NCL Airfare Experiences

[CruisingBeans]

11 minutes ago, lfdemt said:

When is your sailing? We cruise end of March and at anxiously awaiting the flight arrangement. Just wondering how much longer we might have to wait. 

We fly out March 3 for the cruise on the 5th. All of us got our info on 12/27/22 except one cabin (the one with my 11 y/o daughter and my mom). We thought it was because they are flying in from different cities so my mom called to check and be sure my daughter was on our flights. They said they didn’t have the info and would of course put a minor on the same flights as her parents. Then a week later she called again and the had the info. They didn’t get the email til this week. They told us to wait 3 weeks to see if they could fix it. 

[shuyak]

We booked the BOGO air early 2021 for March 2023 NZ/AU cruise.  Subsequently requested 2 day deviation on both ends and immediately received the updated itinerary with both deviations and the associated credits.

 

Received the flight info this week, about 2 months from the departure date.  Dates are correct, schedule/layover is good aside from outbound could have been 1 stop instead of 2.

 

Considering the savings in airfare could almost pay for the cruise itself,  we are actually very happy.

 

Hope everyone will have similar happy results.

 

[NWA395]

Thank you  to all who took their time and answered. 

[spenecer]

I got my BOGO flights today!  Also 70 days out and totally stunned to receive them on a weekend.  I have a direct flight to the cruise with a 1 day deviation that will allow me plenty of time to see San Juan if the flight isn't delayed and a 1-stop flight back that does not go into the next day though I'm 100% sure that my kid is going to refuse to go to school on Monday because of the late hour of our return.  I also paid about 25% of what it would have cost if I had booked these flights myself.  After all the horror stories, I'm really happy.

[farmecologist]

We did the BOGO flight deal.  This is for a cruise out of LA in mid February on the Joy.

 

I guess I had low expectations going in...but they didn't even book the seats together....on any of our flights.  And we have a connecting flight.  🤣 I spent a small sum upgrading the seats on the airline site.  No big deal as I had pretty much expected it.  With that said, I was hoping for better.

 

 

[Shipshack]

On 1/13/2023 at 8:49 AM, lfdemt said:

When is your sailing? We cruise end of March and at anxiously awaiting the flight arrangement. Just wondering how much longer we might have to wait. 

I am flying to San Juan at end of March to catch my cruise on Epic on April 2/23.  I am still waiting for my flight details in order to finalize hotel bookings. 

 

In the past pre-pandemic time, I would get flight details around 80 days prior to flight date.  It seems that NCL is waiting to as close as possible due to constant flight changes that the airlines are making each week.  Fingers cross that I will get my flight details by end of this month.  If not, I'll be calling NCL.

[Shipshack]

I have used NCL Air Sea Program in the past and had good experiences.  My flights were direct flights on sailing day.  I've also booked airport transfers with NCL and the reps were waiting for us at the airport even though we were to very last passengers to show up and got the entire bus to ourselves.  

 

I have 2 cruises with NCL this year (March and June).  I am a little nervous since flying has been a nightmare for many post-pandemic.  However, I did book 2 days pre-cruise air deviation as a buffer in the event of flight changes.

[vacation44]

1 hour ago, Shipshack said:

I am flying to San Juan at end of March to catch my cruise on Epic on April 2/23.  I am still waiting for my flight details in order to finalize hotel bookings. 

 

In the past pre-pandemic time, I would get flight details around 80 days prior to flight date.  It seems that NCL is waiting to as close as possible due to constant flight changes that the airlines are making each week.  Fingers cross that I will get my flight details by end of this month.  If not, I'll be calling NCL.

We are sailing on the Epic on 3/19/23 with extended family.   The majority of our extended family took the NCL airfare promotion and they received their flight details on Sunday, January 8, 2023.  So if this timeline hold true, I would think you would hear something this weekend.     The relatives coming from Texas were very happy with their flights, those coming from New York, not so much.  

