Flight arrives 1 am - where do you wait

Gosh! They actually booked you to arrive at 1 am and then didn't offer a hotel for the night? How strange. Is this the way EZ Air plans their travel for cruisers?

 

I guess you will be either sitting a long time at the airport, or finding your own hotel to stay at for the remaining 8-10 hours before you can arrive at the pier.

Not strange at all, you get the air they don't have any responsibility to add a hotel. Does any of the airline websites offer a hotel if you book screwed up times on your flight? No. So why should they here? Its air only!

Either change your flight to earlier and book a room, sleep & have breakfast before boarding.

Other wise you are going to be exhausted and miserable at 1am as Princess won't be helping you :(

We usually arrive in Fort L at midnight from Edmonton (our travel day is typically 12 hrs with at least one, if not two, layovers). We've always had a hotel booked and either take their free shuttle, if available, or take a cab ($15 give or take). We sleep a good 8 hrs, have breakfast at the hotel (usually end up in a hotel with a free breakfast), and then spend an hr or two at the neighbouring Kmart picking up a few essentials (Gatorade for the kids, etc) and then at Ross at which I purchase a couple of casual and formal cruise dresses. No Ross in Canada as yet . We stay by Oakwood Plaza as it has all the above less than a 3 min walk away, as well as a Chipotle across the street (this, if we happen to get an earlier flight that gets us there in time for a late supper. No Chipotle in Canada either :mad: are you listening Canadian entrepreneurs?). At Christmas, we paid only $115 (and this was at a peak time) at the Quality Inn as it had free shuttle from the airport, free breakfast, and free port shuttle - huge savings for a family of 4. Totally rudimentary hotel, but great for 8 hrs' sleep and a shower. More info than you probably wanted! I can't imagine being able to enjoy my first couple of days on board after hanging at the airport all night.

I really can't believe that she posted they did that.

Just bear in mind that this couple (who cruise for over 3 months each winter) had spend over a 100 days at sea by this point, so being bagged for the first couple of days of their next cruise wouldn't be an issue. If you only have a week long cruise, you want to enjoy each minute without feeling like you're going to nod off.

Either change your flight to earlier and book a room, sleep & have breakfast before boarding.

 

Other wise you are going to be exhausted and miserable at 1am as Princess won't be helping you :(

We do not know why this flight time was booked. It could be that the OP could not leave for vacation until after work that day.

Thanks everyone. We want to use EZ Air because this is for a Transatlantic and booking the air on our own is expensive. Finding a non stop for the return is our priority so we might have to accept less than perfect for the first leg. Usually we fly in the day before but this time I have to work that morning.

I think our best bet is to pick a flight that gets us in the evening before and book a hotel for that night.

Thanks everyone. We want to use EZ Air because this is for a Transatlantic and booking the air on our own is expensive. Finding a non stop for the return is our priority so we might have to accept less than perfect for the first leg. Usually we fly in the day before but this time I have to work that morning.

 

I think our best bet is to pick a flight that gets us in the evening before and book a hotel for that night.

Are you aware that you can use EZ Air with Princess to book ONLY the return flight of your TA? EZ Air now has the option of booking the departing, returning or both ways. It would be cheaper and much more convenient for you to book your own air from VA to FLL and then book EZ Air with Princess for your return from your TA.

That being said....there is NO way I'd take a chance to fly in the same day as a TA leaves. If you miss the ship.....you are out of luck. No way to catch up with a ship in the middle of the ocean.

 

I really can't believe that she posted they did that.

Lew

Plenty of advice already... I would get an earlier flight or a hotel room but for whatever it is worth there is a blogger by the screen name of pescado amarillo and she and her husband spent the night at the FLL airport on February 9. You can check her experience here:

 

http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/2015_02_09_archive.html

Why on earth would anyone want to start a cruise or any other time off in this manner?....the sleepless night and stress will take 2 days to recover ?????

Why on earth would anyone want to start a cruise or any other time off in this manner?....the sleepless night and stress will take 2 days to recover ?????

Why? Because we are all different. Although this may not be workable for all, it may be workable for some.

Why on earth would anyone want to start a cruise or any other time off in this manner?....the sleepless night and stress will take 2 days to recover ?????

....because they're not starting their cruise. When they spent the night at the airport in January, they had already been cruising non-stop since mid October. They needed to go home and were re-starting their back to backs again when they spent the night at the airport. If you're spending 150 days, almost non-stop cruising, one night in the middle of that 150 days at the airport will not matter much. However, if you're only doing a one or two week cruise and start it at the airport sleeping, then, yes, you might waste a couple of cruise days being overly tired - not something I'd want to do. However, their experience was totally a different matter.

Why? Because we are all different. Although this may not be workable for all, it may be workable for some.

Exactly, whats the big deal?

We have done this a few times.

