NCL free flight experience

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We booked the free air on our spring break cruise. In our case the only added cost was the transfers. I have read on here that if we miss the ship because of flight delays NCL won’t help us. Has anyone actually experienced this?  As of now, 73 days out, it shows a direct Flight from Charlotte to Miami and Miami to Charlotte, but I realize it’s too early for our actual flights to be booked. Should we be concerned about missing the ship and if we do are we really expected to pay our own airfare to Curaçao?  What is the fee to fly in the day before?  Flying in the day before is not ideal because I would have to ask for an extra day off work, which is frowned on in my profession. Is it correct that we would have to do this before our flights are assigned?

[julig22]

Within reason, NCL will help if you are delayed - but if you can't make the ship, you would have to depend on travel  insurance to cover any costs to change flights or get you to another port.

Within reason means that if you are using the NCL airport transfer and it is caught in traffic the ship will most likely wait.  If your flight is delayed (the airport greeters know who to expect so would know if your flight is delayed), the bus may wait, assuming the delay isn't enough to cause you to miss the ship.

I think the fee to fly in the day before is $25 and yes, you do have to make arrangements before you are ticketed, which could be at any time if you are 73 days out.  And you would need to make your own arrangements to get from your hotel to the airport (unless you use a NCL hotel).

[NCteacherlovescruising]

13 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Within reason, NCL will help if you are delayed - but if you can't make the ship, you would have to depend on travel  insurance to cover any costs to change flights or get you to another port.

Within reason means that if you are using the NCL airport transfer and it is caught in traffic the ship will most likely wait.  If your flight is delayed (the airport greeters know who to expect so would know if your flight is delayed), the bus may wait, assuming the delay isn't enough to cause you to miss the ship.

I think the fee to fly in the day before is $25 and yes, you do have to make arrangements before you are ticketed, which could be at any time if you are 73 days out.  And you would need to make your own arrangements to get from your hotel to the airport (unless you use a NCL hotel).

Thanks!  You have been quite helpful. If we pay to switch our flights to the day before, will they refund our transfer fees?

[smplybcause]

There have been various reports. Some have said that that enforced the cancel schedule on the transfer fees (at 73 days you'd get 25% back). I think I've seen some get it all back. Though the transfer fee is probably close to what the fee is for a deviation one day earlier. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

If we pay to go the day before, can we request an evening flight?

 

i just looked up flights from Charlotte to Miami the day of and the cheapest flight is Delta arriving around 9 AM which would be fine. 

Edited January 26, 2020 by NCteacherlovescruising

[julig22]

2 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

If we pay to go the day before, can we request an evening flight?

 

i just looked up flights from Charlotte to Miami the day of and the cheapest flight is Delta arriving around 9 AM which would be fine. 

As far as I know, you can't request flight times, regardless of when you travel.  It is entirely possible that they will book you on the flight you've mentioned, as that would get you to the ship in plenty of time. They usually use United, American, or Delta but you can't tell by cost which one they will put you on.  From my experience, they will err on the side of getting you in early, which means you may be at the airport waiting for the shuttle to fill up if you get in at 9.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

That was a Delta flight, so they will most likely book us on that. It does have one stop. 😏If we have to wait at the airport a long time waiting on a shuttle bus to fill up  I would probably just get an Uber. No idea how far the airport is from the cruise terminal in Miami, but wouldn’t mind trying to get vibe passes again. We had them on our other NCL cruise and loved it!  The AA flight doesn’t get there till 1:30, I can’t imagine them putting us on that.

[Nola26]

Miami airport is close to the port. Chances are your flight will be super early so pack the car the night before, set multiple alarms and plan to arrive with plenty of time to spare.

 

at 73 days out you can probably change as ticketing has not happened. Only way to know  is to call and ask. You won't get transfer money back and you will pay deviation fees.  I would not change.

[smplybcause]

They could route you to FLL. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Early is ideal!  We will be pleased if they assign us that flight. I always set multiple alarms!  Lol Hubby is good about getting up on the first one while I like to hit snooze. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

4 hours ago, smplybcause said:

They could route you to FLL. 

How far is that from the port?

[smplybcause]

21 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

How far is that from the port?

 

Not far. Maybe 40 mins? 

[welove2cruise*]

9 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

We booked the free air on our spring break cruise. In our case the only added cost was the transfers. I have read on here that if we miss the ship because of flight delays NCL won’t help us. Has anyone actually experienced this?  As of now, 73 days out, it shows a direct Flight from Charlotte to Miami and Miami to Charlotte, but I realize it’s too early for our actual flights to be booked. Should we be concerned about missing the ship and if we do are we really expected to pay our own airfare to Curaçao?  What is the fee to fly in the day before?  Flying in the day before is not ideal because I would have to ask for an extra day off work, which is frowned on in my profession. Is it correct that we would have to do this before our flights are assigned?

