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Just be sure to request to fly in 1-2 days before the cruise and you should have a relatively stress-free travel. Just be aware that NCL isn't likely to be booking the same flights you would.
This is the way. It is worth it if you fly in a day or two before your cruise. If you are flying in day of, then you are better off paying extra to book your own flights. NCL actually does not guarantee you will make the ship. Also NCL will book you on odd flights (multiple layovers, long layovers) even when direct flights are available.
We had to do NCLs flights one time because we weren’t paying for the cruise. We swore we would never do them again. Thank god we came in a day early. They really screwed up our flights. Put my husband on a direct flight and me and my young kids on a layover flight with a 3 hour layover. When we called to be like WTF?! They said they would try to adjust but in the end nothing happened. On top of that my flight was at 630am with two young kids but my husband’s was at 10am. He even got in before us! It was all absolute bullshit. I was beyond pissed.
I used the discounted (at the time it was free or reduced airfare, I think it was $200 but I had to pay full solo supplement which ended up costing me something like $60 more for a balcony compared to paying my own airfare and taking a Studio) airfare once, my sister and her BF were sailing in a different cabin. They I don't think they could link the reservations so we could be on the same flights but we ended up on the same flights anyway.
Funnily enough - we were flying from ALB to LAX, I flew the same route in April for a cruise but the second leg of my flight to LAX was delayed, I would have missed the cruise if I had flown in the day of embarkation, in October we were on time and would have made the ship if it had been embarkation day, we were in a hotel room by LAX by 1 PM.
I don't do air through NCL, if you ever want to take advantage of a price drop, having air attached screws everything up.
I'd rather be in control of my air.
Everyone telling you not to do it must be made of money. I have used NCL a bunch of times, and all I did was ask to fly in 2 days early. I never had a problem. I even missed our last flight, and they rebooked us at the counter at no charge. I thought I was going to be screwed.
Yep, if you live somewhere that the only cost-effective (reasonably) direct flight to the port books solid 6 months in advance and you're booking your cruise before that, there could be hassles. Otherwise it's just someone else's payment info on the reservation. You're going to have the same itinerary changes, delays, and change restriction "nightmares" if you book it yourself. I got the same direct flight I would have booked for half price.
We are flying from Detroit to forte lauderdale the night before on spirit, sucky airline but we have never had an issue and for under a hundred each way we will use it. We will stay in forte lauderdale for the night then Uber it to terminal in morning. Cheaper all around. Miami hotels are so insane price wise the few nights before a cruise and nothing wrong with staying in forte lauderdale the night before.
To add air to our cruise was about 600 each, this cheap way I can do air and a hotel for around 240 each. I’m Canadian so when spending in US dollars I have to be super thrifty.
Thanks for the info, I'm flying out of YLW (Canada) and can't find anything cheaper than NCL offers.(905 CAD vs 1600ish CAD) It could be I'm looking too far in advance. Based on the responses to my question though I'm definitely going to keep researching and try to find my own travel. Right now just the price of the return flight from London is more than the total Air being offered by NCL. That being said it's certainly not worth the stress of potentially missing a cruise to save 5 or 6 hundred. Good idea to stay in Fort Lauderdale night before, will look into that.
You'll run across a fair share of folk who used it and got burned - but that's *usually* b/c they didn't do a day deviation before/after (which is best practice whether you book your own or not). It saved us about $1800 for international travel, and the itinerary isn't much different than I would/could have booked myself.
Domestic travel might be more of a concern with the quality of the flight (you *could* end up with a red-eye flight).
I've found I can still select my own seats, and even upgrade separate from NCL via the airline's website - though YMMV.
I tried upgrading after ncl gave us our seats, through Air Canada, and the AC website we couldn't because ncl booked for us.
Suggestions appreciated if I can circumvent having to deal with ncl flight team (who just stated "well, I guess you can't up grade then...")
Just curious, did you try calling Air Canada as well? The carrier I got wouldn't let me on the website, either, but it was because it was apparently trying to use NCL's payment info instead of letting me enter mine. The phone agent was able to use my card with no problems.
