Do you fly in early?

[Toad]

BLIZZARD on Cape Cod and less than two weeks to go until we cruise on the Rotterdam! Sure hope we can get shoveled out by the time we have to go and also glad we decided to fly into FLL a few days early. You never know around here when this can happen! Can't wait. Do you fly n early?

[CaptData]

Yes for the same reason. I live in Manitoba Canada.

[Bill S]

To date, with one exception, we have flown or driven in at least one day before embarkation. The only time we flew in on the same day as embarkation was for a cruise out of San Diego. We took a mid-morning flight (only an hour and 15 minutes) on Southwest, who had at least 3 later flights to San Diego, any one of which would have still gotten us to SD in plenty of time to make embarkation. Even without weather considerations, we still prefer to fly to the port a day early-too many things can go wrong when you fly: lost/delayed luggage, mechanical problems, air traffic control delays, being bumped, etc.

[Joanne G.]

For our first cruise, we flew the day of sailaing and didn't give it a thought - until the first port (which was Tuesday for a cruise that left on Saturday) when we saw piles of baggage being loaded on. The baggage belonged to people who missed the ship in Miami due to weather-related airline delays up and down the east coast. And it was April, not January. Storms don't have to have snow to cause flight delays. After that - seeing people miss 1/3rd of their cruise and having who knows what hassles trying to meet the ship - we made the decision that we would always fly a day early for our cruises - or 2 days early for cruises in snow season.

[MandyGirl]

Unexpected weather, medical emergency causing unplanned landing enroute, evacuation at a terminal for whatever reason, etc... all things that are unforeseen and can (do) cause the dominoe effect. Weather in one part of the country can still wreak havoc on airline schedules in other parts of the country - and you never know where your plane is coming from that you are waiting on to start your flight...

[obriendan]

We always fly early. It is especially important not to have to worry about poor airline connections. Also, I always try to be up early the day of the cruise to watch and take pictures of the ship we will sail on as she arrives.

[TedC]

It's wise to fly in a day or two early for any cruise from a US port and at least two or three days early for a cruise beginning in a foreign port.

It alleviates a lot of stress and gives you a chance to shake any jet lag and also explore the port city.

There are just too many things that can happen, especially in these times, that could affect flights and cause you to miss your long-awaited cruise.


I know many people fly in the day of the cruise without a problem - but they are taking a needless risk, IMO, and missing a chance to extend their vacation.

There are questions of time and money for all of us, but do yourself a big favor and figure in those extra days as part of the package. And remember, you can usually save money by arranging your own flights and hotels.

[rickdor]

We also fly in at least two days early for a domestic departure and three days for foreign. Have heard too many stories about people who missed ship. We also stay over one to two days at the end of the cruise. After spending a relaxing couple of weeks aboard ship, there is nothing worse than rushing to board a plane home. In FT. Lauderdale the arrival of 5-6 cruise ships can pack the airport. Better IMHO to relax and saunter in a day or two later when the cruise ship crowds have gone.

[trubey]

Only been on one cruise (another coming up) but got to Lisbon 3 days early. The airline we are forced to use, SATA, seems to run on the whim of . . . who knows? They sometimes leave a day early or 2 days late, and don't notify anybody!

Lane

[doone]

Absolutely, always fly in at least a day early. Makes your cruise vacation that much better.

[lgt]

Do you all think NOW would be too early?? We don't cruise untl the end of March & I'm tired of the snow & cold & snow & cold.

[doone]

Not at all. I think we should all go now.

[hogwildcruzers]

Always, it adds to the cruise excitement and the first day is not as stressful or hurried. You can wake up late and really be ready to party when you board.:)

[Randyk47]

I used to live in Northern Virginia 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. :)

[Broon]

We now make this our usual practice, flying in at least a day early. We live near Toronto Ontario and a flight to Ft Lauderdale, although relatively short, can be precarious during the winter. We go a day ahead. For an Alaska cruise from Vancouver, we went three days ahead. Vancouver is such a nice place to be, plus we had some friends to visit. On that trip, we stayed later, as well, for more visiting.

[jhannah]

Yes, we fly in a day early. For our sailing out of Amsterdam in August we're getting there two days early. Like BillS, our exception in May will be the short flight over to LAX. If something happens to our primary flight, there are others virtually every hour throughout the day. I like to be there and not have to stress if our plane is delayed or taken out of service for a maintenance issue. Plus, it gives you the chance to get to the ship relaxed and ready to go.

[CrazyforCruisin]

Always fly in a day early. My DH is always late for everything, so less stress for me and much more relaxing day of embarkation.

[debsea]

Always fly the day before.

One piece of luggage was delayed arriving in Barcelona for our Mediterranean cruise. It was delivered to our hotel room at 10:30 that night. We would have already left port without it, had we flown in the day of sailing.

This past December, one piece of luggage didn't arrive in Orlando before our Caribbean cruise. Because we had that night to think about what was in that suitcase, we were able to "power shop" the next morning for all the essentials and get to the ship knowing we had everything we needed to enjoy our cruise. If we had flown in the day of sailing, we wouldn't have had time to get to the mall and to find a scuba shop before we had to be onboard.

[Bill S]

Check out this horror story from over on the "Cruise Air" sub-forum from the "Cruise Discussion" forum:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=125771

Sometimes even the best made plans go awry!

[imsulin]

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS...I fly in at least one day early! For my April 9 Zui cruise, I have air scheduled out of ATL on DL at 8:35 AM on April 8! This will leave me several optiions with DL or code share interliners to assure my arrival in FLL the day BEFORE our cruise!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes, we always fly to our port of embarkation at least 2 or 3 days early.


And we never fly home on the day the ship gets back into port.

[jlkeeling]

We'll be taking our 8th cruise in May and we've always flown to the port city the morning of. We've only had one close call, nearly missing our flight due to us running a little late in conjunction with a busier than normal airport. Typically our flights are direct so we don't have to worry about connections. We keep telling ourselves that our day will come and from the sounds of these stories it may be sooner than later.

[zebra36]

Certainly in the minority here but I fly down on day of cruise. I do not cruise during winter months(Jan-Feb). The weather this past weekend has rejuvinated the discussion of this topic but even for those who had the foresight to make arrangements to leave a day or two early the snow this past weekend probably caused more than a few to miss the boat. The best laid plans etc.

Frank

[Oceanwench]

I live in South Florida and I have often gone to Fort Lauderdale a day before the cruise, just to relax and only have a 5-minute drive to the port the day we leave!
With traffic on I-95 and/or the Turnpike often snarled [even on weekends] I'd rather not have a headache the day I leave.

Before I moved down to Florida, I commuted here about twice a month from Ohio over a 3-year period. [1996-99]
Remarkably, I never had a flight canceled in the winter months.
The only time I did have a flight to FLL canceled was in the summer -- a thunderstorm on Lake Erie was to blame! [Flying Northwest through Detroit]

However ... I would still fly in a day or two early, rather than put my whole vacation cruise on the line. Too much can go wrong, these days.

[oldnavybanker]

Always fly or drive a day early -- you can sleep in on sailing day rather than hustle to airport for early flight, don't worry about checked bags going to Duluth, and don't board fully stressed. How much are you willing to bet that weather, missed connection, mechanical delay or your own auto breakdown will not happen?