Is it cheaper to arrange own flights from uk?

[eviledna]

Hello, we are looking to cruise with Princess next may/june to the caribbean what do others uk'ers do as regards flights? is it a good idea to book your own or does it work out more or less the same to let Princess do it all??

[CruiseKing]

I'm not from the UK but, my advice is to see what the air allowance is from Princess and then shop around to see if you can beat the price and schedule.

[CruiseFanUK]

I used to organise my own flights as it was normally cheaper and more convenient. A few years ago I found that the reduction for not using Princess to arrange the flights was far less than I could buy the flights for so I used theirs. The first complication that I found was that American Airlines could not prebook my seats as it was part of a group booking, eventually a very nice lady did allocate the seats. All was well on the outward journey, on the return American Airlines tried seating my husband and I on completely different sides and rows of the plane. We were not the only couple extremely upset, especially when told that we could not just swap seats amongst the group either.

 

I know many people use Princess flights without any problems at all, but for me the experience completely ruined the wonderful holiday I had just had, and the attitude of customer services of AA and Princess led to me cancelling the two future cruises that I had booked.

[Northeastal]

As the earlier poster has said, you will need to check Princess prices first and compare with flights booked directly with airlines.

 

I can say however that on the cruises that we have done departing from a USA port, it has always been significantly cheaper to arrange our own flights.

 

When we cruised out of LA to Hawaii, the savings were in the order of £200 per person.

 

I would very strongly suggest that you aim to arrive at the port at least one day before sailing and preferably two days.

 

Hope that this helps.

[eviledna]

Thanks for your replies. I must admit i am one of the people who like everything to do done in one fail swoop(the easy option) but if theres going to be a decent saving then its worth trying the other option! (could mean the difference between inside cabin or balcony :-) i suppose i shall have to do my homework before i decide.....

[taxmantoo]

I can tell you from going in the reverse direction many times that it is ALWAYS cheaper to book our own flights. Plus you can decide which airline you prefer, when you want to go, at what time, where you prefer to sit, etc.

[Babs02]

We've done both Princess Air and have booked our own air.

 

Usually we find that we cut costs with a pre-stay hotel which compensates for any extra payment with the flights. As princess usually book you into a 5 star hotel, whereas for 1/2 nights we're happy with a 3 star.

 

The added advantage is you know what flights you are flying on from the day of booking and with an airline of your choosing. You may end up with charter flights with Princess and you won't know your flight details until nearer the date of the cruise. After final payment.

 

Since princess seem to be using Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson for flights to the Carribean you may wish to book an airline with better seating room.

 

Its well worth making sure you fly in at least 1 or 2 days earlier. But do your homework and work out which suits you best moneywise. Also you need to consider transportation from the airport to your hotel and onto cruise ship. As with Princess Air transfers are included.

 

It really depends on how much involvement you want.

 

Don't think that if you book with Princess Air that you have better protection, as shown on this site it is still your responsibility to get to the ship on time.

 

Babs

 

Crown Princess June 2007

Navigator of the Seas February 2008

Emerald Princess August 2008

Grand Princess May 2009

upcoming Pacific Princess July 2010

[Globaliser]

Don't think that if you book with Princess Air that you have better protection, as shown on this site it is still your responsibility to get to the ship on time.

I'm not sure that this is necessarily quite as strictly true if you book in the UK. The package holiday regulations will apply, and they impose some liability on the tour operator (ie the cruise line) for the failure of their supplier (ie the airline) to perform. You'd have to read the legislation, or get advice from a specialist on UK consumer law in relation to travel, to get the full picture.

 

I haven't booked an ex-UK fly-cruise with Princess, but when I regularly book them with another cruise line, and I make it a firm policy that I will only do that if I have complete control over which airlines and flights I am on, and have control over my own seat allocation arrangements. If Princess would not do this for me, I would probably be looking to book my own air travel even if it cost more to do so.

