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-   -   Cruising with American Airlines Cruises - feedback? Experiences? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/1721393-cruising-american-airlines-cruises-feedback-experiences.html)

GNRMatt Nov 2, 2015 5:06 pm

Cruising with American Airlines Cruises - feedback? Experiences?
 
I just got the e-mail below for American Airlines Cruises. I was curious if anyone on here who takes cruises has ever booked it through American Airlines before and what your thoughts are. Or, if when booking on a boat, referred it to AA as your Travel Agent to get bonus miles. Any negatives of booking with AA?

Ready for your chance to win the vacation of a lifetime, plus bonus miles? To enter our Win a Sweepstakes at Sea promotion, you simply need to sign up to receive the weekly deals email from American Airlines Cruises, and you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win a grand prize of 500,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, plus a cruise for two. Or, if you're a runner-up, you'll earn 100,000 miles.

When you sign up for our emails, you'll be among the first to learn about our latest exclusive offers and cruise sales while you plan your next getaway.

What's more, act now and take advantage of low rates on top of existing special deals, including:
AAdvantage miles on all cruises
Free onboard spending credit
Free pre-paid gratuities
Free stateroom upgrades and more

JDiver Nov 2, 2015 5:23 pm


Ready for your chance to win the vacation of a lifetime, plus bonus miles? To enter our Win a Sweepstakes at Sea promotion, you simply need to sign up to receive the weekly deals email from American Airlines Cruises, and you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win a grand prize of 500,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, plus a cruise for two. Or, if you're a runner-up, you'll earn 100,000 miles.

When you sign up for our emails, you'll be among the first to learn about our latest exclusive offers and cruise sales while you plan your next getaway.

What's more, act now and take advantage of low rates on top of existing special deals, including:
  • AAdvantage miles on all cruises
  • Free onboard spending credit
  • Free pre-paid gratuities
  • Free stateroom upgrades and more

Pretty much the same offer as from various travel agencies that book cruises, with the exception of the miles offers and draws. It's worth comparing and should be as good as any other decent agency to book through AA Cruises, IMO.

controller1 Nov 2, 2015 10:20 pm


Originally Posted by GNRMatt (Post 25653682)
I just got the e-mail below for American Airlines Cruises. I was curious if anyone on here who takes cruises has ever booked it through American Airlines before and what your thoughts are. Or, if when booking on a boat, referred it to AA as your Travel Agent to get bonus miles. Any negatives of booking with AA?

Ready for your chance to win the vacation of a lifetime, plus bonus miles? To enter our Win a Sweepstakes at Sea promotion, you simply need to sign up to receive the weekly deals email from American Airlines Cruises, and you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win a grand prize of 500,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, plus a cruise for two. Or, if you're a runner-up, you'll earn 100,000 miles.

When you sign up for our emails, you'll be among the first to learn about our latest exclusive offers and cruise sales while you plan your next getaway.

What's more, act now and take advantage of low rates on top of existing special deals, including:
AAdvantage miles on all cruises
Free onboard spending credit
Free pre-paid gratuities
Free stateroom upgrades and more

The only advantage to booking an AAdvantage cruise is that you get one AAdvantage mile per $ regardless of how you pay for the cruise.

When I was UA elite, I would regularly book cruises through UA's vacation portal. As a comparison, on one cruise I booked through UA and my friend booked through AA. We both paid the same amount. He received approximately 4,900 AAdvantage miles while I received 35,000 Mileage Plus miles due to other bonus mile offers (balcony, having UA credit card, 7+ day cruise, etc) that AA does not offer.

As JDiver said, shop around and compare!

Happy Nov 2, 2015 10:38 pm

You also need to compare the prices with a cruise-only travel agent (human, not OTA, preferrably a top producer.)

We cruise a lot (4 this year included 2 TATL and 1 European). Have done over 30 cruises across lines but primarily with Princess and Holland America. I have found that if I book thru my agent, the prices are always cheaper than any airline's offering. It essentially boils down to, do you want Cash in your pocket or miles in your account. It really boils down to, you "pay" for those miles by paying a higher price (can be a few hundreds higher).

After comparing the quotes a few times, these days I simply delete the junk mails from AA and UA pushing their cruise bookings which actually are done by one of the cruise-only OTAs.

iplaybass Nov 3, 2015 8:14 am

Always check the cruise line, and use that as your baseline. Sometimes I've found that while the cruise line price is higher than OTAs, the line offers perks that more than make up for the TA discount. For example, $300 onboard credit vs. $100 breaks even with a $200 higher price, as long as you know that you will spend it (no problem for DW and I. Specialty Dining, fancy wine.)

apeortdz Feb 26, 2017 5:32 am

Anyone ever have any trouble getting their bonus miles from AA cruises? My deal included 14x miles for every dollar spent. They posted 13x miles. I called and they agreed to correct the mistake but 2 weeks later have not done so.

cr34102 Jul 5, 2017 1:14 pm


Originally Posted by apeortdz (Post 27959826)
Anyone ever have any trouble getting their bonus miles from AA cruises? My deal included 14x miles for every dollar spent. They posted 13x miles. I called and they agreed to correct the mistake but 2 weeks later have not done so.

