What advice can anyone give me for my upcoming trip on Renaissance Cruise's charter carrier World Airways?

It's not like I have a choice, but perhaps there are some tips on things like check-in times, pack my own food, etc.

We will be flying about nine hours from JFK to Istanbul, returning from Athens to JFK.

I took the same cruise aboard the beautiful R1 over last summer.

At the time the charter service was operated by ATA (American Trans Air). ATA had some extreme problems, though not on my trip, so the contract got switched to World Airways.

I assume you are on the same trip that I took. I took the trip starting in Athens, but it is the same. A few nights in Athens and Istanbul and then 5 days on the ship, Santorini (though I believe it is changed to Crete on winter sailings), Rhodes, Kusadasi, and a day at sea.

If you have any questions or want to talk about the cruise, feel free to e-mail me (check my profile). I've taken several cruises, and Renaissance was by far the best cruise experience, mostly due to the seamless transfer of the sea and shore and air.

BizJet

In case you're interested and don't know, you can upgrade to business class air for a not-too-exorbitant fee. Hunnybear and I had a great time on the R2 sailing Spain and Portugal last summer. The ship is great but the service is only average. Still it's a great value, especially for the premium cabins. Tip: ask the waiters to recommend dishes at meals... they are REALLY inconsistent.

We are thinking about taking one of the Renaissance cruises this fall. Obviously, I have the same questions about World Airways as you do. All I could get from their home page is that they are "presently utilizing a well-maintained fleet of 10 international range, widebody MD-11 and DC-10-30 aircraft". It is a 51-year old company. They began flying for Renaissance last August with one aircraft and will add the second one in April, and a third one in June, 2000.
The reservation agents at Renaissance told me to plan on staying in New York overnight before and after the cruise, because they can't guarantee that the charter will depart and arrive on time. It did not sound encouraging, plus it adds 2 extra days and $400-500 to our vacation ( good hotels in New York ain't cheap ).
When you get back, please let us know of your experience with World Airways. It might affect our decision whether to take the cruise or not.

On the outbound, I flew TWA TPA-JFK the day of the charter flight. We had a 4-5 hour layover in case of delays. Keep in mind that you must claim your bags and recheck them with World Airways, so that adds time.

ATA allowed us to check in an hour or two before the scheduled check-in time. Keep that in mind if you care about your seats.

I've heard horror stories about ATA flights being delayed several hours and being deverted for fuel (thus the switch to World Airways). I had a TWA flight back to Tampa about 4 hours after the ATA flight's scheduled arrival. The Renaissance rep at JFK encouraged me to switch my flight to the next day, because ATA was so unreliable. So I popped $75 to change my ATA ticket and got a room at the Airport Shearaton.

Go figure...We arrived an hour early into JFK on the return. The FA said it was the first time the flight was anywhere near ontime.

Keep in mind that this my experience with ATA. Due to the problems with ATA Renaissance has switched to World. Renaissance wants to make it clear that if you miss the charter on the outbound you're on your own money to get to Europe.

Coming back they don't want to be held responsible if the flight does get in late.

BizJet