Oceania "free" airfare from Savannah

[pearzee]

Free airfare is flying in the day of the cruise and leaving on the end date. If you want to arrive early &/or leave later that is called a "deviation". When you request a deviation, Oceania will give you flight choices, once you accept there is a fee, due at the time of acceptance.

You can request specific flights, but those may involve additional costs.

We have been happy with O's choices usually, but you must do your own research.

 

I am confused about the air as well. We have the free airfare from our city for our January 14-24 cruise. The TA says we would leave on January 14th since the ship sails on January 15. I've checked the flights and if we leave on January 14, the earliest we would be able to arrive in Papeete on January 15 would be 6:30 a.m., AFTER the ship is due to sail at 5 a.m. I asked our TA if that meant we would leave on the 13th and she said no. So does anyone more experienced know how this would work? Is the ship sailing time flexible depending on when everyone arrives or will we be forced to take the air deviation? Thanks for any insight you can provide!

[ChucktownSteve]

I am confused about the air as well. We have the free airfare from our city for our January 14-24 cruise. The TA says we would leave on January 14th since the ship sails on January 15. I've checked the flights and if we leave on January 14, the earliest we would be able to arrive in Papeete on January 15 would be 6:30 a.m., AFTER the ship is due to sail at 5 a.m. I asked our TA if that meant we would leave on the 13th and she said no. So does anyone more experienced know how this would work? Is the ship sailing time flexible depending on when everyone arrives or will we be forced to take the air deviation? Thanks for any insight you can provide!

 

Are you sure the cruise doesn't leave at 5PM not AM?

[rallydave]

I am confused about the air as well. We have the free airfare from our city for our January 14-24 cruise. The TA says we would leave on January 14th since the ship sails on January 15. I've checked the flights and if we leave on January 14, the earliest we would be able to arrive in Papeete on January 15 would be 6:30 a.m., AFTER the ship is due to sail at 5 a.m. I asked our TA if that meant we would leave on the 13th and she said no. So does anyone more experienced know how this would work? Is the ship sailing time flexible depending on when everyone arrives or will we be forced to take the air deviation? Thanks for any insight you can provide!

 

You need to have a discussion with your TA. Yes, the ship is scheduled to sail on the 15th at 5 AM but, you should be boarding on the 14th as the cruise includes an overnight in Papeete so you will leave on the 13th to board on the 14th and sail on the 15th.

 

The previous cruise arrives and disembarks their passengers at 7 AM on the 14th so your cruise is actually Jan 14-24. Check out the Oceania site and you will see what I am talking about.

 

By the way, the sailing is not flexible as you are scheduled to be in Moorea at 8 AM on the 15th which is why you sail at 5 AM. Very short way to Moorea probably only an hour or so.

[LHT28]

If you are taking Oceania air they will not have you arriving after the ship departs

 

The cruise actually starts on the 14th so your TA is incorrect or confused with the time zone changes

Edited October 8, 2014 by LHT28

[StanandJim]

If you are taking Oceania air they will not have you arriving after the ship departs

 

The cruise actually starts on the 14th so your TA is incorrect or confused with the time zone changes

 

+1, and IF the flight options which would get you to the ship on time require flying over night, the free air will only apply toward red eye flights.

 

Any routing which would include an overnight and/or a hotel stay will require a deviation.

[pearzee]

If you are taking Oceania air they will not have you arriving after the ship departs

 

The cruise actually starts on the 14th so your TA is incorrect or confused with the time zone changes

 

Oceania will book the flights and we should be receiving them in November so I'll see what they give us. Personally, I was hoping we'd leave on the 13th and get there early on the 14th as we would have all day to acclimate ourselves to the ship and time change before we sailed.

 

Thanks for the help!

