Booking flights with Amawaterways

[nelsjay]

Amawaterways offers attractive airfare for our river cruise, but will not release the final itinerary until shortly before the cruise date. I am concerned that the number of stops and travel time may be significantly longer than if I was booking on my own. Anyone with experience booking their air with with Ama? Pros and cons?

[Imasima752]

I hope you get some responses as we recently added their business air package to our booking. It's the first time I won't be handling our flights myself which concerns me a bit, but after watching prices for a few months (for this year's flights around the time we will be flying next year), I thought it was worth the risk. When's your trip?

[aldukenew]

I hope you get some responses as we recently added their business air package to our booking. It's the first time I won't be handling our flights myself which concerns me a bit, but after watching prices for a few months (for this year's flights around the time we will be flying next year), I thought it was worth the risk. When's your trip?

 

We booked our flights through Ama for our Sept Danube cruise, but our TA took care of all of it. She gave us 3 options and we picked the one that worked best. All went smoothly and they were there to pick us up and drop us off at the end, even escorting us to the counter.

 

Allyson

[Imasima752]

Glad to hear it went well! Escort to the counter is definitely a nice touch. Did you have a lot of connecting flights? If so, how much time did you have between flights? This is my real concern as I prefer waiting in a lounge for a few hours rather than running to catch another flight.

[aldukenew]

Glad to hear it went well! Escort to the counter is definitely a nice touch. Did you have a lot of connecting flights? If so, how much time did you have between flights? This is my real concern as I prefer waiting in a lounge for a few hours rather than running to catch another flight.

 

We decided to connect from Washington Dulles through Heathrow because the layover was 2.5 - 3 hrs each way, vs. 1 hour or so through Frankfurt or Munich. We had plenty of time going over. Coming back took longer because we had to go from Terminal 3 to a sub terminal of terminal 5, if that makes sense. We still made it just fine.

 

Allyson

[Lois R]

Did booking through AMA save you $$$? I am going on my first river

cruise with them in April:D and my TA told me the same thing.....they

may not release the air information until much closer to the cruise date.

I haven't booked my flights yet.

[JVilleGal]

Look and see what you can book now that makes you happy, route and price and once you have that info find out what AMA can do for you.

[aldukenew]

Did booking through AMA save you $$$? I am going on my first river

cruise with them in April:D and my TA told me the same thing.....they

may not release the air information until much closer to the cruise date.

I haven't booked my flights yet.

 

I'm not sure it saved us money. In the 30 minutes it took us to decide, the fares went up $200 (British Airways)! It started out being a little cheaper, but I don't think we saved anything. I think it was more about convenience and peace of mind. We booked in March for our Sept. cruise.

[Host Jazzbeau]

We bought our air through AMA in December 2012 for a cruise in May 2013, and were able to choose the flights and get seats right away -- and we were able to go to United's website immediately and upgrade to Economy Plus seats. We saved a few dollars (tens of dollars, not hundreds) but qualified for free airport transfers, which was an even greater saving.

[aldukenew]

We bought our air through AMA in December 2012 for a cruise in May 2013, and were able to choose the flights and get seats right away -- and we were able to go to United's website immediately and upgrade to Economy Plus seats. We saved a few dollars (tens of dollars, not hundreds) but qualified for free airport transfers, which was an even greater saving.

 

Ditto for us, except we flew BA.

[sassyw]

We are going on a Tauck cruise from Monte Carlo to Paris in Sept. 2016. Air just opened up and Tauck was $1400 more for 2 business class tickets on the same flights! We still get the transfers. Glad we did some research!

[JVilleGal]

We are going on a Tauck cruise from Monte Carlo to Paris in Sept. 2016. Air just opened up and Tauck was $1400 more for 2 business class tickets on the same flights! We still get the transfers. Glad we did some research!

 

 

Wait! Are you saying Tauck was going to charge $1400 more than what you could get yourself for the exact same flights????

[Lois R]

Wait! Are you saying Tauck was going to charge $1400 more than what you could get yourself for the exact same flights????

 

I was thinking the same thing:eek:

[Lois R]

This may be a dumb question......but I am going to ask anyway.....

sometimes I think my mind is not all there:eek:....what are the

advantages of booking airfare through the cruiseline anyway?