 

1 hour ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

How far is that from the port?

Just curious as we are flying out of Charlotte to Miami next February..what are the flight times you received and what airline? 

[Nola26]

14 hours ago, smplybcause said:

They could route you to FLL. 

 

14 hours ago, smplybcause said:

They could route you to FLL. 

OP has indicated flights show Charlotte to Miami so I a assumed that would be her routing. From Charlotte OP is most likely flying American as both Charlotte and Miami are hubs for the airline. NCL seems to use American, United and Delta airlines most frequently.

[Pduaime]

2 hours ago, Nola26 said:

 

OP has indicated flights show Charlotte to Miami so I a assumed that would be her routing. From Charlotte OP is most likely flying American as both Charlotte and Miami are hubs for the airline. NCL seems to use American, United and Delta airlines most frequently.

Nothing is for certain until you have your flight assignments.  All along, our vacation summary showed us going into and out of Miami, but when we finally got our flight assignments, we fly into Miami (on United), but go back home out of FLL (on Delta)

[smplybcause]

3 hours ago, Nola26 said:

 

OP has indicated flights show Charlotte to Miami so I a assumed that would be her routing. From Charlotte OP is most likely flying American as both Charlotte and Miami are hubs for the airline. NCL seems to use American, United and Delta airlines most frequently.

 

Until you're actually ticketed anything you see is a placeholder. From posts I've seen on here it's very likely the placeholder is not the final routing. 

[mushroom]

We used the free air from CLT to MIA last Fall and were given nonstop flights on AA.  Our flight left CLT around 9:30am  and the return flight left MIA around 1:00pm. If I'd been paying for tickets, these are the exact flights I would have chosen.  I was very pleased.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

21 hours ago, welove2cruise* said:

 

Just curious as we are flying out of Charlotte to Miami next February..what are the flight times you received and what airline? 

What haven’t been assigned flights yet. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

13 hours ago, Nola26 said:

 

OP has indicated flights show Charlotte to Miami so I a assumed that would be her routing. From Charlotte OP is most likely flying American as both Charlotte and Miami are hubs for the airline. NCL seems to use American, United and Delta airlines most frequently.

I hope not. The earliest flight I found on AA that day didn’t arrive until 1:30. 

[Nola26]

4 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I hope not. The earliest flight I found on AA that day didn’t arrive until 1:30. 

I saw Americans flights from CLT to MIA flights at 7:30am and 9:36am either could have you at the ship before 1pm and all aboard would be 2pm if the ship departs at 4pm. NCL is incentivized to get you onboard, I would expect flights that make that incredibly likely.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

9 hours ago, Nola26 said:

I saw Americans flights from CLT to MIA flights at 7:30am and 9:36am either could have you at the ship before 1pm and all aboard would be 2pm if the ship departs at 4pm. NCL is incentivized to get you onboard, I would expect flights that make that incredibly likely.

That 7:30-9:35 flight is quite a bit more than the Delta flight and the later AA flights. It would be ideal, but I don’t see them paying that much more for it. 

[smplybcause]

4 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

That 7:30-9:35 flight is quite a bit more than the Delta flight and the later AA flights. It would be ideal, but I don’t see them paying that much more for it. 

 

Yea, NCL is paying different rates than the public fares. So the fares you see might give an idea, but not a guarantee. Definitely seen people put on flights that when they checked were more expensive than other flights. 

[welove2cruise*]

We did a two day early deviation. I hope we have direct flights. I never fly in the day of..but I do agree that NCL wouldn’t risk you not having time to get to the ship. Please update when you get your flight info. 😊

[JDBRANDT17042]

On 1/26/2020 at 2:14 PM, NCteacherlovescruising said:

If we pay to go the day before, can we request an evening flight?

 

i just looked up flights from Charlotte to Miami the day of and the cheapest flight is Delta arriving around 9 AM which would be fine. 

It's called a deviation, and yes, you can go early.

BUT, you have to make this choice before they issue the tickets.

Once issued, there is no way to change them....for any money, by any party. Period.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

12 hours ago, JDBRANDT17042 said:

It's called a deviation, and yes, you can go early.

BUT, you have to make this choice before they issue the tickets.

Once issued, there is no way to change them....for any money, by any party. Period.

We decided to just fly in day of and recently got our flights. They are direct and good times so we’re happy we didn’t pay for a deviation.