Flying same day...any bad experiences?

I'm looking at taking a red-eye to Ft Lauderdale in December for a sailing out of Miami. The flight is scheduled to arrive at 9:29 a.m., ship sails at 4:00 p.m. Is this a crazy thing to do? Saving the hotel cost is just an attractive option for me.

Where are you flying from and do you have any connections anywhere? For me the money saved on a hotel wouldn't be worth the anxiety I would have about something going wrong and me missing the flight, bags getting lost or something like that. But......that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

It depends where you are flying out of. If it's a popular airport that has several flights out of that airport to your cruise port, then it may be worth it. Worse comes to worse, if you miss your first flight, you can catch another one.

However, if there aren't many flights that go between the two ports, I would say that it's pretty risky. My parents took a flight on the same day once and thank god it was booked through the cruise company because the flight arrived later than expected and the cruise ship was forced to wait for them and some others from their flight. If it wasn't booked through the cruise lines, they would have arrived after the ship had sailed. :(

Many Delayed flight , missed flight, Civil unrest it can happen

With all the flight delays it would not be something I would chance. I always like to fly in a day before plus it adds an extra day to vacation and relaxing before boarding ship.

This would be WAY too stressful for me. Sorry. Have read WAY too many nightmare stories here on cruise critic. The cost of a cheap hotel room is well worth being frazzled. :)

You also have to worry about getting from Ft. Lauderdale Airport to Miami. Traffic....accidents...etc. You are taking the chance of missing the ship in that possible situation also.

The doom sayers seem to be out in force.

Flying a red eye with a 9:30 arrival should be fine. You have allowed plenty of time for any potential delays, and those flights instead of being delayed tend to be early, because your take off is so late that most of the flight congestion issues have resolved.

Yes, some time flights are delayed, but most delays are in the 15 minute range, not hours.

Ask savvy business travelers. they rely on flights to make their living and they do not hesitate to fly the day they have to be at a location.

Book that flight and have a good time on the cruise.

Another question is when are you cruising. You have two future ones in your signature. The second is in February, if my fingers are adding right. That is right in the middle of winter. If you are coming from an area prone to snow, that is just another headache.

We always fly day before but last October got a great deal for an October cruise. I didn't have vacation so worked ahead (I have an awesome boss) so didn't want to take another day. We were flying to NY and were supposed to land at 10 a.m. Well got a call at midnight that our flight was 4 hours delayed :(. I immediately called AA and got on a flight landing at 11:30 instead - only 4 seats left on that flight tho.

Personally I won't ever do that again. Too much stress.

Another question is when are you cruising. You have two future ones in your signature. The second is in February, if my fingers are adding right. That is right in the middle of winter. If you are coming from an area prone to snow, that is just another headache.

The Miracle cruises out of California ..Long Beach and the Magic cruises out of Miami.....so you are right....WINTER. BUT.....where is she flying FROM?

On our very first cruise, we almost missed the boat. We were flying Denver to Dallas to FLL, and there was a thunderstorm in Dallas. We sat on the runway for a few hours before they let us take off.

Fortunately, we booked the air through the cruise line (Princess), and there were quite a few of us on the delayed Dallas flights (multiple flights delayed). They let us off the plane first, and as soon as we got in the terminal, there were people with Princess signs directing us to RUN to the bus.

The ship finally left by about 8 pm, missing the departure time by 2 hours. After that, we've either gone out the day before the cruise, or driven (Denver to Miami is a LONG drive).

Funny story - one year we went at spring break. FLL has some rule on the hotels saying no more than 4 in a room, so with 3 kids, we would need two rooms. Our flight came in at 2 AM, so we just rented a minivan, parked it in the airport lot, and slept in the van until daybreak. We went shopping, had breakfast, then returned the van around 11 AM and took the shuttle to the port. Much cheaper than two spring break hotel rooms.

The doom sayers seem to be out in force.

 

Flying a red eye with a 9:30 arrival should be fine. You have allowed plenty of time for any potential delays, and those flights instead of being delayed tend to be early, because your take off is so late that most of the flight congestion issues have resolved.

 

Yes, some time flights are delayed, but most delays are in the 15 minute range, not hours.

 

Ask savvy business travelers. they rely on flights to make their living and they do not hesitate to fly the day they have to be at a location.

 

Book that flight and have a good time on the cruise.

There are doomsayers, and then there are the voices of experience! :p. My mother and I nearly missed our very first cruise due to a substantial flight delay. I'm still cruising, 23 years and 22 cruises later, but I've never booked a flight to arrive the same day again.

