NCL Airfare Experiences

[DCGuy64]

On 1/21/2023 at 5:06 PM, dblwall said:

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.   

I must be reading something wrong, but you say flights are $390 per person but you're paying $4,200 per couple, i.e. $2,100 per person? That doesn't sound right.

[Sailing12Away]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

I must be reading something wrong, but you say flights are $390 per person but you're paying $4,200 per couple, i.e. $2,100 per person? That doesn't sound right.

I think those prices are for the entire trip. Meaning the difference of $750/couple by using NCL vs $780 of doing it on their own. Minimal savings for their peace of mind of having control.

[NW Pacific]

Not a fan of Southwest airlines, will hope we get tocruise without a hassle.  No way were we going to take that flight back, we live 2 hours from airport also, no way.

[dblwall]

On 1/26/2023 at 5:01 PM, Sailing12Away said:

I think those prices are for the entire trip. Meaning the difference of $750/couple by using NCL vs $780 of doing it on their own. Minimal savings for their peace of mind of having control.

This, I should have been a little clearer. Pay a couple dollars more to get everyone on the same flight with choice of seats.

[step78]

We used NCL air for epic (NYC) escape (rome) and now for upcoming Athens on jade. Never any Problem till now

[GirlWriter]

On 1/26/2023 at 3:48 PM, DCGuy64 said:

I must be reading something wrong, but you say flights are $390 per person but you're paying $4,200 per couple, i.e. $2,100 per person? That doesn't sound right.

I was assuming they accidentally left a 0 off the $3900.

[DCGuy64]

42 minutes ago, GirlWriter said:

I was assuming they accidentally left a 0 off the $3900.

Ah, well that kind of changes things a bit, doesn't it?

[Shipshack]

On 1/17/2023 at 12:21 PM, 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.

 

Update - Just received an email from NCL that my flight details will not be issued until 30 days prior to embarkation.  Reason given was due to "large volume of airline schedule changes and modifications" 🙁

Edited February 1, 2023 by Shipshack

[reeinaz]

I have 9 day panama canal cruise in March, RT from Panama. I paid $184 for my ticket through NCL from Philadelphia. Today, the cheapest flight for those dates is  $541 for a 21 hour trip. I recently got my flight details. I fly out on Delta at 5:25AM, arriving in Atlanta 7:35AM. I leave ATL 9:35AM and arrive in Panama 1:33PM. My return flight is on Delta leaving 3:24PM and arriving in Miami 7:24PM. I leave Miami 9:00PM and arrive in Philly 11:57PM

[Greygooser]

Maybe dumb questions, but if you take advantage of the BOGO, do you have to purchase their ground transportation? And is there any window of time where they present the flights booked and you can cancel them for a refund?

[julig22]

6 minutes ago, Greygooser said:

Maybe dumb questions, but if you take advantage of the BOGO, do you have to purchase their ground transportation? And is there any window of time where they present the flights booked and you can cancel them for a refund?

You do not have to take their transportation but it is usually added (for a fee) if you book with BOGO, removed (and credited) if you request a deviation.

Window of time for flight cancellation with full refund is 120 days (final payment).

[lfdemt]

On 2/1/2023 at 10:18 AM, Shipshack said:

 

Update - Just received an email from NCL that my flight details will not be issued until 30 days prior to embarkation.  Reason given was due to "large volume of airline schedule changes and modifications" 🙁

A member in our group got that email and then yesterday got another email, saying that there are no flights available to fly in day of that meet their requirements of arriving in port city before 11:30 and that they will be booking them on a flight the DAY before. Not an overnight red eye but DAY before?  

 

First this is the third cabin in our group and two of the others got airfare for the day of. One with the flight arriving in Orlando at noon (which they now say is too late) and another arriving at 11:20.  Both had tight connections and We felt uncomfortable with that and booked our own flights the Night before (leave 9 pm arrive after midnight, so we can all work Friday since we all work in schools and its a hardship to miss that extra day of work). SO NCL had 6 people cancel flights for the day of and yet my friend can't get a flight day of??

 

Second, since the letter says day before does that mean that my friends could get a 6 am flight on Friday? missing that extra day of work was not in the plans.  

 

UGH- the saga continues.

