NCL Air

[crdtrnr]

I know that it is up in the air on what air that NCL books you on, but my question is, How bad can it be?

I am possibly looking at a TA out of Miami to Southhampton on the Encore (11/3/24).  The air back is outrageous (over $2k).  NCL air has quoted thru website $633 for both legs of air (to Miami and back from London).

Also, how easy is it to request deviation?  Would like to stay in Southhampton for a night after cruise.  Possibly will need to fly in a day before, due to very few flights that get in before 2 to Miami.

I think that you have to book at least 75 days before, or thereabouts, in order to get air offer..is that correct?

 

Appreciate all feedback.

 

Thanks

[kamikazii]

We’ve used NCL for air travel and liked it. But I think you need to have some sense of acceptance to just embrace it. We truly don’t care. We’ve had 7am flights getting to the port, we’ve had 9pm flights leaving the port. It doesn’t matter to us, we’ll make the most of it. Some people get really pissed, though. They don’t like the airline (we’ve been on American) or They don’t like their departure time (we don’t care as long as we get there). So it’s all about your ability to go with the flow. 
 

You should request the deviation asap. There is a CHANCE they’ll book you on a deviation already if they can’t get you on a same day, but that’s rare if you’re somewhere domestic without making the request. But it’s easy you just call and tell them your deviation preference. They book the airfare ~60 days out from trip. 

[TACoor]

Along those lines .... I was looking at a transatlantic Barcelona to Miami in November. The website proclaimed "second passenger flies free!" so I selected Miami to originate our flight to Barcelona. Then list of charges showed $3000 for my flight and $1500 for person #2! Ridiculously expensive and certainly not free for #2. Then I noticed that was round trip and there didn't seem to be a way to adjust it to one way. If I book my own flights, it's about $500 each. Far less than NCL's $4500/2 if they allowed one way. But the story isn't over. I was logged in to NCL.com so I immediately received three phone calls and an email from a cruise consultant wanting to help me with my booking. Don't need help, I have a travel agent, besides I was just browsing, not ready to book. However I responded to his email to ask about the sky high price for airfare, the not "free" issue and the inability to change it to one way. His response was "call me and I will answer your questions." Refused to answer my questions by email. There are several reasons why I prefer to have information in writing, including so I can look back and remember what was said or explained. Unfortunately that was the end of the communication. A bit frustrating. 

[hallux]

51 minutes ago, crdtrnr said:

Possibly will need to fly in a day before, due to very few flights that get in before 2 to Miami.

They could also fly you to FLL.  It's not a HORRIBLE trip to Miami from there, it took a little over an hour in an Uber between 3 and 4 PM (so HEAVY traffic).  

[tsahall01]

18 hours ago, TACoor said:

Along those lines .... I was looking at a transatlantic Barcelona to Miami in November. The website proclaimed "second passenger flies free!" so I selected Miami to originate our flight to Barcelona. Then list of charges showed $3000 for my flight and $1500 for person #2! Ridiculously expensive and certainly not free for #2. Then I noticed that was round trip and there didn't seem to be a way to adjust it to one way. If I book my own flights, it's about $500 each. Far less than NCL's $4500/2 if they allowed one way. But the story isn't over. I was logged in to NCL.com so I immediately received three phone calls and an email from a cruise consultant wanting to help me with my booking. Don't need help, I have a travel agent, besides I was just browsing, not ready to book. However I responded to his email to ask about the sky high price for airfare, the not "free" issue and the inability to change it to one way. His response was "call me and I will answer your questions." Refused to answer my questions by email. There are several reasons why I prefer to have information in writing, including so I can look back and remember what was said or explained. Unfortunately that was the end of the communication. A bit frustrating. 

We are doing the Barcelona to Miami in November.  Since we live in St Thomas, we have to provide our own airfare to a departure point.  Since the cruise ended in Miami, we chose Miami.  Got those very same results!!  Called my PCC and on his end, the airfare from MIA to BCN was $549 total for the two of us.  Don't know why it comes up with such a ridiculous price when trying to do it on your own.  I've checked other sailings and it does the same!  I've used NCL air for FCO to MCO and the flights/times were not bad.  Was concerned using ITA, but it worked out okay.

