Air Fare Through Cruise Line or On Your Own

[jan15]

Our next cruise is to Alaska and trying to decide if we should get air through Royal Caribbean or shop around for different pricing. Any suggestions.

[hdawson]

You won't know until you shop around. Usually, the cruiselines seem to be higher. You might try Delta/Song. They are pretty desperate. Todays filing by Delta with the SEC was rather ominous. Possible filing Chap 11 in the third quarter.

[mo4040]

Aside from price, the only negative thing I can say about going thru the cruiseline is that you are at their mercy when it comes to scheduling your flight.

 

If you want control over when you arrive and depart, you should book your own flights.

[mtchg]

Book your own.

 

Mitch

[Tak8]

After my first 2 cruises, I started booking my own air. Normally a lot cheaper and I control the times. The advantage of booking with the cruiseline is if anything goes wrong, they (the cruiseline) has to take care of you. If you book on your own, you are solely responsible. I normally fly down the day before to avoid glitches.

[crispybear]

Don't forget... if you book on your own, you have to arrange your own transfers...

[Nessa1dc]

Much cheaper to book your own, just be careful to arrive on time, a day ahead is best.

[cruisinisforme]

I book my own because as said above I find it cheaper and I can pick my times, but if you are flying from an area that has snow or other weather problems, I would fly in a day ahead of time, or take cruise insurance, or book through the cruise line. If weather is holding you up and you book through the ship, they will get you to the ship, even if its at the next port, if you booked on your own and weather is holding you up, its at your cost to catch up with the ship. I am not even sure cruise insurance covers this, butI would check it out. We had a scare last year, I usually dont go that time of the year, but if I went again, I would probably go a day ahead of time to be sure I got there and made the boat. I would hate to miss my cruise, I love them too much.

[cindybythebeach]

If you want to pick your times and still book through the cruise line you can pay the custom air fee, $50 I think. Just makes it that much more expensive though. The only advantage is in the case of delays, the ship will usually wait for those booked thru the cruise line or they will pay for catch up transportation.

[island lady]

We like to extend our vacation by a day..or two, or more. We always do our own air fare, and then also upgrade using our frequent flyer miles. First class air at cheaper than RCI offers for coach! :)

 

Since we prefer a "pre-cruise" stay, we always know we are there in advance to avoid delays. Plus if it is a big time difference, or a long flight, we are more refreshed when we board. I would hate to sleep away our first day aboard!! :eek:

 

Taxis or rental cars are always readily available. Rental cars are best and cheaper, if you reserve in advance on line.

 

Cheers!

[Happy ks]

It's not necessarily true the ship will wait for you if your flight is late. If your plane has a lot of cruise pax and it will only be a very short wait, then yes, possibly, it all depends on the first port of call (how long it takes to get there). Many times, all the cruiseline will do to get you to the ship is find the next available flight for you. If it is a concern for you, make sure you have trip insurance that covers flight delays. Take your cell phone along, you can use it to book another flight when everyone else is standing in line waiting for the ticket agent (don't forget to take along the airlines phone numbers).

 

We learned the hard way not to book through the cruiseline. They booked us on a red-eye (never again) and had us separated on the plane from our kids, 6 and 9 at the time. Fortunately, the flight attendant worked things out so one was behind me, one next to me, but DH was 4 rows ahead of us. I don't think I would ever again consider cruiseline airfare unless it was an awesome deal and I could not possibly do better on our own. If you read these boards long enough, you will many times read of travel horror stories, all cruise/air related.

 

It used to be that when you booked cruise/air they would take care of your bags for you. That is no longer true, you have to claim it yourself at the airport and sometimes when you get off the bus, if you take transfers. Speaking of transfers, I can think of a whole lot of other things I would rather be doing than waiting for a bus to fill up, crawl to port and then wait for everyone to get off. Grab a cab right out of baggage claim, make it to port (or your hotel) in half the time and quite possibly not have to stand in line, because you didn't arrive with a bus load of people. Many times a cab is cheaper than the transfers, too.

 

We, and many people on these boards, have found the very best way to cruise is to fly to port a day or two ahead of time. We also like to stay an extra day or two afterward. We usually save enough from booking our own flights to afford a night at a hotel and meals.