[pyropoodle]

i'm jumping in 3 pages into this convo...i'm a Carnival Cruiser and i'm  heading for my first NCL cruise in a couple of weeks.  when we saw the free airfare offer for the first 2 and heavily discounted for the other 2 in our our cabin, we jumped at it. that was months and months before the cruise, so at that time, it seemed like a good plan.   at around 60 days before the cruise, a ton of people on my sailing started getting their flight details, but we did not, which is ok. we knew from the beginning that we would likely not get them until 30 days out...

 

at 30 days out, still nothing, no flights have been booked they said when i called.  nothing at 29 days out, nothing has been booked.  finally got through to someone on the phone who told me my flights were booked in december and the confirmation email must have been stuck in my spam folder.  check spam folder, nothing at all.  i told the agent that i have been calling and each time they tell me the flights have not been booked so why wouldn't they tell me they were booked in December... she put me on hold/ came back.."oh, you are correct, your flights have not yet been booked".  lol

 

they booked them right after that call and we got our flight information.  GREAT flights, i was quite surprised because i have heard so many horror stories.  the only issue is i'm travelling with my husband, my 8 year old and my 5 year old and on the outbound flight our seats are alll over the plane.  i tried to get on to AA.com and i managed to at least get my 5 year old seated with me. hoping the person next to me will trade with my son or my husband who are in a window seat.  

 

the flights are in a couple of weeks, so fingers crossed for smooth trip.  the above scenario does not read as stressful as it was and currently we have other issues with NCL where they have our excursions booked on the wrong days (a tortola excursion booked on Dominican Republic day, for example) so it's been a process.   i know at the time we grabbed the flight deal, it was amazing. flights are cray expensive, BUT....i don't know that all of that stress was worth it for me.  if i had to do over again, even knowing how it would turn out, i would probably just bite the bullet and get my own flights for a time that works for me and my family.  i saved a lot of $$$, but, i gained some gray hairs in the process. 

[CruisingBeans]

On 2/3/2023 at 7:44 PM, pyropoodle said:

i'm jumping in 3 pages into this convo...i'm a Carnival Cruiser and i'm  heading for my first NCL cruise in a couple of weeks.  when we saw the free airfare offer for the first 2 and heavily discounted for the other 2 in our our cabin, we jumped at it. that was months and months before the cruise, so at that time, it seemed like a good plan.   at around 60 days before the cruise, a ton of people on my sailing started getting their flight details, but we did not, which is ok. we knew from the beginning that we would likely not get them until 30 days out...

 

at 30 days out, still nothing, no flights have been booked they said when i called.  nothing at 29 days out, nothing has been booked.  finally got through to someone on the phone who told me my flights were booked in december and the confirmation email must have been stuck in my spam folder.  check spam folder, nothing at all.  i told the agent that i have been calling and each time they tell me the flights have not been booked so why wouldn't they tell me they were booked in December... she put me on hold/ came back.."oh, you are correct, your flights have not yet been booked".  lol

 

they booked them right after that call and we got our flight information.  GREAT flights, i was quite surprised because i have heard so many horror stories.  the only issue is i'm travelling with my husband, my 8 year old and my 5 year old and on the outbound flight our seats are alll over the plane.  i tried to get on to AA.com and i managed to at least get my 5 year old seated with me. hoping the person next to me will trade with my son or my husband who are in a window seat.  

 

the flights are in a couple of weeks, so fingers crossed for smooth trip.  the above scenario does not read as stressful as it was and currently we have other issues with NCL where they have our excursions booked on the wrong days (a tortola excursion booked on Dominican Republic day, for example) so it's been a process.   i know at the time we grabbed the flight deal, it was amazing. flights are cray expensive, BUT....i don't know that all of that stress was worth it for me.  if i had to do over again, even knowing how it would turn out, i would probably just bite the bullet and get my own flights for a time that works for me and my family.  i saved a lot of $$$, but, i gained some gray hairs in the process. 

