Cruise Line Arranged Airfare

[ldubs]

On 11/21/2022 at 11:24 AM, Hlitner said:

I want to again reiterate that most lines that offer air options also offer the additional option of letting the cruiser choose their own flights.  Sometimes there is an additional fee (such as with Oceania) and other times there are no extra fees (Princess, Seabourn, HAL, etc).   During COVID, we had 5 cruises (all expensive voyages to exotic parts of the world) cancelled by the cruise lines!  In 4 of those cases, we had booked our air (all Business Class) through the cruise lines.  In those 4 cases, when the cruise line cancelled the cruise, they also cancelled the air, and we received a full refund.  On the 5th cruise we had booked our own air (using miles) and were on our own to deal with the airline (Delta).  Delta actually agreed to refund our miles.  But if we had paid for that air, Delta would have only agreed to some kind of voucher.  Some airlines would have likely refused to make any changes without charging a hefty change fee (we are talking international business class).

 

I should also mention that if using cruise air through Princess, HAL, Seabourn, (and some others), we are able to access an online booking engine (similar to using any online booking site) where we could view lots of different flight options from/to different airports and with many different airlines.  If we did not see any flights that we liked we could have simply booked our own air elsewhere.  We were never obligated to use cruise air.  To us, it is simply one more option to be evaluated against other options.  In the case of Oceania, we thought their air option was awful which is why we ultimately booked directly with Delta.

 

Hank

 

 

"In those 4 cases, when the cruise line cancelled the cruise, they also cancelled the air, and we received a full refund."

 

Good thing they do this.  Otherwise people would book and then cancel the cruise just to snag a discounted airfare!  

 

I've always kind of shied aware from cruise line flight bookings.  I'm looking at them a little differently now that I better understand the options.  Thanks!  

[mammajamma2013]

When cruising opened after the pandemic, I cruised with NCL and used their airfare, which was a really great price. I was able to log into the American Airlines website and choose my seats. This was a domestic flight.

 

We currently have a cruise booked with an international flight (El Paso to Buenos Aires) through NCL. This will be my first international flight and between NCL taking care of the details and the good airfare, I was happy. Until I was told I can't do anything with the flight until 30 days before the cruise. I don't even know which airline I'll be using. I'll certainly think twice before I book through a cruise line again.