[RocketMan275]

18 hours ago, TACoor said:

Along those lines .... I was looking at a transatlantic Barcelona to Miami in November. The website proclaimed "second passenger flies free!" so I selected Miami to originate our flight to Barcelona. Then list of charges showed $3000 for my flight and $1500 for person #2! Ridiculously expensive and certainly not free for #2. 

Standard pricing.  Lot's of cruise lines do this.  They calculate the total cost of a cruise or airfare and divide by two (or four). Then they charge the first passenger the whole amount ($3000) and the 2nd passenger $0.  By their standards the second passenger is travelling for free.  Then in the billing that apply the average costs ($1500) to each passenger.  They do a similar thing for 'kids for free' only dividing the total fare by four.

[jrt.mom]

I am cruising solo in October and NCL is giving me my airfare 50% off. Also their cost was way more than 50% off the best price I could find online. Now I may be routed through Timbuktu or something, but I saved a ton of money!

[Web.Papyrus]

On 5/12/2024 at 10:14 AM, crdtrnr said:

I know that it is up in the air on what air that NCL books you on, but my question is, How bad can it be?

 

Hi all.  Wondering the same thing.  I noticed international flight can be up to 2 stop overs... does anyone know if Canada to US (or vice versa) is treated as "international"?  2 Stop overs to cross the continent would be very painful.  And is price the determinant? (The cheapest option on Kayak right now is a ~19 hour, 2 stop flight...  ouch...)

Edited May 16 by Web.Papyrus

[24imnana]

We recently booked our cruise and air using NCL and had a great experience; haven't flown yet. Asked for a deviation as we are flying into Athens a day early. Was asked about number of layovers, turn around/ layover time, and any airline preferences. Pretty much like looking on Expedia or the airline site -- we picked and they booked with a much better rate than going on our own. Just my. experience.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, Web.Papyrus said:

Hi all.  Wondering the same thing.  I noticed international flight can be up to 2 stop overs... does anyone know if Canada to US (or vice versa) is treated as "international"?  2 Stop overs to cross the continent would be very painful.  And is price the determinant? (The cheapest option on Kayak right now is a ~19 hour, 2 stop flight...  ouch...)

Technically, Canada to US would be international although I only had 1 stop returning from Canada last fall.

Contrary to popular belief, price is not always the determinant. First of all, they buy tickets in bulk so they may be able to get a better discount on a more expensive flight. And there are limitations on which flights they will take - they don't do overnight layovers and, as much as possible, they will choose flights where layovers are less than 5-6 hours.

 

Note - I don't find Kayak to be that great when looking for flights.  Their pricing works but they tend to leave out a lot of options.

[julig22]

3 minutes ago, 24imnana said:

We recently booked our cruise and air using NCL and had a great experience; haven't flown yet. Asked for a deviation as we are flying into Athens a day early. Was asked about number of layovers, turn around/ layover time, and any airline preferences. Pretty much like looking on Expedia or the airline site -- we picked and they booked with a much better rate than going on our own. Just my. experience.

Sounds like you used the Premium service - which is a lot different than the BOGO airfare offer, where you don't get to select your flights.

[24imnana]

2 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Sounds like you used the Premium service - which is a lot different than the BOGO airfare offer, where you don't get to select your flights.

Not that I know of unless that's the customization option. We started with the BOGO offer and then I over thought who was in control of my flights and asked to customize. Still a great deal.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, 24imnana said:

Not that I know of unless that's the customization option. We started with the BOGO offer and then I over thought who was in control of my flights and asked to customize. Still a great deal.

Did you pay extra?  Some have been getting an email with an offer for a new add-on to the BOGO that costs extra and allows selection of flights.  Otherwise, BOGO SHOULD be with no selection by you.

[24imnana]

1 minute ago, hallux said:

Did you pay extra?  Some have been getting an email with an offer for a new add-on to the BOGO that costs extra and allows selection of flights.  Otherwise, BOGO SHOULD be with no selection by you.

