Experience with air included by NCL?

[welove2cruise*]

We just booked a 2021 cruise that includes round trip air with NCL to Miami. I’m wondering how people who have used this option felt about flight times, selecting seats, etc? 

 

 

[janmojo1]

We just booked a 16-day Panama Canal (NCL) out of Miami for 2/14/20!  Airfare is also included (Portland, OR/Miami; LA/Portland)  They tell us we won't know flight day and time until about 120 days from sail time.  I am curious too how this will work since it will be a cross country flight. 

[tokidoki]

29 minutes ago, janmojo1 said:

We just booked a 16-day Panama Canal (NCL) out of Miami for 2/14/20!  Airfare is also included (Portland, OR/Miami; LA/Portland)  They tell us we won't know flight day and time until about 120 days from sail time.  I am curious too how this will work since it will be a cross country flight. 

Who said 120 days? On NCL site it says 2 months.  I am at the 54 day mark and my airfare info isn’t ready yet😱 I checked yesterday and they said in the next couple of days

[janmojo1]

Sorry, I may have misunderstood my NCL rep but I thought that's what he said.  I have a long time to wait but will recheck with the guy I booked with in a few months.  I'm kind of a planner and want to get everything lined up but I can't even access excursions yet! ☹️  🤷‍♀️

[allyfrizzle]

11 hours ago, janmojo1 said:

Sorry, I may have misunderstood my NCL rep but I thought that's what he said.  I have a long time to wait but will recheck with the guy I booked with in a few months.  I'm kind of a planner and want to get everything lined up but I can't even access excursions yet! ☹️  🤷‍♀️

I was confused by this as well. I got my flight information at the 2-month mark, but the airline hadn't actually issued a ticket until about a month before my cruise. So you might get general flight details, but you won't get the full ticket issued until much closer to your cruise.

[mdsgu]

Every time I have tried a mock booking to see how the "free air" worked, it has never been free from New Orleans.....

[allyfrizzle]

9 minutes ago, mdsgu said:

Every time I have tried a mock booking to see how the "free air" worked, it has never been free from New Orleans.....

Where were you flying to? I'm in Detroit and have mocked many cruises and the only ports that were charging for me are on the west coast. I'm sure there's a distance factor.

[bkrickles1]

4 minutes ago, mdsgu said:

Every time I have tried a mock booking to see how the "free air" worked, it has never been free from New Orleans.....

It's not free from everywhere.

I booked the Encore for next January and I took all 6 perks, including the "free air".

I'm flying from NYC to Miami and it actually was free for my wife and I. The 3rd person in my cabin, my daughter, is being charged and at a slightly high rate, $390 r/t.

I'm ok with it as the average for the 3 of us is $130 pp r/t.

I could not do that on my own and I figure I'm saving at least $300.

Hopefully it's a smooth process.

[Sailing12Away]

I posted a thread about my recent experience with this at the end of February last month, search for it. Needless to say, it was quite stressful as our fight was delayed 2 hours and we nearly missed the ship. We had no problems picking our seats ahead of time, but after that everything is beyond your control. It depends on how much of a cost savings it will be for you, to determine if the anxiety and stress are worth it.

 

We've got another trip coming up in July on POA that NCL is handling our flights for. If I get stuck in Hawaii it won't be as bad trying to catch up with the ship as it would be getting stuck in Miami on a short 5 day cruise.

[cruisegirlinpa]

Approximately 2.5 months prior to sailing, I received an email with an itinerary of AA non-stop to Seattle and Delta connection returning back to PHL for our May Alaska sailing.  It was not issued at that point, this weekend (at the 6 week mark) I received a flight change notice & ticketing notice - and ended up with American non-stop flights round trip.  So we are quite pleased.

[Cruzinnana47]

We are 56 days out and I was originally told flight info. would be available 60 days out--which, obviously was incorrect in our case.  Called a couple days ago and were told no less than 55 days out (which would be tomorrow) and more than likely could be between 45 - 50 days from departure.  The NCL rep said they have to wait until ALL the flights for all itineraries for a given day have been arranged.   Of course, I take everything  I'm told with a grain of salt when I call the cruiseline.  Depending on when you call and who you talk to, the info. can change dramatically...LOL.

[pixiedust777]

Did the free air for our cruise on the Breakaway in February from New Orleans.

Way to stressful with winter weather from Buffalo.

What we paid in mandatory shuttle fees we could have taken a private taxi for less.

Lesson learned. Never again.

 

[tokidoki]

1 hour ago, Cruzinnana47 said:

We are 56 days out and I was originally told flight info. would be available 60 days out--which, obviously was incorrect in our case.  Called a couple days ago and were told no less than 55 days out (which would be tomorrow) and more than likely could be between 45 - 50 days from departure.  The NCL rep said they have to wait until ALL the flights for all itineraries for a given day have been arranged.   Of course, I take everything  I'm told with a grain of salt when I call the cruiseline.  Depending on when you call and who you talk to, the info. can change dramatically...LOL.

Same here, told 55 days, cause flight info was backed up.  Then I was told in a day or 2, nothing yet at 52 days. Will keep checking😱

[NayRN]

We booked with the free airfare from Detroit to New York. After reading all the posts about how stressful it can be, I paid the $25/per person flight deviation fee (and an additional $15/per person was added onto the transfer fee) to fly in two days prior to the cruise. I’ll book a hotel using points to help cut the cost as it’s no longer required to book your hotel thru NCL. So the end total for flights was free and transfer/deviation fees were $220.