[phillipahain]

Booking cruises in the UK is very very different from the USA

 

If you try to book cruise only they will only offer a very meagre allowance which will never buy you anywhere near a seat on a flight

 

As already said UK rules mean Travel sold as packages have much greater protection and onus on the seller in the UK than what happens in the USA where the norm is Cruise only fares plus Princess Air etc which these days is indeed un competitive

 

The other difference in the UK is once you book your deposit is non refundable

 

You do not get to know the flight routing /airline till later and if you have to cancel you will loose progressively greater amount of the whole cost depending on how close to departure

 

For EG

 

The Last leg of QM2 World Cruise out of Cape Town to Southampton inc flights London to Cape Town

 

If you wanted to book Cruise only they would refund you a mere £200

 

However the very cheapest Independant booking London to Cape Town was £900 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hence its better to buy the package

[Babs02]

I always book through a TA so I still have full protection by booking my flights and cruise through them.

 

The op asked for pros and cons and that was my opinion. Obviously different rules apply in the UK compared to USA, which is why the op asked for UK opinions.

 

Babs

[Pink-belle]

We have done it both ways, usually choosing to book our own flights rather than take the package.

 

Bear in mind if you decline the "all inclusive" deal, you will be going it alone, both getting to the ship and to the airport after the cruise.

(I can only give my opinion on cruises that depart from Fort Lauderdale as have never flown to join the ship at one of the caribbean ports.) In my experience, Princess fly you into Miami the day before, put you up in a hotel over night with coachloads of others, then put you on a coash the next day to go to the port. When returning they take you to the same or similar hotel for a buffet lunch before dropping you at the airport for hours and hours waiting for your flight home.

Your flight details will not be advised at time of booking, plus as others have said will be a group booking so you will not be able to do twilight check in (if offered) or pre reserve the seats you would like.

 

We like to book our own flights, always flying out a few days before and picking up a hire car, to do some exploring and shopping;) We drop the car at Ft Lauderdale airport before boarding the ship (its then a short taxi ride to the port) After we disembark we get the shuttle to the airport, for another hire car, have a day out somewhere and then leave the car in Miami. This works well for us, as I don't like to feel herded and working to a timetable that in inconvenient to us.

I fully appreciate that some people regard the air included to be less stressful but it doesn't work for us.

Princess will allow you to deviate air, so you can ask then to arrange your flights on different days either side of the cruise if you want to extend your stay, we have never been charged extra for this, but believe it depends on the flight costs, days choosen etc. The benefit we had doing it this way was we were not classed as a group booking so could manage seat selection etc with no problem. You do give up the precruise hotel and transfers if you do this.

 

On our last Caribbean cruise (2008) booking our own flights were coming up at in excess of £600 pp. I spoke to our travel agent who was aware of an offer if you booked 5 days accommodation with the flights. (through Virgin, our preferred airline) She selected the cheapest motel, and we got our flights £880, for the 2 of us, this included the motel that went unused.

[phillipahain]

On the recent Amazon sailing on the Royal

 

As I understand it from the passengers and this forum those who flew out from the UK to Miami fully expecting to have a late evening flight to Manaus the same day were messed around for 36 hours virtually trapped in Miami airport with no food or drink provided let alone proper information or assistance

 

There was no flying to the USA the day before and a hotel overnight or a hotel to wait out the 36 hour delay in their OMNI flight to Manaus

 

Princess credited them with the princely sum of $134 for their lost day in Manaus on board ship and from what i understood before leaving the ship had also not provided the nessecary confirmation documents those passengers would need to file a claim on their travel insurance

[twostepmomma]

I have found 9 times out of 10 it's better to book your own flight. I have had no trouble and usually beat the price of the cruise lines by several hundred dollars.

[Feebarn]

For our Alaska cruise, we have booked our own airfare as the travel agent wanted something like £2500 for the two of us to fly through Princess. That just didn't add up to me! I've never paid that much to fly to the US ever!

 

The other consideration for us was the routing. Coming from Scotland, I didn't want to route through London or Gatwick when we know there are flights leaving directly to the US from Glasgow or Edinburgh. There is nothing worse to my mind, than coming into London after an overnight flight and having to wait several hours in an airport for your connection to home. Its torture!