When we originally booked we took the BOGO and then changed to allow for customization so yes, we paid extra and gave up the BOGO. Sorry for the confusion; I was just adding to relay the experience we had with NCL air.

[mskaufman]

Baltimore to Chicago to Munich to Venice

[pghflyer]

We used BOGO air for BWI-JFK-ATH on Delta (same route on return) and it was not much different than I would have booked myself and saved many hundreds of $$.   Also if you deviate 1 or 2 days on the inbound or outbound, you can get $25 credit (discount) for each deviation.  You aren't obligated to use the bus transportation from the airport and can just ask for that to be removed.  You can also book it and then monitor for prices yourself (ex. Google Flights) and as long as you remove it before they book you (I think around 120 days out but don't quote me there), no harm no foul.

 

As long as you are flexible, it is a reasonable gamble for decent savings.

[9tee2Sea]

once you get your air info, log onto the airlines website and see if you can choose seats or upgrade ( both for a fee usually).  Also, pay very close attention to the baggage rules.  Coming back from Athens, we were on an airline where we had to pay for overhead bin space. Even though there was space in the overhead, if you didn't pay, you could not put ANYTHING in it.  Your personal item HAD to fit under the seat in front of you.   

[schmoopie17]

23 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

once you get your air info, log onto the airlines website and see if you can choose seats or upgrade ( both for a fee usually).  

That sounds good, but by the time NCL gets around to notifying you of the flights, the better seats will most likely be picked over or gone. People booking on their own can start booking and reserving seats over 300 days ahead of the flight.

[cruiseny4life]

2 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

That sounds good, but by the time NCL gets around to notifying you of the flights, the better seats will most likely be picked over or gone. People booking on their own can start booking and reserving seats over 300 days ahead of the flight.

Not my experience in either of the BOGO NCL trips I've taken. On both (one domestic/one international), we were able to select the seats we desired. Domestic was at about 60 days ahead of cruise and international was about 100 days ahead of cruise. 

[SimplyAlbert]

So I'm in the camp of booking my own airfare.  However, with a savings of in the thousands, I'd take a chance and book the NCL airfare with the deviation and hope for the best.

[schmoopie17]

9 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Not my experience in either of the BOGO NCL trips I've taken. On both (one domestic/one international), we were able to select the seats we desired. Domestic was at about 60 days ahead of cruise and international was about 100 days ahead of cruise. 

Well, I did say "most likely". Obviously not the case all the time...I think you got lucky.

 

We booked our own flights round trip from Chicago to Rome for September. Booked the flights as soon as they came available many moons ago. We're now 120 days out and both flights are practically sold out. (Unless you want middle seats)...

[Delcocruiser]

We received our flights at the 90-day mark.  We are leaving Philly and heading to Rome.  I am happy with what we received.  Philly to Montreal, 1.5-hour layover then off to Rome.  Nonstop on our way home.  Looking at booking ourselves, we saved over 1500 bucks.  Seems like we lucked out.  

[9tee2Sea]

i can only say my only time using NCL bogo was a great experience.  Cruise departed Dubai and ended in Athens.  Requested 2 day deviation on both ends. I was booked on a non-stop flight from LAX-Dubai ( it was a very long 15 hour plane ride, but was great) on Emirates Air.  Paid extra to get two seater bulkhead on Emirates website.  Way back was some Greek Airline, change planes in Heathrow.  Flew back to LAX on British Air ( paid extra for more legroom).   NCL saved me over 2,000.  My next cruise is out of Miami, but for cross country, I will use my own airfare.  I don't want a 5-6 hour, non stop flight, to become an 8-10 hour flight,  with stops.

[klfrodo]

If OP wants to truely understand the NCL Air program, or any of the cruise line offered air programs, check out the link at the Cruise Air threads here on CruiseCritic. The thread is old, but the information provided is still applicable today.

Basically it's a consolidator air program. You can save money and most of the time it can work out fine. But there are downsides to the programs that could come back to bite you in the wazzu.

I just ask that you educate yourself, and then do what works best for you.