Good reason to have a passport

Update: They stayed in Miami Saturday and Sunday nights and booked a short RCCL cruise to the Bahamas that left Miami on Monday. Although they had changed their original flight to head back to Atlanta the next morning, a person with some common sense at Delta waived the change fees for them. They were so disappointed in the way Carnival handled it that they will not cruise Carnival again. If the ship had waited 10 more minutes they would have made it.

Update: They stayed in Miami Saturday and Sunday nights and booked a short RCCL cruise to the Bahamas that left Miami on Monday. Although they had changed their original flight to head back to Atlanta the next morning, a person with some common sense at Delta waived the change fees for them. They were so disappointed in the way Carnival handled it that they will not cruise Carnival again. If the ship had waited 10 more minutes they would have made it.

I can totally understand they are upset, but I don't see how Carnival is at fault in this situation. They CHOSE to fly in the day of the cruise. They didn't have insurance. Stuff happens, unfortunately, and it happened to them. I don't understand how they would expect Carnival to hold the ship for them.:confused::confused:

I can totally understand they are upset, but I don't see how Carnival is at fault in this situation. They CHOSE to fly in the day of the cruise. They didn't have insurance. Stuff happens, unfortunately, and it happened to them. I don't understand how they would expect Carnival to hold the ship for them.:confused::confused:

They did have insurance purchased from carnival. Read the posts

Update: They stayed in Miami Saturday and Sunday nights and booked a short RCCL cruise to the Bahamas that left Miami on Monday. Although they had changed their original flight to head back to Atlanta the next morning, a person with some common sense at Delta waived the change fees for them. They were so disappointed in the way Carnival handled it that they will not cruise Carnival again. If the ship had waited 10 more minutes they would have made it.

Just wondering. Did they call the ship to tell them they were 10 minutes away? And plead with them to wait?

Update: They stayed in Miami Saturday and Sunday nights and booked a short RCCL cruise to the Bahamas that left Miami on Monday. Although they had changed their original flight to head back to Atlanta the next morning, a person with some common sense at Delta waived the change fees for them. They were so disappointed in the way Carnival handled it that they will not cruise Carnival again. If the ship had waited 10 more minutes they would have made it.

Their choice. I hope they also never opt to fly in the day of the cruise. There's no guarantee any cruiseline will wait.

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Reading this thread you'd think nearly everyone flies in the day before but the airport is always full on cruisers and ship reps the sail day. For all the fly in the day before people, if weather cancels your flight you will probably be stand by until you can get another flight and sometimes the flights are booked solid for days. Just sayin.

You and others have been fortunate, but unfortunately there's a first time for everything. My house burned down, but it wasn't supposed to. Thank God for insurance. My friend had to cancel an air flight (he had to cancel from a hospital room). That wasn't supposed to happen either. For some unknown reason, it was the first time he'd bought insurance, and got a full refund with a doctor's note. So, one never knows when the "first time" will occur.

I agree we had two cruises booked when my husband went to work on September 9th had a widow maker heart attack and died on September 10th ..... he had not been sick at all and had never had heart problems ... thankfully we had insurance - he had just celebrated his 52nd birthday

Reading this thread you'd think nearly everyone flies in the day before but the airport is always full on cruisers and ship reps the sail day. For all the fly in the day before people, if weather cancels your flight you will probably be stand by until you can get another flight and sometimes the flights are booked solid for days. Just sayin.

On my shuttle to the airport in February, there was a group who were flying in 2 days earlier than the day before their cruise....... to beat an expected snow storm in the Midwest. I don't cruise in the winter, but if I did, I was sure be weather watching so I could do that too!

Also, If for some reason my flight gets cancelled the day before due to thunderstorms or mechanical problems, and I am put on standby for the next day.....I'll be renting a car or driving my car and getting to the port. Several people did that last winter.....but at least I'd have a chance....not like if I flew in THE day of the cruise.

Plus we all have passports and buy insurance. I try to be prepared....like the Boy Scouts! :)

I would take a different lesson from this....good reason to fly in the day before.

I agree. I always plan a cruise vacation that allows me to arrive at least the day before (flying or driving).

Having a passport is important, but my first priority is getting to the port in plenty of time before the ship leaves. I do not want to start my vacation off by hopping another plane, and meeting the ship somewhere after the cruise has already begun.

Reading this thread you'd think nearly everyone flies in the day before but the airport is always full on cruisers and ship reps the sail day. For all the fly in the day before people, if weather cancels your flight you will probably be stand by until you can get another flight and sometimes the flights are booked solid for days. Just sayin.

But we would have more of a fighting chance to get there and the odds would be more in our favor. I would try my hardest to rearrange flights, rent a car to another airport or drive all the way there if we had to. That is where insurance helps along with the extra time to get it done.

We have Travel Assist Insurance which covers any medical situations (we pay a yearly premium), I pay for my airline tickets and hotel with my credit card so they are covered but I do gamble the cruise cost, we cruise bare minimum pricing so I feel I can eat that cost if something happened we have done this for 17 cruises. We have a passport and we fly or drive the day before. I may regret it if we did have to cancel but that is a chance I am well aware I am taking. I feel so sorry for anyone that misses their cruise no matter what the circumstances it has to be heart breaking but I am with the other posters they were in Florida they had a flight back I would have found a hotel and made the best of it.

