Carnival air

[YooperGale]

Hi,

 

I would like to hear your experiences with having your air booked through Carnival. We will be flying from Minneapolis to Los Angeles and then back from Miami to Minneapolis. It is less expensive (by at least $300.00 for 2)through Carnival.

 

What have your experiences been? (I know I've asked this before, but I could never find much of a response.)

 

Thanks,

Gale

[Tbay-eh]

We did Carnival air and had the trip from hell there and back again. Mind you we had to make connections and they cut you no slack - missed everyone of them there and back. will never do their air again. We saved mega bucks by doing it this way but almost missed our cruise and ended up with enormous expenses and much lost time. Others may have had better experiences but I would never go that way again. I will arrange my own travel in the future. I know, not what you wanted to hear but this is it in a nut shell. cindy

[ShedQueen77]

I have done Carnival Air with no problems. I fly from a small regional airport in Moline, Illinois so there are not a lot of options for Carnival to choose from to screw me up! :)

[pjtulsa]

Hi,

 

I would like to hear your experiences with having your air booked through Carnival. We will be flying from Minneapolis to Los Angeles and then back from Miami to Minneapolis. It is less expensive (by at least $300.00 for 2)through Carnival.

 

What have your experiences been? (I know I've asked this before, but I could never find much of a response.)

 

 

I have not used their air package but friends we cruise with have and the last time it wasn't a good experience. They didn't receive their flight info until 2 days before the cruise and there were 3 of them traveling on 2 different airlines! The Husband went one way and the wife and son went another. She is scared to fly by herself and the flights arrived hours apart.

 

Keep checking online for flights. I like to look at 5am and have found some great deals..... I use the sm boat (kayak) site that compares many different sites at once. I found my last deal on O rbitz

 

Good Luck

[wyomingirl]

We used Carnival air one time and they sent us on the earliest flight of the day and then we were basically stuck at the Tampa airport forever because the hotel they put us in was attached to the airport. Coming back it was a really late flight and we were dragging by the time we got home. Just shop early for your own flights and you should be able to find something. I found last October for our April cruise a big reduction from what carnival was asking and we made the arrangements to suit us, much better.

[VentureMan_2000]

I'd only do Carnival air if they could clearly handily beet all the airfares I could book.

 

Rarely is that the case for Californians...

[Catrin]

We are quite amazed, but Carnival has the best price so far for our April Cruise out of Miami.

 

Going to wait for Southwest to open up.... but Carnival may be the way to go!

 

Its all about Price at this point.....

 

Catrin

[mjl1960]

I originally booked with Carnival Air, but then when I talked to them about arriving at the port city a day early to insure that we didn't miss a connection, they kind of balked on us, so I cancelled, and set up my own arrangements, flying from Omaha to LA we actually saved money doing our own flight reservations, the only thing (which we knew about before and expected) is that we are paying for a hotel. We decided not to get in a big rush coming back, so are doing the same thing coming back...staying the night at the airport in LA and flying out early the next morning so that we arrive back in Omaha in the middle of the day. It seemed all the flights on the day we got back to port would get us back to Omaha after 11 pm, and we knew we would be totally worn out if we did that.

 

I have also seen plenty of posts on here about people that have missed their cruises due to flight cancellations etc, and a poll that asked how many people arrive the day before, which it was about 75% did...I will go with the herd, I don't want to worry about missing my cruise just because the airlines are screwed up that day. As far as Carnivals guarentee, that says they will fly you to the first port if you miss your connections, well, think about that, do you want to have to wait (in our case - in Mexico) at a hotel for a couple of days while you wait for your ship to arrive? Another thing is that not all ports have nearby airports. So you may have to go to the 2nd or even 3rd port to meet your ship. That didn't sound like such a hot deal to us....we would rather be ON the ship, since that is what we are paying for.

 

Personally, I would think everyone would do like we are, arrive the day before, to insure that you are there...and you are relaxed when you get to the ship, and don't arrive with a migraine after having to deal with Carnival, the airlines, and who ever else is involved.

[oceanbums]

We went through Carnival in June and they insisted on flying us in a day early, the price was comparable, and we had a nonstop flight going to Miami. We did pay the fee of $50 each to change our flight back and lucked out and got a nonstop flight. Although we couldn't get an earlier flight, the nonstop saved us from a 3 hour layover. Our transfers worked out well so overall we had a good experience.

[gargoyle999]

We used Carnival Air for a cruise in 2006. Flew from MSP to MIA and back without any problem, direct flights on Northwest. But this was my first cruise and booked by DW. I didn't find CC until after that cruise and did not know about the fly in the day before "rule".

 

When is your cruise? If you are flying during the winter from MSP keep in mind the weather (and mechincal issues anytime of the year-especially if flying NW). If you want to fly in a day or two early you'd have to pay the air deviation fee of $50pp plus any difference in airfare. (if the airfare is lower I'm not sure if you'll pay less-probably not.. :rolleyes:)

 

I would use them again if it were cheaper (maybe over $100) once I factored flying in a day or two early.

[Minoushka]

Because lately air from Montreal is RIDICULOUS I get Carnival Air .It is usually a lot cheaper then airlines

Example Mtl-SJU (SAn Juan PR )=659$

Mtl-sju-Air Canada =1000$ plus

BIg DIfference

Also to fly to Floride Have Jet Blue for day BEFORE cruise and same return day for 2 for the price of 1 one way-I bought that one in May

Also I have missed the boat with Costa and they sent us to Cozumel to meet the ship.If we had not had air with them we would have missed the cruise

In winter I try to always get air with the cruise company because of this

WE are 15 people traveling this March 1 to Miami with Carnival.

