JCCC Air Fare

WorldMaker

I was looking at Royal Caribbean's website and looking at the "ChoicePlus Air" stuff where they help you book your air flights. Has anyone here used it before? Would you recommend it? It sounds nice from the website, particularly in avoiding some of the airline hassle, but I'm worried it won't be as cheap as jumping ahead now and buying on a "normal" travel site.

It looks like it requires the RCCI Booking Number, which we won't get for a while yet and I am a tiny hair worried that the way airlines work sometimes it might not be cost effective to wait. That said when I checked just now it looked like Southwest isn't even booking ahead that far just yet so maybe some wait won't hurt.

I'd appreciate any thoughts y'all have. It would be nice to save at least a few bucks and/or some hassle wherever I can.

SapphireMind

The best time to book flights is approx 6 weeks early. Earlier than that, they know you really want/are stuck on that date and will pay anything because you really need that time, later, you're running out of time and need it.

villicious

I haven't used Royal Caribbean's service for that, but did use Holland America's booking service for hotel rooms for JCCC1. They took care of finding and booking my room, and having done so also got me some perks (basically shuttle services I also did not have to worry about arranging).

It was nice not needing to worry about making arrangements, but it would have been cheaper to do it myself. You are definitely paying extra for convenience.

Grimoire

I also used the HAL booking service for hotel rooms for JCCC1.  My experience was quite poor.  While they got us from the airport to the hotel, and to and from the ship just fine, they forgot to book us a shuttle from the hotel back to the airport.  Another couple was in the same situation.  We arrived at the airport later than ideal.  That, combined with the American Airlines counter being run by some less than competent individuals resulted in us missing our flight.

I also found it quite expensive compared to what I would have paid had I booked the hotel and shuttle on my own.  From that point on, I resolved not to let someone else handle my important travel arrangements.  I have not had any JCCC related travel issues since.  YMMV of course.  

BrettGlass

No booking service is going to be able to book you on some of the discount airlines, such as Southwest. If you book yourself, you can also take advantage of discounts and special perks. For example, if you have a Discover card and go to Expedia through the ShopDiscover Web site, you can get a 6% "reward" (essentially a kickback of credit card fees that the merchant pays) from Discover. So, I'd recommend doing your own bookings to and from the boat.

veevi

WorldMaker, I don't know where you're coming from, but if you are in a market served by VirginAmerica, their fares tend to be very low even pretty far ahead of time -- and it's a fun trip.  I just booked my flights from SFO.