How do I book my cruise airfare?
You can buy an ‘Air / Sea’ package directly from the cruise line that includes airfare or you can arrange flights on your own, through a travel agent or online. We recommend a TA or the “on your own” option, as both almost always result in a greater variety of options and lower fees. In this article, you will discover how to:
* Find the best deals
* Contingency plan
* Work with a travel agent
* Book with frequent flyer miles
* Drive to the port of departure.
* Plus, learn the background and history of Cruise Air
Find the best deals online –
* Kayak.com
* Tripfinder.com
* Orbitz.com
* Fly.com
* Hotwire.com
* Vayama.com
Kayak.com
Advantages -The rate screen is extremely flexible and easy to use. With Kayak.com it is very easy to limit the results to a particular airline, to specific departure and arrival times, to scan multiple dates, or to go back to the original entry form to modify it.
Cons: Kayak.com is a data aggregator and doesn’t actually sell tickets; Once you’ve chosen the flights you want, you’ll be directed to another site, often the airline’s exclusive site, to complete the sale – you don’t know who you’ll be dealing with until you’re ready to buy.
Tripfinder.com
Advantages: Like Travelocity and Expedia, Tripfinder is a true online agency, and very suitable for all your ancillary cruise reservations: airfare, hotel before and after the cruise, car rental, etc. Deeply discounted hotel packages are automatically offered as an option for air itineraries, a real convenience and time saver if you’re looking for a hotel deal anyway. The user interface is as friendly, if not more, than any other online booking service. In addition, Tripfinder offers a “Best Rate Guarantee” hotel.
Cons: While great for domestic travel and transatlantic flights, Tripfinder is weak when a multi-destination itinerary is required.
Orbitz.com, Fly.com and Hotwire.com
We are still accumulating data on these systems, however we know that Orbitz.com tends to get high marks from consumers for consistently low prices, while Hotwire.com appears to be the leader in the “User Ease” category. The newest of the three is Fly.com which, like Kayak, is an aggregator of information from other sites, but has the added convenience of displaying premium rates (first class and business class) alongside the economy ones. This is a real time saver for people who want to see at a glance how much more it would cost to travel to the front in comfort.
Vayama.com
Pros: It specializes in international airfares and is especially good for visually-oriented searches – one can simply click on a location on a map instead of typing city names or airport codes. Cute.
Cons: There are no advantages over other sites unless you are excited to see a map with overlapping flight paths. Also, you cannot buy a last minute ticket on Vayama.com. The trip must be five days or more.
Contingency plan –
Unless yours is a very short flight, say from Tampa to Miami, it is almost always best to schedule arrival at the port of departure a day or two before the ship departs. Why? If you are late to the port for ANY reason, the ship will not wait. You will be alone for all costs related to catching up with the ship at the first port stop. And the cruise line will not compensate you for the days you were not on board.
The best strategy is to book a flight that arrives the day before the ship leaves, to take a hotel near the pier, or in an area that is fun to explore for half a day. So sleep easy with the peace of mind that you are not likely to miss your boat.
When returning for disembarkation, be aware of unexpected contingencies, such as a customs or immigration instigated delay in clearing the ship for one reason or another, or a weather-related delay in the ship’s arrival in port, etc. A good rule of thumb: if you take a flight home the same day the ship arrives, don’t schedule your departure before mid-afternoon; even if the ship is scheduled to arrive at 7 am and the airport is a stone’s throw away, like in Ft. Lauderdale.
Work with a traditional travel agent –
Advantages: Agents have the experience and resources to ‘get-ur-dun’ quickly and can often save you money, even after paying your service fee.
Cons: You will still have to pay the agency’s standard service fee, usually $ 30 to $ 50 per ticket.
Use of frequent flyer miles –
Advantages: Traveling to a remote port of departure can be a very effective way to get the most value out of your miles, especially if you use them for first-class seats at the lowest redemption level. The best value you can get from your stash of miles is to use them to reach an international port in first or business class. In this case, your return on value per mile can be quite high, even if you have to redeem at a higher tier to get the seats.
Personal example: for a recent cruise departing from Amsterdam, we redeemed 175,000 miles each for business class seats. One way was available on the lower level, but we had to jump to the upper level for the return in order to get two seats on the same flight.
The Math – Airline policy allowed the difference to be divided: half the standard level (lower level) business class round trip of 100,000 (50K) and half the round trip “Sky Choice” level of 250,000 (125k ), totaling 175,000 per person. We ended up parking our rear ends for two eight-hour flights in seats that were retailing for about $ 6,000 per person at the time of travel, giving the term “bottom line” a whole new meaning.