How they will arrange our flights should be interesting...Besides it is winter break for us --lots of people few flights ..I wonder how we will be split up....

In US you can get better deals because you have so many more air companies then in Canada for us going with the cruise company is a better deal

 

 

Michele

[Megnolia]

I have done both. Had lots of problems with the air I booked myself, but that's another story :)

 

For me, the price was MUCH better with Carnival for this upcoming trip, not so for the one after that. I also look at whether I can travel the day before. Often I must leave the day of, so I like taking cruise air with the transfers, and have had the ship held for me and a handful of others (probably not the norm, and it was only a few minutes).

 

That said, if the price is ok, and I can leave a day early, that is my preference. Sounds like you got a good price with Carnival. I'd stick with it.

 

Meg

[boatdoc]

Because lately air from Montreal is RIDICULOUS I get Carnival Air .It is usually a lot cheaper then airlines

Example Mtl-SJU (SAn Juan PR )=659$

Mtl-sju-Air Canada =1000$ plus

BIg DIfference

Also to fly to Floride Have Jet Blue for day BEFORE cruise and same return day for 2 for the price of 1 one way-I bought that one in May

Also I have missed the boat with Costa and they sent us to Cozumel to meet the ship.If we had not had air with them we would have missed the cruise

In winter I try to always get air with the cruise company because of this

WE are 15 people traveling this March 1 to Miami with Carnival.

How they will arrange our flights should be interesting...Besides it is winter break for us --lots of people few flights ..I wonder how we will be split up....

In US you can get better deals because you have so many more air companies then in Canada for us going with the cruise company is a better deal

My experience would say you will have 15 seperate seats and may not all be on the same flight. They put my 3yo in row 3, my wife in 17, my 11yo in row 21 and I was in the last seat in the back. It was harder than pulling teeth to ask someone to change seats so at least my wife and youngest son could sit together. Who knows how many stops you'll have to make. We will never allow carnival to arrange for flights again. We have a small group of 16 and we arranged with SW airlines with no problems. Good luck and Good cruise!

[walkerccst]

Have used Carnival Air many times. Have never had any problems. Have always gotten execellent prices and good flights. Always arrive in plenty of time. I ALWAYS reserve our seats through the airline way ahead of time.

[boatdoc]

We have done 6 groups, 3 of them carnival arranged the air. With our groups, we didn't get the air info in time to arrange the seating. If you are doing a individual cruise package you may be able to go early and arrange seating.

[kellywhitehills]

We used Carnival Air for our first Alaskan cruise...No problems at all..The reason I booked with Carnival is because we flew into and out of different airports..We had a good flight coming and going with plenty of time for transfers, got to sit together and everything was soo smooth..Would I book air through Carnival again?? Yes if I got a better deal through them than booking ourselves..

 

Kelly

[sixy-six]

my experacne so far has been good. I had booked to begine with to fly in the sameday from Indianapolis, IN. Then changed it to fly in the day before. had nop trouble at all. I already have my flight infromation. so for now its a wait and see how the flights go.

 

I will say its a good thing I have a brothe in Tampa, or on my return trip I would have a long stay that day in tampa airport. But now I get to vist with familey.

[gargoyle999]

my experacne so far has been good. I had booked to begine with to fly in the sameday from Indianapolis, IN. Then changed it to fly in the day before. had nop trouble at all. I already have my flight infromation. so for now its a wait and see how the flights go.

 

Did you have to pay anything besides the $50/pp air deviation fee to change to the day before?

[ShedQueen77]

Did you have to pay anything besides the $50/pp air deviation fee to change to the day before?

 

I'm not the poster you inquired of :o, but we were able to change to the day before with just the $50 fee.

[YooperGale]

Thank you for all your answers. I will keep checking prices on my own until I find something better than Carnival's air price--or until final payment is due.

 

If I ask for a deviationto fly in a day early, I imagine we have to pay $50.00 per person. If we ask for a second deviation (maybe to fly back a day after the cruise), is that another $50.00? (That would take a chunk out of any possible savings.)

 

If we fly in a day early because we ask to, we payfor our own hotel, right?

 

Is there any chance Carnival would choose to fly us in and pay for the hotel. I read some posts that seem to indicate that, but we are flying from the midwest to California.

 

Is the a web site where I can find out which airports Carnival uses. It appears Minneapolis is closest to us, but I'd like to check on that.

 

We will be flying to LA and back from Miami.

 

Thanks again.

Gale

[KroozNut]

No not do cruiseline air...no matter what. Call if you have questions..

[happy cruzer]

There is a cruise air board on CC. The folks there are very helpful. There is a very good sticky at the top that explains how cruise air works. The experienced air travelers there will even help you find exact flights that might save you money.

 

Enjoy

[YooperGale]

Hi, how doI find this?

Thanks,

Gale

 

 

There is a cruise air board on CC. The folks there are very helpful. There is a very good sticky at the top that explains how cruise air works. The experienced air travelers there will even help you find exact flights that might save you money.

 

Enjoy

[wrp96]

Hi, how doI find this?

Thanks,

Gale

 

 

Here's a link to the Cruise Air board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128

 

Here's a link to a thread specifically about booking cruiseline air http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

[corkpopr]

I agree with the prior poster, never book air thru a cruiseline not just carnival. generally at inconvient times and with connections. we book our own, fly nonstop, leave at reasonable times no five am or nite flights and always arrive the day before your cruise.