Booking air fare separately-pros and cons
 

I have finally settled on our going on Celebrities Century on Oct 23, 2004. They start and finish in Ft Lauderdale. I went on several websites and found the best price at Cruisecompete.com. On all the websites that include airfare if you want, the airfare was outrageous. I went on the Spirit website, (I always use them for my FL travels) and adding that rate to the cruise rate I save at least $500 for the two of us! Plus doing it this way I can fly from the Atlantic City Airport which is much more convenient for us. The cruise websites only offer Newark, NJ which is much farther and a far bigger headache. My question is are there any disadvantages to booking air fare yourself? The flight down to Ft Lauderdale arrives around 9:30 AM and the ship doesn't leave until 4:30. It is not a snowy time of the year which is about the only weather that would screw us up for a period of time. We arrive back at Ft Lauderdale at 7:30 AM and there is a flight back to Atlantic City at 11 AM and again at around 7:30 PM. ( we could always hit the casinos for a few hours for the later flight :-)
If there are any drawbacks and they are financial drawbacks can you tell me how much cost wise? Thanks a lot. This site is so helpful I am always grateful for the feedback I get.

I never book my flight with my cruise booking. It's always been a lot cheaper to book on your own and you have a lot more flexibility. Just keep an eye on the prices but don't wait to long because you don't want the flight to fill up (that happened to us. Fortunatly the airline added another flight at even a better time so we are okay)

I agree....do your own air. We have always either booked our own or we often use f.f. miles. We normally fly in a day ahead (or several days ahead) when we're cruising in Europe just to make sure we're rested and there's no chance of missing the ship. I too have found that most of the air fares with the cruiselines are much higher!

We also make our own air travel plans when cruising. Only disadvantage is if the plane is late, or anything happens you are responsible for yourself, hotels, to catch up with the ship. FLL is an interesting place, arrive a day early and enjoy the city.

We ALWAYS book our own airfare.

To maximize the enjoyment of the cruise we fly down the day before (the cruise lines will charge you extra to do this). With the money we save, we get a room for the night and don't have to worry if weather will delay our flight, etc.

Then, the first day of the cruise is totally enjoyable, not a day of being worn out and tired from the hastle of the flight, getting out of bed at 3 a.m. to make the flight, etc.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your cruise! :)

Oops. To clarify, I meant to say that the cruise lines will charge you extra if you try to use THEIR airfare and ask to fly down a day early.

Absolutely do your own air but don't book a flight before noon. No one leaves the ship until cleared by customs and while you might make an 11:00 a.m. flight, you would be taking a chance. If you decide to do it. Tell the front desk on the ship that your flight is earlier than that and ask for "first off". Then plan on grabbing a cab. There are no casinos in Florida that I know of and when the ship is in port the casinos are closed.

We always book the air ourselves. However, we fly in a day early just in case. If something happens to delay your flight, the ship will not wait for you!!

Let me put a Travel Agent spin on this. I NEVER recommend purchasing your own air only because if the cruise line has to cancel the cruise date for whatever reason they deem necessary, you're now stuck having to pay the airline the $100 per person penalty fee PLUS the cost of airfare (if there's a difference). I'm asked this question all the time by my clients. I don't always recommend what's going to be the cheapest airfare wise because I know what pitfalls there can be. Most insurance companies will not reimburse you because there is no connection of the cruise line to the airline. The cruise line will not reimburse you because you chose to purchase your own air. It's rare when a cruise has to cancel however, just more costly when it does.

I always book my own but saw one advantage with booking with the cruise. I was on my honeymoon during 9/11 and the cruise ended on 9/15 and those who booked with the cruise were put into hotels for free until they could get a flight home. These different instances are rare...book it on your own!!!

Hello,

I am a travel agent, specializing in cruises, and I agree with everyone about booking your own airfare. Be sure that you arrive in your port city before noon on embarkation day and book your return flights for after noon on disembarkation day. The cruise lines have specific schedules for embarkation and debarkation and one should allow time to get between port and airport. Often, if you book your own airfare, you can save enough to arrive a day prior to your cruise departure, spend the night before your cruise in a hotel and get to the ship after a relaxed morning at your hotel. Arriving a day early also allows for any flight delays, cancellations, weather problems.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions!

Best Regards,
Julia

Most of you recommend arriving a day early. Wouldn't a night in a hotel make the price of cruise's airfare + free transfers almost the same as booking separately?

I have cruised a lot and no longer use cruise line air. The reason - it costs triple what I can buy air for (and that is before paying a deviatation).

I always fly in a day or two before and book a hotel. If I use cruise line air, I always arrive late (an hour or two before the ship sails) and often have 2 connecting flights on the way back from the cruise and the cruise line always has me getting in at midnight (I can normally get us in at 4 pm).

If the cruise is cancelled - I have insurance. If I lose $100 and use the airline ticket for something else, life will still go on because I am not paying triple the amount like if I was paying for cruise air.

The only exception - I looked at a Europe trip and it was cheaper to use cruise line air. I paid the deviation for the air but ended up cancelling the whole trip all together.

Fainagain - most ships transfers are not free. I would say the average we save on booking our own air is about $150 per person, so for $300 we can get a pretty nice room at a hotel with free shuttle service and still have half left over. As others have alluded to - cruise line air without paying the premium for deviation, could have you making three connections and leaving at 3:00 in the morning.

Peter

perhaps my experience is atypical but Seabourn airfares were significantly lower than what I could arrange on my own for an open jaws routing, even with a small premium for deviation.

For open jaws I would agree, especially if it involves foreign travel.

Peter

My husband and I sailed with Royal Caribbean in February and booked with the cruise line. This was our first cruise. We had a nonstop flight from Phila to Miami. By the time we arrived at the port and boarded the ship they were starting the mustard drill. We were the last one to get our picture taken when you board. Here we were from up north with sweaters, coats, and our carry on bags. We walked in and were in awe of the ship. We saw other people in swim suits, shorts, with drinks in hand. The announcement came on and we had to find our rooms. Here we were in the florida sun (80's) beating down on us. In sweaters standing in a crowd for 30 minutes. Talk about your first impressions. Next time we will look into booking our selves.

My only problem with Spirit and correct me if I am wrong but that is a small airline so if they cancel the flight for whatever reason will they be able to provide a back up accomadation to get you there in time? I would choose a bigger airline if possible because they can more readily privide back up service.

Thanks for all the input. I booked the cruise today, (actually we ended up changing our minds and are doing Royal Caribbeans's Explorer of the Seas western Caribbean). But I did do the air separately and am getting their the day before departure. In the past the first day is so exhausting between the flight and the start of the cruise. It will be nice to be down there the day before. Thanks again for all the great help.

Isn't American Airlines the busiest carrier for Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, San Juan and lots of the Caribbean embarkation ports??? It seems I heard/read this somewhere.