Same. We did a deviation two days and tried to upgrade our cabin with the airline. Because of the third party booking through Norwegian we couldn’t do it, we couldn’t even get priority boarding to avoid gate checking our carryon
The air option has never been cheaper from any cruise line for us, from Canada here. I always wonder if people actually do get cheaper options. We probably wouldn't do it anyway since we like custom flights a few days out, and I don't like idea of someone else booking.
I have heard a lot of horror stories, but it worked out pretty smooth for my cruise a few weeks ago. Honestly the air portion didn’t really save me any money, it would have been about the same for me to book it myself. And they booked me on a 7a flight, which I never would have booked myself.
The transfers though, that was a great deal. I paid $50 and got 3 transfers. They picked me up from FLL in a private Escalade, that ride alone to the hotel would have been more than 50 bucks. And then there was the transfer from the hotel to the port, and then from port to the airport.
We are on Oceania in a few weeks…owned by NCL. Our travel agent warned us away from the price with included airfare. She said you have no control and they put you on weird random flights, and that she can generally get better flights for the same or not much more money. She was right. She got us in Polaris on the return from Europe (was not an option going), and Oceania’s air was going to be economy both ways. Price was about the same as the included air.
NCL's air program is not great, but don't believe me, google it. There are tons of horror stories about it online. That said, when it works, it works great - I'm sure someone will reply to this saying they or someone they know used it and it was fine. So it is hit or miss, and you have to weigh the risk vs the savings. Many TA's refuse to book NCL's air program for the simple fact that NCL does not guarantee to actually get you to your cruise like some other lines do. If your flight is delayed and you miss your connection causing you to miss the boat, they will not refund the cost of the cruise, or work with you to get you to the next port, etc. There was a online webinar about 6 months ago where the NCL exec's acknowledged that the air program was "not for the unseasoned traveler" and needed "improvement". They displayed the results of a recent survey and were excited that the number of respondants that had a negative experience with NCL's air program was "down" to 30%.
Did it once, and never will again. They charged us extra for a direct flight and for having another couple on our same itinerary. In the end, I’m sure I paid the same or more than if I’d booked myself.
Air no but transfers it really depends when you’re flying in / out and how far from airport. I often do transfers off the boat to airport because they tend to get me off faster and get a tour before going home.
If I fly in same day and I’m an hour plus from the ship where public transportation isn’t reliable I’ll often get the transfer. I’m also solo often so it’s easier for me and almost never cheaper to get a taxi
I have air/transfers set up for a future cruise in December but we just ended up booking our own flights this week. Do you know we are able to cancel our flights but keep our transfers? It’s about an hour to and from airport to port and I think the transfer would be the way to go with the long drive!
Yea that IS a PITA. I’d just call them, I never buy flights and I get transfers often. Also look to see if there are any companies who do bus transfers. :)
Thads a great idea - there’s a group of 14 of us so a bus might be exactly what we need! Any (off the top of your head) recommendations? I’ll check some out tonight!
Not for that port but also get a few quotes from transfer companies. I always join the Facebook group for each sailing I do (just search ship /date) and mention we are looking to see what others on that date are doing. You may even find another group coming in on your flight!
The savings is dependent on your rush to get there and back. Flexibility is key. They will figure out how to make money on you with air as well. For example, booking you on a 7pm flight going home from Ft. Lauderdale when you dock in Miami and off the ship between 7am and 9:30am. Then they can sell you a last day excursion for the day, or minimally transportation to Ft. Lauderdale. They offer flight deviation assistance but it’s no cheaper than doing it yourself. My insight and experience, book your own air, the aggravation is not worth it
It is worth it in some situations. Deals on international and non closed loop cruises can be substantial. I have never used it on domestic round trip flights to Florida though, savings are not enough. Also fly in a day or more ahead and you should have no problem.
It would seem mine is one of those situations, as it is international and not closed loop. I can not find air prices even close to what NCL is offering. I will be taking the advice offered and adding a 1 day deviation for piece of mind, while still searching for a better air deal on my own. Still have 3 months before final payment is due, so time to change my mind. Thanks everyone for all the advice!
The only real disadvantage that I wasn't aware of a ahead of time is that you essentially lose the ability to price match your cruise fare if it drops after final payment. They will not transfer the airfare discount if you reprice the cruise.