[Shipshack]

1 hour ago, vacation44 said:

We are sailing on the Epic on 3/19/23 with extended family.   The majority of our extended family took the NCL airfare promotion and they received their flight details on Sunday, January 8, 2023.  So if this timeline hold true, I would think you would hear something this weekend.     The relatives coming from Texas were very happy with their flights, those coming from New York, not so much.  

Thank you.  I will keep on eye for the email.  Yikes for your family from NY who are not too happy with their flights.  I am from Toronto, so I might be on the same boat when I get my email 🤞

[cruiseny4life]

We are booked on the March 18th Joy sailing out of Miami. I booked three clients on this same sailing. I, and one of the clients, received our air information. I spoke with an agent this morning as one client is upset they haven't heard anything. The agent was very helpful, but told me that I was extremely lucky to have received my air details so far out (I agree based on what I've heard thus far). She told me the other two might, maybe, possibly will receive their tickets by end of week, but more than likely it'll be 30 - 45 days out, so early to mid-February. That's more the timeline I was expecting. 

 

I'm glad I have my details, it's all Delta, and my seats are already selected. Wish it was United where I have status, but alas...Delta it is! My client, however, received Delta/Southwest, then Southwest/Delta tickets, even though they are flying out of the same airport, on the same dates (one day pre-cruise deviation) as my husband and I. Who knows the magic that is NCL BOGO flights. 

[Lioscy]

On 1/13/2023 at 9:08 AM, CruisingBeans said:

We fly out March 3 for the cruise on the 5th. 

We are also using the NCL Airfare thing and are also leaving for the cruise on the EPIC on the 5th but, we are leaving from Montreal in Canada and we have not yet received any details about our flights. I am not worried yet but I'll start to be soon. 

 

I don't have much to add but I just wanted you all to know that even if CruisingBeans and I are both using the NCL Airfare and going to be on the same ship at the same time, it doesn't mean they have the information for all passengers at the same time. It might be possible that because my flight is considered an international flight, it would make things different.  I'll try to keep you posted when I'll have more details. 

 

Lioscy

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Lioscy

[Ozzyrosie]

Hi everyone. I’m on the Epic on march 5. Flying from Toronto. I received my flight details around Christmas. United flights. Stop over in Washington both ways. Departure to San Juan is super early at 6 am and return flight at 4pm. I’m pretty happy with the flights considering how cheap the whole thing was. And I requested a two day air deviation before the cruise. See some of you on the ship!

[warpdrve]

Hello fellow cruisers:

 

We are on the Feb 6 Panama Canal to New York cruise and are using NCL Air for our air transportation to Panama City (we live in NY so do not need any return flights). We didn't really think of it at the time, but NCL Air put us on a flight from NY to Miami, then Miami to Panama City, arriving in Panama City around 3:30pm local time. The ship is scheduled to leave port just before midnight, so we assume this leaves us plenty of time to get to the ship in time for dinner. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I do not think we have to be concerned with this flight schedule. However, what if there are issues with flights (delays, cancellations, etc.). How would we go about remedying this. Is NCL responsible for getting us to the ship on time for embarkation? Most of our cruises have been R/T out of New York, or international with extended pre-cruise stays. Any thoughts on this?

[usctzn]

54 minutes ago, warpdrve said:

Hello fellow cruisers:

 

We are on the Feb 6 Panama Canal to New York cruise and are using NCL Air for our air transportation to Panama City (we live in NY so do not need any return flights). We didn't really think of it at the time, but NCL Air put us on a flight from NY to Miami, then Miami to Panama City, arriving in Panama City around 3:30pm local time. The ship is scheduled to leave port just before midnight, so we assume this leaves us plenty of time to get to the ship in time for dinner. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I do not think we have to be concerned with this flight schedule. However, what if there are issues with flights (delays, cancellations, etc.). How would we go about remedying this. Is NCL responsible for getting us to the ship on time for embarkation? Most of our cruises have been R/T out of New York, or international with extended pre-cruise stays. Any thoughts on this?

Read my post and good luck to you!

 

[Lioscy]

On 1/17/2023 at 11:27 PM, Lioscy said:

We are also using the NCL Airfare thing and are also leaving for the cruise on the EPIC on the 5th but, we are leaving from Montreal in Canada and we have not yet received any details about our flights. I am not worried yet but I'll start to be soon. 