At least your kids were put on the same flight as you! I still haven’t got an email from NCL saying they fixed my daughters flight and we are 30 days out (it’s fixed as I checked the airline). I wouldn’t worry about the kids not being assigned seats with you. This happened to me once when we had a flight cancellation and was quickly put on different flights. They can’t do anything til you are at the gate. Go to the desk at gate and they will move people so your kids can sit with at least one of you. They’ll even compensate the person who gets moved. A United agent told me one time when no one would switch for a 5 year old the pilot came out and made an announcement he wasn’t boarding the plane til someone switched and if they missed their window for takeoff every passenger would have a new seat on a different plane. Not sure how true it is but it’s always worked out for us when our kids were young.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, CruisingBeans said:

At least your kids were put on the same flight as you! I still haven’t got an email from NCL saying they fixed my daughters flight and we are 30 days out (it’s fixed as I checked the airline). I wouldn’t worry about the kids not being assigned seats with you. This happened to me once when we had a flight cancellation and was quickly put on different flights. They can’t do anything til you are at the gate. Go to the desk at gate and they will move people so your kids can sit with at least one of you. They’ll even compensate the person who gets moved. A United agent told me one time when no one would switch for a 5 year old the pilot came out and made an announcement he wasn’t boarding the plane til someone switched and if they missed their window for takeoff every passenger would have a new seat on a different plane. Not sure how true it is but it’s always worked out for us when our kids were young.

👍 though I wonder if the pilot can really follow through on that. I am sure he knows that there will be at least one passenger unwilling to call his bluff.

[cruiseny4life]

13 hours ago, CruisingBeans said:

They’ll even compensate the person who gets moved. A United agent told me one time when no one would switch for a 5 year old the pilot came out and made an announcement he wasn’t boarding the plane til someone switched and if they missed their window for takeoff every passenger would have a new seat on a different plane.

I can't imagine the truth of that. I pick my seat for a reason. I'm not giving it up. If you choose NCL booked flights, you have to take what you get. If an elderly person needs a caregiver, I'll consider giving up my seat, but I'm sure not giving it up for a parent that was just too cheap to book a ticket where they could select seats. Y'all probably think me an grinch - there's a reason I have dogs, not kids. 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

I can't imagine the truth of that. I pick my seat for a reason. I'm not giving it up. If you choose NCL booked flights, you have to take what you get. If an elderly person needs a caregiver, I'll consider giving up my seat, but I'm sure not giving it up for a parent that was just too cheap to book a ticket where they could select seats. Y'all probably think me an grinch - there's a reason I have dogs, not kids. 

I go online and pick my seats as soon as I can.  Sometimes I pay for the privilege, sometimes I don't. NCL doesn't assign seats, they book tickets and it's up yo you to go to the airline and pick your seats, add your travel info, etc. Just like anyone else who books their own.

I totally agree - unless I'm offered a better seat I'm keeping what I chose!

[Joesantos]

We’re now always flying in a day early. Usually we use the 2 free bag airline. Twice burned by cruise lines air once celebrity and once rcl . Emergency phone number is a joke at 6 am flight. As we’re New England based we try cruising out of NYC or Bayonne NJ or Baltimore or Boston. Trinity’s reservation for great Park sleep cruise deals. 

[jtdlmc]

Well I thought we had good flights, even though return was 3 different flights, but delayed flights on both outbound and home bound days, mean almost missed connections, running through airports to different terminals (twice) and going almost 24 hours with meals.  Never again.  

[bbqbears]

On 1/9/2023 at 11:30 AM, Cali82 said:

We actually just cancelled our trip. We requested the 2 day flight deviation and they claimed we did not. Our cruise was starting in NZ and ending in Sydney, while NCL had us arriving the day of our cruise at 6 am. As long as you can get the flight deviation (if you choose) it would be worth it. The lesson I learned was after requesting flight deviation, make sure to get a email confirmation!

  This happened to my son and daughter-in-law last fall.  I would add that in addition to getting it in writing-you check in with NCL periodically, and for sure before the 90 day mark, when it's too late to make any changes. They did not check in with NCL, because they didn't expect to hear anything about their flights until a month or so before the cruise.  By the time they got their flights, and thus, realized they didn't get the flight deviation as they had clearly requested, it was too late and NCL refused to budge.   In son and DIL's case, they too were told "someone cancelled that request."  Well-they certainly didn't.  

[bbqbears]

On 1/9/2023 at 8:22 PM, Sailing12Away said:

It all depends on where you're flying into/out of. We've used it about 4-5 times with no issues at all. 

 

For Alaska, we flew JFK straight to Seattle nonstop with decent times. Had a 1 day deviation coming in because we wanted to catch a baseball game the night before.

 

Coming home on Alaska Air they lost our luggage, but that's on Alaska Air and not NCL. Bag ended up going to San Diego instead of NY and made it back to us via a taxi drop off the following night.

 

Our next trip is in February and we have great flights. JFK to LAX leaving NY at 6am. We'll get into LAX around 9am for a 4pm cruise departure. Coming home we have an 11:30am flight from Miami, I'll be home in my living room before 3pm.

