Anybody book air through DCL from Boston?

[Jen in MA]

I currently have my air booked with DCL for my April 2005 cruise (school vacation week). Just wondering if anybody has experience with what type of flight schedule I may have from Boston??? I've heard alot on these boards about flying in a day early. I've been looking to book the air on my own for Friday night, but so far have been unsuccessful in finding good flight times with a decent fare (I can't take Friday off from work so my flight would have to be late... like leaving Boston at 7pm). How awful are the flight times DCL books for Saturday??? I would hate to spend the whole day worrying about missing the boat (or the huge shrimp at the welcome buffet!)... Any comments/advice is appreciated... Thanks in advance!

 

[Hygiene99]

Way to early to worry about this .... if u watch alot of the airlines have not or just opened up booking for this period...

Dont worry u will get something Good ...
alot of sales pop up and it is still very early ....

WE have never used Disney air...... From Boston have been on 6 cruises and we usually can get something for $200.00
or less..
For example we are headed out this Thursday to WDW and we got Song Round trip Nonstop 135.00 each........... Great price..
....

 

[Jillpie]

With all due respect, the Song low fares for that week, especially the surrounding weekends for school vacation are completely sold out already. A few of us were tirelessly working a couple of weeks ago, here on the Dis, cheering each other on to try and get the lowest fares at midnight, 331 days in advance. Most of us were very lucky, but they sold out immediately.
I'm sorry, I cannot help you with Disney booking your air. But I can tell you to watch Jetblue's fares in the Fall for April. That is your next best bet. By the way, we're on our very first cruise that week too! But on the Wonder (sailing Sunday). We're also doing DW. I can't wait. Good luck!

 

[herrbeeb]

i second jillpie's advice. i live in pittsfield and we fly out of hartford so we can't take advantage of jetblue's low fares. travelocity has a fare watcher option and when i am trying to buy airline tickets i take a few minutes each morning to check prices.

we booked our 6/26 eastern in november but i didn't buy the flights until march. i got flights on song for $216 each. we are flying down friday night.

does southwest fly out of logan? they are also a low cost option if you don't mind not having reserved seats. also southwest will allow you to change reservations without penalty although you have to use the cancelled flight within a year of cancellation.

hope this helps.

 

[TheWog]

I also suggest checking out Southwest out of Providence. I know they offer 6:00 and 8:00 flights direct to Orlando from Manchester, so I imagine they would offer similar from Providence. Rates aren't open that far in advance yet though.

 

[CB4U]

We flew Jetblue from Logan this past April for $79 each way. They were great! I was also keeping a close eye on Manchester NH w/Southwest. Don't forget NH's school vacation week is generally one week after Mass. school vacation week. That may give you a little help with flights from Manchester. I have always heard it is cheaper to book your own airfare.

 

[gottaluvdis]

Originally posted by CB4U
We flew Jetblue from Logan this past April for $79 each way. They were great! I was also keeping a close eye on Manchester NH w/Southwest. Don't forget NH's school vacation week is generally one week after Mass. school vacation week. That may give you a little help with flights from Manchester. I have always heard it is cheaper to book your own airfare.

I wouldn't count on Southwest not selling out or the MHT airport not being busy the week of MA school break. I flew out the week following the MA April school break (during the NH school break) this year, and was told by airport personnel that the week of MA April break was busier and more chaotic than the NH break week. Southwest doesn't publish their fares until about 4 months out, but I'd grab it immediately from Providence or MHT the minute they come out or they'll be gone. I would also book your air yourself and not through DCL.

 

[CB4U]

Gottaluvdis,

You are correct about Manchester Airport selling out fast. As you can see by my location, I live in NH and I had to fly out of Boston to get to Orlando. There were not any flights for us here in NH - we booked too late. However while searching the SW site, I could have gotten flights for the previous week (Mass school vacation week). But as you mentioned, you do have to book them very far out.

 

[gottaluvdis]

Originally posted by CB4U
Gottaluvdis,

You are correct about Manchester Airport selling out fast. As you can see by my location, I live in NH and I had to fly out of Boston to get to Orlando. There were not any flights for us here in NH - we booked too late. However while searching the SW site, I could have gotten flights for the previous week (Mass school vacation week). But as you mentioned, you do have to book them very far out.

I'm glad you got a flight, cb. I thought the airport would have been jammed for NH break week, but the shuttle driver told us it was actually worse the previous week. It helped that we didn't leave until Monday of the NH vacation week - I think we missed a lot of the weekend air traffic. Our cruise was a 3-day and didn't leave until Thurs, so we had plenty of time to get down to FL. and relax ahead of time. My in-laws are down there, so we fly SW pretty regularly to and from Manchester/Orlando.

 

[TheWog]

I loved flying SW out of MHT to MCO. It was great and they made my son's first flight a great experience. Very reasonable for fares as well. I think Ashland is south of Boston so Providence may be more convenient. We are going to try JetBlue's direct flight to FLL in January out of Logan. Hope it goes well. USAIR out of MHT to MCO for our cruise this past January was awful. 7 hour delay in Charlotte.... which is why we fly the day before.

