To UK cruisers booking RCCL for flights

[leeselee]

If anyone else books through RC and gets flights, you may know from previous experience that RC used to help with flight seating.

 

On our first cruise RC got our seats all together with BA.

 

Last year we were told by RC that they no longer help in this capacity.

 

My husband and I made over 12 phone calls and eventually someone took pity and helped us as the seats come to BA as a block booking and BA say they cannot do anything about seat requests.

 

This year we have noticed that we are booked with BA through RC as individual passengers, not a group booking.

 

so, for a fee of £10 per person, per flight, you can choose seats.

 

this does stick in my throat as I am paying a lot for a cruise, premium prices for flights and then to guarantee I sit with my family, I have to pay for it. We are not paying for bucket priced flights!

 

Anyway, I thought I would let fellow forum members know as it came as a surprise that noone had told us the goal posts had changed again!

[weliketocruise86]

Book the flights yourself, loads cheaper even when you pay to pre-book your seats. We booked 2 return flights with Monarch to Rome for a total of £300 RCCL wanted £515 each, sure there will be some RCCL folks on our flight :rolleyes:

[leeselee]

Book the flights yourself, loads cheaper even when you pay to pre-book your seats. We booked 2 return flights with Monarch to Rome for a total of £300 RCCL wanted £515 each, sure there will be some RCCL folks on our flight :rolleyes:

 

stupid as it sounds, I would rather pay more and feel RC will take care of us if things go wrong.

 

on our first RC cruise, our plane was sat in Barcelona for over 2 hours with noone being able to open the luggage hold doors. so we were severely delayed.

 

we were told that the ship waited for us. if we were making our own way, we would have probably have to had made our way to the next port.

 

the thought terrifies me!

 

I was told that if the ship went without us, RC would get us to the next port.

 

To be fair, I am not the hugest fan of BA, but I am long past Easyjet flights! too many bad experiences.

[TravelMadBrits]

Book the flights yourself, loads cheaper even when you pay to pre-book your seats. We booked 2 return flights with Monarch to Rome for a total of £300 RCCL wanted £515 each, sure there will be some RCCL folks on our flight :rolleyes:

 

I have to say if we cruise in the med we do book our own flights UNLESS they have a deal on, which we got for our upcoming August trip from Palma. I checked everywhere and couldn't beat it. But RCI have done it as a block booking so I dont think we can check in online or pre-book seats unless we call a special number.

 

When we flew to Miami with RCI sorting the flights, there were 8 of us. We didn't pre-book the seats but checked in online 24 hours before and had no problem getting the seats but that was 4 years ago. I also hate paying to allocate your seat! We used RCI on that occasion as we didn't have much pre-cruise time and were terrified of missing the ship! I would only sort our own state-side flights if we were getting in a good few days before the sail date. I have terrible dreams of being left on the pier :eek: lol.

[novicetraveller]

stupid as it sounds, I would rather pay more and feel RC will take care of us if things go wrong.

 

on our first RC cruise, our plane was sat in Barcelona for over 2 hours with noone being able to open the luggage hold doors. so we were severely delayed.

 

we were told that the ship waited for us. if we were making our own way, we would have probably have to had made our way to the next port.

 

the thought terrifies me!

 

I was told that if the ship went without us, RC would get us to the next port.

 

To be fair, I am not the hugest fan of BA, but I am long past Easyjet flights! too many bad experiences.

 

+1

 

I booked my own flights to Miami on my previous cruise (well, it was my first cruise).... Indirect... Never again. Let RC take the stress, whilst I sit back and relax.

[adamdiane]

We find it much easier to book our own flights but we usually like to upgrade. We also fly at least the day before departure to make sure we are there for th eships departure and to also enjoy the departure port :)

 

Adam

[villauk]

stupid as it sounds, I would rather pay more and feel RC will take care of us if things go wrong.

 

on our first RC cruise, our plane was sat in Barcelona for over 2 hours with noone being able to open the luggage hold doors. so we were severely delayed.

 

we were told that the ship waited for us. if we were making our own way, we would have probably have to had made our way to the next port.

 

the thought terrifies me!

 

I was told that if the ship went without us, RC would get us to the next port.

 

To be fair, I am not the hugest fan of BA, but I am long past Easyjet flights! too many bad experiences.