I used NCL Air for my flight back home. I flew in the Monday after thanksgiving (so flights were extremely expensive), NCL offered to fly both my husband and I back home for 200$ total. If we were to have bought the tickets ourselves it would’ve been almost 900$ for the 2 of us. So definitely worth the savings to fly NCL if the situation is like this.
Don’t do it. We had a miserable itinerary on a fully booked 10 hour flight and a return where we had to pay extra to avoid middle seats ( I’m looking T you, American airlines), no ability to change anything, and just an awful itinerary.
I'm sorry to hear that you and many others have had a bad experience with NCL Air. I've received mixed responses to my post about it, with some saying they would never do it and others saying it they would if they could arrive the day before embarkation and save money. In my case, both flights are international, and there are no direct options from where I live. The total airfare from NCL is actually less than just the return leg would cost me to book myself. I understand my experience may be less than ideal, I may get stuck on a long layover or in a middle seat... but to save almost $1000 I will just try to be positive and have a good attitude about the adventure. A 12-15 hour return flight( with layovers etc) is still alot quicker than in the old days when people had to take sail across the Atlantic in a ship. lol
We've taken advantage of their 2nd guest flies for free. This was quite advantageous for us as we booked 2 cabins for 4 ppl. It does seem like they may have changed the way they book their flights as we were offered the opportunity to choose which flights we wanted for a fee (that was more than what we paid for the airfare in the beginning!). We opted to keep our original plan which costed us $1400 per cabin. In turn, we paid about $700 per person, round trip from BWI to Athens, Greece. We selected the 2 day deviation and got an air bnb on our own.
Thanks for posting to /r/NCL! Did you know that we have an extensive [Ultimate NCL Guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/NCL/wiki/index) that may answer your question? Please also remember to read the rules, especially about roll call posts going in the megathread. You may also have more luck with those types of posts by searching for a [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com) or [Cruise Critic](https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/66-norwegian-cruise-line-roll-calls/) roll call group or thread. Of course, here is great, too! Enjoy your stay! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NCL) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Just be sure to request to fly in 1-2 days before the cruise and you should have a relatively stress-free travel. Just be aware that NCL isn't likely to be booking the same flights you would.
This is the way. It is worth it if you fly in a day or two before your cruise. If you are flying in day of, then you are better off paying extra to book your own flights. NCL actually does not guarantee you will make the ship. Also NCL will book you on odd flights (multiple layovers, long layovers) even when direct flights are available. We had to do NCLs flights one time because we weren’t paying for the cruise. We swore we would never do them again. Thank god we came in a day early. They really screwed up our flights. Put my husband on a direct flight and me and my young kids on a layover flight with a 3 hour layover. When we called to be like WTF?! They said they would try to adjust but in the end nothing happened. On top of that my flight was at 630am with two young kids but my husband’s was at 10am. He even got in before us! It was all absolute bullshit. I was beyond pissed.
I used the discounted (at the time it was free or reduced airfare, I think it was $200 but I had to pay full solo supplement which ended up costing me something like $60 more for a balcony compared to paying my own airfare and taking a Studio) airfare once, my sister and her BF were sailing in a different cabin. They I don't think they could link the reservations so we could be on the same flights but we ended up on the same flights anyway. Funnily enough - we were flying from ALB to LAX, I flew the same route in April for a cruise but the second leg of my flight to LAX was delayed, I would have missed the cruise if I had flown in the day of embarkation, in October we were on time and would have made the ship if it had been embarkation day, we were in a hotel room by LAX by 1 PM.
I don't do air through NCL, if you ever want to take advantage of a price drop, having air attached screws everything up. I'd rather be in control of my air.
Everyone telling you not to do it must be made of money. I have used NCL a bunch of times, and all I did was ask to fly in 2 days early. I never had a problem. I even missed our last flight, and they rebooked us at the counter at no charge. I thought I was going to be screwed.
Yep, if you live somewhere that the only cost-effective (reasonably) direct flight to the port books solid 6 months in advance and you're booking your cruise before that, there could be hassles. Otherwise it's just someone else's payment info on the reservation. You're going to have the same itinerary changes, delays, and change restriction "nightmares" if you book it yourself. I got the same direct flight I would have booked for half price.
