Anyone not cruising because of airfare cost?

[Nebr.cruiser]

There are definitely cruises we'd like to take but haven't because of air fare--Australia and the South Pacific, for a couple. We normally use FF miles, so if we can't get the flights we need, we don't take the cruise.

 

Sometimes for domestic flights we buy tickets; if they are too high, though, we just don't go, or switch to FF miles. We'd rather save those, though, for the longer flights, like Europe.

 

Right now we are looking at a South America cruise and can't find a flight back from Santiago using FF miles that fits our schedule. If it doesn't work,, we'll just try another cruise.

[PorkChopKid]

Yes, airfare cost most certainly factors into our decision. An example, this past April we had our sights on a 13 day TA from NOLA to Spain for $400/pp inside! Two 1-ways from PHL to NOLA + two 1-ways from Spain to PHL ---> OVER $3,000!! And before you ask, buying round trip tickets from Spain and tossing the back half only made a $200-$300 difference in the airfare total, not enough to get us to jump on it.

We have since learned of another approach some TA cruisers are using... Book the Spain to USA TA in the Fall ..AND.. book the USA to Spain TA in the Spring and purchase the round trip airfare. Spreads the airfare cost over two TA cruises making the per cruise airfare seem more reasonable....

[Orangefan]

We have not taken some cruises due to airfare. I would love to do the Western Coastal and Mexican cruise but our airfare from Ontario to LA is ridiculous! We did do a Hawaiin on the Golden out of LA a couple of years ago and got a super deal....$362/pp return for a direct flight from Syracuse, N.Y. It is a 2 hour drive for us so I always book out of that airport. Usually I can find a flight to Ft. Lauderdale for under $300 and I think that is terrific. Our flight next week is $311/pp return including taxes and a flight I booked last week for our January cruise was $238.80/pp return including taxes. Both have 1 stop. The big problem I find is the cheap return prices are for flights early in the morning and it is not worth it to stay over as there goes $100 or so for the hotel room and food so you are aren't doing any better. One problem flying out of Syracuse is that it is in a snow belt. Next week is okay but we do have to really watch the weather in January. Our taxes on flights in Canada are just so high. I heard last week that Canadians traveling out of U.S. airports is up 30%. No wonder. I looked at a flight to Ft. Lauderdale with one of our carriers and it was $375 for a direct flight out of our local airport. I thought WOW and went to book it. By the time all the taxes were added on it was over $1000 for the two of us. Now you see why we fly out of the U.S.

 

Good luck with your flight on Friday out of Syracuse. I am leaving Sunday out of Syracuse for the Ruby Princess. Have you been following Tropical Storm Sandy ? I hope she will go east out into the Atlantic Ocean. Otherwise, the whole Northeast including interior is a target. When you go to Syracuse do you ever stop at Destiny Mall? Lots of Canadians go there to shop .

Sali

[Katie333]

I was really surprised when I (recently) booked my airfare for my January cruise. Now typically I book cruises and airfare ASAP and I've found I get a good selection and price. I got busy and found my bill was about $300 more for the 2 tickets.

 

I'll learn my lesson for my November cruise.

[LEtue]

Getting from LA to Tampa caused us to cancel our ES Legend cruies for Decmeber of 2013. In its place is a local cruise on the Miracle for November of 2013. We couldn't fly for less than $1000 and that was simply too much. I still want to get to Tampa to visit my dad, but the airfare costs are outrageous! I'll figure out a way, but it might be we don't go in 2013 and instead wait until 2014 with hopes that air prices will flatten again.

 

Prices for December 2013 aren't available yet -right? A lot can happen and if the cruise is early December airfare can be reasonable.

 

Just checked a few dates and RT fares are in the low $300 range for this December - LAX to TPA

[caribill]

Yes, airfare cost most certainly factors into our decision. An example, this past April we had our sights on a 13 day TA from NOLA to Spain for $400/pp inside! Two 1-ways from PHL to NOLA + two 1-ways from Spain to PHL ---> OVER $3,000!! And before you ask, buying round trip tickets from Spain and tossing the back half only made a $200-$300 difference in the airfare total, not enough to get us to jump on it.

 

We have since learned of another approach some TA cruisers are using... Book the Spain to USA TA in the Fall ..AND.. book the USA to Spain TA in the Spring and purchase the round trip airfare. Spreads the airfare cost over two TA cruises making the per cruise airfare seem more reasonable....

 

Did you check Princess' EasyAir to see what the one way flights would have cost there? One-way across the Atlantic fares are usually better there than most other places to purchase the tickets.

