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

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.

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!

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.

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.)

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?

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.

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.

Don't use American Airlines Cruises
 

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.

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.

What a Terrible Experience
 

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.

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.

I actually did an AA booked cruise a few years ago. The pricing was relatively similar to all other online options but I had some better bennies (onboard credit, miles, etc.).

However, it was ultimately booked by "World Travel Holdings, Inc." - I assume they are the underlying agency that does the bookings for AA (and probably a number of other companies).

Ditto. I've done this a few times -- mostly on Holland America but most recently on Viking -- and have no complaints on pricing, bennies, or service. Yes, I've wondered what the actual relationship between "AACruises" and "World Travel Holdings" is, but in the end does it really matter? I get the miles, and a TA to advise, search, and make sure all is well.

Your assumption is correct. They're the cruise TA for multiple companies - I've earned AA and UA miles, but they also rep several other programs. I think they're the largest cruise TA in the US.

They have good specials throughout the year, depending on the program. Memorial Day, July 4th, Black Friday offer really good mileage opportunities (7m/$, 13m/$ etc) but also extras like rebates, shipboard credits, transportation reimbursement and the like.

I've never had any issues receiving the miles, but IIRC, they post "parsed" with all the various bonuses earned (3m/$ for this, 2m/$ for that) rather than the lump sum I expected.

I'm as happy or happier with them compared with Amex Plat cruise booking which offers consistent rewards but no huge specials.

Look, we're all here as a community. Someone wanted feedback on AA Cruises. Your response was unhelpful to others and quite ridiculous based solely on your anti-AA vendetta. Letting your view of AA color your opinion is one thing, but sharing it with others looking for honest input was not fair.

It would be like saying AA Citi CCs or AA Rewards Network restaurants are terrible because they're "tied" with AA. It's silly and dishonest to insinuate that AA Cruises overprices cruises and provides a subpar product. It's not a part of AA.

Did you book a Viking River Cruise or a Viking Ocean Cruise?

My understanding is the Viking Ocean Cruise requires one year advance payment in full, when booking directly with them... There are critics claim the owner is using the funds to finance the line's rapid expansion...

Also for those who booked their cruises thru airline's vacation dept, what kind of bennies you get that are extra from what one would also get when booking thru a cruise only agent who is top seller? (not counting the miles earned)

In the past when I entertained the idea using AA cruises or UA cruises (constantly receive emails from both) I looked at the prices versus what our cruise agent offers, on the identical cruises - my conclusion is, I actually PAY for those miles earned because the prices inevitably are more favorable from our cruise agent, with the same perks and sometimes more.

My gut feeling is, if you only book your cruises from OTA, without a relationship with a Volume Cruise Only Agent who is top seller of most lines, you do not see the price difference much, nor you would miss anything that only personal touch can handle.

That is a good point. There are more civil ways to make it.

It was a River Cruise. But I did book about a year out because I could see the cabins selling out.

The difficulty with comparing prices precisely is that the cruise line's brochure always says "from $xxx", not an exact price, and I've never called the line for an exact quote right before or after calling AACruises to get the same.

For this particular cruise -- "14-day" China with 6 days actually on board, I was granted $600 in on-board credit, with the automatically-debited gratuity amount of $220, and from-boat excursions included. I wasn't going to go through $380 of booze, so I wound up getting a pricey "free" souvenir.

The brochure prices are bogus. Nobody pays that prices. Some cruise lines have totally abandon this practices but some continue published "brochure prices" that I dont think anybody would use it as gauge.

Not sure about River cruise, but for Ocean going cruises, vacation to go is a good site to get what the real prices should be. They are not real time but close enough. Their prices are basically top volume agents prices. You get the same perks the cruise line offers for a particular sailing, such as the OBC, excursion allowance, drink package / internet package whatever. You can find the luxury lines prices there as well, incl some not much known by US cruisers such as the French line of Ponant cruises. They are yacht like ships that go to very uncommon places.

For the luxury lines the price comparison would be somewhat more complicated than the mass market lines in the sense of, what are included in the price paid upfront, but never the brochure prices.

As an example, Seabourn price incl gratuity and most drinks except the highest end liquor and wine, self-serve laundry. No airfare / transfer / internet / excursion.

Oceania price incl economy airfare (you dont want it, can get a credit), specialty restaurants, soft drinks and both sparkling and still water, but no drinks, and gratuity is not included.
However Oceania often has "deals" that would give up to $800 OBC per cabin, or the guest 1 and 2 can choose up to 4 free excursions, stuff like that.
In fact with Celebrity now charges its Aqua class at such high premium, one would be better off to sail Oceania if one would book the Aqua class. Except that Oceania still sail the very old Renaissance ships built almost 20 years ago - no matter how the renovation, there is no denying the fact that the old ships lack the amenities new ship can offer - limited by the technology and the space.

