Thread: getting to a ship in Europe

Am planning a Meditteranian cruise in 2008 and was wondering how other cruisers get from home to the ship and back again. Most cruiises start and end from different ports, therefore airfare is usually more costly than if roundtrip. Do you arrangements travel yourself or leave it up to the cruiseline?
Cruising from US ports is not a problem to do my own, but in foreign countries and language could be a problem.
Some thoughts please,
Paul

We travel to Europe all the time, and we always arrange travel through the cruiseline. There are so many variables with the airport, traffic, language issues, money changing issues, etc...not to mention jetlag....which makes your mind foggy and makes it harder to deal with airports, traffic, language issues, money changing issues, etc.

Lots can go wrong, and you could potentially run late. If it's the ship's transportation and you run late they will WAIT FOR YOU but if it's other transportation and things run late you simply miss the boat.

it depends where your going from in europe as to the degree of english spoken'
if you use london to fly into, you can easily get to all the main med ports very easily and cheaply.try RYANAIR.COM you will be amazed

Originally Posted by smitty

it depends where your going from in europe as to the degree of english spoken'
if you use london to fly into, you can easily get to all the main med ports very easily and cheaply.try RYANAIR.COM you will be amazed

Cheap connections for sure. But restrictive and have been known to be cancelled.
You better learn to pack very lite for a cruise if you plan to use Ryaniair.

Each passenger is permitted to check in up to a maximum of 3 bags combined weight of 15kgs subject to the payment of the applicable checked baggage fees. Checked baggage booked online is charged at a discounted rate of £5/€6 for the first bag and £10/€12 for each additional bag.

I have used both Cruiseline air and booked my own. Many times you can save 100s booking your own air even with different ports. Flew to London and back from Barcelona in Oct. for $400 less then the NCL option.

With a little work and a site like Kayak.com you can make an informed decision if the cruiise line fare is competitive.

I'm going on a Med cruise next year. 1st over seas flight to Europe for me. I booked my own air and didn't go through the cruiseline. I wanted to fly using Airmiles and wanted to pick my flights without having to pay a "Devation Fee". Oh and I'm on a Roundtrip from Barcelona cruise.

Originally Posted by Cruise Princess

I'm going on a Med cruise next year. 1st over seas flight to Europe for me. I booked my own air and didn't go through the cruiseline. I wanted to fly using Airmiles and wanted to pick my flights without having to pay a "Devation Fee". Oh and I'm on a Roundtrip from Barcelona cruise.

it is truly my favorite city that i've ever been to. so much to both see and do

If you are taking a cruise that begins and ends in different ports, you have basically 3 options. #1 is book thru the cruise line is obvioously the easies but not necessarily the best. #2 would be to buy what is called an open jawed ticket from the airline which has you arrive at your port departure city and fly out from the airport in your final port arrival city, probably not the cheapest option, but it does allow you to fly when you want to in case you want to travel and tour pre and post cruise. #3 would be to buy a round trip ticket to either your arrival or departure port and either travel by plane or train one way between port. Again this allows for flexibility and could be cheaper than #2. If you book your own air, you are definitely better off booking hotels not thru the cruise line.

My advice is to always go over at least 1 day early and buy travel insurance, you just never know when the best layed plans don't work out and you have to catch up with the ship at the next port, it does happen.

I appeaciate all the good advice. I looked @ one cruise last night & the cruiseline wants $3200 for airfare for 2. Am now thinking of a back to back repositioning cruise from Florida to Europe and then the ship's 1st cruise in Europe. Book my own flights to Fl & from the depart city in Europe. Houston77068, the train idea would be a cost savings, but lugging luggage around is no fun. Texashorselady is right about language, foriegn airports, etc. The savings in airfare will pay for a portion of the repositioning cruise, w/o any hassle of catching the ship in a foreigh port.
Pauil

if you needs any help with the european end put a post on this site. someoe will pick up on it