[TravelingEA]

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Yep, airfare is a factor. I'm in Denver and it used to be outrageous before Southwest got here. I just got a smokin deal to Galveston for next cruise in February, $274.10 roundtrip pp! My poor brother is in Minneapolis and it's bad there. I've started really working hard for airline miles on my Southwest card. I've already got one free roundtrip ticket. I talked to a guy who hasn't paid for an airline ticket in years. I want to be that guy. Oh to live within driving distance of a cruise port! Especially when I get to retirement, airfare may be the difference between one cruise a year or two.

Southwest does fly from Mpls. I live in Central WI, and can either drive to MPLS or Milwaukee to fly. My flight in December on Delta is $200 cheaper than what SW had available when I booked.

[bypass]

My wife and I are flying from Charleston WV to LAX on Jan 15, 2013. We are returning on Jan 30, 2013 from our Hawaiian cruise. We are flying on United. The cost roundtrip is 702 for the two of us. I didn't think that was very bad.

[kywildcatfanone]

Thanks all for the responses. My general consensus for flights I have looked at is that for the airports we usually fly out of to FLL the prices are about 30% higher than I have paid for the last few years. Couple that with all of the stupid fees you have to pay and it's really about 40% higher at least for what I am seeing.

And at least over the past six months it doesn't change significantly whether or no I'm looking at something eight weeks out, or 8 months out.

So, I guess I feel better that I'm not the only one struggling with this. It's not that I can't afford to pay it, it's just that paying 30% higher than I paid a couple of years ago for the exact same flight rubs me the wrong way. :rolleyes: I guess I will have to live with it and budget for it if I want to keep cruising (or move closer to a port).

 

Thanks!

[PorkChopKid]

Did you check Princess' EasyAir to see what the one way flights would have cost there? One-way across the Atlantic fares are usually better there than most other places to purchase the tickets.

The TA I was considering was with NCL and, yes, I did check to see what their airfare adder would have been. It was less expensive but still way more than what we wanted to pay. I guess some of this is relative. I was looking at an inside for $400/pp so the airfare seemed way over the top. Someone booking a suite for $2000/pp probably would not have considered the airfare to be all that bad....

[davekathy]

Air Fares suck but will not stop us from Cruising.

[RickEk]

I have found the airfares from Syracuse, NY high also. I am always ready to cruise but the airfares hold you back. Last Nov. I was holding a one week Carib cruise in Nov. The airfares hovered for over 6 months at $850! ( It wasn't Thanksgiving week either.) The cruise rate was great. The final payment was due and I researched other alternatives. I found a 10 day cruise on the Emerald to the Southern Carib. We left on a Tuesday and returned on a Friday. The airfare leaving midweek made the difference. The airfare was 40% less !!!!!! Cancelled the first cruise and took the 10 day cruise. With the much lower airfare, adding 3 extra days , the total trip cost was only about $150 more.

The trip was super with a great M & G.

I have written to the Princess CEO asking him to consider offering some cruises out of FLL leaving and returning mid week. I think there would be a lot of people interested in doing that. I thought the argument would be that people wouldn't want to return midweek. Well to pay much less for the airfares would be great. Returning on a Wed or Thurs you would only have 1 or 2 days of work and then a whole weekend to regroup.

I wrote that to the CEO but never received any acknowledgement at all.

Sali

 

Even if you had received an acknowledgement with a "hey, what a great idea!", it'd still take them a couple of years to implement the idea... :p And that's why 10 day cruises are nice. At least one of the embark/debark port days will be on a weekday.

 

Wow! I'm feeling pretty good about our airfare costs now. We have a cruise booked in April 2013, sailing out of Fll. We are going to Florida early to spend a few days with my in-laws. Our flight from CAK to RSW is $160. Our return flight from fll to cak is $182. I was concerned prices may drop later, but I'm not going to worry about it now. One of the advantages of having a smaller airport nearby!

 

Okay... I now feel waay better about our flights to FLL from LAX for our New Year's cruise... we're paying $194 there and $149 back... non-stop on Virgin America... :)

[contentsam]

We are doing a cruise on 11/17/12 out of FLL. We checked airfares for over the last 11 months out of four airports near us. Fairs have double. The cheapest I found was for $1,200.00 for two round trip. Because we are retiredand have a flexible schedule we can drive to FLL (2,500 miles round trip) for a lot less. When we do drive we take different routes as to see different areas of the country.

[Cruise Junky]

We were looking at Tahiti for our next big trip. Oceania was cheaper than Princess because of them including the air so they got our booking. Never thought I'd see that happen.

