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Do you trust RCCL flights?


Firemanswife2

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We use Air2Sea when we have to fly in day of cruise.  Never say never, but we haven’t had any issues.  
 

When we do this, we also book transportation to the ship through them. 
 

On our January 30 Barbados cruise we are flying in day of.  It’s a non-stop flight, and between the Air2Sea guarantee and third party travel insurance, we feel we are prepared for worst case scenarios. 

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"Would you trust RCCL flights" is sort of a misnomer. It's not like they have their own flights. They're sticking you on an airline with non-RCCL flyers, so they really have no control over anything. And you're right - mechanical or weather delays may cause big issues, but that's more of a symptom of arriving the day of departure rather than booking airfare through RCCL.

RCCL tries to make their air arrangements sounds perfect, but of course they're not. Here's some things to at least consider and realize:
 

  • If you miss a flight, you may or may not be able to get on the next one. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't...not having a buffer between flight arrival and ship departure makes those options shrink significantly. An airline isn't going to involuntarily bump another passenger just to get you on.
  • Since RCCL airfare is sometimes, if not often, specially negotiated fares, the fare restrictions may keep you from being put on to another airline. It may also mean you're the "bottom of the barrel" as far as an airline goes, so you may be the bottom of their priority list to accommodate. Each ticket is different so the fare rules can vary drastically, and aren't always clear. 
  • The guarantee says they'll get you to the next port, but that isn't always easy. It could be a couple of days before your next port. There may not be any seats on flights to get you there. 

The first and third points are really more of a reflection of you flying in the same day rather than a day or two before, but it's something RCCL tries to make sound like it's not an issue. But it can definitely be an issue. 

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34 minutes ago, Firemanswife2 said:

We usually fly into our port city the day prior to a cruise. However, looking at RCCL flights to Barbados and it has one arriving day of the cruise. This makes me nervous.  I am afraid if we have a mechanical and the flight is late or canceled, we are completely out of luck.

When you call Air2sea you can still select a flight that comes in the day before. Just tell the agent on the phone you want to do that. I did this with my last cruise just before the shutdown.

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I definitely wouldn't want to fly in day of for a flight out of Barbados just due to the fact if there are issues with that flight, you may have no other options until the next day.

 

And yes, AIr2Sea will get you to the ship, but that doesn't mean they'll get you there on embarkation day.

 

But you don't have to fly in day of with Air2Sea. We flew in 2 days prior into the Bahama in July via Air2Sea

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Has anyone had trouble just getting the a2s website to work properly? I'm trying to check flights on our 2022 April cruise out of San Juan. I put in my reservation number, last name, and date of departure; however, when I click on the box to pick my ship, it doesn't allow me to even see ship names, much less pick one. I'm well within the 330 day window to look at flights. This has been happening for over a week.

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Royal has negotiated space and sometimes a significant portion of the seats on flights the day of the sailing.  You may find these same day flight cheaper as a result.

However normal airlines actually fly the plane and all the regular delays can always occur.  The benefit of booking of A2S is the assured arrival feature. 

The somewhat hidden benefit is safety in numbers.  Often these flights have dozens of cruisers all heading to the ship.  With a significant number of A2S impacted by a flight delay there can be greater incentive for Royal to hold the ship.  When you book you own flight there is no motivation to hold a ship for one cabin that hasn't shown up yet for reasons they are unaware of.        

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1 hour ago, Cruiser58 said:

Has anyone had trouble just getting the a2s website to work properly? I'm trying to check flights on our 2022 April cruise out of San Juan. I put in my reservation number, last name, and date of departure; however, when I click on the box to pick my ship, it doesn't allow me to even see ship names, much less pick one. I'm well within the 330 day window to look at flights. This has been happening for over a week.

Try using ChoiceAir.

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

Royal has negotiated space and sometimes a significant portion of the seats on flights the day of the sailing.  You may find these same day flight cheaper as a result.

However normal airlines actually fly the plane and all the regular delays can always occur.  The benefit of booking of A2S is the assured arrival feature. 

The somewhat hidden benefit is safety in numbers.  Often these flights have dozens of cruisers all heading to the ship.  With a significant number of A2S impacted by a flight delay there can be greater incentive for Royal to hold the ship.  When you book you own flight there is no motivation to hold a ship for one cabin that hasn't shown up yet for reasons they are unaware of.        

On our recent Ovation cruise out of Seattle, our flight (day of sailing) out of Dallas/Ft Worth appeared to be over half full of cruisers easily identifiable by their t-shirts and cruise themed dress. Not all on Royal, some Celebrity but if there had been a delay or cancellation in the flight I think the news would have reported a hijacking of another plane forced to fly to the Northwest.😁

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On 9/30/2021 at 4:33 PM, GregD said:

When you call Air2sea you can still select a flight that comes in the day before. Just tell the agent on the phone you want to do that. I did this with my last cruise just before the shutdown.

wait...really?!

we've stopped using them because I was under the impression we could ONLY book day of! Definitely giving this a try.