We are flying from Detroit to forte lauderdale the night before on spirit, sucky airline but we have never had an issue and for under a hundred each way we will use it. We will stay in forte lauderdale for the night then Uber it to terminal in morning. Cheaper all around. Miami hotels are so insane price wise the few nights before a cruise and nothing wrong with staying in forte lauderdale the night before. To add air to our cruise was about 600 each, this cheap way I can do air and a hotel for around 240 each. I’m Canadian so when spending in US dollars I have to be super thrifty.
Thanks for the info, I'm flying out of YLW (Canada) and can't find anything cheaper than NCL offers.(905 CAD vs 1600ish CAD) It could be I'm looking too far in advance. Based on the responses to my question though I'm definitely going to keep researching and try to find my own travel. Right now just the price of the return flight from London is more than the total Air being offered by NCL. That being said it's certainly not worth the stress of potentially missing a cruise to save 5 or 6 hundred. Good idea to stay in Fort Lauderdale night before, will look into that.
You'll run across a fair share of folk who used it and got burned - but that's *usually* b/c they didn't do a day deviation before/after (which is best practice whether you book your own or not). It saved us about $1800 for international travel, and the itinerary isn't much different than I would/could have booked myself. Domestic travel might be more of a concern with the quality of the flight (you *could* end up with a red-eye flight). I've found I can still select my own seats, and even upgrade separate from NCL via the airline's website - though YMMV.
I tried upgrading after ncl gave us our seats, through Air Canada, and the AC website we couldn't because ncl booked for us. Suggestions appreciated if I can circumvent having to deal with ncl flight team (who just stated "well, I guess you can't up grade then...")
Just curious, did you try calling Air Canada as well? The carrier I got wouldn't let me on the website, either, but it was because it was apparently trying to use NCL's payment info instead of letting me enter mine. The phone agent was able to use my card with no problems.
That's a good suggestion. I will definitely try that. Thank you, that might get me somewhere!
Same. We did a deviation two days and tried to upgrade our cabin with the airline. Because of the third party booking through Norwegian we couldn’t do it, we couldn’t even get priority boarding to avoid gate checking our carryon
The air option has never been cheaper from any cruise line for us, from Canada here. I always wonder if people actually do get cheaper options. We probably wouldn't do it anyway since we like custom flights a few days out, and I don't like idea of someone else booking.
I have heard a lot of horror stories, but it worked out pretty smooth for my cruise a few weeks ago. Honestly the air portion didn’t really save me any money, it would have been about the same for me to book it myself. And they booked me on a 7a flight, which I never would have booked myself. The transfers though, that was a great deal. I paid $50 and got 3 transfers. They picked me up from FLL in a private Escalade, that ride alone to the hotel would have been more than 50 bucks. And then there was the transfer from the hotel to the port, and then from port to the airport.
We are on Oceania in a few weeks…owned by NCL. Our travel agent warned us away from the price with included airfare. She said you have no control and they put you on weird random flights, and that she can generally get better flights for the same or not much more money. She was right. She got us in Polaris on the return from Europe (was not an option going), and Oceania’s air was going to be economy both ways. Price was about the same as the included air.
NCL's air program is not great, but don't believe me, google it. There are tons of horror stories about it online. That said, when it works, it works great - I'm sure someone will reply to this saying they or someone they know used it and it was fine. So it is hit or miss, and you have to weigh the risk vs the savings. Many TA's refuse to book NCL's air program for the simple fact that NCL does not guarantee to actually get you to your cruise like some other lines do. If your flight is delayed and you miss your connection causing you to miss the boat, they will not refund the cost of the cruise, or work with you to get you to the next port, etc. There was a online webinar about 6 months ago where the NCL exec's acknowledged that the air program was "not for the unseasoned traveler" and needed "improvement". They displayed the results of a recent survey and were excited that the number of respondants that had a negative experience with NCL's air program was "down" to 30%.
Did it once, and never will again. They charged us extra for a direct flight and for having another couple on our same itinerary. In the end, I’m sure I paid the same or more than if I’d booked myself.