[caviargal]

This may be a dumb question......but I am going to ask anyway.....

sometimes I think my mind is not all there:eek:....what are the

advantages of booking airfare through the cruiseline anyway?

 

With AMA and some other lines, the advantages are a lower deposit (versus having to pay in full at time of booking); included airport transfers on cruise begin and end dates; the ability to cover all under AMA's insurance for a reasonable cost.

[Lois R]

With AMA and some other lines, the advantages are a lower deposit (versus having to pay in full at time of booking); included airport transfers on cruise begin and end dates; the ability to cover all under AMA's insurance for a reasonable cost.

 

Ahhh...ok, thanks:)

[FlyerTalker]

Let me put in a couple of caveats as well for some balance.

 

1) Cruiseline provided insurance may not have the same coverage as what you can get elsewhere for the same price or less. Especially if you have items other than just the cruise included. Read the fine print - make sure the coverage is what YOU want/need.

 

2) Know that cruiseline provided air tickets are often NOT the same as what you would get from the airline directly. You may have tickets with very restrictive fare rules that may come back to bite you if you have any kind of irops (irregular operations) along the way. Your ticket may not allow for an endorsement to another carrier, may require flights on a specific routing, as well as other restrictions. You may be at the bottom of the heap for rebookings (other fare classes getting handled first). Just because it is on the same flight does NOT mean it is the same ticket. When all goes well, you likely won't notice the difference. It's when you get irops that the differences rear up.

 

3) Cruiseline provided air may or may not be eligible for upgrades and/or frequent flyer miles. Only by checking the fare rules can you know, and often you cannot see the fare rules until the ticket is issued and it is too late to change.

 

So, to sum up....it ain't apples to apples.

Edited November 1, 2015 by FlyerTalker

[nelsjay]

When I first booked the cruise for next May, the economy airfare quote I received from my TA through Ama was close to $400 less than I could get on my own. That's the main reason I was considering it, but didn't book since they wouldn't be able tell me the itinerary until shortly before we left...as I said above.

Edited November 2, 2015 by nelsjay

[Mark_T]

So, to sum up....it ain't apples to apples.

 

Also worth considering that a lot of those same concerns can apply to flights booked through a TA or from one of the many cheap online flight sites so it pays to take care there as well.

[sassyw]

Wait! Are you saying Tauck was going to charge $1400 more than what you could get yourself for the exact same flights????

 

Exactly. Called our TA and she verified it. Called Tauck and the rep said that sometimes their prices are more and sometimes less. :confused:

We took insurance through Tauck but that has nothing to do with airfare--we are insured both ways

[Lois R]

Well, I am happy today:)...thanks to an awesome TA I booked my flights

today to Amsterdam for my April Cruise. AMA offered a good price (I am

happy with it)......good timing and post cruise, transfer is included from

the ship to the airport:)......

[Host Jazzbeau]

Well, I am happy today:)...thanks to an awesome TA I booked my flights

today to Amsterdam for my April Cruise. AMA offered a good price (I am

happy with it)......good timing and post cruise, transfer is included from

the ship to the airport:)......

 

Congrats! I never feel a cruise is "real" until I've booked the airfare.

[Lois R]

Congrats! I never feel a cruise is "real" until I've booked the airfare.

 

Thank you so much:)...I cruise a week from Saturday on Celebrity

to the Southern Caribbean and I know I will have a good time but I

am really excited about my first River Cruise:D

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thank you so much:)...I cruise a week from Saturday on Celebrity

to the Southern Caribbean and I know I will have a good time but I

am really excited about my first River Cruise:D

 

We did Summit's other San Juan itinerary in 2012 and loved it. My only regret is that we didn't build in any time for San Juan and Puerto Rico -- there seemed to be many interesting things to see there. Luckily Celebrity offered a walking tour of Old San Juan between the ship and the airport.

[Lois R]

We did Summit's other San Juan itinerary in 2012 and loved it. My only regret is that we didn't build in any time for San Juan and Puerto Rico -- there seemed to be many interesting things to see there. Luckily Celebrity offered a walking tour of Old San Juan between the ship and the airport.

 

I have been to San Juan at least 1/2 dozen times over the years.....

I really like the Southern Caribbean:)