flight fiasco

[swinny, castleford]

my very first post after my very first cruise so be patient please,why on earth do RCI send you on such ridiculous journeys to get to your departure port.
We could have gone from our local airport and arrived in Venice about 2 - 3 hours later so easily, (surely it would have cost RCI less also) instead we had to travel to manchester to fly to amsterdam and from there fly to venice and on return we were sent via paris. The time slot for connecting in paris was so tight that boarding had actually closed but as I was in a wheelchair and being assisted by airport staff they did let me and my husband board (had I not requested assistance we would probably be still waiting there) On arrival at manchester the tannoy announced that all of our party of 6 had no luggage to collect as it was still in paris, the baggage handlers had not had time to offload and transfer it to our connection!! hopefully it will arrive tomorrow.
In the end what should have been 2 short flights there and back took up almost 2 full days with endless stress and hassle. I was originally worried about booking our own flights in case of problems connecting with the ship, this being our first cruise, however, never again will I let RCI organise my flights, the cruise was fantastic couldn't fault it but the flights horrendous.

[Bradbury, Coventry]

I always fly out at least a day ahead and stay overnight for one night. This minimises the risk of late flights, as I can afford to be up to a day late!

I sometimes arrive a few nights early and have a city-break first.

Exactly what we do Malcolm and what a lot of people dont realise is that you can do this without it costing much, if any more, than travelling on the same day.

I look at it from this perspective; most cruises depart at the weekend with weekend high priced flights. Look at the same flight on a Thursday and it can be £70 cheaper which then in turn can cover or go towards the cost of a hotel for the night.

[hat776, malta]

I must be the only forum member who doesn't rate Trip Advisor. No offence to you Hat, I'm sure you're spot on but some of the hotels I've stayed in have reviews which vary so much to my own experience [being objective and not subjective] that I wonder if we stayed in the same hotel!!

No your not reports that lots of reviews are paid for with price reductions and they get a kickback from the Hotels but only those that sign up.

Hi Mrs M
No,there's two of us.
I will use Trip Advisor to tap into local knowledge from posters like Hat,sights,bars,art galleries etc.
But hotels are a no no for me.
Booked one hotel in Rome,said roof terrace + small pool,,it had neither.
Interesting article in yesterdays newspaper...said,
"Tripadvisor has removed the slogan 'reviews you can trust' from its website only a week after the ASA announced an investigation into the credibility of the travel giants content"

BTW,I have used Alpharooms for hotel, for years now, with no problems.
JC

When I think of Trip Advisor I automatically think of the Destination Forums not the Reviews. For example when we once went on holiday with a friend who has a bad back and finds it very hard and painful to walk up hill, I posted on the forum a short list of six hotels and asked which one would be best to avoid hills. It would have so very difficult to find out just by on line research.
The thing is that anyone can post a review of a hotel or restaurant - nowadays some are often one liners ! There is no way of knowing if the reviewer had actually stayed in the hotel or if he had an ulterior motive as it's so easy to post a review praising or criticizing a hotel.
What I do is check our the writers of the reviews. If they regularly post on TA , I do tend to give them greater credence. If they have never posted before and praise or criticize to the extreme I then I get doubts.
I've read reviews of cruises where someone posts and says he was on the same cruise and contradicts everything the OP had written.
We use booking.com to book hotels and on our return home find an e-mail questionnaire and request for comments but a site like Trip Advisor doesn't have that luxury.

[Yogini, Waterlooville]

I always think it is a sin to fly to an interesting city like Barcelona etc., board a ship and fly home at the end of the cruise without seeing any of it!

In most of Europe's cities you can find some reasonable accommodation for £50+ per room, per night. If a cruise is Sunday to Sunday, take an extra day off work and fly our Friday morning, giving you two nights and a good buffer against flight delays.

Tripadvisor.co.uk is my bible for hotels.

I found a great cruise for October 2012 which had a really good single occupancy price. I emailed cruisedot, and they contacted RCI for me as I wanted to spend a couple of extra days in New Orleans at the end of the cruise. Apparently RCI could not guarantee that I could have a delayed flight, so didn't book the cruise. It was a shame, but I couldn't see the point in going straight through the city when I'd really love to go there.

[jc, liverpool]

I must be the only forum member who doesn't rate Trip Advisor. No offence to you Hat, I'm sure you're spot on but some of the hotels I've stayed in have reviews which vary so much to my own experience [being objective and not subjective] that I wonder if we stayed in the same hotel!!

Hi Mrs M
No,there's two of us.
I will use Trip Advisor to tap into local knowledge from posters like Hat,sights,bars,art galleries etc.
But hotels are a no no for me.
Booked one hotel in Rome,said roof terrace + small pool,,it had neither.
Interesting article in yesterdays newspaper...said,
"Tripadvisor has removed the slogan 'reviews you can trust' from its website only a week after the ASA announced an investigation into the credibility of the travel giants content"

BTW,I have used Alpharooms for hotel, for years now, with no problems.
JC

[Taffy, Wales]

I must be the only forum member who doesn't rate Trip Advisor. No offence to you Hat, I'm sure you're spot on but some of the hotels I've stayed in have reviews which vary so much to my own experience [being objective and not subjective] that I wonder if we stayed in the same hotel!!