I did consider posting about our 6 1/2 hours spent at the Fort Lauderdale airport, knowing it would give rise to judgmental comments, but then I figured, "What the heck?" I mean, my life is pretty much an open book for 4 to 5 months a year already. Everything we do or don't do is open to public scrutiny, but, in the interest of providing some (hopefully) fun and helpful information, I willingly accept that risk. And when I considered it against some of the other open confessions (heck...bragging) we've seen here on Cruise Critic, about chair hogging and cheating with the drink packages and sneaking alcohol on board and ditching the muster drill, I didn't feel that doing something safely and legally was cause for embarrassment. We certainly aren't the first people to spend several hours in an airport; in fact, we weren't the only ones that night, in the area of the airport we sat in.

I didn't post that information for my benefit...we know what we did and how we did it. I posted it because someone else might find it useful. Something that seems to get lost, in the world but definitely on Cruise Critic, is that everyone's reality is not the same. I get weary of reading, "I would never (pick any of the following) cruise without a suite/ mini suite/ balcony/ at least an ocean view cabin; not fly in a day/ two/ three early; book a flight out of Fort Lauderdale before noon; eat cruise ship lobster/ steak/ animal products of any kind"; etc. Not everyone has the ability to cruise in anything other than an inside cabin, fly in early or fly at all (you'd be surprised how many people drive through the night in snowstorms to get to a cruise on time), and some would never have the opportunity to enjoy lobster or filet mignon if not on a cruise ship and so aren't concerned that what they're eating isn't the best anywhere.

For every person who thought "I would never spend several hours sleeping in an airport", there are apparently enough who do it to warrant an entire website dedicated to it. In our case, it was a choice...we chose not to spend $50 an hour for 7 restless hours in a hotel; some people might not have other options. I wanted to publish our experience for their benefit, so that they might be able to make it easier for themselves.

Re: Doing it again. I would not set out to do it, if we could avoid it. But if 6 1/2 hours in the Fort Lauderdale airport are all that stand between me and a last minute, inexpensive cruise, yes, I'll be there, in the high backed leather chairs near the Hertz counter, hopefully catching a few hours of sleep.

Re: Stress. We're lucky that our lives do include new experiences, and even luckier that we don't get stressed by them.

Re: Ruining two days of our cruise. A one hour nap and one early bedtime had us fully recovered. We'll be cruising 123 nights this winter, and didn't consider that a huge sacrifice. I certainly understand that others might feel differently. When we both worked and cruised two weeks a year, we would have, too.

I did consider posting about our 6 1/2 hours spent at the Fort Lauderdale airport, knowing it would give rise to judgmental comments, but then I figured, "What the heck?" I mean, my life is pretty much an open book for 4 to 5 months a year already. Everything we do or don't do is open to public scrutiny, but, in the interest of providing some (hopefully) fun and helpful information, I willingly accept that risk. And when I considered it against some of the other open confessions (heck...bragging) we've seen here on Cruise Critic, about chair hogging and cheating with the drink packages and sneaking alcohol on board and ditching the muster drill, I didn't feel that doing something safely and legally was cause for embarrassment. We certainly aren't the first people to spend several hours in an airport; in fact, we weren't the only ones that night, in the area of the airport we sat in.

 

I didn't post that information for my benefit...we know what we did and how we did it. I posted it because someone else might find it useful. Something that seems to get lost, in the world but definitely on Cruise Critic......

P.A. Perhaps I should not have posted the link to your blog on this thread. I did so because it contained meaningful information for those considering a few hours at the airport. The judgmental types here need to move to something else as they no doubt will.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise, no doubt you will... :):):)

I did consider posting about our 6 1/2 hours spent at the Fort Lauderdale airport, knowing it would give rise to judgmental comments, but then I figured, "What the heck?" I mean, my life is pretty much an open book for 4 to 5 months a year already. Everything we do or don't do is open to public scrutiny, but, in the interest of providing some (hopefully) fun and helpful information, I willingly accept that risk. And when I considered it against some of the other open confessions (heck...bragging) we've seen here on Cruise Critic, about chair hogging and cheating with the drink packages and sneaking alcohol on board and ditching the muster drill, I didn't feel that doing something safely and legally was cause for embarrassment. We certainly aren't the first people to spend several hours in an airport; in fact, we weren't the only ones that night, in the area of the airport we sat in.

 

I didn't post that information for my benefit...we know what we did and how we did it. I posted it because someone else might find it useful. Something that seems to get lost, in the world but definitely on Cruise Critic, is that everyone's reality is not the same. I get weary of reading, "I would never (pick any of the following) cruise without a suite/ mini suite/ balcony/ at least an ocean view cabin; not fly in a day/ two/ three early; book a flight out of Fort Lauderdale before noon; eat cruise ship lobster/ steak/ animal products of any kind"; etc. Not everyone has the ability to cruise in anything other than an inside cabin, fly in early or fly at all (you'd be surprised how many people drive through the night in snowstorms to get to a cruise on time), and some would never have the opportunity to enjoy lobster or filet mignon if not on a cruise ship and so aren't concerned that what they're eating isn't the best anywhere.