[ZZROX]

I've never booked with the cruiseline...for our upcoming Xmas/New Years's AOS cruise....RCCL airfare is over $600., I was able to book my own airfare for $180 pp..A rather large savings!:D

[lexxfield]

I agree with the above posters. I would not consider booking air through the cruise line. Go a day before, go early in the day, and relax. There's never any stress about possibly missing the ship. I also agree about not buying the cruise line's transfers. It's cheaper and faster to take a taxi.

 

If there is an advantage to booking through the cruise line, I haven't read or heard about it.

[hstrybuf]

We've found it easier and cheaper to book on our own. Sometimes the cruiselines' air doesn't give you a choice of when you fly. You're at their mercy.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

We have done both...when we had the cruise line air, we never experienced any problems or had aweful flight times, I guess we were just lucky.

The times we did book through the cruise lines, they ran air fare specials and I couldn't find anything even close to the low price they offered.

Either way you go.....go the day prior!!! ;)

 

 

***

[Linda9347]

We started booking on our own and saved a ton of money. Shop around. Not sure if American flies to your destination, but I've found them to be very reasonable and competitive. I also vote for flying down the day before. We found a hotel (Embassy Suites) in Miami and they offer a cruise package. Pickup at airport, transportation to the ship and transportation back to the airport. We were on one flight the day of the cruise and had an unexpected delay and stressed about not making the ship.

[Lamar Cheeks]

book your own, fly a day ahead ... you'll save enough money to pay for transfers, motel, a nice dinner and still have some left over to buy a horse. wait. they don't do that any more.

 

 

sample for us ... flights from mpls. to houston last year in march ran around 260 pp ... cruise line wanted to charge 550 pp ...

 

 

there are six of us. we saved even more money by flying from mpls. to galveston in a mini van. total round-trip cost for six: 260 bucks.

 

and that's when gas was at the low low low price of 1.30 per gallon. anyone remember those days?

[mjeffv]

The only times we consider booking through a cruise line is on a repositioning cruise. It is sometimes difficult to get a deal on one-way fare. In the case of our northbound Alaska cruise, cruise fare was less than one way tickets to Vancouver and from Anchorage. On the RT cruises, we get airfare for half what the cruise line charges.

[Nliedel]

I do not like being at the mercy of the cruise line and I can get it cheaper on my own. The thought that the cruiselines will "hold the ship" if you get air through them is not true and will often blame the airline and claim it is the passengers responsibilty or the airlines. In other words you are not protected by booking through the cruise line.

 

I try to fly in the day ahead or in the case of needing to fly on departure day, because of work etc, I take the first flight out in the morning. The cruiselines may not book that flight without paying the air deviation.

[kyriecat]

For my first cruise, I bought air fare through the RC. I ended up with the nightmare schedule that several others have mentioned - flew Houston to Atlanta, Atlanta to Miami, and Miami to San Juan. We only had seats next to each other (2 people) for one leg of the flight. We left Houston around 6 am. The layover in Atlanta was about 4 hours, but the layover in Miami was only about 45 minutes. I thought we were going to miss the connection there due to a gate change. We made it to San Juan (exhausted!) around 7 pm to catch the ship leaving at 10 pm. The flight back was also a mess, but no fault of RC. We stayed two nights after the cruise in San Juan so we got a direct flight home. The problem was they booked us on a flight with about 100 band teenagers from New Mexico. The flight was delayed 45 minutes because the teens wouldn't settle down (fighting, switching seats, etc.). The airline finally had to threaten to throw them all off the plane.

 

The next two cruises I booked my own air. We flew in the night before so we would be rested before the cruise. The only problem we had was on the most recent cruise they found some "suspicious baggage" in the cruise terminal and held everyone on the boat for a couple of hours. I thought we were going to miss our flight home, but we made it with a couple minutes to spare.

 

I booked the custom air through RC for the Med cruise this fall. I'll see how that goes. At least I got to pick the flights so we're going as direct as possible. I'm going to book my own air for the Alaska cruise next year. I checked the RC price and it's more than twice what the airlines want ($380 vs. $900) for an open-jaw flight.

[cruislovin]

We started booking on our own and saved a ton of money. Shop around. Not sure if American flies to your destination, but I've found them to be very reasonable and competitive. I also vote for flying down the day before. We found a hotel (Embassy Suites) in Miami and they offer a cruise package. Pickup at airport, transportation to the ship and transportation back to the airport. We were on one flight the day of the cruise and had an unexpected delay and stressed about not making the ship.

