Air portion of Transatlantic cruise?

[freetocruise]

I am considering the 16 day TA from FLL to Barcelona in April 2010 on the Ruby Princess. But I am stymied by the airfare portion. It appears that to fly home in a Premium Economy seat, even with custom air, it is cheaper to use the cruise airfare as one way fares are quite expensive. But I have heard too many horror stories about cruise airfare and am scared to try it this time.

 

What have you done? And if you've used cruise air, how did it go. Is there a website to book cheap one ways?

 

Thanks for any suggestions and help.

[paul929207]

I have used cruise air twice. The first from home to Tahiti and then home from Hawaii. Flight schedules were reasonable.

 

Second time was from Greenville SC to San Juan. We went by way of Washington which was the long way

[Colo Cruiser]

We only use cruise air when the destination is tough and expensive to get to.

There are lots of cheap fares within Europe such as Easy Jet so getting to London might be cheaper.

[chrysalis]

We used cruise air (paid the extra to pick the day and the airline) to get to Rome for a TA , and then back home from FLL...worked fine for us, and we thought that the fare was very reasonable. British Airways over and Air Canada back from FLL.

[grandmaa]

We were on the trans-Atlantic on the Ruby this past April, 2009 FLL to Barcelona and we used mileage and paid for the upgrade to business. It was not inexpensive but for that long a flight to California well worth the money. At the present time flights from Europe are reasonably priced. Are you planning to stay in Spain after the cruise? From Madrid there are more flights if you plan to go there. Just some thoughts...hope you go it is a wonderful crossing. We have done the TA twice now. Once to South Hampton and this past one to Barcelona.

[wadswatcher]

Check Aer Lingus. When we flew back from Barcelona last year, we booked with them. You can book one way flights with them. They were excellent and the flight was great. We had to make a stop in Dublin. We were able to fly to Chicago for about $450. Then it was only $70 to get home to Cleveland. The are part of the Star Alliance. The price was also far less then what Princess was going to charge.