 

[outahere]

Here's a vote for JetBlue.

We flew them out of Logan for April vacation this year and they were great! They currently have dates open through January, so I would guess that they will open up the April dates later this summer. Given their lower fares, I would advise checking their web site daily, starting in July.

DCL will almost certainly cost you more.

 

[Jen in MA]

Thanks so much for all the replies so far! I guess I'll have to be more on the ball when SW and Jet Blue release their flights for April. I would really LOVE to fly in the night before the cruise. I'm not as worried about the high price DCL charges for airfare as I am about the thought of not getting to the boat in time... that's my big fear! Thanks again!

 

[jmcross]

Jen~

I wanted to tell you that I had DCL arrange our airfare 2 years ago in February from Boston and I'm sorry to say that I would never do it this way again!! Our flight did not arrive on Saturday until almost 3:00!! We barely made the ship and I know that they would have waited but it was frustrating. The wonderful buffet lunch was already closed as the lifeboat drill was ready to begin. That's how late we were!!

We are going next year in February and believe me I have already booked the airfare for Friday night through Song. I'm not making that mistake again. I really felt that we wasted the entire first day of our cruise experience.

Maybe you'll be lucky and get an early flight on Saturday but I am telling you not to count on it!! If you can, book the air seperately yourself!

Hope this helps.

Joanne

 

[spoon2003]

Just want to say "hello", we are sailing the April vacation cruise as well. I'm also anxiously waiting for the fares to open on JetBlue to book our flight.

Sue from Boston

 

[Hygiene99]

What is the Dates we are looking for ???

So we can keep an eye out for u ...

Disney will not leave with out you if u book your air thru them.. so dont worry about missing the ship....

some thing will give ...

And just because Song has sold out the low fare For now ..
Does not mean that they will not offer that rate again ...

OR others .....

Jet Blue is fine .... and SW is great also...

 

[Yankee914]

On our first cruise we booked the air (from New York City) with DCL. Must say, they were very expensive. The next time we cruised, we booked our own airfare and saved a lot of money. Just keep you eye out for deals on the discount airlines. Do you have Southwest or Jet Blue in that area? We are flying this summer down to Florida on Southwest (out of Long Island) and it is only $666 for the four of us. Jet Blue out of Kennedy is only about $50 more.

 

[TheWog]

The dates in January are only through the beginning of the month, the 5th I think. I called Jetblue for our trip to FLL on the Enchantment in January and they said they will release the dates for the rest of January and more sometime late August/early September, but like you guys I will be checking in July to see.

DCL air fare would have been over $1,300 for the 3 of us compared with booking USAIR out of MHT for under $600.00 just to give you an idea of cost difference and we got to fly down the day before.

 

[Jen in MA]

The dates I'm looking for are late Friday night (leaving around 7pm) 4/15/04 out of Boston and returning on Sat 4/23 after the cruise. Thanks for all the help/advice!

 

[DoomBuggieDriver]

Hi Jenn,
Here's some information you may find helpful:

First, as everyone says, definately book yourself. Any way you go (Southwest or JetBlue or Song) it will be less than the DCL rate, and you get to pick your dates and times.

Second, keep checking with the airlines you are interested in, and sign up for their e-mail internet specials. This was a great way to get a realistic idea about the rates and the when the dates would open for booking. I booked January 4th, 2004 for a June 17th, 2004 flight.

As an aside:
I ended up booking with JetBlue after planning on flying Southwest. I decided for our family the easier place to leave from is Logan, as we live near a Logan Express that can take us to and from the airport without worrying about driving and parking. JetBlue was about $120.00 roundtrip; pretty comparable to Southwest's great fares, and without having to go to Providence. We are flying out the end of the school year, which is not as busy but starting into the summer travel season, and it was easy to book the flights and pick the seating assignments right on the website. JetBlue did e-mail a notice in April about a change in schedule that made me panic for a few minutes, until I called the toll free number on the e-mail and found the change was just 15 minutes difference. And the real person on the other end was very nice.

I have never flown on a discount airline before, but the last few trips on "regular" airlines were nothing to write home about, so I am not worried. This is the first time I am using the internet printed tickets however, so I plan on getting us to Logan very early so we can be sure everything is in order.

Another aside: Be glad you are going in April!
The last time we flew to WDW we paid $400.00 each roundtrip (4 of us) and were snowed in... We arrived at Logan at 9:30am when it was nice and clear. As the day progressed, a storm blew in and the delays began. We sat until 10:30pm in the terminal with our 9 and 7 year olds when they finally admitted no one was going anywhere. You should have seen the crying kids and upset parent. People were on cell phones trying to book Amtrack! We wer so tired at that point we just went home and chalked it up, and didn't end flying out until the following Tuesday night. So needless to say we don't bother going February school vacation anymore!
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Kathy

 

[Jen in MA]

Well, I do feel a little better knowing that if I book my air through DCL and end up with lousy flight times, at least the boat won't leave without us