I think mine posted correctly. Could it be that the missing 1m/$ was a misleading reference to the one you'd already earn on your CC?

shimps1 Jul 5, 2017 2:33 pm

Just a caution, not sure if you meant it or not, but Cruises are typically a poor use of miles if you were planning on paying with them.

A1pax Aug 22, 2017 7:12 am

Been wanting to ask the same question about booking cruises through AA portal - good, bad or indifferent. We have narrowed down to a specific cruise, ship name, dates, itinerary and the type of cabin. We are in the UK, so when we tried to "book" online prices were quoted in £. We also compared those with other websites (eg cruise.com and the cruise line - all quoted in US$). A quick conversion showed all prices were very similar, with AA portal slightly cheaper. The backend portal AA used is a distributor called turicoholidays. Hubby was a bit hesitant to book through AA portal because he worried about their protection if something went wrong. He said we should just go through a TA in the UK as most of them offer some type of insurance protection. Views? TIA.

ksass1 Mar 5, 2018 5:24 pm

Don't use American Airlines Cruises
 

Originally Posted by GNRMatt (Post 25653682)
I just got the e-mail below for American Airlines Cruises. I was curious if anyone on here who takes cruises has ever booked it through American Airlines before and what your thoughts are. Or, if when booking on a boat, referred it to AA as your Travel Agent to get bonus miles. Any negatives of booking with AA?

Ready for your chance to win the vacation of a lifetime, plus bonus miles? To enter our Win a Sweepstakes at Sea promotion, you simply need to sign up to receive the weekly deals email from American Airlines Cruises, and you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win a grand prize of 500,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, plus a cruise for two. Or, if you're a runner-up, you'll earn 100,000 miles.

When you sign up for our emails, you'll be among the first to learn about our latest exclusive offers and cruise sales while you plan your next getaway.

What's more, act now and take advantage of low rates on top of existing special deals, including:
AAdvantage miles on all cruises
Free onboard spending credit
Free pre-paid gratuities
Free stateroom upgrades and more

Book through cruise companies; never use American Airlines Cruises. Their cancellation fees are completely unreasonable. May seem like you are getting a deal but the cancellation fees are ridiculous. I booked and had to cancel 2 cabins but I am still traveling in another cabin. I also brought 20+ more people to the table to book on the same cruise and I was still charged a $250 cancellation fee. Ridiculous. It took me forever to find someone to talk to and when I did they were completely unreasonable. I did not even get any kind of group booking discount. Absolutely no recognition for bringing all these people to American Airlines.

JDiver Mar 5, 2018 6:24 pm

I use an Avoya AMEX Platinum Service affiliated individual agent, get the cruise at the same lowest price offered by the cruise line plus MR points, $200 cabin credit per person, a bottle of Veuve Cliquot and tray of hors d’oeuvres and chocolate covered strawberries as a “welcome” amenity, etc. No extra costs or fees tacked on, great representation, only the change fees required by the cruise line - and I have an annual travel policy, so those are covered in case of Travel messes.

I’ve looked over AA Cruises and walked away.

Robert Friedman Jul 9, 2019 2:43 pm

What a Terrible Experience
 
First of all, my Caribean cruise with Holland Americ was terrific! I made the mistake of booking through AA Cruises, which is actually a front fir anoth

beachfan Jul 9, 2019 3:27 pm

Based their operational long term ineptitude, short term labor problems, and current newsworthy intolerance of common cruise attire, I find the association of American and ‘cruise” pretty funny, and I sympathize with those who have cruised with them.

And that’s before you get to the question of pricing.

radonc1 Jul 9, 2019 3:40 pm

Pretty good advice from everyone.
Not only do you need to compare prices and bonuses or perks, but most importantly, you need to know the boat that is being used and the cabin location being offered. There are good reasons why some cabins in the same price category don't sell quickly. This is why a $600 cabin from TA "A" on boat B is not the same as the $600 cabin from AA or UA with the same boat.
It takes a lot of work (i.e. time) to go through all the variables for booking cruises, but I agree that working with a live agent is much easier than a keyboard.

cr34102 Jul 9, 2019 3:56 pm


Originally Posted by beachfan (Post 31286624)
Based their operational long term ineptitude, short term labor problems, and current newsworthy intolerance of common cruise attire, I find the association of American and ‘cruise” pretty funny, and I sympathize with those who have cruised with them.

And that’s before you get to the overpricing.

Have you ever booked a cruise through AA cruises?

If one books a cruise with AA Cruises for Carnival, Celebrity or whatever cruise line, what on earth does AA operational ineptitude, short term labor problems, or judgment of cruise attire (which would be "policed" by the cruise line and not AA) have to do with anything? It doesn't sound to me like you have any experience or knowledge behind your statement. These AA issues are totally separate from the cruise line operations.

And, given that pricing is often controlled by the cruise lines, customers are free to shop for extras of their choice with various TAs. Calling AA Cruises overpriced as a blanket claim comes from ignorance. I don't get your beef and you just sound anti-AA which has no bearing on AA Cruises. Please post informed comments, not uninformed sniping. Thank you.


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