How did you book the Embassy Suites package? It sounds good, depending on the price...

[PhinsAndGills]

In my four cruises we have:

 

1 - (Ohio to Maimi) 1 layover for about an hour. We booked everything entirelly through RCCL. This was a good way to go for us due to the weather up here. My parents, on their first cruise, booked everything through RCCL, their plane was a bit late due to weather, and RCCL pretty much HELD the ship for them and others on the plane (sailed about 30 minutes late) my parents got on in the luggage door which was closed after them and the ship sailed. Had they NOT gone through RCCL, they would have missed the ship. Therefore, their next cruise, (my first) was in the winter and we booked through RCCL just because of that reason. We even went down a day early and stayed in a hotel through RCCL. BEAUTIFUL hotel, WONDERFUL experience - loved every second. Was one of the first on the ship because we were on the first morning hotel-to-ship bus. NO waits, NO lines, fast, friendly service.

 

2 - (Ohio to Miami) Booked through RCCL and arrived same day of cruise. Again in winter. Flawless. Again, one layover - about an hour. Arrived on ship PLENTY early and embarkment was smooth. Short lines with little wait.

 

3 - (Ohio to Ft. Lauderdale) summer honeymoon. everything went wonderfully. Booked airfare entirelly on our own. Arrived the day the ship sailed. Ended up getting free transports from RCCL (I was still in some of my "bride-gear", we looked whipped, enquired with RCCL ariport contact about getting to the ship, and she welcomed us aboard the transport as a wedding gift. HOW SWEET! She got tipped WELL) 1 layover for about 3.5 hours. Was on ship in good time but waited in line for what seemed like FOREVER until we actually got ON. Oh well, good people watching...

 

4 - booking everything through RCCL (Ohio to Port Canaveral) Will sail this Thanksgiving. Due to OSU/UM game, simply CANNOT leave day before cruise, which would interfere with all-important football challenge. Have not gotten flight details yet but hoping to get down early like cruise #2...

 

My recommendation is book through RCCL, it has it's perks, and if you can swing the extra $$$$ - go down the day before. It just seems to go smoother. :)

[jstducky]

I've usually book my own. Although one time in Hawaii I let the cruise line book for us because their air was a lot cheaper than we could have gotten it on our own. We had a good experience. Good flight times.

 

As far as going to Alaska. It really depends on where you can find the best deal. I just booked my air from LAX to YVR last week, but I've been searching for air since last November. It had gotten so ridiculous. Airfare from LAX to YVR was going tof $450-$490 roundtrip, and when I called RCI about booking air through them they were offering it for only $354. I thought that if air prices didn't go down in the next week or two, I would book with RCI.

 

But then out of nowhere, Air Canada lowered their prices suddenly from $453 to $259. I booked it immediately. The exact flight times that I wanted! And then guess what? The next day, air went back up to $418 per person for hte same flight. That was last week. It hasn't gone down since.

 

It seems that flights to YVR are really limited and expensive this year. If you can't get it yourself at a good price, then book through RCI. Remember a cab one way from the airport to Ballentyne pier will run about $35CAD

[Flossie]

We have done both, but with the airlines cutting flights and such, we choose to go with the cruise line for our next cruise. They may not wait for you when they set sail but they will get you to the next port. And if you have ever booked a flight at the very last minute sometimes they can be "very" costly! and my luck that they would not have any seats available and I would have to wait till the next port if we make them on our own.

I do not like surprises and since we book so far out on or crusies that I have found that airfare prices do not go that far out not really sure exactly how far in advance you can book a flight.

We have never had a problem so far when the cruise line has done our flights, yes we do go down a day ahead that just makes life so much easier.

One poster had stated that they had a problem with a flight that they were seperated as to seating arrangements, we had this happen but at check in we ask and they changed it for us.Guess like our TA said there are pros and cons with both ways.

[lephysteria]

There are definitely benefits to getting the air from the cruise line. However, we've always been cheap, and gotten the air seperately. We've never had a problem, but then again we always fly in the day before, and don't schedule a flight home before 1pm.

 

We always have saved mucho $$ booking the air on our own. :D

 

 

p.s. (Hi, jstducky, its good to see you again. I responded to your thread about the west coast cruisers. We just bought a house, but we're still in So Cali - from Carlsbad to Temecula. Hope all is well)