Flying in on the day of the cruise...Have I got a story for you

[jennbill]

Typically, we do not arrive at a departure port the day of a cruise. We like to make sure there are no hassles. We have flown in on cruise day, most recently NYC in '06, with no problems. Now here's our story....

When we booked the 9/20 Legend cruise in April, we looked at airfare, schedules and such and decided to fly in on cruise day. Booked Delta through Atlanta with an arrival in Tampa a little after 12 noon. The Legend is scheduled to sail at 4 p.m.. Shouldn't be a problem we thought. Curiously, around the first of September I started to have these feelings that things wouldn't go well. I told Jennifer and she said to just stop that I was just trying to jinx us. Flash forward to the morning of 9/20.

Things are good when we board our flight from Oklahoma City to Atlanta. But then something seems kinda wrong. It's stuffy on the plane. No AC. As departure time arrives and passes, the captain tells us that he can't start the plane's engines and he'd get back to us. A few minutes later the problem looks to be that the compressors that supply oxygen to the jet engines (necessary for starting) have a valve stuck. So it's everyone off the plane while we wait for a mechanic. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes later, things look good and we're told to reboard. We're told to please find our seats as we had a limited time to get airborne and still have our slot in Atlanta. Soon the engines are started and things are looking good. Only about 45 minutes late but still plenty of time to make our connection in Atlanta. Thing is, we're not backing away from the gate. We sit and sit and sit... "We're not going anywhere" I tell Jennifer. Soon the captain comes on the PA system.

Seems that while we were waiting for repairs in OKC, fog and rain rolled into Atlanta. There is now a ground hold on all flights to Atlanta. The captain tells us he'll get back to us in around 45 minutes. Okay, so now things are a little tight but we'll see. Sure enough, right at 45 minutes later, the captain says we're good to go and we push back from the gate and begin taxiing.

We approach the runway, number two for takeoff, when we just sit. By now it's daylight and I see the problem. Yeah, fog in OKC has reduced our minimum visiblity to the point nothing is leaving. "We're screwed" I tell Jennifer. Finally, after another agonizing wait (and three hours late) we're airborne. I'm thinking maybe the ground hold on Atlanta traffic would put enough flights late for us to make our original connection...or maybe not.

We make Atlanta, deplane and check the monitors in the terminal. We've missed our original connection by about 22 minutes. Closer than I thought but now we have to scramble. At this point, all I can say is that Delta's personnel in Atlanta are waaaay less than helpful. As a matter of fact, they suck. But that's another post at another place. The best we can come up with is another Delta flight arriving in Tampa at 3:12 p.m.. This is not good. The only positive is that I'm able to talk us into row 20 on the 757 which is the row next to the door. Good for a quick exit.

As we sit in Atlanta, the phone calls start. Jennifer calls the Carnival customer service number on our docs and they offer as much help as the can. They provide us the number to the port and suggest we call. Busy signal. Next phone call goes to travel insurance. They tell us we have to make the cruise at one of our ports of call to be able to claim unused portions of the trip. Okay, Jenn, start using that IPhone to check airfare from Tampa to Cayman. Way too expensive. Then I realize I brought my phone with me. (I hate cell phones and rarely use mine.)

While Jenn is Googling potential travel to Cozumel to catch the ship, I call the port. This is where things start to go a little better. I reach a Carnival port agent by the name of Linda. She was an angel. A very calming voice in a hectic early afternoon. As I explained to her our situation, she took our information (name, cabin number, etc.). She asked when we'd arrive and I told her 3:12 was our scheduled arrival. "You should be okay", she said. She explained to call her immediately upon touch down in Tampa. Look for the Carnival reps at baggage claim she said. Linda says "Now one thing, you may not have time to wait for your luggage. You may have to go without. Talk to our people in baggage claim and they'll get your luggage to you in Grand Cayman." I'm thinking no problem, we'll buy a few necessities in the gift shop and skip first formal night but if we make the cruise, so be it.

In the meantime, Jennifer has called a cab company in Tampa to arrange to have a taxi waiting for us at baggage claim. Good move. I call Linda one last time as we're boarding the plane and tell her I'll talk to her soon. As we taxied in Atlanta, all I'm thinking is that I don't want the pilot to come on the inercom and say that we're number 20 for takeoff and to just sit back and relax. To my relief, things go better than I anticipated and we're off the ground only around 15 minutes late. Things aren't looking great and Jennifer and I say nothing during the flight. Arrival in Tampa at 3:19, the pilot made up some time. Fortunately, first ones off the plane and now it starts to look like an episode of the "Amazing Race".

Jennifer and I are sprinting (literally) up the jetway and through the terminal to the shuttles to baggage claim. She starts to lag and I'm yelling at her, "You gotta dig!! Go Go Go!!" It was ugly and she was a trooper. We make it to baggage claim. No Carnival reps. Crap. I'm on the phone, trying to breathe and dial Linda at the same time. Now we're just looking for a cab to get us to the pier. Then right before us are our bags. They made the earlier flight we couldn't. Now, I'm thinking just grab any taxi and go. Not so fast in Tampa. There were no taxis lined up at baggage claim like at most other airports. There is a taxi stand and we ask for a big taxi as we have four max size bags weighing right at 50 lbs. each. This guy was a moron. No help and now we're waiting. In the meantime, Jennifer is contacting the cab company she called from Atlanta. The driver is waiting for us on the top floor of the parking garage. GO! GO!