In the example above, our ransom value quotient was a 3.2 cent-per-mile pimp. (Not rocket surgery … just divide the approximate dollar value of the ticket by the number of miles redeemed.)
After playing with the miles for more than 25 years, experience tells us that 3.2 cents per mile is excellent performance. In fact, anything over 2 cents per mile is good.
Cons: see calculations above. The tragically misinformed have been known to spend $ 1,000 in miles for a ticket they could have purchased for $ 200 in cash. Imagine, literally.
Find mileage seats with Expertflyer.com
Pros: This is a small opportunity to bypass the hellish / everlasting phone calls to frequent flyer customer service to check mileage ticket availability and options. Expertflyer.com has done a brilliant job of determining the inventory code for most free seats and upgrades for all classes of service and for most airlines (some better than others). For example, if you are looking for first or business class seats, you will search for flights showing availability in category “D” or “I” of the seat inventory.
Expertfyer’s basic service costs $ 4.99 per month, with a Premium service level option for a monthly subscription fee of $ 9.99. We use the site frequently, even just to check schedules or to determine which carriers serve a particular destination.
This unique service will be even more valuable in the future as people gain more flexibility and options on which airline frequent flyer account they want to fatten up for harvest, that is, if you have an American Express point reservation, you are entitled to transfer them to anyone. one of 14 different airline programs. You just have to first establish an account with that airline, which can be done online and is free, then link it to your AMX Rewards account.
Yes, you heard that right! Now you can find out which airline has availability, THEN accumulate the mileage in that airline’s proprietary program, all in a matter of minutes.
And here’s another tip if you’re an AMX point accumulator: You can transfer points from your AMX Rewards account to ANYONE’s account; all you have to do is link that person’s account to yours, all online and free of charge. What a great way to help Aunt Martha complete her account and travel up front in comfort on that long-haul trip to Athens for that Mediterranean cruise of a lifetime. Or have her complete yours for the same reason.
Cons: To get the most value from the Expertflyer.com program, you need to know which of the various codes to look for, and they vary from class of service to class and are not always the same from airline to airline. But this is a short and painless learning curve, well worth the time and effort if you are a regular redeemer of frequent flyer miles. At times when you need to call the frequent flyer counter, develop the habit of asking the customer service agent for the “inventory code” as well as seat availability. We have never been denied when making that request. They are usually happy to provide it to you.
Driving to the port of departure
Pros: Cruise lines typically provide secure, fenced parking at national ports of departure, sometimes even covered parking. The rate is usually reasonable: $ 10 to $ 15 per day. Plus, by driving instead of flying, you not only save on airfare, you can pack EVERYTHING! Think you might want that polyester Nehru jacket for a formal evening? Just throw it in the suitcase. There is no need to worry about carrying too many bags, excess baggage charges, etc. Once at the dock, you can always make several trips from the car to your cabin. Just tell those longshoremen giving you the Stinky Eye that your spouse overpacked.
Cons: none that we can think of. Don’t leave anything valuable in the car. Thefts happen. Even in “safe” parking areas.
Background and history of cruise air connections –
It used to be that the best value was to buy the “Air / Sea” package from the cruise line. This option generally resulted in a low, if not the lowest, airfare price, with the added convenience of not having to purchase the fare on your own.
Cruise lines loved selling these inclusive packages because they pocketed some, if not all, of the commission offered by the airlines at the time. However, starting in 2000, airlines began to reduce commissions, until they were all eliminated together. Under marching orders to keep their air departments profitable, cruise line revenue managers responded by marking the base price of each ticket sold.
Apparently, the cruise lines have now decided that they would rather not be in the airline ticketing business at all. Their profit margins have gone well beyond the typical fee of $ 30 to $ 50 per ticket service from a travel agent; well, it’s embarrassing. Today, you will almost invariably find a better deal on your own, or by paying a travel agent’s fee to take care of everything. However, there is some value on the marked air / sea ticket that is not apparent at first glance. Transfers from the airport to the ship (or hotel) and back are usually included; Also, there is a lower insurance factor in which the cruise line will help you and cover the cost of taking you to the ship if you miss the departure due to a flight arrival delay. This is not something they will do if you bought the plane ticket online or through your favorite travel agent.
Still, all things considered, we believe there is better value and more options when booking the flight on your own.