 

For every person who thought "I would never spend several hours sleeping in an airport", there are apparently enough who do it to warrant an entire website dedicated to it. In our case, it was a choice...we chose not to spend $50 an hour for 7 restless hours in a hotel; some people might not have other options. I wanted to publish our experience for their benefit, so that they might be able to make it easier for themselves.

 

Re: Doing it again. I would not set out to do it, if we could avoid it. But if 6 1/2 hours in the Fort Lauderdale airport are all that stand between me and a last minute, inexpensive cruise, yes, I'll be there, in the high backed leather chairs near the Hertz counter, hopefully catching a few hours of sleep.

 

Re: Stress. We're lucky that our lives do include new experiences, and even luckier that we don't get stressed by them.

 

Re: Ruining two days of our cruise. A one hour nap and one early bedtime had us fully recovered. We'll be cruising 123 nights this winter, and didn't consider that a huge sacrifice. I certainly understand that others might feel differently. When we both worked and cruised two weeks a year, we would have, too.

Hi, PA! Just wanted to let you know that you and your husband are my heroes! You are living the life I want to be living in my retirement years. I have been reading your blogs and hope that you will continue with them on your future adventures. You have provided some excellent information for anyone who might be stuck at an airport overnight.

I love cruise critic but am constantly baffled by the folks who have decided that the way they do things, or what they like/dislike, or how they would react to a given situation is the only right and rational way to go.They then go on to to express their concern/ disapproval/admonition or even anger when others don't march to their drum.

Friends, this is a forum about vacation! Relax and let everyone do their thing and have no concern if it differs from your thing.

...

 

I didn't post that information for my benefit...we know what we did and how we did it. I posted it because someone else might find it useful. Something that seems to get lost, in the world but definitely on Cruise Critic, is that everyone's reality is not the same. I get weary of reading, "I would never (pick any of the following) cruise without a suite/ mini suite/ balcony/ at least an ocean view cabin; not fly in a day/ two/ three early; book a flight out of Fort Lauderdale before noon; eat cruise ship lobster/ steak/ animal products of any kind"; etc. Not everyone has the ability to cruise in anything other than an inside cabin, fly in early or fly at all (you'd be surprised how many people drive through the night in snowstorms to get to a cruise on time), and some would never have the opportunity to enjoy lobster or filet mignon if not on a cruise ship and so aren't concerned that what they're eating isn't the best anywhere.

 

For every person who thought "I would never spend several hours sleeping in an airport", there are apparently enough who do it to warrant an entire website dedicated to it. In our case, it was a choice...we chose not to spend $50 an hour for 7 restless hours in a hotel; some people might not have other options. I wanted to publish our experience for their benefit, so that they might be able to make it easier for themselves.

 

...

 

Re: Stress. We're lucky that our lives do include new experiences, and even luckier that we don't get stressed by them. ...

P.A. Perhaps I should not have posted the link to your blog on this thread. I did so because it contained meaningful information for those considering a few hours at the airport. The judgmental types here need to move to something else as they no doubt will.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise, no doubt you will... :):):)

Thank you PescadoAmarillo for blogging about your experience and thank you bluesea321 for linking to it! I enjoy reading about people's travel ingenuity and I think P.A. maintained a positive attitude about the experience. I try to never say never (wait - was that a 'never'?) because one never knows (another 'never'!) what we'll do if a certain combination of events, timing, physical stamina, mental and emotional stamina, etc. befalls us. But at least we know what our options are.

Enjoy your cruise!

Recently I had to spend the night in O'Hare airport. Not because I wanted to. Not because I didn't want to spend any extra money or any other reason then flights were screwed up and by the time our connecting flight made it that far there were literally no hotel rooms to be had anywhere. Would loved to have had the type of info tha PA posted for that airport. Sorry folks but some times things just do not work out like you want them too and you do the best with what is at hand.

Thanks everyone. We want to use EZ Air because this is for a Transatlantic and booking the air on our own is expensive. Finding a non stop for the return is our priority so we might have to accept less than perfect for the first leg. Usually we fly in the day before but this time I have to work that morning.

 

I think our best bet is to pick a flight that gets us in the evening before and book a hotel for that night.

GENIUS! :rolleyes:

I love cruise critic but am constantly baffled by the folks who have decided that the way they do things, or what they like/dislike, or how they would react to a given situation is the only right and rational way to go.They then go on to to express their concern/ disapproval/admonition or even anger when others don't march to their drum.

Friends, this is a forum about vacation! Relax and let everyone do their thing and have no concern if it differs from your thing.

I agree 100%, they can't handle any hint of a compromise in a situation. :(

Dogmatic and inflexible.