Regeant 7 Seas probably is the most inclusive ship for companies based in US.

These days several lines have finally copied NCL's concept to have exclusive decks on their mega ships. The experiences are day and night on the SAME ship thanks to the exclusivity of those special classes. This gives you the nicety of a luxury line but also the uncomparable amenities of mega ships - with the drawbacks that you wont be able to go to small ports which only the small ships can.

I would like to make some comments here as I have done over 75 cruises and 1000++ cruises days. Not all booked with AA cruises.

First, for American maeket, whichever agency you book from, the price is here and there not much difference. Unless the agents hold a contract with a particular line for a certain number of cabins (sales agreement). But that is very rare nowadays. Cruise lines are very tight on price and capacity control just like airlines.

Second, it does not matter which agent you book from you have the same pool of open cabins. While in airline you sell ticket at different price but the seats are open, on cruise line, the same cabin type on different decks and location are classed as different cabin category. So you should imagine on the aircraft let us say B787 have 20 J seats. The seat close to the toilet might be lowest J8, the seats next to it would be J7, and the most favouritable window seats would be highest J1 etc. You pay different price for these categories. On a cruise ship, it may have 15 different category under balcony cabins. And all 15 are priced differently.

If one agent is cheaper and more than likely it is on the Guarantee category so you don't get to choose your cabin. You are assigned only when the ship is filled up. But guarantee cabin can get an upgrade despite of lowest grade. As other people paid more and choose their cabin, the Guarantee is likely to get the better cabin as less people would pay for higher grade.

Don't think any agent get any better cabin. There is no such thing. All cabin are open source if you need to reserve one you pay more. If you can bear the chance to get a better one you get a Guarantee and take the 50 50 chances.

Third, smaller cruise lines may have favourable agents as the sales can be huge from a selection of agents. But nothing can beat the size of World Cruise as they are the default number one agent.

Fourth, if a smaller agent offers cheaper price, they could be selling a bulk fare just like airlines agents. But cruise agents have more leeway on this. Some agents offers on board wines or credit, they might be doing you a refund of commission in order to increase sales. Some cruise line forbid such practice as they loose control on pricing. But some cruise line pretent they do not know as they need bums in cabin.

Fifth, shop around is definitely true. Costco offers OBC or Costco cash card which can be a good way. But it all depends on how much you want to spend on a cruise.

Sixth, do not blindly trust expensive cruise lines. They are not better than the average lines like RCL or Princess. And if you are not a heavy heavy drinker, there is no point to join a line that gives free booze. As you are likely to pay for other people's drinking habit.

Seventh, do not travel on Costa or MSC, they are rubbish. Personal opinion but a valid one.

Eighth, cruise is different from flying. You need to adjust yourself to the slow motion of life. You can be a flyer a d cruiser in lthe same time. But you would find once you are hooked on cruise, you are less likely to go on any MR. Partly because you have no time!
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Before you book a cruise with American Airlines, be absolutely certain about it. Not only AA will charge your non-refundable $24.99 for "processing", AA will also bill you an additional $100 if you cancel for any reason.

This company is not really affiliated with American Airlines. They just give you miles for your cruise. Using them was very educating when I had a problem. They are a subsidiary of WTH holdings, a huge travel company that is also United Cruises and others. I booked a cruise and then a few days later, after my deadline to cancel, the same cruise price went down $500. Despite the huge size of WTH, they couldn't get me any resolution. I will give them the fact that they tried, but I don't believe the tried in the same way a small agency might have. I got nothing but aggravation. The agent explained there is no such thing as AA cruises. They just, like many other airlines, use WTH to lure customers in with the supposed affiliation to their frequent flier companies but ultmately they are just a big, corporate and uncaring company that is useless when there is a problem.

... is the actual company that is American Airlines cruises. They also handle United Airlines cruises. They are a large company and provide lousy service. I booked a cruise with them, the agent told me when I upgraded and spent $336 it was a good deal, and then two days later the prices fell $600, and they could do nothing to help me. Despite their best price guarantee, I paid $3600 for a cabin that now costs $3000

I tried talking to a Royal Caribbean cruise but they said talk to your travel agent, and the travel agent I spoke to had no passion for helping me. No one fought for me. I got nothing but a useless upgrade.

If you book directly with the cruise line, or use an agent that specializes in cruises and is small, the outcome will be much more positive. It’s not worth a few miles to get to suffer the poor service.

Run away - they are the worst. I booked because they said I would get miles and a promotional credit. Within 10 minutes my reservation came through without my FF# nor the credit on my reservation. I called and they said it was Royal Caribbean's fault - however I called Royal Caribbean and they were quite clear this was an AA travel agency promotion - so i call back and after a long time they said once things are booked there is nothing they can do - and if I cancel (within an hour) - there was a $100 fee and a processing fee. It is now 2 weeks later - they have not fixed it - I am on hold for over an hour with an agent who said give them a few minutes to look into it. This travel agency is fly by night - horrible - poor service - just want to sell you a criuse on line but not available for anything except taking your money on line. Better to buy from Costco (or a real travel agent). Just stay away!!!