 

FYI, we were glad we had booked our own flights to NY last year during a hurricane as the passengers that had booked through the cruiseline had to stay on the ship and travel back up to Canada. They were charged for the privilege and had to claim back the cost of staying on the ship from their insurance when they arrived home. They obviously didn't want to stay on the ship and have the hurricane chase them, but they didn't have a choice. Luckily, as we'd booked our own flights and hotel post cruse stay, we were able to disembark as planned and board our planned flight a few days later. They, on the other hand, had to travel from Canada taking a totally different route and had to coach up from London.

 

Personally, I think it's swings and roundabouts. Cruise line flights don't have to be non-stop, therefore you could end up with connecting flights just to get to Spain or Italy. This has happened to us previously and we felt that we'd wasted a whole day. Whenever we book our own flights (which is nine times out of ten), we travel at least one day before sailing - never on the same day. As the previous poster stated, when you have a family of 4 and they want to charge you £2000 compared to £500 (and that's not Easyjet but Monarch who RCI also use for their passengers), it's too much of a difference, even after adding on the cost of a pre-cruise hotel stay.

 

I would advise investigating all possibilities before one books, though. RCI does sometime offer flight promotions which can work out cheaper, or ChoiceAir can be more reasonable for long-haul flights such as as an open jaw Alaska.

[leeselee]

FYI, we were glad we had booked our own flights to NY last year during a hurricane as the passengers that had booked through the cruiseline had to stay on the ship and travel back up to Canada. They were charged for the privilege and had to claim back the cost of staying on the ship from their insurance when they arrived home. They obviously didn't want to stay on the ship and have the hurricane chase them, but they didn't have a choice. Luckily, as we'd booked our own flights and hotel post cruse stay, we were able to disembark as planned and board our planned flight a few days later. They, on the other hand, had to travel from Canada taking a totally different route and had to coach up from London.

 

Personally, I think it's swings and roundabouts. Cruise line flights don't have to be non-stop, therefore you could end up with connecting flights just to get to Spain or Italy. This has happened to us previously and we felt that we'd wasted a whole day. Whenever we book our own flights (which is nine times out of ten), we travel at least one day before sailing - never on the same day. As the previous poster stated, when you have a family of 4 and they want to charge you £2000 compared to £500 (and that's not Easyjet but Monarch who RCI also use for their passengers), it's too much of a difference, even after adding on the cost of a pre-cruise hotel stay.

 

I would advise investigating all possibilities before one books, though. RCI does sometime offer flight promotions which can work out cheaper, or ChoiceAir can be more reasonable for long-haul flights such as as an open jaw Alaska.

 

I think if we were cruising the Carribean, we would take our own flights, arrive a day before and take some time post cruise. But when flying to Europe, we are happy to go same day.

 

we are lucky enough to have been to most starting points / port locations before in Europe and dont need an extra day either side to sight see

 

flying economy for a flight of under four hours is just fine for us.

 

last year going from Venice was such a quick flight, hardly time for a snack!

 

Im sure for every scenario, there will always be a horror story.

 

Im just surprised that RC are doing some as block bookimgs and some not. seems strange.

 

I love to travel, but hate to fly. knowing I can squeeze the life out of my husbands hand during take off and landing seems to settle me somehow!

 

thats why I like to sit together.

[NorbertsNiece]

My one experience with flights booked through RCCL : a not great time, poor seating and lack of personal control.

 

I now use BA Air Miles to either Upgrade or offset the fare. I choose when I fly and the routing. Whenever I shop online I can use shops that earn me the miles and I convert my Tesco points too.... it's a no brainer for me.

[Dorset Cruiser]

You're very lucky indeed if you can find reward flights to suit cruise departure dates. We have tried countless times and have never yet been able to get flights and if you get BA flights as part of a fly cruise, you cannot use BA Avios points to upgrade:(

 

We amassed 200,000 BA miles which I have now transferred into the Avios.com system and we are gradually using them on hotel and car hire bookings.

[sammyh25]

If anyone else books through RC and gets flights, you may know from previous experience that RC used to help with flight seating.

 

On our first cruise RC got our seats all together with BA.

 

Last year we were told by RC that they no longer help in this capacity.

 

My husband and I made over 12 phone calls and eventually someone took pity and helped us as the seats come to BA as a block booking and BA say they cannot do anything about seat requests.

