Cancelling my cruise

[stoneharborlady]

With a heavy heart, I have decided to cancel our April 5 cruise on the Crown due to very high airline prices. For three adults and two children, it will come close to $900 per person (including tax and luggage fees) to fly from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale. That is the price of a 7 day cruise!! Im sure the fact that it is spring break/Easter period enters into the high fares. Im sad, but just cannot justify paying that for a two and a half hour flight in coach. Looks like a trip to the Jersey shore for a week next summer instead.

 

Karen

[cruisealot54]

Sorry to hear that you had to cancel your cruise, that is always a sad time. We are very lucky that we have options of driving to LA or SF to sail and not have to fly. It is limiting, but it is the cruising that we love. We are flying to FLL in Feb, and I am not looking forward to the flight. MY TA assured me that the pricing should not get to far out of whack, let's hope she is right!

[cruiserdru]

Karen,

 

Have you researched taking the train? I know the Acela is pricey but regular Amtrak might be doable. You would definitely need to go the day before.

 

We cruise out of NYC a lot now and take Amtrak from Fredericksburg to Penn Station. As long as we book early, we get good prices. The one time we changed our train to an earlier one on the day we got back it cost us over $100 more.

 

On our cruise to New England/Canada in October (leaving on Sunday so train times are more limited) we are going as far as Philly on Saturday and then doing the last 1-1/2 on Sunday leaving us lots of cushion and also not paying NYC prices for a hotel the night before.

 

Just a possibility.

 

Dru

[paul929207]

Sorry you have to cancel. Why not wait a while and see if the airfare comes down?

[stoneharborlady]

We actually were leaving the day before anyway, so we could spend a day at Lago Mar on the beach, but dont want the kids to have to miss another day each way from school. I also dont relish spending that length of time on a train, lol. I think the fares might not be so bad at a time other than Easter week. Its insane. We will rebook for the next year, I am hoping Princess might have a ship back in Florida in July then.

 

 

 

 

 

Karen,

 

Have you researched taking the train? I know the Acela is pricey but regular Amtrak might be doable. You would definitely need to go the day before.

 

We cruise out of NYC a lot now and take Amtrak from Fredericksburg to Penn Station. As long as we book early, we get good prices. The one time we changed our train to an earlier one on the day we got back it cost us over $100 more.

 

On our cruise to New England/Canada in October (leaving on Sunday so train times are more limited) we are going as far as Philly on Saturday and then doing the last 1-1/2 on Sunday leaving us lots of cushion and also not paying NYC prices for a hotel the night before.

 

Just a possibility.

 

Dru

[Ethel5]

Kayak dot com is showing round trip from PIT to FLL 4/5/2009 for $378 pp inc all taxes on Delta.

[PhotoFlo]

StoneHarbor,

 

We live in Pittsburgh as well, have you checked Airtran?? I was able to get round trip tickets to Ft. Lauderdale for April 17 and returning the 26th for $187 pp. I hate to see anyone lose out on a cruise because of airfare. Airtran also has a great policy to credit your money if the airfare does go down after you book.

 

You may also be able to get good deals through Southwest.

 

I hope it works out for you - Good luck!

[J&KCruisers]

We were scheduled for the exact cruise and cancelled for the same reason. The airfare from California to FLL was $2400 tr for 4 of us.

 

Even though we LOVE the Caribbean, we are going to become more Mexico and Alaska minded because we can drive to the ports.

 

Happy Cruising.

[Daniel1313]

I think you need to shop around for a better price. I know the prices have gone up, but I know you can get something a lot cheaper. If you were leaving next week and were looking for airfare now I would believe it but you could certainily find something cheaper like Ethel5 did for you.

[Toto2Kansas]

With a heavy heart, I have decided to cancel our April 5 cruise on the Crown due to very high airline prices. For three adults and two children, it will come close to $900 per person (including tax and luggage fees) to fly from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale. That is the price of a 7 day cruise!! Im sure the fact that it is spring break/Easter period enters into the high fares. Im sad, but just cannot justify paying that for a two and a half hour flight in coach. Looks like a trip to the Jersey shore for a week next summer instead.

 

Karen

 

Karen, I would not give up hope just yet. We booked our air for January earlier this spring. I figured pricing would skyrocket, so grabbed it up while I 'thought' the price was good. Well, I have checked occasionally since booking and I could have gotten better flights, and less expensive flights, if I would have waited until recently.

 

If it were me, I would hold out until final payment is closer before cancelling, and check pricing for those flights. Also, at least a couple of times a week between now and then. I wish I would have waited now, but we all know once we book that air..........unless it's flying Southwest, we're stuck. :(

[bwjm]

Kayak dot com is showing round trip from PIT to FLL 4/5/2009 for $378 pp inc all taxes on Delta.

 

We're paying about that price to fly from Phila in March, too. And yes, it's on Delta.

