Airfare with cruise- purchase with or separately?

[magickingdomrules]

If booking a cruise 1 year out, should you include air or hold out? Airfare is crazy high if you include when booking with cruise. It is a school vacation week so it will be higher than usual. Any thoughts from regular cruisers?

 

[storknurse13]

We ALWAYS book our own airfare!! Booking it with the cruise line is crazy expensive and I don't see too much of an advantage to doing that. I guess it depends on where you are flying in from and when you want to fly in? Are you close enough to fly in the day of the cruise or the night before?

 

[Ravenne]

I always get our airfare separately. While booking through Disney may be convenient, it's also very expensive. It's easy to call them up afterward to update them with your flight info if you're using their transfers.

 

[Tinknalli]

Separate. It is usually 2-3 x as much to book through DCL as what I can find on my own.

 

[allears]

We always book our air fare separately, which is generally significantly less expensive. But like the PP mentioned it depends on where you are flying from and to. If we were doing a Mediterranean cruise, we might be more inclined to book the air fare with the cruise line.

One thing we keep in mind is if you do book flights separately to get insurance on the them as the cruise insurance won't cover you if there is a problem involving the flights. I've run into this a couple of times when I couldn't fly home after debarking due to snow storms at home. If you pay for the flights with a credit card, check to see if it provides insurance.

 

[magickingdomrules]

Caribbean cruise in April. Flights from New England so storms shouldn't be a problem.

 

[melni]

We only booked our airfare through Disney once, and it was a nightmare. None of our seats were together (apparently our 2 year old was supposed to sit by himself) on any of our flights. It was a huge hassle trying to get seats together on each leg. We had our 5 month old as well, so it was just a big stressful mess that we paid way too much for.

It's much cheaper to do it on your own, you can pick your seats, and I agree with the previous poster --travel insurance to cover everything is a really, good idea.

 

[tinkmom2]

I second the nightmare. Book your own airfare. Fly in the day before. DCL books the flights for embark day.

 

[Gigi22]

We always book our own airfare. I would only use the cruiseline's airfare in the wintertime, because there might be unexpected weather problems and the cruise generally will delay for passengers using their airfare.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We let DCL book our flights when we cruised the Med. After researching for ourselves (typically the way we go), the price difference between DCL doing it and us doing it was only about $100. And it was worth the peace of mind knowing, if we didn't make the ship, DCL would get us to the ship in the next available port. When we got our air information, I was able to go to the airline website and select seats. No problem getting seats together. But, there were only 2 of us.

Most other cruises, we book airfare ourselves. It's usually less costly that way.

 

[tinkerone]

I book my own. I want to make sure I get a direct flight and not have a stop or two. I know that's not always possible for some flights but it is for ours IF we do it ourselves.

 

[janatmovies]

Booked my own because I'm doing parks 4 or 5 days before cruise. But it's a good idea like others have said cuz your protected if anything against cancellation etc

 

[DL1957]

Book our own, only once when we had to fly out the day of the cruise did I book through DCL which in that case paid off because the plane was late and DCL pays to get you to the ship.
In addition to cost booking yourself you are in control of the flights and times and seat selection. The first med cruise we looked into DLC air but was told they were going to route us through JFK and only had 1.5 hours to clear customs etc before our flight left for Richmond and it was the last flight of the day. Well that was never going to happen.

 

[dpswift]

Caribbean cruise in April. Flights from New England so storms shouldn't be a problem.

In that case book your own for sure. Just be sure to book it for the day before in case of a delay. It is still cheaper than through Disney.

All of our flight delays have not been weather related which is why it is important to get there a day early.

I would however consider booking through Disney for overseas cruises.

 

[ahain]

When we took our first cruise, I looked at having Disney handle the airfare, but it quickly became clear to me that I was better off doing it on my own. If I went with Disney, I was sibject to their timetable - they would get around to making the flight arrangements when it worked best for them whereas I tend to book all my travel details at the earliest possible moment (i.e. as soon as flight schedules are available) to make certain I get what I want! Also, with Disney making the arrangements, they decide what time you'll leave, how many stops there will be, where your seats will be....etc. Even though I didn't get that far, my TA (that was handling the cruise) also mentioned that it would likely be ALOT more expensive then if I booked the airfare myself.

Like I mentioned, I'm a planner & some might say a "control freak" so not being able to influence major factors in our travel schedule would have made me crazy and frustrated.

 

[ludari]

I always book my airfare separately to find the best deal I can. I don't think there is any benefit from letting DCL book your airfare except for convenience.