 

This year we have noticed that we are booked with BA through RC as individual passengers, not a group booking.

 

so, for a fee of £10 per person, per flight, you can choose seats.

 

this does stick in my throat as I am paying a lot for a cruise, premium prices for flights and then to guarantee I sit with my family, I have to pay for it. We are not paying for bucket priced flights!

 

Anyway, I thought I would let fellow forum members know as it came as a surprise that noone had told us the goal posts had changed again!

 

You don't need to pay £10 to reserve your seats you can login 24 hours before your flight departs and pick your seats at that point, FREE.

 

Only if you want to sit in a specific part of the cabin, or want specific seats do you need to pre-pay. You are almost guaranteed that you will get seats together at -24 hours. If you leave it until a few hours before departure, or the airport, then in afraid you'll end up with what's left!

[leeselee]

You don't need to pay £10 to reserve your seats you caA n login 24 hours before your flight departs and pick your seats at that point, FREE.

 

Only if you want to sit in a specific part of the cabin, or want specific seats do you need to pre-pay. You are almost guaranteed that you will get seats together at -24 hours. If you leave it until a few hours before departure, or the airport, then in afraid you'll end up with what's left!

 

A while ago this 24 hour scenario went horribly wrong when going for a Europe mini break. 24 hours before, we log on, site crashed and then chaos at the airport the next day!

 

I have a feeling Im unlucky like this, which is why I pay more and get what I want.

 

Whether you are in a suite or inside cabin, I think if you pay a premium for RC and book your flights with them, the least they should do is ensure seats are together for a family.

 

not a lot to ask, in my opinion.

[tweenie123]

We book all our own flights for Caribbean cruises as we spend a week in Orlando first. We usually upgrade and find it much cheaper than going through RCCL. We fly from Manchester either into MCO or Sanford and it's a breeze. We have used RCCL and it was pretty straightforward but we had to fly down to Heathrow the night before and then stay overnight in Miami pre cruise.

 

If we were cruising at the start of the holiday I would be tempted to use RCCL again for peace of mind but for competitive prices I'll stick to booking ourselves.

[Stich17]

+1

 

I booked my own flights to Miami on my previous cruise (well, it was my first cruise).... Indirect... Never again. Let RC take the stress, whilst I sit back and relax.

 

We once let RC book out flights from UK to Miami, never again.

 

Horrid timings and via Chicago. No way to pre book seats.

 

Would rather be in control of my own destiny

[novicetraveller]

We once let RC book out flights from UK to Miami, never again.

 

Horrid timings and via Chicago. No way to pre book seats.

 

Would rather be in control of my own destiny

 

That's the problem with indirect flights. On my next cruises (in September), I am going direct. I couldn't see much cost saving in booking a direct flight myself, with the airlines I wanted to fly with. (I would prefer to fly BA or Virgin on long-haul flights. Went with KLM last time, never again).

[nellydean]

We always book our own flights too, the disadvantage is that if you have to cancel you lose the money (with the so-called cheaper airlines), but we always go to the port city a few days earlier anyway (apart from S.ton), so if there is a delay with the flight, or it's cancelled, we'll be OK.

 

However, it's certainly worth comparing prices between RCI and the airline, as some of these 'cheaper' airlines are not so cheap these days (we've paid £620 for 3 flights to Majorca), and if the difference is not too great then it might be worth having it all done through RCI, for peace of mind.

 

When the Icelandic volcano blew up in 2010, we were stuck in Turin and had to make our way to Paris to catch the Eurostar back to London (our car was at Luton airport) and the only thing easyjet reimbursed us for was the three flights back, which is understandable, but we spent an extra £1500 which we never got back. Seeing as we were cruising later in the year from Barcelona, we booked coach tickets from London to Barca in case our flights (easyjet again) were cancelled again, as our insurance people told us they wouldn't fork out (they had been stung by the original debacle), and RCI told us they wouldn't give us our money back if we couldn't get to Barcelona. In the end, our flight was fine and we got back half the coach fare, which we felt was a price we could pay for peace of mind.

 

My friend, meanwhile, was stuck in Dubai for a week but had everything paid for so, in some instances, it does pay to spend extra and have an all-in package with a company. But, usually, we book our own flights, and just factor in 2 or 3 extra days before or after.

 

Thanks for the info though.