We have Travel Assist Insurance which covers any medical situations (we pay a yearly premium), I pay for my airline tickets and hotel with my credit card so they are covered but I do gamble the cruise cost, we cruise bare minimum pricing so I feel I can eat that cost if something happened we have done this for 17 cruises. We have a passport and we fly or drive the day before. I may regret it if we did have to cancel but that is a chance I am well aware I am taking. I feel so sorry for anyone that misses their cruise no matter what the circumstances it has to be heart breaking but I am with the other posters they were in Florida they had a flight back I would have found a hotel and made the best of it.

Agree, if you can afford to eat the cruise cost, and/or if you take a lot of cruises, it makes sense to pass up cancelation insurance. But not medical or evacuation coverage.

I can totally understand they are upset, but I don't see how Carnival is at fault in this situation. They CHOSE to fly in the day of the cruise. They didn't have insurance. Stuff happens, unfortunately, and it happened to them. I don't understand how they would expect Carnival to hold the ship for them.:confused::confused:

They DID have Carnival's insurance. They had to work through Friday so flying in the day of the cruise was their only option. Their beef is that Delta was in touch with Carnival and they were originally told by Delta that the ship would be held. Then, they were also told that Delta would have a plane flown in so they would be on their way by 12:30pm and arrive around 3pm. By the time it became evident that no Delta plane was coming to get them in time it was way too late to rent a car. The Delta replacement flight did not take off until 3:35 pm and arrived in Miami just before 5pm.

I suggested that they call the Travel Hot Line Number on their documents to advise Carnival and seek info about catching up, if necessary. That is who told them they would not wait, which was in direct contradiction to what Delta advised. And, they were of no assistance in giving them information on getting to the next port,. They also told them the insurance company was closed for the weekend so there was no help from Carnival's insurance. There were a large number of cruisers on that flight.

We don't know for sure that all the NCL passengers booked air with NCL. Perhaps they decided that 50 was a large enough number to hold the flight for.

Delta also needs to be faulted for flying crappy 30 year old 727's. I used to fly to Orlando or Jacksonville on United or Southwest and drive down to Daytona rather than fly Delta into DAB. I was sorry when Air Tran pulled out of DAB because they were great.

Their choice. I hope they also never opt to fly in the day of the cruise. There's no guarantee any cruiseline will wait.

 

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They will never fly in the day of again.

We learned our lesson in 1996 (also with Delta) when they oversold the flight and a bunch of cruisers were bumped from the connecting flight in Atlanta and missed the ship in San Juan. FYI - Carnival booked the airfare!

Thankfully, our TA made sure we had seat assignments for all segments. Those without seat assignments were so out of luck.

If I lived in Atlanta, I would be driving to Miami....:cool:

A Delta flight (1865) from Atlanta to Miami made an emergency landing in Jacksonville today. There are Breeze cruisers on the flight. The replacement plane is not scheduled to leave Jacksonville until 3:35 and arrive in Miami until 4:56pm. Looks like they will not hold the ship. Catching up will be a pain - first port is Grand Turk - no direct flights into there (only puddle jumpers from Providenciales). Hopefully, those with passports can catch up in the Dominican Republic in a few days. Those without passports will be totally out of luck.

This story is my biggest fear and the reason why we travel the day before we sail. I hope everyone made it to the ship and was able to salvage some of their vacation. I just completed an application to renew my passport and WOW! When did the renewal go up to $110?!

Delta also needs to be faulted for flying crappy 30 year old 727's.

You need to get your facts straight. Delta hasn't flown a 727 in over a decade. All the old DC-9's are gone as well. In addition, they have ordered (and are already receiving) 100 brand new Boeing 737-900's, 45 Airbus 321's, 10 Airbus 330's, and 18 Boeing 787's, making it one of the most modern fleets in the sky.

I was sorry when Air Tran pulled out of DAB because they were great.

On Dec 28th, Air Tran will cease to exist as they get merged.

But you are in luck! Delta has chosen to acquire all 88 of Air Tran's efficient Boeing 717-200's and upgrade them to Delta standards. Chances are that you'll be on a former Air Tran 717 if you fly on Delta to DAB since this will be one of the typical routes for this type of airplane.:)

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On my shuttle to the airport in February, there was a group who were flying in 2 days earlier than the day before their cruise....... to beat an expected snow storm in the Midwest. I don't cruise in the winter, but if I did, I was sure be weather watching so I could do that too!

 

 

Also, If for some reason my flight gets cancelled the day before due to thunderstorms or mechanical problems, and I am put on standby for the next day.....I'll be renting a car or driving my car and getting to the port. Several people did that last winter.....but at least I'd have a chance....not like if I flew in THE day of the cruise.

 

 

Plus we all have passports and buy insurance. I try to be prepared....like the Boy Scouts! :)

That's all you can do but I know where you live and you can only drive to NO or Galveston in a day.

If I lived in Atlanta, I would be driving to Miami....:cool:

We live in Atlanta. We drive. Miami is a bit exhausting, but Port Canaveral, Tampa and Jacksonville are all an easy drive which is why we will look at those ports first.

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I think you hit the nail on the head. You can travel the length of the U.S. without needing anything as I.D. (except driver's license in the case you're stopped by the cops). In Europe, you need a passport to travel to each country (many of these countries are as large or smaller than one U.S. state). I didn't have a passport until I was 24 years old. Many of us grew up with parents who wanted to explore the U.S. first (and that can take a lifetime to do!!!).

And don't forget, up until September 11th you could also travel through Canada and Mexico with only your drivers license and birth certificate. I lived near the Canadian boarder, most if the time they didn't even stop you.