[tenmile]

Thanks all for the responses. My general consensus for flights I have looked at is that for the airports we usually fly out of to FLL the prices are about 30% higher than I have paid for the last few years. Couple that with all of the stupid fees you have to pay and it's really about 40% higher at least for what I am seeing.

And at least over the past six months it doesn't change significantly whether or no I'm looking at something eight weeks out, or 8 months out.

So, I guess I feel better that I'm not the only one struggling with this. It's not that I can't afford to pay it, it's just that paying 30% higher than I paid a couple of years ago for the exact same flight rubs me the wrong way. :rolleyes: I guess I will have to live with it and budget for it if I want to keep cruising (or move closer to a port).

 

Thanks!

I agree with Kywildcatfanone. We live just outside Huntsville in northern AL and the airfare to FLL from here has doubled in the last two years. The least expensive fare I can find for a ticket for our Feb cruise is $395 rt and that dropped this week from $430 rt. It isn't much better from Birmingham or Nashville. When DH retires, we may just drive 15 hours to FLL and MIA. Yes, the airfare does determine where we cruise. We are saving our FF miles so that we can afford to do a Australia/New Zealand cruise in a few years. I don't think we could afford to do it if we had to pay airfare. I am glad to know others are sharing our air/cruise dilemma.

[texanslovetotravel]

Yes. Cruising from Galveston next so we don't have to fly and used miles to buy one leg of of flights for DFW to SEA next summer.

[cruisecritiquer]

Yes, I was only looking in the future about 8 weeks or so, so that's a fair comment. I am planning a cruise in the spring (kind of our annual cruise), and right now the airfare from any of the local airports to FLL are rediculously high still and that is about 6 months off.

That is kind of what spurred the question. Normally when I'm looking that far out I see fares fluctuate between reasonable and (what I consider) unreasonable. I've been watching for spring next year since the window opened back in May of last year and prices have been 30% than in the past. I guess the airlines are getting people to pay, but geez.....

 

Where are you flying from and what do you consider to be high?

[AmberTeka]

It's about an 11 1/2 hour drive from Louisville (don't know where you are in KY) to New Orleans. Would driving work for you? If you'd consider Carnival, they have the Conquest sailing from there for as little as $459 for that week. That sounds plenty cheap. Yeah, it's not Princess if you're a Princess fan. But for $459 I'd be tempted anyway if money is tight.

 

Probably a stupid thought...but would a flight into Orlando.then a rental car or shuttle bus to Miami or Fort Lauderdale..or Cape Canaveral?

 

We live in Jax. But when comparing plane fares.......Orlando is ALWAYS WAY better than most......don't know why.

[AmberTeka]

I agree with Kywildcatfanone. We live just outside Huntsville in northern AL and the airfare to FLL from here has doubled in the last two years. The least expensive fare I can find for a ticket for our Feb cruise is $395 rt and that dropped this week from $430 rt. It isn't much better from Birmingham or Nashville. When DH retires, we may just drive 15 hours to FLL and MIA. Yes, the airfare does determine where we cruise. We are saving our FF miles so that we can afford to do a Australia/New Zealand cruise in a few years. I don't think we could afford to do it if we had to pay airfare. I am glad to know others are sharing our air/cruise dilemma.

 

HELLO Tenmile............

 

I grew up in Muscle Shoals City. We played Huntsville in Football. Roll Tide.

 

Have you checked fares into ORLANDO? Then added the cost of a rental car...turn it in at the port..have another reserved for the flight back through Orlando? Keep checking the on line TA for special rates into ORLANDO. In the Fall..they do a lot of them.

[AmberTeka]

If you are coming from the NE..NYC Washington DC Baltimore...Charlestown....etc..

 

The TRAIN..the Silver Star....runs that route all the way down to Miami. It takes about 12-13 hours to get from D.C. to Jax....and you can sleep most of the way. Snacks and food.

 

Sometimes you can get amazing deals on Amtract and that particular train is not bad. Not a plane. better than a bus. Surprisingly good food.

 

If you can swing a sleeper..with those big windows..awesome.

[AmberTeka]

Good luck with your flight on Friday out of Syracuse. I am leaving Sunday out of Syracuse for the Ruby Princess. Have you been following Tropical Storm Sandy ? I hope she will go east out into the Atlantic Ocean. Otherwise, the whole Northeast including interior is a target. When you go to Syracuse do you ever stop at Destiny Mall? Lots of Canadians go there to shop .

Sali

 

"Sandy"....I am not a native Floridian but I have lived her for 42 years. And Florida natives don't worry about HURRICANES unless they are a three category..or bearing right down on them. I worry..but there is some truth in that.