I never even heard or American Airlines cruises until this post. Looks like you can get double LP's when booking with the Citi exec card vs x1 just for the card

Bumping this. I am about to book a cruise on Royal Caribbean for next May. I have always booked through Royal before, but now with Loyalty Points I am tempted to go through AA. It actually appears to be cheaper through AA. Not sure what all I lose though by not going through Royal. Doing that research now. Unfortunately, I can't book both rooms through AA online at the same time, so sounds like I have to call them which I prefer not to do. I assume the LP's post after the cruise is taken. Just looking for any feedback on recent experiences on booking a cruise through AA.

I've used them several times before, they're really a big cruise agency that offers AA miles if you contact contact from the AA cruise portal or phone number. They charge fees and sometimes the bonus miles don't post. I've given up on them and use cruise.com. cruise.com has really good prices as long as you don't need any customer service, I've used them several times and one time had to cancel a cunard cruise and was able to do it after a bit of phone tag and had no issues with a refund (based on the cruise lines policies). Bottom line, unless you need the miles/LPs I'd avoid AA Cruises.

Thanks. Doesn't look like I can book two rooms at once with cruise.com either. May not be a big deal, but the second room is for my kids (21 & 23) at the time. I think it is best if our reservations are connected.

Hello friends. Have been on many, many cruises. I always book with an OTA and I have tried them all: Amex, UA Cruises, AA Cruises, Orbitz, Costco, Expedia and Priceline. First, over 10 "mileage program" OTA's are operated by World Travel Holdings (WTH). They are the largest cruise seller in the USA. Second, the price varies dramatically between OTA's. Last week there was a Royal Caribbean sailing for $4k on one site and under $2k on another site - same cabin category (note-all the WTH sites have the same price but different promos, while different OTA's can have wildly different prices). The reason for this frequent price disparity is because many OTAs buy or guarantee to fill a certain number of cabins on certain sailings. So WTH might have a dozen balcony cabins on sale for $2k and Expedia/Orbitz will have the same cabins for $2,500 just because WTH decided it's time to get rid of the ones they still need to fill (they pay for them if they are not sold). On other days, Expedia/Orbitz will have dramatically lower fares for the same reason, they need to dump their inventory. On yet other days, they will all be pretty close.

The best thing to do is to check all the "sellers." Compare all of them and see which one has the best deal. Note that not all balcony cabins are the same, nor are all interior or ocean views. Each ship has many different categories for each type of cabin. See the different prices, see if the cabin codes are the same or different, and also see what extras or promos they are offering. UA Cruises usually has the best promos and they typically give the most miles, but their miles are becoming much less valuable, while AA usually gives the very least miles but you score some LPs. Amex has largely been way overpriced in the last 2 years, often higher than the cruise line website for some reason, while Orbitz and Expedia have occasionally been shockingly cheaper than everyone on some sailings. Plus, Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline Cruises (maybe others) can be found on some of the airline shopping portals. So you can get even more miles if you click through (eg. the MileagePlus shopping portal has several cruise sellers).

Yes, WTH charges $24.99 per cabin as a service fee, and they do tend to charge an extra $100 if you cancel - on top of the cruise line cancellation fees- but if they have a significantly better deal and good promos, then it could be worth it.

I've had my share of problems with most OTA's - it just happens. In my opinion Amex is the absolute worst of them all, while Orbitz/Expedia, WTH and Costco tend to be pretty helpful. But to say any of them are "terrible" or whatever, it is not true. If you have a problem, yes then you are always better off having booked directly. If you use an OTA and need help, it can be a bit of a pain in the neck, but at the end of the day for people who travel a lot, it is worth using an OTA because all those miles/points/promos really add up and overcome the hassle of not booking directly. When having travel-related cruise problems, WTH is decent with resolving things, Expedia/Orbitz a little harder, and Amex has been really bad.

And it's not reasonable to be mad if you book a cruise and the price goes down later. That will happen often enough, and it can be a big price drop. Don't be mad at the travel agency just because the cruise line has policies and don't give back money when prices drop. They have refund periods and cancellation deadlines, and penalties or fees always go up as the cruise date approaches. This is their business model. You cannot reasonably expect anyone to make an exception and honor a lower price later, just because you want money back. If that's what you want, try a different vacation type because cruises do not typically have price guarantees and their policies are strict. Again, not the travel agent...in fact, the travel agent does not even collect your cruise fare. It is paid directly to the cruise line no matter who you give your credit card number to.