Free if not flying round trip?

[doolfan]

I’m looking to book a cruise in May 2024 from Barcelona to Athens. They are currently offering the second person to fly free. We will be flying from St Louis to Barcelona, but the cruise will only be the first part of our trip. After the cruise we’ll continue traveling through Europe eventually flying home from London approx 2-3 weeks after the cruise is over. Is it possible to set the flights up this way??  I’d assume they only book you a flight to Barcelona the day before the cruise and a flight home from Athens the day after. Should I skip booking airfare through them completely…it’s a shame because it was a really good deal on airfare. This is our first cruise and our first trip to Europe so I’m new at this!

[hallux]

The T&C's do mention an option to book one-way flights.

T&C's - https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

Relevant wording - 

Guests may request a one-way air itinerary; in which case they will be charged 50% of the applicable promotional air pricing for the selected gateway.

You (or your TA) probably need to call to get it set up.

[zzdoug]

My TA has apparently set us up for just the flight home because we were able to use frequent flyer points to fly outbound to the cruise.  We have not yet received our return flight information so I can't officially confirm this yet. 

[ggTexasGal]

@zzdoug Hopefully your arrangements work well for you.  If so, that seems like a sweet deal.

However, because of the OP's 2 week stay post cruise, they can only hope to get good NCL arranged airfare to Barcelona. 

 

@doolfan  The actual flight details would not be available to you until much closer to the cruise date (Currently, approximately 30-45 days seems to be normal).

[Markanddonna]

Ncl only allows a two day pre or post cruise deviation. So, you can do the first part one way, but not the second. We had that issue on a recent cruise with wanting to spend a week post cruise and so booked independently.

[Travelling2Some]

2 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

Ncl only allows a two day pre or post cruise deviation. So, you can do the first part one way, but not the second. We had that issue on a recent cruise with wanting to spend a week post cruise and so booked independently.

We always have this problem so we have never used the cruise-lines' airfare deals.  I don't like flying and, once I've endured the flight and the expense to get somewhere interesting, two days to see the place is just not going to cut it.  We also will only take non-stops so I don't want to risk NCL booking us with connections.

[Markanddonna]

1 hour ago, Travelling2Some said:

We always have this problem so we have never used the cruise-lines' airfare deals.  I don't like flying and, once I've endured the flight and the expense to get somewhere interesting, two days to see the place is just not going to cut it.  We also will only take non-stops so I don't want to risk NCL booking us with connections.

I agree. Only looking at NCL flights for a more detailed and expensive trip is sort of penny wise and pound foolish. Pay a few hundred more to get the trip you really want.

 

[JennKach]

We did this for Alaska because we are flying in 5 days ahead.  Only using the NCL deal to fly home.

[Travelling2Some]

36 minutes ago, JennKach said:

We did this for Alaska because we are flying in 5 days ahead.  Only using the NCL deal to fly home.

In general, I would think that using it to fly home can make better sense.  Let's face it, NCL's 2 day deviation can easy turn into only a day and a half and when you arrive you can be so jet lagged that you can't even truly enjoy the little time you are getting for sightseeing.  I wish they would extend the deviation to more days because I know the savings can be substantial.   

[Markanddonna]

2 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

In general, I would think that using it to fly home can make better sense.  Let's face it, NCL's 2 day deviation can easy turn into only a day and a half and when you arrive you can be so jet lagged that you can't even truly enjoy the little time you are getting for sightseeing.  I wish they would extend the deviation to more days because I know the savings can be substantial.   

Celebrity and Royal's air is so superior. For an upcoming trip, I have a two week deviation out of a distant city.  I knew the days, flights, times, airlines, and dates when I booked.  

 

[hallux]

4 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

Celebrity and Royal's air is so superior. For an upcoming trip, I have a two week deviation out of a distant city.  I knew the days, flights, times, airlines, and dates when I booked.  

 

NCL's Premium Air service would do the same, and is NCL's equivalent to those services.  The situation in question is the BOGO airfare offer that is part of the Free At Sea promo.

[Markanddonna]

Where do you find this program. Here is there regular program and I don't see an premium offered.https://www.ncl.com/air-service-standards

[hallux]

24 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

Where do you find this program. Here is there regular program and I don't see an premium offered.https://www.ncl.com/air-service-standards

First result when entering 'ncl premium air' in Google - 

https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/premium-air

[Markanddonna]

I called NCL premium air and they only allow the two day pre and post deviation but will customize for a fee which they said is likely equivalent to my booking my flights independently. So, the second person flying free deal doesn't work in this scenario.  I can't see why I would want to book through NCL because everything would be over the phone.

 

I like to see my dates, times and flights like Air2Sea on Royal or Celebrity allows. Celebrity is allowing me to do a two week post cruise deviation out of a very different city.  The cost for two from CMH- TPA and then WAW to CMH is just over $1,100. The flights are great and with the fewest connections.

[hallux]

9 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

So, the second person flying free deal doesn't work in this scenario.

Right.  As I said before, NCL Premium Air is different from the BOGO offer, it's more like using NCL as your TA for your flight bookings.