No your not reports that lots of reviews are paid for with price reductions and they get a kickback from the Hotels but only those that sign up.

[Mrs M]

It's not only first time cruisers - all addicts like the rest of us enjoy them too. So look forward to reading your review.


I am a Destination Expert on Tripadvisor and before every holiday or even just a one night stay before or after a cruise look up the relative destination on Trip Advisor. They'll give you all the information you need regarding transfers.
Booking.com always seem to have hotels available in all price ranges

I must be the only forum member who doesn't rate Trip Advisor. No offence to you Hat, I'm sure you're spot on but some of the hotels I've stayed in have reviews which vary so much to my own experience [being objective and not subjective] that I wonder if we stayed in the same hotel!!

[hat776, malta]

it seems theres no easy foolproof way of sorting the flights, I think I like the idea of going a day or 2 before and staying at a hotel getting extra holiday days, it would probably work out cheaper than the amount we paid RCI for our flights. By the way, thank you all for your advice and just to say all of our party have received our suitcases intact today. When I've finished all the holiday laundry yuk! I will write and tell all the good parts of my fabulous first cruise, hopefully some of it may help other first time cruisers. Bye for now, washing & ironing to do.
Jackie

It's not only first time cruisers - all addicts like the rest of us enjoy them too. So look forward to reading your review.

I always think it is a sin to fly to an interesting city like Barcelona etc., board a ship and fly home at the end of the cruise without seeing any of it!

In most of Europe's cities you can find some reasonable accommodation for £50+ per room, per night. If a cruise is Sunday to Sunday, take an extra day off work and fly our Friday morning, giving you two nights and a good buffer against flight delays.

Tripadvisor.co.uk is my bible for hotels.

I am a Destination Expert on Tripadvisor and before every holiday or even just a one night stay before or after a cruise look up the relative destination on Trip Advisor. They'll give you all the information you need regarding transfers.
Booking.com always seem to have hotels available in all price ranges

[Malcolm, Essex]

I always think it is a sin to fly to an interesting city like Barcelona etc., board a ship and fly home at the end of the cruise without seeing any of it!

In most of Europe's cities you can find some reasonable accommodation for £50+ per room, per night. If a cruise is Sunday to Sunday, take an extra day off work and fly our Friday morning, giving you two nights and a good buffer against flight delays.

Tripadvisor.co.uk is my bible for hotels.

[swinny, castleford]

it seems theres no easy foolproof way of sorting the flights, I think I like the idea of going a day or 2 before and staying at a hotel getting extra holiday days, it would probably work out cheaper than the amount we paid RCI for our flights. By the way, thank you all for your advice and just to say all of our party have received our suitcases intact today. When I've finished all the holiday laundry yuk! I will write and tell all the good parts of my fabulous first cruise, hopefully some of it may help other first time cruisers. Bye for now, washing & ironing to do.
Jackie

[Jocap, Cumbria]

This happened to us, with NCL....what should have been a short flight to Barcelona ended up as an all day on via Amsterdam, and 2 nights in hotels, as they kept changing things....we lost the will to live, and accepted it all! We went with the company because it was winter, and a high chance of snow....in fact the airport in N/C was closed for a few hours when we arrived.
I'm with Spartan here- I quite like the full package for anything complicated, but for something simple like the Med, I'm with Easy jet etc now!
Jo.

[PG of A, A]

Sounds like an excellent idea especially the mini break before the cruise.

I always fly out at least a day ahead and stay overnight for one night. This minimises the risk of late flights, as I can afford to be up to a day late!

I sometimes arrive a few nights ealy and have a city-break first.

[Issyalex, Glasgow]

as we work we don't usually have the luxury of extending our cruise and also having the worrybags hubbie that I have so most of the time we have booked our flights via the cruiseline.

the reason the cruiseline book you 'via somerwhere' is so everyone flying from all over the country can meet up at the 'via' airport and be put on the same plane. this saves on waiting time for the customer and the cruiseline providing numerous transfers at various times, therefore reducing their costs and increasing their profits.

well thats my theory and I am sticking to it.

[tenpin, Basingstoke]

I don't know about other lines as we only found out about this last year on our February Costa cruise, we have since managed to do it twice out of the three we have booked since.

WE look at the sailing date, then onto BA flights/Thomson from Bournmouth/ and others, finding a flight for the correct day at a time that suits us. We then have asked the Costa TA for that flight they do try to get us on it. We did once have to wait some time for the transfer but it was no trouble to wait in airport.

[Malcolm, Essex]

...but please bear in mind that if for any reason your flight does not get you to the port on time you are on your own....

I always fly out at least a day ahead and stay overnight for one night. This minimises the risk of late flights, as I can afford to be up to a day late!

I sometimes arrive a few nights early and have a city-break first.