Princess Air

Sunbeam · January 25, 2007

Has anybody ever used Princess's service for air trasnportation?

We are looking for a cruise on Nov 10th out of San Juan and would like to leave November 9th. My travel agent tells me it will cost me $270 for deviation and Princess says it is free as long as we book cruise and air and hotel with them.

jacketwatch · January 25, 2007

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying the TA apparently has a price far greater than what Princess has told you? We did use Princess with air last August and it most assuredly wasn't free. The advantage is you will not be left at the pier if the flight is late. What deviation do you mean BTW? Do you have air fare now that you would like to change?

Sunbeam · January 25, 2007

Yes, Princess would charge me for air fare and $50 to customize it if I do not arrive the day of the sailing, but my travel agent would charge me an additional $270.

But I guess my question was more how did you like the service that Princess gave you in booking and choosing the time of your flight.

jacketwatch · January 26, 2007

Well we did not get to choose the flight. You are given the schedule about 30 days ahead of the departure. We really did not like the connection either. We flew from Chicago to Papeete, Tahiti with stops in SLC and LAX. Now I can completely see LAX. You have to get Air Tahiti there but I would have preferred a non-stop from Chicago. We also had to route that way on the return. I didn't think to ask about changing the route actrually. I suppose its available but probably for a higher cost. Also I am surprised that Princess would charge a fee to arrive a day early. They do offer special rates with hotels for this purpose. :cool2:

Gregswife · January 26, 2007

Have you tried looking for airfare online. We always book our own because we find better deals that way. We flew to Texas last month and I checked PriceLine, Travelocity, CHeaptickets, Orbitz and all the other ones I knew about and actually ended up getting the best deal on American Airline's website.

zebra · January 26, 2007

We did Princess Air once - and never again. We book online. We used to use Travelocity and Expedia but nowadays it's even cheaper to actually book directly through the airline's website. We'll never use the cruise lines inflated airfare again. Give it a try you won't be sorry. You can still use the cruise lines transfers IF you fly in or out on the same day as the cruise. We usually arrive at least a day before and just take a taxi into the hotel that we'll be staying at. We like to explore our destination before we get on to the ship.

Dan · January 26, 2007

It is standard for cruise lines to charge a deviation fee if you want to go a day ahead. I haven't booked a pre-cruise stay through the cruise line, but I don't beleive they charge the air deviation in that case since they are making money off your hotel price.

I'm not sure what your TA is telling you. If they are telling you the deviation is $270 (hopefully for both of you, not each), this makes sense if not booking a hotel through Princess, since there also is a difference in airfare clause as part of going a day ahead. Sometimes those flights are more expensive. But if they are charging you the deviation even if you book the pre-cruise through Princess, I'd say they are charging this in error.

Cruise air isn't always a bad deal, especially to places like San Juan. It's usually pretty competitive going there. But even to Florida. Our friends are going from Toronto to Ft Lauderdale in March. They got their flight info last week. I checked it out on the airline website and the airline is almost $300/pp more than what Princess charged. And this was consistent with what I found over the last 9 months since they booked.