 

Going we're on AA, coming home it's on Delta. We were able to upgrade to comfort plus for about $50/person, and even with those added charges it's still half price what the same flights would have cost on our own.

 

In total we've saved several thousand dollars on flights by using the promo and haven't had an issue yet.

Sailing12Away-what time did your Alaska flight get in?  Some of my family is flying from the east coast (MI and SC), and have 1 day deviation.  Hoping they get in early enough to enjoy an evening and then full day in Seattle.  I am flying from San Jose with my other son and grandkids the day before the cruise-less worried because the flight is so short, but still hoping we get to enjoy an evening in Seattle the day before the cruise. 

[Sailing12Away]

33 minutes ago, bbqbears said:

Sailing12Away-what time did your Alaska flight get in?  Some of my family is flying from the east coast (MI and SC), and have 1 day deviation.  Hoping they get in early enough to enjoy an evening and then full day in Seattle.  I am flying from San Jose with my other son and grandkids the day before the cruise-less worried because the flight is so short, but still hoping we get to enjoy an evening in Seattle the day before the cruise. 

Early, I think we were at the hotel before our room was ready. Left our bags at the desk and went to the space needle and gardens nearby.

[Shipshack]

Update - Today, 51 days from embarkation, I've finally rec'd my flight details.  The flight itineraries are good on AA.

• Departure:  YYZ to MIA @ 6AM; 2.5hrs layover in MIA; Arrive in SJU at 3PM
• Return:  SJU to MIA @ 1:35PM;  3.5hrs layover in MIA; Arrive in YYZ at 11:30PM

[pyropoodle]

On 2/6/2023 at 11:47 AM, cruiseny4life said:

I can't imagine the truth of that. I pick my seat for a reason. I'm not giving it up. If you choose NCL booked flights, you have to take what you get. If an elderly person needs a caregiver, I'll consider giving up my seat, but I'm sure not giving it up for a parent that was just too cheap to book a ticket where they could select seats. Y'all probably think me an grinch - there's a reason I have dogs, not kids. 

i just want to add a couple of things here, (not aimed at you in particular, but just the thought of being accused of being 'too cheap')....... then i'll step down of the soap box, lol, but 

1. i am willing to accept the seats given to us by the airline.  we are on the same flight, we will end up in the same place.  if we get stuck separated on the actual flight, then so be it.

2. i wasn't 'too cheap' to book myself. i really could have done that, but the airfare through NCL was apprx $500 total for all 4 of us with the 2 fly free and other 2 discounted while booking on my own was over $2,000 (before paying for a bag to be checked)  for all 4 of us. ( i just checked to see if the price is the same and it's clocking at $2,600) it literally did not make any logical sense to do that.  not sure 'too cheap' is the word, maybe economical...and i can use that $1500 to spend on something rather than a mediocre flight.  this is the first time i have ever booked airfare through any cruise, so i was willing to take a gamble to save that kind of dough. if $1500 is butt wipe money for some people, then; hooray for them.  it takes me a lot of time to make that. I KNOW,   i should have chosen a better college so i could have had a better career and made more money,.i could have remained childless so the price would have been $1,000 for just us two!!!!......who even needs a spouse..much cheaper to go by myself for $500!!!  but i made my choice, i will live with it, and  it is what it is.  

 

3. i have one sweet window seat to trade,, so i wouldn't be trading anyone to a crappy middle seat.  if the person sitting in the window seat maybe beside my son will move a couple rows up to sit in a window seat not beside my son, i'd be grateful, but i will not yell and scream and demand.  it is up to them. sit by my fidgety 8 year old or sit by someone who might be more peaceful.  we paid for his seat you know, so, if he wants to fidgit in it , it is his right....

 

 I do understand what you are saying though...I  would not want to move if i purposely booked seats as well, but if it's a fair trade and i'm getting away from someone else's child for 3 hours, i'd probably do it!   

[ilovesalchows]

The airlines, in my opinion, set themselves up for this sort of conflict.  There is no reason they can't set up the bot that handles seat selection to make an exception for an assigned seat for a grade school aged child for instance.

 

And while I agree you shouldn't be put in the position to be guilted up to give away your seat, I think we should all be a little more kind.  My family has been split up due to a missed connection and it wasn't because we were "cheap" or didn't plan in advance.