[Mom33]

With a heavy heart, I have decided to cancel our April 5 cruise on the Crown due to very high airline prices. For three adults and two children, it will come close to $900 per person (including tax and luggage fees) to fly from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale. That is the price of a 7 day cruise!! Im sure the fact that it is spring break/Easter period enters into the high fares. Im sad, but just cannot justify paying that for a two and a half hour flight in coach. Looks like a trip to the Jersey shore for a week next summer instead.

 

Karen

 

 

Was your airfare quote through Princess? Have you talked to your agent or are you trying to book air by yourself? Have you tried Orlando or Miami airports? Sometimes it is cheaper flying to them than Ft. Lauderdale. Then you could rent a van to drive to the ship.

 

We have found Princess to be pretty reasonable on air.

[6502programmer]

$900 per person (including tax and luggage fees) to fly from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Did you consider any number of creative options? PGH, as a US Airways hub, has historically had above-average airfares for similar segments. You can look at flying out of other airports, or into other airports in the FLL-area. While less than ideal, you could fly into somewhere "near" FLL, and drive the rest of the way. You could even drive down, over the course of a day or two.

[Whimsy]

I would hate to see you cancel your cruise. Looks like there might be some options with the other airfares. Don't cancel until you have explored all the options!

[Teetype]

With a heavy heart, I have decided to cancel our April 5 cruise on the Crown due to very high airline prices. For three adults and two children, it will come close to $900 per person (including tax and luggage fees) to fly from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale. That is the price of a 7 day cruise!! Im sure the fact that it is spring break/Easter period enters into the high fares. Im sad, but just cannot justify paying that for a two and a half hour flight in coach. Looks like a trip to the Jersey shore for a week next summer instead.

 

Karen

 

 

Hi Karen:

 

Before you do that, check Southwest Airlines. At this time they only book through early March, so before you cancel, wait til they have April up for booking. I just checked Pittsburgh to FLL Feb 25-March 4 and came up with less than 400 each RT for the flights. In fact, one set of Rt flights was about 250. Give it a try.

 

 

Tee

[kendon]

We came very close to canceling our February Ruby cruise for the same reason. We were getting $700 each for a r/t New York Fort Lauderdale run. We found a fare for 1/3 the price leaving out of Philadelphia. Try different airports.

[ColoRockiesFan]

JetBlue is showing $254 pp ....

[Treven]

My expected airfare from the Left Coast to FLL is right around $900 for myself.

[YoPhilly]

Don't give up on your cruise yet...as others stated, try other airports. FLL flights seem higher than MIA or PBI. Or try Orlando....even Ft. Myers. You have plenty of time before final payment. You could even sign up for a USAirways Visa and get coupons for $99 companion fares.

[awhcruiser]

What about Southwest airlines???

 

With a heavy heart, I have decided to cancel our April 5 cruise on the Crown due to very high airline prices. For three adults and two children, it will come close to $900 per person (including tax and luggage fees) to fly from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale. That is the price of a 7 day cruise!! Im sure the fact that it is spring break/Easter period enters into the high fares. Im sad, but just cannot justify paying that for a two and a half hour flight in coach. Looks like a trip to the Jersey shore for a week next summer instead.

 

Karen

[TwoCruisers]

I just checked on Orbits and found much cheaper flights.

Round trip from Pittsburg to Ft. Lauderdale.

You didn’t state how long the cruise is, so I guessed at 7 nights.

 

Leaving (the day before on 4/4/09 and returning on 4/12/09

Air Tran ( Non-Stop) $565 per person

Delta (1 Stop) $335 per person.

[richsea]

With a heavy heart, I have decided to cancel our April 5 cruise on the Crown due to very high airline prices. For three adults and two children, it will come close to $900 per person (including tax and luggage fees) to fly from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale. That is the price of a 7 day cruise!! Im sure the fact that it is spring break/Easter period enters into the high fares. Im sad, but just cannot justify paying that for a two and a half hour flight in coach. Looks like a trip to the Jersey shore for a week next summer instead.

 

Karen

 

I would hang in there before you cancel your cruise. I checked Southwest & found flights, granted not non-stop, for $304 each including all fees. No luggage charge w/SW. Right now they're only accepting bookings through mid March. On Nov 6 they will go out to May. You have plenty of time before your final payment.

 

Keep looking & good luck!!

[Tak8]

On our last cruise to San Juan, the prices from Atlanta, our closest airport, was very expensive. I checked a couple of other close cities and found airfare $350 cheaper per person at Charlotte. So for, a little over a 3 hour drive, I saved a lot of money. Good luck with your decision.

[Spender Nui]

Have you checked Spirit out of Atlantic City?

 

I see Delta with prices at $392 from PHL. Try this link:

 

http://www.cheapoair.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1685&sid=1&oa=PHL&da=FLL&adt=3&chd=2&snr=0&infl=0&infs=0&dd=04-04-2009&rd=04-11-2009&tt=ROUNDTRIP

[JennAngel9]

If flying is not an option at all, you could still consider a cruise leaving from NY or NJ that goes down to the Caribbean and back.