 1 stop (layover ) . We did book through NCL. Our airline was British Airways/American . I had investigated booking on my own without affordable success at the time . We were pleased with the outcome .

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Try using Google flights to see which days of the week have the best fares. For example: May 16, 2019 Norwegian Air Low Fare Plus is $422.50 BCN or Orlando. That fare includes one bag, seat assignment, and meals. It goes via Oslo with a one hour layover.

 

We are flying Norwegian from LAX to BCN in October. For a "budget airline", it is pretty good. We have flown them a couple of times.

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I have the opposite problem, coming back from Rome after a transatlantic from NYC and yes, the one-way fares are higher than RT! I'm picky about carriers and won't use the "budget" ones after some horror stories about flight cancellations - that's on me. But, like what was said above, I found I could use miles without a OW penalty so that's what I did. It pays to be flexible on your flight date if using miles; we are flying home the day after we dock because it was much fewer miles--which gives us the excuse to have a full day to tour Rome!

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My fiancé and I will be on your cruise, it’s the first leg of our honeymoon . I’ve booked airfare with British Airways to London as we’re going to stay on the British seaside for a few days before we head home on the QM2. The airfare for the two of us ran about $765. I have found that air prices typically go UP if you wait till the last minute. The NCL price you quoted is certainly reasonable, as long as you’re flexible about the arrangements. If YOU want to make the travel choices yourself, I would steer away from budget airlines, primarily because of cancellations, without satisfactory backup flights available to get on. The luggage restrictions on budget airlines also eat up a lot of your potential savings. I think you get what you pay for. I hope we see you aboard!

 

 

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Book round trip airfare with two options; never take the second leg (A to B, skip B back to A, as you will have to fly the legs in consecutive order to keep your ticket valid) or schedule the return trip for another transatlantic cruise or complete that trip with a low cost carrier as mentioned by others above to make a nice European city trip of it if current fare is too high, further out may be dirt cheap with them. :)

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I booked my airfare through NCL for a Tran-atlantic, flew from ORD (Chicago) non-stop to LHR (Heathrow) and then the transfer to the port (Dover) was included in the flight fee. We got our flight number, they booked us on United, and we got to choose our own seats on the United website. I was extremely happy with the arrangements made by NCL and the price couldn't be beat with anything I could book on my own.

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Try going to CheapOAir or the like. You will see the flights go for less than $300 per person with Tap Portugal and Norwegian Air. Personally we did the same Epic TA this past April, and flew back to Miami for $608 for the both of us on Tap Portugal. (We were permitted 2 checked bags free of charge since it was an intercontinental flight) Since the flight left Barcelona so early, we stayed in Barcelona overnight and got on a very early flight from Barcelona to Lisbon the next day. We had a couple hour layover in Lisbon before leaving for Miami where we rented a car to get back home.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In general NCL's policy is one-stop or non-stop flights if possible (they have contracts with various airlines for x # of seats into a certain city on a certain date at a contracted rate). They typically only use 2 or more stops if there is no one-stop/non-stop option available/possible. A good example would be Omaha to Venice - there is no non-stop so ALL guests would have to make at least one connection over a US hub to get there, however due to originating/or terminating flights from Omaha, and time restrictions in/out of Venice for ship schedule they may have to do two stops to get you there or back - especially on the return trip. Often times the one-stop itineraries from Europe back to non-hub cities in the US leave too early to work with same day ship disembarkation. Example - ship is scheduled to disembark at 8am and United, Delta and American all have 1 daily direct flight to their US hubs leaving at 1030 (or earlier) and nothing later in the day - that just isn't feasible, so NCL have to send you via a European hub, to a US hub to your home city. This is why we are seeing the cruise lines list arrival times in European port cites at the end of the cruise earlier than in past - especially cities like Rome, Barcelona and Venice that have fewer non-stop options to a US hub per day than the mega Euro hubs like London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam.

 

With the NCL air program you can always request a deviation and request specific airlines/flights/time. etc. There is a fee for the deviation, and depending on their contracts there may be a supplement to the base fare to get the flights you want. I did this a few years ago when doing the EPIC transatlantic so I could get the DL non-stop from ATL-BCN. I think with the deviation fee and excess air I paid about $120 over just leaving it to chance. I still came out far better than the $2K plus that DL wanted direct for the one-way flight!

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Norwegian Air is a good way to go...you can get cheap fares on Easyjet and similar airlines to London for $50 or so, spend a day in London visiting museums and taking in a show, and then leave the next day out of London to a close airport to your home. I flew to London from Seattle on Norwegian for $165 each way (an extra $90 or so for seat reservation, bags, and meals). If you're spending all the time and money to get to Europe, it would seem a waste not to experience a bit more than a few days in Barcelona, and with so many budget airlines it's ridiculously cheap and easy to get anywhere in a few hours. More and more transcontinental airlines are having cheap fares as well--you can look at Aer Lingus, Icelandair, and Eurowings (I've seen r/t prices from Seattle for under $500 for all of them).

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Book round trip airfare with two options; never take the second leg (A to B, skip B back to A, as you will have to fly the legs in consecutive order to keep your ticket valid) or schedule the return trip for another transatlantic cruise or complete that trip with a low cost carrier as mentioned by others above to make a nice European city trip of it if current fare is too high, further out may be dirt cheap with them. :)

but wont that complicate\ things if you are flying under an ESTA as they will check the return date and if its more than 90 days you would need full visa

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I’m considering this cruise, I’m seriously looking at ncl air despite the flight not currently showing as available from my local airport (so would need to go to London) . As I come in from the uk, the package includes airport to hotel transfer, hotel, hotel to port transfer and port to airport transfer as well as the transatlantic and flight back to uk. It is a very good deal on the transatlantic as the flight often uses a very good carrier such as virgin, British airways, American etc. Often ncl do it cheaper or a similar price to sorting it out myself... For transatlantic they aim to go direct.

 

For those considering Norwegian air please book as late as possible.... rumours have it Norwegian air may be the next to file for bankruptcy in the next 1 or 2 quarters... I am not trusting them as far as april/may anyway despite the very low fare. They are frantically trying to sell new aircraft that they have ordered to make funds.

 

It is also possible airlines will chase you if you don’t use the return part of your ticket if you try buying a return... I’ve heard of some cases in the uk... here the difference is almost £1000!!

 

 

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I am apparently "search challenged". Can someone please point me to the place on the NCL site that offers flights? I cannot find it! Thanks!!

You need to call them as you can not book a flight through NCL on their web page

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