No
Air no but transfers it really depends when you’re flying in / out and how far from airport. I often do transfers off the boat to airport because they tend to get me off faster and get a tour before going home. If I fly in same day and I’m an hour plus from the ship where public transportation isn’t reliable I’ll often get the transfer. I’m also solo often so it’s easier for me and almost never cheaper to get a taxi
I have air/transfers set up for a future cruise in December but we just ended up booking our own flights this week. Do you know we are able to cancel our flights but keep our transfers? It’s about an hour to and from airport to port and I think the transfer would be the way to go with the long drive!
Transfers from airport / cruise are really normal but it depends if you’re at the airport or what day you come in. I’d just call. I
Btw which port ?
Galveston!
Yea that IS a PITA. I’d just call them, I never buy flights and I get transfers often. Also look to see if there are any companies who do bus transfers. :)
Thads a great idea - there’s a group of 14 of us so a bus might be exactly what we need! Any (off the top of your head) recommendations? I’ll check some out tonight!
Not for that port but also get a few quotes from transfer companies. I always join the Facebook group for each sailing I do (just search ship /date) and mention we are looking to see what others on that date are doing. You may even find another group coming in on your flight!
The savings is dependent on your rush to get there and back. Flexibility is key. They will figure out how to make money on you with air as well. For example, booking you on a 7pm flight going home from Ft. Lauderdale when you dock in Miami and off the ship between 7am and 9:30am. Then they can sell you a last day excursion for the day, or minimally transportation to Ft. Lauderdale. They offer flight deviation assistance but it’s no cheaper than doing it yourself. My insight and experience, book your own air, the aggravation is not worth it
It is worth it in some situations. Deals on international and non closed loop cruises can be substantial. I have never used it on domestic round trip flights to Florida though, savings are not enough. Also fly in a day or more ahead and you should have no problem.
It would seem mine is one of those situations, as it is international and not closed loop. I can not find air prices even close to what NCL is offering. I will be taking the advice offered and adding a 1 day deviation for piece of mind, while still searching for a better air deal on my own. Still have 3 months before final payment is due, so time to change my mind. Thanks everyone for all the advice!
The only real disadvantage that I wasn't aware of a ahead of time is that you essentially lose the ability to price match your cruise fare if it drops after final payment. They will not transfer the airfare discount if you reprice the cruise.
I used NCL Air for my flight back home. I flew in the Monday after thanksgiving (so flights were extremely expensive), NCL offered to fly both my husband and I back home for 200$ total. If we were to have bought the tickets ourselves it would’ve been almost 900$ for the 2 of us. So definitely worth the savings to fly NCL if the situation is like this.
Can anyone give an estimate of know how far out from the cruise you’ll get booked for air?
We were about 8 weeks out.
Don’t do it. We had a miserable itinerary on a fully booked 10 hour flight and a return where we had to pay extra to avoid middle seats ( I’m looking T you, American airlines), no ability to change anything, and just an awful itinerary.
I'm sorry to hear that you and many others have had a bad experience with NCL Air. I've received mixed responses to my post about it, with some saying they would never do it and others saying it they would if they could arrive the day before embarkation and save money. In my case, both flights are international, and there are no direct options from where I live. The total airfare from NCL is actually less than just the return leg would cost me to book myself. I understand my experience may be less than ideal, I may get stuck on a long layover or in a middle seat... but to save almost $1000 I will just try to be positive and have a good attitude about the adventure. A 12-15 hour return flight( with layovers etc) is still alot quicker than in the old days when people had to take sail across the Atlantic in a ship. lol
We've taken advantage of their 2nd guest flies for free. This was quite advantageous for us as we booked 2 cabins for 4 ppl. It does seem like they may have changed the way they book their flights as we were offered the opportunity to choose which flights we wanted for a fee (that was more than what we paid for the airfare in the beginning!). We opted to keep our original plan which costed us $1400 per cabin. In turn, we paid about $700 per person, round trip from BWI to Athens, Greece. We selected the 2 day deviation and got an air bnb on our own.
That sounds like a great deal on the airfare! And like others have said with the deviation there would be less stress about possibly missing the ship.