Question about purchasing air with Holland

[Nasmas]

My experience with cruise flights is varied. Our first 5 cruises we booked with HAL and had no problems at all. Last year we booked the 10 day Southern Caribbean on the Volendam last minute and the air was the pits. We thought well, its spring break and all the flights are full. That was not so. But, anyway, the flight down was ok. US Air, very pleasant. But the return was the trip from hell. We didnt' leave FLL until 6:00 in the afternoon and when we got to Atlanta, we'd been bumped. I was irate. Plus, Delta (we'll never use them again) had the cruise pax downstairs and they were checking people in according to flight time. We stood outside in a line for 3+ hours and it was hot, hot, hot. We called Delta before we left home and they had a flight at 12:45. But, they wanted $500 pp over and above what we'd paid HAL. But, they told us to go to the counter when we got to the airport and if there were seats left, we could get on the plane. The lady at the counter was rude, rude, rude. No wonder they are verging on bankruptcy. She said she couldn't help. Our cruise ticket was only worth $40. We'd paid almost $500 for them. Then she said even if there was a seat, she couldn't check our luggage because we had to be there 4 hours before the plane left, a blatant lie. We almost swore off ever cruising out of FLL again. But, experienced as we were, we didn't know much until we started reading these boards. DUH!! So, we're going in Sept. on the Z and booked our own flights at a total price of what HAL wanted for one person, and we're going down the day before. Staying at the Pier 66. Got a great deal on their web site. So, even considering the extra for the room & etc, we're still saving money and our flight out is 12:30. So, my advice is go early and book your own flight. We didn't know until this year about being able to change your flight for $50. We would have paid a lot more last year. The return almost ruined all whole trip, which was a beautiful trip.

[jhannah]

That's what life is about ... learning from the past. You obviously did well by purchasing air on your own. It's always been the best deal for me with only one exception. FLL is easy to schedule for yourself ... and with a great cost savings to boot!

[Randyk47]

We got caught in kind of a wierd double bind last March with our Oosterdam cruise and finally let HAL arrange the flights. Initially our TA thought she could do better or that we might be able to leverage some of our frequent flyer miles to get from San Antonio to Ft Lauderdale and back. Turned out that our cruise was right in the middle of the spring break blackout window for frequent flyer miles so that was not an option. We could have still used the miles but would have had to cash in more miles to overcome the blackout. Then we looked into just buying them ourselves....mind you we were doing all this in the Fall of 2003, way ahead of the cruise in March 2004. Turned out that many flights were blocked or booked and there really weren't any "bargains" to be had unless we wanted to fly all "red-eye" flights. We could have done better booking ourselves but only marginally...like $20-$30/person less but would have had to arrange our own transportation to the ship and would have had to fly at really off hours. Went back to HAL and they obviously had some of the blocked seats because we got great connections at reasonable times. So this time the cruise line was just a lot easier and not that much more expensive.

[RevNeal]

Ok, people, y'all are making me nervous about going ahead and sticking with HAL for the airfare on our Panama Canal cruise. These nightmare stores really are not helping my Saturday any. :)

 

You've given me mental images of flying out on Friday night, red-eye flight, with connections in Chicago and LA before arriving in Seattle at 9 am, then bus to the ship ... with the bus breaking down and our having to walk the last 2 miles to Canada Place. Please ... tell me it won't be so. :eek: :confused: :(

[FlorenceItaly]

Revneal - I am anxiously awaiting my flight itinerary, and hope to be able to calm your anxiousness :). The good news is, it is still not too late for you to make other arrangements. I'll keep you posted.

 

Marie

[Roz]

Sail,

 

I'm not surprised that you can't check in the day before and have to check in at the terminal. It was nice while it lasted!

 

Roz

[RevNeal]

Revneal - I am anxiously awaiting my flight itinerary, and hope to be able to calm your anxiousness. The good news is, it is still not too late for you to make other arrangements. I'll keep you posted.

 

Actually, it IS too late. The final payments have been made (they were due no later than July 12th), and that includes HAL air. :)

 

We should get our documentation sometime between August 25 - September 1. Then, we'll know.

[FlorenceItaly]

Oh dear....I didn't realize. Let's both hope and pray for the best :).

 

Marie