We make it up, find him, load up and ask him to haul ass to the pier and we'll make it worth his while. Once we clear the airport, the drive seems to take forever but I'm looking at his speedometer and he's like 20 over the speed limit. We wind through the streets of downtown Tampa and finally see the pier. The Legend is still there. We might make this after all. We pull up to the pier when we hear "Uh oh" from the driver. "What, what?" we're saying. The big gate at the pier is rolled down. Not good. So this is how it ends? We're standing at the pier as the Legend pushes away. Crap. Then we see a door to our right. The workers are frantically motioning us over. I'm grabbing bags, Jennifer's giving our driver double the fare. A young female security guard takes our bags from us and rushes away.

Carnival's pier personnel are there. We're running toward registration. And then there's Linda. "You're okay", she says. Security, registration, sign and sail cards, the familiar "ding" of the security picture were all a blur. We were still trying to run up the gangway when Carnival's personnel were reassuring us "You're okay. You're going to make it.".

We pass from the gangway to the ship's atrium at 3:54 p.m.. We did, in fact, make it. We tried hard to catch our breath as we headed toward our aft balcony. The Legend pushes away from the pier at 4:10 p.m. as the rain begins to fall. We can't believe what we've just gone through.

Our luggage arrived to our cabin by 4:45 and we were off on a great cruise. Needless to say that evening included several cocktails and a vow to never, ever fly in on the day of the cruise.

I can say that the Carnival representatives at the Tampa pier were amazing. Linda was a calming voice who helped us beyond belief. It was nice just to hear someone trying to talk us through. We've contacted her superiors in Tampa to heap praise upon her.

Bottom line to a long story, well I think you get it.....

[Mrs.C05]

Wow, what a great ended!!! I can only imagine what it was like rushing and worrying, etc. Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to note that in my brain, if we fly anywhere for a cruise.

[kthy66]

WOW! So glad you made it!
Now apply for the amazing race! you already had the dress rehearsal!

[hill6]

Wow. Glad you made it though.

[sweeks82]

Wow!! What a story. I'm so glad that you made it. It makes me glad that we're getting to Tampa the morning the day before our cruise.

[Crusin6]

I think Linda is your guardian angel!!!!

[scgamecock]

Phew! that post was stressful to read. So glad ya'll made it!

[Livin4Real]

Congratulations on making it! Awesome story, lesson learned

[scchasgal]

You had me sitting on the edge of my seat. You write very well.

[MDSue]

Great story and great ending. I came close to missing a cruise out of Galveston due to severe storms in route. Now I always fly in a day ahead of time. I would just die if I had to watch my cruise ship sail away after waiting all year to go.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Wow what an experience, I think you should send a letter to Carnival letting them know how helpful Linda was. How was the rest of your cruise?

[jayesouthworth]

OMG! You had me in suspense the whole time! Are you a suspense writer? Whew! I'm glad you made it okay and had a great time! It was a good story to be told here!

[ApacheWife22]

Wow, I am out of breath just reading the story. Glad you made it.

[gargoyle999]

A good story for anyone thinking about flying in the day of. You are certainly taking your chances if you do. Glad you made it!

[Carnival Platinum Cruiser]

USAIR flight out of GSP at 7am had mechanical problems so once we got back off the plane, we ran back down to the ticket counter. My wife standed in line while I went outside to get some fresh air for a minute. Low and behold there was a USAIR rep outside having a smoke and we started talking. She put her smoke out after I explained the situation and went to her computer and got us a flight on a turboprop to CLT an hour later. Problem is we would miss our connection in CLT and everything was booked solid to miami on ALL airlines prior to a no later than 3PM arrival.
She got on the phone and spoke to some ticket agent supervisor in CLT who overrode the waiting list for a flight to Ft. Lauderdale instead of miami arriving at 2PM. She also retrieved our bags on the cancelled flight and made sure they were put on the right palne. She also went so far to have a FREE courtesy van waiting in FLL for a 20 minute ride to the miami cruiseport. We arrived at the cruiseport in Miami @ 2:40 PM with an hour to spare.

Call it fate or whatever but if I had not stepped outside for some air or she was not on a smoke break who knows what would have transpired.

[Carnival Platinum Cruiser]

OP: Did not intend to hijack your thread...your story just brought back my experience in amazing detail in my mind even after 5 years.
Glad you made it.

[cuyahoga11]

So glad you made it. I will never fly of the day of again after the time we arrived but luggage did not. But your story shoots down the theory that you MUST be on the ship 90 minutes before sailaway for the manifest to be completed.

[ShaynaS]

So glad you made it!!! BTW my mom was on that cruise too.

[deborahjo]

So nice to hear a good story about Carnival. What a drama to that special ahhhhh feeling.

[afcj1]

Well, I knew it was going to be bad the moment I read that it was a Delta flight I don't think I recall ever reading anything positive about them on these boards.

So glad you both made it. That's one heck of a story.