Tropical Storms....like what we get here..is mostly rain clouds camping out over your house for days it seems..and it rains and rains and rains....and you may have some high winds...so put the lawn chairs up...bolt the windows...If you live in a low lying area..prone to flooding..be prepared.

The Ships SAIL out of the storm.

This one....I am not worried about. Not looking forward to it..but Georgia and parts west have had one of the most devastaging droughts in history..so lots of rain could be a silver lining for some areas.

[PunkiC]

If you have lots of miles, there are times when very high air fares can work to your advantage.

 

For instance this summer flights to London were sky high (no pun intended) because of the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. As a result cruises out of Southampton were ridiculously cheap--no Americans were booking these cruises.

 

About two weeks out, we lucked out and were able to snage saver award tickets and booked a Scandinavian cruise on the Caribbean Princess in a balcony for $799 pp. Of course most of the other passengers were from the British Midlands and we couldn't understand a word they said. One night we were having dinner with two couples from the midlands and a couple from London. We asked the Londoners to interpret but they said that they couldn't understand the Midlanders any better than we could. ;) Two countries separated by a common language.

 

Alaska miles, however, almost useless for flying British Air into London because BA imposes such insane fees on business and first-class tickets. We were quoted $1,400 each in fees for a first-class ticket from Seattle to London on British. YIKES! While we love the direct, it just makes a lot more sense to fly Lufthansa into Frankfurt and connect. That way the fees are only about $250 each.

 

Whoever mentioned the outrageous cost of Delta award tickets is right. That squares exactly with my experiences. American and United offer much more attractive options. My Delta miles just keep piling up because they are virtually unusable. Well, maybe someday I will find a good home for them.

 

Domestically, we often use Alaska Companion Certificates and just buy tickets, especially from Seattle to Long Beach where to don't offer first-class anyway. They do, however, serve free beer and wine in coach which isn't all bad. :)

[pcur]

If you have lots of miles, there are times when very high air fares can work to your advantage.

 

For instance this summer flights to London were sky high (no pun intended) because of the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. As a result cruises out of Southampton were ridiculously cheap--no Americans were booking these cruises.

 

About two weeks out, we lucked out and were able to snage saver award tickets and booked a Scandinavian cruise on the Caribbean Princess in a balcony for $799 pp. Of course most of the other passengers were from the British Midlands and we couldn't understand a word they said. One night we were having dinner with two couples from the midlands and a couple from London. We asked the Londoners to interpret but they said that they couldn't understand the Midlanders any better than we could. ;) Two countries separated by a common language.

 

Alaska miles, however, almost useless for flying British Air into London because BA imposes such insane fees on business and first-class tickets. We were quoted $1,400 each in fees for a first-class ticket from Seattle to London on British. YIKES! While we love the direct, it just makes a lot more sense to fly Lufthansa into Frankfurt and connect. That way the fees are only about $250 each.

 

Whoever mentioned the outrageous cost of Delta award tickets is right. That squares exactly with my experiences. American and United offer much more attractive options. My Delta miles just keep piling up because they are virtually unusable. Well, maybe someday I will find a good home for them.

 

Domestically, we often use Alaska Companion Certificates and just buy tickets, especially from Seattle to Long Beach where to don't offer first-class anyway. They do, however, serve free beer and wine in coach which isn't all bad. :)

 

You sound like a really good candidate for the Chase Sapphire Visa card that we got this year. They give 40,000 bonus miles for spending $3,000 in the first three months. We got one for hubby and one for me, paid for a cruise and regular expenses, ended up with 92,000 miles. Here comes the good part: the points can be combined into one account, AND the points can be transferred to your airline ff accounts.

 

For instance, I am giving my 16,000 SW points to my oldest son for his birthday this month, and if he ends up short on the flight he wants, I will transfer points from my Chase Sapphire account to my SW account to make up the difference.

 

The rewards booking tool for Chase Sapphire is really good, too. They have even lower airfares than what I found on my favorite "check and see what's up" site, mobissimo.com.

[philv]

0

Southwest does fly from Mpls. I live in Central WI, and can either drive to MPLS or Milwaukee to fly. My flight in December on Delta is $200 cheaper than what SW had available when I booked.

 

Yep, Southwest does fly out of Minniapolis but my brother said airfare was nothing special. I think it's a basic competition thing, until discount airlines can break the lock of legacy airlines in certain hubs, nothing changes. He ended up booking AirTran for his FLL cruise in March but is still paying significantly more than what I'm getting out of Denver.

[catmand]

Yes, we have cancelled one future cruise because of the cost and aggravation.