[Scotland01]

Until 2 years ago with 20 odd cruises we nearly always booked flights separately until the ash cloud! We had our flight cancelled to Miami and missed our cruise on the Liberty. We had planned a stay in Florida and another week to visit friends in North Carolina. All our flights car hire and hotels refunded our money but RCI refused to allow us to loose our deposit and rebook. We did eventually claim the cruise costs from our insurance company but since then have done packages. We always check the routes and try to change when not good. However we lost out in May when joining the Mariner in Rome. We were booked through Amsterdam with just over 1 hour flight transfer we were assured that there was not a problem. Wrong our cases missed the Rome flight and we did not get them until day 4. To date we are still waiting for reimbursement from KLM.

[robinp]

If anyone else books through RC and gets flights, you may know from previous experience that RC used to help with flight seating.

 

On our first cruise RC got our seats all together with BA.

 

Last year we were told by RC that they no longer help in this capacity.

 

My husband and I made over 12 phone calls and eventually someone took pity and helped us as the seats come to BA as a block booking and BA say they cannot do anything about seat requests.

 

This year we have noticed that we are booked with BA through RC as individual passengers, not a group booking.

 

so, for a fee of £10 per person, per flight, you can choose seats.

 

this does stick in my throat as I am paying a lot for a cruise, premium prices for flights and then to guarantee I sit with my family, I have to pay for it. We are not paying for bucket priced flights!

 

Anyway, I thought I would let fellow forum members know as it came as a surprise that noone had told us the goal posts had changed again!

 

 

Just for fairness the £10 pp charge to book a seat is a charge levied by the airline on all of their flights and is nothing to do with RCCL. You can wait until check-in opens 24hrs before the flight and book them for free.

[sleeky]

We also suffered from RC booking our flights. We travelled from Cardiff to Venice via Amsterdam on KLM. They allowed a 40 min turnaround in Amsterdam. The Cardiff to Amsterdam flight left on time but spent nearly 20 mins taxiing - this meant that when we finally got into the terminal we only had 20 mins before the 2nd leg took off! It was hard to find the gate and we ran so fast to make it but we were the last ones to board and they were shouting to us to run from the gate. Although everything worked out OK and we even got our luggage I wouldn't allow them to control my travel plans again. It was not worth the stress.

[bilty]

We are just thinking about booking our own flights to Venice next may. When would be a good time to book our flights. Some airlines have not published theirs and BA is very expensive.

[villauk]

We are just thinking about booking our own flights to Venice next may. When would be a good time to book our flights. Some airlines have not published theirs and BA is very expensive.

 

We book ours as soon as they come out as they are usually cheaper, especially as most of ours are prime travelling times. Check Jet2, they fly from the North of the UK to Venice direct (non- stop). We've used them before from Manchester and they were fine (think they go from Newcastle, too).

[LoisGriffin1]

I wont book cruise air because they tend to use BA. Maybe I have just been unlucky but every BA flight has been awful. My first cruise was Alaska on NCL. Because I was new to cruise I decided to take a chance and take the BA flight. We couldn't pre-book our seats (as frequent Virgin Atlantic flyers it was a shock) and the return flight we weren't even sat together. I kicked up a fuss and it was sorted. When I sat down I discovered the unit above me was leaking. I told by the stewards that it was not a big deal and had to sit for 10 hours getting dripped on. The whole attitude of the airline staff annoyed me.

 

I really wish the cruiselines would do a deal with a better and more flexible airline. There are good cruise/air prices but its worth paying extra for comfort.

[trojan3000]

I have BA flights booked by RCL this is what I find on BA`s web site

 

 

You cannot pay to choose your seat if:

• your flight is not operated by British Airways

• you are travelling on a flight operated by BA CityFlyer, a British Airways franchisee, codeshare or alliance airline partner

• your booking has not been ticketed, e.g. if you're travelling on a cruise or packaged holiday and have not yet received confirmation of your ticket numbers from your agent

 

 

To the OP

Where can I pepay and book my seats for £10

 

[Desert Cruizers]

I thought for our TA last Oct to Barcelona, our TA would use choice air but found out they go with another company and got us beautiful 1 way fares from So Calif to Barcelona. We flew US Air without going thru LAX, changed in Phoenix then Phily and unto Barcelona for $1210 total for DH & I. I only hope we can get good fares to Sydney in 20 months.