Changing Princess flights

[Belease]

Here's the problem: we get married on Friday and we go on our honeymoon cruise on Sunday. When we booked with my travel agent (in the UK - Thomas Cook) we were told we'd fly out the day before the cruise, the Saturday, stay in a hotel, and then get on the ship the following day. Great, we said, except when are the flights? The TA assured us that the flight would most probably be in the afternoon, and we explained that obviously as we were getting married the day before, we couldn't fly out in the morning.

 

So now we log onto the website and find that our flight has been booked for 8.20 in the morning from Heathrow - we'll be in the New Forest. So we'd have to leave at something like 3 or 4am to get there. We actually arrive in Miami over 24 hours before our ship is set to start boarding, which would be nice if we were interested in looking around Miami, but we're far more worried about the fact that we won't be sleeping at all, and will have to miss out on having breakfast with our family in the hotel the next morning - several of them have now booked in the hotel we're staying at, and it's no cheap place!

 

Basically, I'm wondering how likely it is that we can get Princess to change our flights for a later time on the Saturday. What do you think?

[DonnaK]

I think you should toss this back to the travel agent who assured you that the flight would be in the afternoon, and make it his responsibility for changing this for you.

[cherylandtk]

I do not know if the UK rules for flights are anything like the US rules (either the old ones or the new ones just announced). BUT, you need to get your travel agent on this ASAP. Over here, if we have need of specific flight times we must ask for and pay for a flight deviation. That allows us to book specific flights at the times we need.

 

Depending on how far away your cruise is, you flights may or may not be refundable or changeable. Only your TA can find out. The sooner you ask for your changes, the better the chance that something meeting your needs will still be available. You DO NOT want to be the last in line in this case.

[Belease]

I'm definitely going to talk to my travel agent tomorrow, but they're closed now and I wanted to get opinions on whether we're likely to get this changed or not - hopefully to ease my mind, but also to prepare myself for the worst if they can't change it!

[chipmaster]

Congrats!

 

If this is cruiseline air you could be in for a difficult situation. Beyond promising you a flight that in principle will get you their cruiseline arranged flights gurantee very little else. Expect the cheapest unexchangable tickes, less than best flights and connection window. Cruiseair is really only worth even considering for last minute bookings where cheap air can't be booked IMHO.

 

If this is seperate airfare booked thru a reputable TA who cares about repeat business I would think they will do something for you given its the most special of life events.

 

Good luck!

[HomelessBear]

Congratulations on your forthcoming marriage. Hope you have wonderful day.

 

You don't give a date for this. Is it this coming Saturday or sometime in the next few months? If there are two or three flights going to Miami with the same carrier on the day, then you should be able to change if its a few months out, but if any sooner (like this Saturday), I doubt that they will change in that time.

 

I have read on these boards where UK folks haven't liked the flights that Princess have given them and have been successful in getting flights they wanted instead. We had a return flight from Miami where we had to change planes in Chicago and this meant extra hours and a lot of hassle. I asked out TA if they would ask Princess to change this and get us a direct flight home, but the TAs response was that "if you read the small print, Princess have the right to put you on whatever flights they like, and they don't have to be direct". Yes I knew this, but I wanted them to at least ASK for us! They didn't and I didn't ring Princess myself, and we ended up being the only UKers on the cruise who weren't getting a direct flight back to UK!!

 

So the moral of the story is to ASK and ASK AGAIN. Make a nuisance of yourself - after all, you have nothing to loose and everything to gain. Next time if I was given such rubbish flights, I would make sure that I badgered my TA and even Princess themselves to try to get what I wanted.

 

I hope that you are successful in hetting an afternoon flight and have a brilliant cruise honeymoon. All the best.

[Belease]

Thanks for your feedback, everyone, and congrats, I really appreciate it!

 

It's still a couple of months so I hope something can be done - I guess I'll just have to see what the TA says! I'll let you all know what happens. I'm sure I can make the most of it either way.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I hope you are able to make some changes.

 

Something similar happened on my second cruise, the first one that involved flying to the embarkation port. Carnival would book a flight/hotel room for the night before our cruise. When the packet of tickets arrived to my workplace from the travel agency, I was horrified to see we were given a red-eye flight and would get into Miami in the morning. I called the TA, after breaking the news to my bf -- now hubby, who was in agreement that it wasn't acceptable. Insisted it got changed to a flight that would get us into Miami the night before.

 

When we got up the next morning and were waiting to go downstairs, we ran into people getting off the elevator, blurry-eyed. They didn't protest their red-eye flights and were coming upstairs to take advantage of a day room until the shuttle comes. Not a great way to start a cruise.

 

We decided after that to take care of our travel arrangements ourselves and always pad in at least one day prior to the cruise.