 

I don't have much to add but I just wanted you all to know that even if CruisingBeans and I are both using the NCL Airfare and going to be on the same ship at the same time, it doesn't mean they have the information for all passengers at the same time. It might be possible that because my flight is considered an international flight, it would make things different.  I'll try to keep you posted when I'll have more details. 

 

Lioscy

 

 

 

*** VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE CONCERNING MY FLIGHT SITUATION ***

 

I am on a group on Facebook for my particular cruise and asked people around my area if they received their flights and, they all did except me...? Well, I decided to call NCL and found out that they did, indeed, send me an email on December 27th but I never received it. It took 2 minutes and they sent it back and I received it. 

 

I am very happy with the flights that I have. It's all on the same day, no stops, hours work super fine ! Here's a screenshot of my flights. To put you in perspective, my ship departs from San Juan on the 5th at 7PM and will arrive at San Juan on the 12th at 6h AM. Connection between airport and port is also made via NCL, I just wanted the simplest thing, I am on vacation lol. 

 

[PhillyTravelBug]

Some got their reservations earlier than I would expect..  We have our August cruise from Philly to Reykjavik and then leaving  from Southampton to Philly.  I'm curious what we will get for flights. 

[dblwall]

We have a small group of ( 10 ) people doing the Eastern Caribbean out of Miami in Dec. If we use the airfare from NCL it will be approx $4200 per couple flying from Las Vegas to Miami, and $3500 per couple without. Round trip flights are $390 per person out of Vegas, non stop which will make it approx $4300. Really thinking for peace of mind, being able to choose seats this will be the direction we go.   

[Sailing12Away]

On 1/15/2023 at 2:10 PM, farmecologist said:

We did the BOGO flight deal.  This is for a cruise out of LA in mid February on the Joy.

 

I guess I had low expectations going in...but they didn't even book the seats together....on any of our flights.  And we have a connecting flight.  🤣 I spent a small sum upgrading the seats on the airline site.  No big deal as I had pretty much expected it.  With that said, I was hoping for better.

 

 

That's interesting... we're doing the PC out of LA end of February on the Joy and got great flights. Direct from JFK to LAX, then direct from MIA back home. Going is with AA and we had to pay ~$50/person to move to comfort plus, coming home is on Delta who charged a similar price. We could have opted to just move and sit together for free in the back of the plane, but we're chunky and like the extra room.

[CruisingBeans]

Update…. almost exactly 3 weeks after we got my 11 y/o flight info, it got fixed and NCL decided maybe she shouldn’t leave 2 hours after the rest of her family and fly alone.  I didn’t hear anything from NCL, I checked my United app and saw it was changed. I expect I’ll get an email later this week.

[Shipshack]

On 1/18/2023 at 7:58 AM, Ozzyrosie said:

Hi everyone. I’m on the Epic on march 5. Flying from Toronto. I received my flight details around Christmas. United flights. Stop over in Washington both ways. Departure to San Juan is super early at 6 am and return flight at 4pm. I’m pretty happy with the flights considering how cheap the whole thing was. And I requested a two day air deviation before the cruise. See some of you on the ship!

Thanks for sharing.  I am also flying from YYZ to SJU for my April 2 cruise & also had a 2 days deviation.  I am still waiting for my flight info but this gives me an idea of what to expect. Your flight times are decent, especially the return flight at 4PM.  Plenty of time to make it to their airport.

[MyAuntFanny]

As newbies it seems we did everything wrong.  Let NCL book our air with no deviations.  Flew in on the same day.  It all worked out perfect!  We got there in plenty of time and made it home.  Maybe we just got lucky.  But I did want to put in a good word for anyone considereing using this NCL servie.  It isn't always disastrous.