Can I pick my airline or do they assign one?

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5 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

wait...really?!

we've stopped using them because I was under the impression we could ONLY book day of! Definitely giving this a try.

Can I pick my airline or do they assign one?

A2S will typically give you several flight choices, meaning airline choice, time choice.  Just call them.  And yes, you can definitely fly in a day (or several) earlier.

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A2S may give you certain choices, but they have any flight available that their participating airline offers. You may just have to ask for a specific flight.

 

2 hours ago, Cruiser58 said:

Has anyone had trouble just getting the a2s website to work properly? I'm trying to check flights on our 2022 April cruise out of San Juan. I put in my reservation number, last name, and date of departure; however, when I click on the box to pick my ship, it doesn't allow me to even see ship names, much less pick one. I'm well within the 330 day window to look at flights. This has been happening for over a week.

I assume you tried picking a ship before you entered anything other than your reservation number/cruise line?

Also see what happens if you pick the Quick Flight Search Only tab?

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2 hours ago, Cruiser58 said:

Has anyone had trouble just getting the a2s website to work properly? I'm trying to check flights on our 2022 April cruise out of San Juan. I put in my reservation number, last name, and date of departure; however, when I click on the box to pick my ship, it doesn't allow me to even see ship names, much less pick one. I'm well within the 330 day window to look at flights. This has been happening for over a week.

I've found their website very lacking. Call them instead. You'll have a better choice of flights and probably a lower price. I don't understand why,  but that's my experience 

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55 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

wait...really?!

we've stopped using them because I was under the impression we could ONLY book day of! Definitely giving this a try.

Can I pick my airline or do they assign one?

They've always given me a choice of airline and flight. But I strongly suggest calling rather than using the website 

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58 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

wait...really?!

we've stopped using them because I was under the impression we could ONLY book day of! Definitely giving this a try.

Can I pick my airline or do they assign one?

We are flying to Alaska 4 days before our cruise. For our Holy Land/Greece, we plan on flying in 2 days before (you end up getting there the day before due to time change) and then not flying home until the 4th day AFTER the cruise. 
 

I went to choiceair and found the flights I wanted then called my TA (Sharla) and she booked them. (Actually have to rebook the Rome flights as this year’s were cancelled)

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If you want to fly in earlier there is no point of using Air2Sea. You are paying extra and have limited options of airlines. IMHO. 
I use them only if I need to arrive on the day of the embarkation or flight home is dangerously early. However using it would be strongly recommended during hurricane season (which I try to avoid altogether). 

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54 minutes ago, Cez said:

If you want to fly in earlier there is no point of using Air2Sea. You are paying extra and have limited options of airlines. IMHO. 
I use them only if I need to arrive on the day of the embarkation or flight home is dangerously early. However using it would be strongly recommended during hurricane season (which I try to avoid altogether). 

To each his own, but I disagree for 2 reasons. 

First, it can be more but on at least 3 of my trips it was significantly cheaper. 

Second, if something goes wrong on the flight they will take care of you. For example,  I had my return flight canceled in Miami.  American Air was no help at all. No hotel. No accommodation at all and no flight for 3 days! Air2sea got me a hotel and first flight out next morning. No additional cost 

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Air2Seas/ChoiceAir is a mixed bag, but calling gets you better information. I was told by a rep they will only book flights after a 4hour window. So you can fly in same day but there has to be a 4hour window, the same with leaving. If the ship docks at 7am they will only book you after noon. They will have limited airlines and most departure flights will be after 4pm. They also will be cheaper/higher depending on a bunch of criteria. For domestic, you probably will only have 3 or 4 airlines to choose from and prices will be close. I booked a same day flight for my Jan 10th cruise because American cancelled my Sunday night flight. This is my second time using them, the first time I got their transfer and missed my 1pm check-in time because they waited until the shuttle was full before leaving. I was one of the last pax on board, I vowed to never use it again. This flight leave from Chicago at 6:50 and gets there around 10:30 so I should be fine.

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2 hours ago, steverk said:

To each his own, but I disagree for 2 reasons. 

First, it can be more but on at least 3 of my trips it was significantly cheaper. 

Second, if something goes wrong on the flight they will take care of you. For example,  I had my return flight canceled in Miami.  American Air was no help at all. No hotel. No accommodation at all and no flight for 3 days! Air2sea got me a hotel and first flight out next morning. No additional cost 

If using Air2Sea is less expensive that’s no brainer, I would go for it. As per canceled flights and accommodations I have it covered by my credit card. It’s one of many perks worth $100 per year especially when you are frequent flyer/traveler, so I don’t see a reason to pay extra for something that is already covered. 
Again if for some reason ship is late (hurricane season) Air2Sea is your best friend. 

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