[LHT28]

Oceania will book the flights and we should be receiving them in November so I'll see what they give us. Personally, I was hoping we'd leave on the 13th and get there early on the 14th as we would have all day to acclimate ourselves to the ship and time change before we sailed.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

You probably will ;)

 

You are paying for the cruise from the 14th not the 15th

 

It is not their 1st rodeo ..they will get you there in time :D

 

enjoy

Lyn

[ChucktownSteve]

You probably will ;)

 

You are paying for the cruise from the 14th not the 15th

 

It is not their 1st rodeo ..they will get you there in time :D

 

enjoy

Lyn

 

I've not cruised Oceania yet. You mean they have rodeos on the ship? How cool is that? :D

[nana541]

Pay the Deviation fee and arrive a day or two early then you can recover, avoid flights issues/delays AND see the sites!

 

 

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[sitraveler]

Remember-Oceania cannot control everything. There is no guarantee that you will make the cruise unless you are there on time. O air is better than 99%, but if you're....

[StanandJim]

Remember-Oceania cannot control everything. There is no guarantee that you will make the cruise unless you are there on time. O air is better than 99%, but if you're....

 

I think that you're overlooking the fact that for the Cruise that the OP is sailing on, the ship is overnighting in the embarkation port.

[PRWeezer]

Is Delta the airline the only contracted one out of Savannah or have you use US Air as well. Currently it seems Delta's flight to Barcelona are two stop before arriving there.

 

When is your cruise? Can't you fly SAV-JFK-BCN? (I just glanced at some random travel dates that match with Barcelona-Rome cruises into next year.) Might be a long connection, but would two connections be preferable? As said, you'd have to change terminals which eats up a little time. The DL SkyClub at JFK's T4 is good for killing a few hours. If the weather is nice there's an outdoor Sky Deck for plane spotting.

 

We managed to kill 5-6 hours there about a year ago connecting ATL-JFK-MXP for a cruise out of Venice. Also spent some time walking T4 to stretch our legs prior to the overnight flight. Sure, I'd rather not have that long of a layover, but we wanted to leave plenty of time for our ATL-JFK flight to be delayed/cancelled with several back-up flights in between. Some prefer the T4 restaurant options over the SkyClub, but we have free Club access which was a factor in hanging out there. Note: we always make our own flight arrangements so I can't speak for how Oceania's deviations work, if you can request the most direct routing, for example.

[PaulMCO]

Just a warning to the OP. If you are not doing a deviation do not assume that you will get a logical flight routing.

 

When we flew to RIO from MIA. Instead of a direct MIA to Rio we were sent MIA-ATL and then to RIO.

[StanandJim]

Just a warning to the OP. If you are not doing a deviation do not assume that you will get a logical flight routing.

 

When we flew to RIO from MIA. Instead of a direct MIA to Rio we were sent MIA-ATL and then to RIO.

 

 

-And you and I know plenty of people who would do that kind of "out of the way" routing in a heartbeat if it meant that they could save a buck....or the right quantity of bucks. :p

 

Why is the Cruise Line wrong for doing the same thing :confused:

[kimanjo]

I emailed my TA that I was interested in looking at air deviation and asked if she would call me. She called back shortly thereafter and we handled it. I asked for no additional fee flights first and I could live with what she found. Then she emailed me the confirmation number and seat locations. There weren't a lot of choices for me anyway.

 

 

Just wanted to update, everything worked out just great using your advice.

 

Thanks so much.

[ChucktownSteve]

Just wanted to update, everything worked out just great using your advice.

 

Thanks so much.

 

Glad I could be of help! :) Now you need to take a car trip to Charleston between cruises. :D

[kimanjo]

Glad I could be of help! :) Now you need to take a car trip to Charleston between cruises. :D

 

Spent a week golfing in Hilton Head two weeks ago. Kind of in the area....

 

Love the whole area!!!

[pearzee]

You probably will ;)

 

You are paying for the cruise from the 14th not the 15th

 

It is not their 1st rodeo ..they will get you there in time :D

 

enjoy

Lyn

 

We received our airline reservations. We are leaving at 9:30 am on Wednesday, January 14 arriving in LAX at 11:30 am then flying to Papeete on Tahiti Nui at 2 pm, arriving in Papeete at 8:25 pm. Ship sails at 5 am on the 15th. On the plus side, we are not doing an overnighter and don't have to stay awake all day once we get to the ship.