Air2Sea

[Offpiste]

Highly recommend avoiding Royal Caribbean's Air2Sea program! When researching cruises out of Venice, Italy, we found that Royal Caribbean leaves from a port approximately 3-hours South of Venice. Royal Caribbean recommended that we book our flights through Air2Sea and stay at a recommended hotel for a later transfer to the pier. We provided our preferred researched flights for which Air2Sea stated they could also book. Our flights had layovers of approximately 2 hours at each airport which would enable adequate time to get through airport security and controls both departing the US and return. Almost a month after booking, Air2Sea unilaterally changed our return flights through different airports with tighter connections of under 1.5 hours at each connecting airport. Upon notice, I called Air2Sea to inquire about the changes but they refused but also indicated that additional changes could occur before the departure date. The Air2Sea representatives have been absolutely no use in correcting our flight issues. They simply would give us their 'emergency' phone number if we miss our flights. Avoid at all cost!  

[HillaryG]

That does sounds frustrating, but I would like to make a counter opinion based on our experience.

We booked our flights through air2sea and our flights got canceled (this was the day before our cruise) and we ended up missing our cruise. Air2sea got us flights to the first port of call which is the only way Royal will let people join the cruise through a port of call.  There was an issue at the port of call and we never made it on the ship and air2sea made sure we got home and we are getting a full refund for the whole trip (partial credit), which I don't think would have occurred if we hadn't booked flights through air2sea.  Yes, all the calls are a very big headache, but there is some assurance using the program, when issues do arise. We are planning a cruise for August and I plan to use Air2 sea again, since they made it right when there were issues our of our control.  

[Bruin Steve]

First, ALL of the major cruise lines have changed their itineraries to use Ravenna for Venice since Venice has barred access to large ships.  And, of course, that does make things a bit more difficult for EVERYONE.

As to flights changing, that is just the current state of the airline industry...Every airline has been constantly changing and canceling flights...and the AIRLINES will re-book you onto other flights--often at unreasonable times.  We've had this done a few times when booking DIRECTLY with the airlines...as well as when booked through Air2Sea.   It is a general airline issue, NOT something Air2Sea does.

Air2Sea does have its issues--it's often difficult to get through by phone...and often the agents seem a bit clueless.  But, guess what?  It's often difficult to get through to the airlines and their agents are often clueless...

But you do get some major advantages booking through Air2Sea.  Not only is the above-mentioned policy where they will get you to the ship, but, also important, you don't pay until cruise final payment date and can easily change any time prior to that...or cancel if the cruise is canceled.  We had cruises canceled during the pandemic and canceling our Cruise Line Air was easy.

We have some convoluted arrangements coming up this August--2 cruises, August 5, 8 nights on Vision of the Seas, RT out of Barcelona and August 19, 12 nights on Celebrity Summit, one-way Reykjavik to Boston .  All of our arrangements are through Air2Sea/Celebrity Air (same operation).  We go LAX-BCN, then BCN-KEF, then BOS-LAX.  All three legs (booked 11 months early for excellent prices) have gone through AIRLINE cancelations and rescheduling.  Air2Sea helped getting us onto different flights each time one of the legs changed drastically...and, with one minor exception on the Boston-LA leg where we decided to change dates, did it for our same original low price. And we actually ended up with better flight times on the changes.  Yes, it did take a little pushiness on my part--and there was some difficulty in getting through to someone at Air2Sea knowledgeable enough and understanding enough to work with me on the problems...

We travel quite a lot...so we have seen almost everything when it comes to air travel...but I would DEFINITELY endorse using Air2Sea, especially when doing a complicated cruise and air routes.

As to using the cruise line's hotels and transfers, you really DON'T have to...I prefer to book my own hotels and use my own choice of transportation.  But I would also get to Italy early...maybe even several days...and tour on my own and get my own transportation to Ravenna...but I would also get to Ravenna at least by the night before and book my own hotel there--unless RCCL had a great deal.

[Pattycruise]

5 hours ago, Offpiste said:

Highly recommend avoiding Royal Caribbean's Air2Sea program! When researching cruises out of Venice, Italy, we found that Royal Caribbean leaves from a port approximately 3-hours South of Venice. Royal Caribbean recommended that we book our flights through Air2Sea and stay at a recommended hotel for a later transfer to the pier. We provided our preferred researched flights for which Air2Sea stated they could also book. Our flights had layovers of approximately 2 hours at each airport which would enable adequate time to get through airport security and controls both departing the US and return. Almost a month after booking, Air2Sea unilaterally changed our return flights through different airports with tighter connections of under 1.5 hours at each connecting airport. Upon notice, I called Air2Sea to inquire about the changes but they refused but also indicated that additional changes could occur before the departure date. The Air2Sea representatives have been absolutely no use in correcting our flight issues. They simply would give us their 'emergency' phone number if we miss our flights. Avoid at all cost!  

Something to be aware of, as I learned from an agent at Flights by Celebrity (same exact employees who are also Air2Sea)....if you miss your connecting flight and your flight was on time to the airport but you were held up in security lines or whatever.....you are out of luck.  I was told they would only cover late planes to redo your flights at their expense, otherwise it is done at YOUR expense.    I learned this when I questioned the amount of time I would be in Paris on a layover before my next flight-thankfully I had googled expectations at that airport and discovered 2 hours just might not be enough to get through passport control...