Letting Carnival book air ??

[CruzinKatz]

I've inquired in the past about Carnival booking airfare. It seems like they always book air on the day the cruise departs and they won't let you choose a time. Is this always the way they book air reservations??

[ManyMore]

Yes. Booking air with the cruiseline isn't generally the best deal and... their flight days and times stink and generally have connecting flights.

[Yvonne]

It was that way for us. I told her we live in Michigan and there is no way I would want to fly in the day of the cruise, what about bad weather? She said that was just the way it was, if we wanted to book air with Carnival we had to fly in the day of the cruise. I said no thanks, and we booked our own and always do it that way now.

[firefly333]

dont do it.. if you miss the ship, carnival says not their fault, air booked thru 3rd party, your problem.

[etwright]

I haven't and I won't book through Carnival. I know I can get at as good a deal (more than likely better) than Carnival and fly when I want to fly.

[KPfromCT]

DO NOT book your air with Carnival. First of all, you will get ripped off from a price standpoint, and secondly, you don't have the flexibility of going in or out a day early!!! You will do much better on your own!!!! :)

[SadieN]

Check the sticky on the top of the CruiseAir forum.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

 

It is very informative. Most don't do cruiseline air. The ones that do know that they can only arrive the night before or get an extremenly good deal for Europe.

 

You can purchase a deviation to arrive at another time, but this is not always cost effective.

[tinlizzy]

If you live west of the Mississippi they fly you in a day early and pay for your night at a hotel. The Carnival rep confessed to us that they just don't tell people this. (Probably so they will pay for the air deviation - cynic in me)

 

We live in Iowa and flew to MIA during Spring Break using cruise air. They flew us to FLL, put us up a night in a hotel then shuttled us to the port. Return flight was out of MIA and we had to pay for our own transportation to the airport.

 

Flight times were typical for my location - around noon both coming and going, one connection.

 

Good luck!

[songbird1329]

Our Carnival-arranged flight led to an awful start to our cruise. All I can say is that we were lucky we didn't miss the boat, but it was thisclose.

[Disneycruisers]

I haven't and I won't book through Carnival. I know I can get at as good a deal (more than likely better) than Carnival and fly when I want to fly.

 

Exactly right .....they care nothing about you, I have always booked my own air fare it is so simple these days to do it yourself and find a good deal. It is beyond me why anyone uses the cruise line to book air fares.

[toby #1]

DO NOT book your air with Carnival. First of all, you will get ripped off from a price standpoint, and secondly, you don't have the flexibility of going in or out a day early!!! You will do much better on your own!!!! :)

 

Not true. You can go in or out a day early or later or longer.

 

We had Carnival book the air and hotel on our Magic TA and our upcoming Breeze cruise. Didn't have a problem with any of it. We checked air and hotel prices ourselves and we couldn't do better. For us it worked out great.

[beachbum53]

Exactly right .....they care nothing about you, I have always booked my own air fare it is so simple these days to do it yourself and find a good deal. It is beyond me why anyone uses the cruise line to book air fares.

 

There are some people that don't want to deal with trying to book their own air travel, and like the convenience of having everything arranged by Carnival. I prefer to book our air travel myself, and to get to the port first thing in the morning, to be among the first to embark, rather than mid-day.

[jmcancruise]

We paid to book with Carnival once, but ended up switching it for a substancial fee to our own booking because Carnival had us arriving TOO close to sailing time. I have heard people say to do it if you are sailing to Europe, so I might look in to that someday, but never again for the Caribbean.

[Yvonne]

Not true. You can go in or out a day early or later or longer.

 

We had Carnival book the air and hotel on our Magic TA and our upcoming Breeze cruise. Didn't have a problem with any of it. We checked air and hotel prices ourselves and we couldn't do better. For us it worked out great.

 

So you're calling those of us liars who said we weren't allowed to fly in the day before?

 

Maybe you were allowed, but some of us were not. Even when I questioned the Carnival representative about it she still said we could NOT fly in a day early.

[songbird1329]

I think when we booked there was an option to fly in a day early, if we booked a hotel through Carnival as well.

 

After we booked and wanted to switch to that option it was no longer available to us.

[lbow2006]

We're flying in a day early and leaving a day late and the Carnival air didn't show that option (although I didn't speak to a Carnival rep to verify if it was an option). That being said the price that Carnival was showing for flights was more than twice what I ended up paying for our flights. I won't ever book with them (at least not at the kind of deals I'm seeing now) for flights.

[michiganirish]

from one michigander to another - book it yourself - especially if you're sailing in the winter. you never know about the weather - and like others have said - not a great way to start a vacation all stressed out and such

[Bunkie103]

Book it yourself and go in the day before. The only time cruiseline airfare MIGHT be a better deal is if you are flying home the Sunday after Thanksgiving......it's a tough day to book.:rolleyes:

[dwaterhouse]

I have booked both ways.... Our 1st few cruises I booked thru carnival.... Price was cheaper or comparable and never had a problem flying in the day of..... I was not crazy about the return times or having to wait til 30 days out to get flight info, but still no problems.

 

As I now feel more comfortable with the whole process I book ours the times I like, but still fly in the day of.... The price was equal to what I was quoted by carnival.

 

I know everyone on here says to get in the day before, But for us it is just not feasible .....

 

Make sure to get travel insurance!