Can I Make the Ship or my Flight

Not a day goes by without at least one person asking the subject question after they have booked either impossible or close there to connections. The more experienced travellers try to offer the best advice based upon experience and when the answer is "if everything is perfect" I fear we sometimes cause the OP a bit of stress. I'm posting this to help travellers to a new airport or country get it right the first time and avoid stress or financial charges with changing reservations. If you are even the slightest bit in doubt about connections ask before you leap. I highly doubt that there is an airport or cruise departure city that at least a dozen regular posters on here have not been through and could give you the details on. As the old saying goes "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" For what it's worth.

Gunner22aa,

You're preaching to the choir here.

Gunner22aa,

You're preaching to the choir here.

I agree. Unfortunately, too often $$$ gets in the way of common sense.

I realize that the majority of the people who read my post are those that could be offering the advice and not the ones that will find themselves in a bad situation. I only hope there is one "soloist" out there that takes the time to read it first.

cheers

I'm aware of, and have followed, the wisdom of arriving the day before a cruise to avoid missing the ship because of plane delays, cancellations, etc. This time, though it's a little different. We are thinking of spending a few days in Paris pre-cruise and then flying to Venice to meet our ship, as opposed to flying directly from New York for the cruise. Does this advice still apply? We'd like to maximize our time in Paris since we'll be in Venice for several days post-cruise. Would we be taking a chance flying in on an early flight (which should take about 2.5 hours) the day of the cruise (which is a Fri. if it makes a difference) or should we still play it safe and arrive the day before? Thank you for your help!

I'm aware of, and have followed, the wisdom of arriving the day before a cruise to avoid missing the ship because of plane delays, cancellations, etc. This time, though it's a little different. We are thinking of spending a few days in Paris pre-cruise and then flying to Venice to meet our ship, as opposed to flying directly from New York for the cruise. Does this advice still apply? We'd like to maximize our time in Paris since we'll be in Venice for several days post-cruise. Would we be taking a chance flying in on an early flight (which should take about 2.5 hours) the day of the cruise (which is a Fri. if it makes a difference) or should we still play it safe and arrive the day before? Thank you for your help!

No matter where it is, I would always advise going a day before.

I've been caught in sudden strikes in Paris before now and would not risk it again.

We are thinking of spending a few days in Paris pre-cruise and then flying to Venice to meet our ship, as opposed to flying directly from New York for the cruise. Does this advice still apply? We'd like to maximize our time in Paris since we'll be in Venice for several days post-cruise. Would we be taking a chance flying in on an early flight (which should take about 2.5 hours) the day of the cruise (which is a Fri. if it makes a difference) or should we still play it safe and arrive the day before? Thank you for your help!

I don't know when you are traveling, but I did a quick look at early morning, nonstop flights on Fridays in June, CDG-VCE and they were quite expensive! And, there aren't very many of them (AF€567.05) . For the dates I checked, there was an SAS flight on Thursdays for €151 that had one stop.

That's a lot of difference in price.

Almost always, when someone asks if they can make the connection from the plane to the cruise or vice versa, the question should never have been asked in the first place. The poster truly already knows this. They just want to find someone with the answer they want to hear ("yes, no problem.").

So in reality, for the most part those threads are worthless and just for those who truly have way too much time on their hands :)

We live in the UK and when cruising from a Med. port always fly in at least the day before (had a flight delayed for 18 hours once), even though we are only a couple of hours flying time from the ports.

Have you thought about swapping it round? Spend days in Venice pre-cruise and then Paris post-cruise. Personally I'd spend more time in Venice than Paris, but that's just me.

I'm aware of, and have followed, the wisdom of arriving the day before a cruise to avoid missing the ship because of plane delays, cancellations, etc. This time, though it's a little different. We are thinking of spending a few days in Paris pre-cruise and then flying to Venice to meet our ship, as opposed to flying directly from New York for the cruise. Does this advice still apply? We'd like to maximize our time in Paris since we'll be in Venice for several days post-cruise. Would we be taking a chance flying in on an early flight (which should take about 2.5 hours) the day of the cruise (which is a Fri. if it makes a difference) or should we still play it safe and arrive the day before? Thank you for your help!

I'm guessing your thinking is that you will already be in Europe so that is somehow safer. While it's safer than flying from the US to Venice same day, it's really no different than flying Chicago to Miami (for example) the day of the cruise..... you're already in the US, so what could go wrong, right? But you know things can possibly go wrong when you fly same day within the US, and it's no different than flying same day within Europe. So the answer to your questions is yes, you would still be taking a chance. Whether you are comfortable with the risks is something only you can determine.

I have been cruising out of Europe twice per year last year, and yearly for several years. I am usually gone a month with adding a few land based countries.

I have had good luck flying the discounters- Easyjet and Flybe many times. I tightly book when no cruise is involved and have taken the first morning flight to a cruise the same day a few times. Before booking, I've made sure there were at least 5 flights available if something happened, and I am not concerned about what the costs are. This is my zone.

You will have to find out what your level is.

Be well prepared to get to CDG airport early, lines can be out the door. If you haven't been to Paris before, realize it is a big, congested city that you must allow plenty of time for airport transfers. Last year's trip allowed me 4 hours (per my experience) leaving my hotel, and I just made my flight. :( Every snag happened.

Thank you to those who have been so generous with your time and constructive advice! I've only been to Europe once before: with my children on a school-sponsored trip for which I didn't have to worry about the arrangements. For our few other trips requiring air, I've always let a travel agent handle the arrangements. This is the first time I'm trying to do this myself and I don't want to make a mistake and waste time or money or even worse, ruin our vacation. Thanks to your advice, I now know we'll fly into Venice at least a day or two early. Since flying out of Paris seems like it could be a horror (especially if trying to make a connecting flight or cruise departure), we might even skip Paris and save it for next time...:)

Not a day goes by without at least one person asking the subject question after they have booked either impossible or close there to connections. The more experienced travellers try to offer the best advice based upon experience and when the answer is "if everything is perfect" I fear we sometimes cause the OP a bit of stress. I'm posting this to help travellers to a new airport or country get it right the first time and avoid stress or financial charges with changing reservations. If you are even the slightest bit in doubt about connections ask before you leap. I highly doubt that there is an airport or cruise departure city that at least a dozen regular posters on here have not been through and could give you the details on. As the old saying goes "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" For what it's worth.

I like to arrive at least two days before the cruise so that way I'm relaxed. For our upcoming New Orleans-Rome cruise I found a hotel about a mile from the cruise port and a flight that arrives New Orleans at 2:30 PM about 2 days before the cruise leaves. This makes it stress free and there is no rush to get to the port as the commute is pretty easy.

On the return we are spending a week in Rome so again no rush to get to the airport after the cruise. It gives us a stress-free debarkation day.

I agree that spending $$$ for a hotel is worth it because its extra security and you can tour a new city as well.

If you don't have the extra day then try a red-eye arriving in port early morning but thats tough. We lucked out being able to arrive San Juan last year at 10:00 AM for our Trans atlantic cruise which left late that evening.

It all boils down to what would happen if your flight is delayed and the next port is Ponto Degaldo Azores 8 days later which is the case of our upcoming cruise? Don't want to even go there.

I've always flown in the day before, but on November 17th I'm going to risk not doing it. We're flying from Tucson to LAX. Because we don't go on DST here, we'll arrive at the same time that we leave and Southwest has early flights. It's on a Sunday and not on or near a holiday, so I believe we'll be safe. Right now, they show a November 1st flight getting into LAX at 9 am, and with a prearranged shuttle, we should be fine. Of course, if a big blizzard is forecasted back east that week, I might change our plans. ;)