[NW Pacific]

Group of 4 flying from PDX to LAX On March 25, 2023, asked for a one-day deviation.  this is usually a 2 hour plus little flight.  We all got our NCL flight confirmation 60 days before cruise.  Cruise leaves March 26th.  they put us all on the worse Southwest flights they could possibly find.  Yes, our airfare charged by NCL was very unexpensive, $238.00  for 2 r/t.  We leave PDX (portland, OR) on March 25, 5:30AM, make a connection in San Jose, CA, arrive Los Angeles 9:45am.  Not great but doable.  BUT the return trip is leaving LAX at 8pm going through San Jose and arriving into Portland,  1215am next day.  that's so wrong.  this  cruise is on the Bliss departing March 26,  a 7 night.  Buyer beware! We have purchased tickets coming back at reasonable times.  Lesson learned, you get what you pay for, and beyond that SW is not an allegiance airlines, so if we get a cancel outbound they cannot hook us up with another airline.

[mingo]

We had BOGO air last July for Iceland.  We had direct flights ORD-RKV and direct back home.  We are using their air this May for our England/Ireland/Scotland cruise.  We received our air information a couple of weeks ago.  Going ORD-Detroit, Detroit to London.  The return is London to Paris, Paris to ORD.  The problem we pointed out to them we arrive London to Paris at 13:50 but our Paris to Chicago takes off at 13:10.  Kinda hard to make that connection!   They said they will fix it and we should have new air information in a couple of weeks.  I'm not gonna stress about it - they'll fix it.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, mingo said:

We had BOGO air last July for Iceland.  We had direct flights ORD-RKV and direct back home.  We are using their air this May for our England/Ireland/Scotland cruise.  We received our air information a couple of weeks ago.  Going ORD-Detroit, Detroit to London.  The return is London to Paris, Paris to ORD.  The problem we pointed out to them we arrive London to Paris at 13:50 but our Paris to Chicago takes off at 13:10.  Kinda hard to make that connection!   They said they will fix it and we should have new air information in a couple of weeks.  I'm not gonna stress about it - they'll fix it.

Yes, they are human, they make mistakes just like the rest of us!  I've only had to contact them once about changing my flights, when they had me going to London instead of Stockholm - oops!  It was a last minute change of flights due to a pending strike - and my original itinerary had a layover in London.  They admitted their mistake and fixed the problem while I was still on the phone (I was leaving in a couple of days).

[laudergayle]

14 hours ago, NW Pacific said:

Group of 4 flying from PDX to LAX On March 25, 2023, asked for a one-day deviation.  this is usually a 2 hour plus little flight.  We all got our NCL flight confirmation 60 days before cruise.  Cruise leaves March 26th.  they put us all on the worse Southwest flights they could possibly find.  Yes, our airfare charged by NCL was very unexpensive, $238.00  for 2 r/t.  We leave PDX (portland, OR) on March 25, 5:30AM, make a connection in San Jose, CA, arrive Los Angeles 9:45am.  Not great but doable.  BUT the return trip is leaving LAX at 8pm going through San Jose and arriving into Portland,  1215am next day.  that's so wrong.  this  cruise is on the Bliss departing March 26,  a 7 night.  Buyer beware! We have purchased tickets coming back at reasonable times.  Lesson learned, you get what you pay for, and beyond that SW is not an allegiance airlines, so if we get a cancel outbound they cannot hook us up with another airline.

We had a similar situation. Got tickets info 60 days out. ATL to San Juan. 3.5 hr flight.  They put us on SWA with a connection through Orlando to San Juan. Outbound times ok but it’s now a 6.5 hour trip.  That and more opportunity for lost luggage.  Return flight very undesirable…7 pm departure connect through Orlando arriving back in Atlanta at midnight…plus our 90 min drive home.  
 
Like you, we booked our own flights home nonstop on Delta.  After the SWA meltdown, we decided to do an outbound flight in Delta and not risk another SWA fiasco.

 

We did create Rapid Rewards for our SWA flights. I believe that NCL releases the flight reservation to the airline around 72 hours before flight.  And SWA says you can cancel up to 10 mins before the flight and they will give the passenger an e-credit.  So whatever NCL paid for our tickets should go on our Rapid Reward account as a credit. Our ticket was Wanna Get Away.