Newbie embarkation question

[heyabbott]

Our scheduled arrival in Ft Lauderdale is 11:40 am on the day we ship out.

Are there any forseeable problems we will encounter?

[Oceanwench]

Well, if you really do arrive at 11:40 a.m., then you'll be fine. It's only minutes to the port.

[peaches from georgia]

Where are you flying from and when? Do you have to change planes along the way? Are you flying from an area that could have weather problems? Flying from Wyoming with 2 changes of planes is one thing; flying from Tampa would be another. ;)

You will be fine if everything goes as planned, but it is impossible to foresee problems w/out more information.

[DFD1]

You will not appreciate this, but we always try and fly into the embarkation city the day before we sail. Horror stories abound about passengers who miss their sailing because of airline/weather problems. Also, if your luggage is lost and you sail without it, getting it to the ship after you leave port is another nightmare.

[heyabbott]

Where are you flying from and when? Do you have to change planes along the way? Are you flying from an area that could have weather problems? Flying from Wyoming with 2 changes of planes is one thing; flying from Tampa would be another. ;)

You will be fine if everything goes as planned, but it is impossible to foresee problems w/out more information.

We're leaving Baltimore 8:30 in the morning, stop in Jacksonville and stay on the plane. I'm just going to get a cab to the pier.

[Randyk47]

While Baltimore isn't exactly like flying from Seattle to Ft Lauderdale you never know. I used to live in Northern Virginia.....just 65 miles from BWI in Baltimore.....and had mixed luck. Flew to Ft Lauderdale twice in January...normally the worst month for that part of the country....without a hitch. In both cases I was flying in the day before but could have easily made the ship if it had been the departure day. That gave me a false sense of security so on my third cruise, which was in late March, I went the day of the cruise figuring no problem. Wrong!!! Day started with a minor weather delay....early spring thunder storm.....and got progressively worse as we missed our connection. Then the next plane broke after takeoff and circled Atlanta for nearly two hours dumping fuel so it could land back in Atlanta. Finally got a flight out of Atlanta to Ft Lauderdale and was met at the plane (prior to 9/11 restrictions) by the HAL rep. All of us literally ran through the airport, grabbed our bags, jumped in a small van and raced to the ship. Even worse was this was my new bride's first cruise and our honeymoon. I'd built up the business of going up the gang plank and being met by the staff, gettng the tulip, etc, etc. What really happened was that the main gang plank had already been pulled back. We went through the warehouse and waited for a fork lift to load fruit and then got on the boat....somewhere in the bowels. No staff, no nothing. In fact, our first contact on the ship was some crew member asking us how in the world did we get down there! :eek: Ship sailed within 15 minutes of us getting on. Never again! Even though we're driving to our next cruise we're going the day before and it's only a couple hundred miles. :)

[Orcrone]

heyabbott,

Did you book the air yourself or go through HAL. If you go through HAL they'll either wait (if not too long delayed) or get you to the next port. If not, then I'd suggest travel insurance. That will include getting you and your luggage to the first port if you run into delays. Actually, I'd recommend insurance regardless.

I think Randy's story pretty much summarizes why I always fly in at least one day ahead of time.