We had the whole experience of paying the cab driver extra to step on it, and of racing up the gangway with (heavy!) suitcases in hand, 10 minutes after the ship should have sailed. Since the rules have changed, we never would have made it on board today, and the stress was terrible even then! They had to sit me down in the lobby bar and put a drink in my hand before I could finish signing all the papers for check-in. ;)

So now I'm always at the port the day before, and two days before if I'm flying from a different country. As someone else said, it extends the holiday a bit, so DH is happy to go along with my plans.

The Miracle cruises out of California ..Long Beach and the Magic cruises out of Miami.....so you are right....WINTER. BUT.....where is she flying FROM?

Sorry for the confusion, I'll be flying from Portland, OR to Miami for a sailing on the Breeze (not on my signature yet ). There is one connecting flight, however, I can't remember where that is and will have to check. I have thought about weather but not in that connecting city.

Thanks for all your comments, I'm reading them all :).

Take the redeye, but do it a day earlier. Saving on hotel but missing the cruise is not good economy. EM

This would be WAY too stressful for me. Sorry. Have read WAY too many nightmare stories here on cruise critic. The cost of a cheap hotel room is well worth being frazzled.

Any suggestions on hotels? :-) I'd rather spend an extra $200 on the cruise than for a few hours in an overpriced hotel.

Before anyone days that I shouldn't cruise if I can't afford the hotel, I can afford it, I'm cheap by nature (until I get on board lol).

 

Funny story - one year we went at spring break. FLL has some rule on the hotels saying no more than 4 in a room, so with 3 kids, we would need two rooms. Our flight came in at 2 AM, so we just rented a minivan, parked it in the airport lot, and slept in the van until daybreak. We went shopping, had breakfast, then returned the van around 11 AM and took the shuttle to the port. Much cheaper than two spring break hotel rooms.

Haha, that is so something I would do! I love it!

Take the redeye, but do it a day earlier. Saving on hotel but missing the cruise is not good economy. EM

Very true!

Another vote for flying in a day early. My husband traveled weekly on business and was delayed numerous times by every reason imaginable. Often weather, but sometimes in a different area, delayed flight crews, the old standby "mechanical problems," luggage delays, etc. Many times he had the flight status with airlines to change flights, get on the next flight, etc., but flights are so full now that the average flyer is often stuck.

Everyone always talks of winter delays, but traveling to a cruise our worst delays were often caused by thunderstorms over Florida. Once diverted to Orlando instead of Miami and sat for a few hours waiting out the weather.

You seem to have made a sincere effort by taking an early morning red eye but I still wouldn't risk it. Price of a hotel room isn't that much in the big picture. Also you can board early and enjoy lunch on the ship - almost adds an extra half day to your cruise.

Don't do it.

You have to be on the ship 90 minutes before sailing.

There is a lot that can go wrong including:

Winter weather

Mechanical issue

Computer Issue impacting FAA, Airline, Flight or Airport

Security Breach of Airport, Airplane

Lack of sufficient flight personnel

And the list goes on and on and on.

Arrive one or more days before the cruise.

Keith

In 2000 I took my first cruise. We did not know better and booked the first flight out of the day--- arriving at the port at 9:30 Perfect gives a little time to get our luggage and make our way to the pier.

Except the plane was cancelled at 6:45 due to mechanical problems.

Looking for another flight out-- and were all sold out and completly full.

Ship sails at 4 - We finally found a flight to get us there but we only had like 30 minutes to spare. Of course the plane landed late and we had 15 minutes to get to the ship- paid a cab driver 50 bucks to get us there quickly.

the ship closed the ship as we were boarding- muster drill was happening so no elevators- we had to schlep our luggage to the back of the ship and down two decks--

took me 2 days to destress. Never will I do that again. Especially in winter months when you just have no idea when storms will hit

I'm looking at taking a red-eye to Ft Lauderdale in December for a sailing out of Miami. The flight is scheduled to arrive at 9:29 a.m., ship sails at 4:00 p.m. Is this a crazy thing to do? Saving the hotel cost is just an attractive option for me.

"Pennywise and pound foolish."

Given that you are asking this question, might we also assume that you are cutting corners eksewhere (e.g., no trip insurance or med evac).

Even with a non-winter direct flight, modern air travel has a significant number of delays. And what a previous poster suggests is the "don't worry about it" attitude of "savvy business travelers" doesn't mention that these frequent fliers have loyalty priorities for rebooking.

Pay for the hotel and go a day early. My sibling works for an airline at the airport and says there are delays all the time. Sometimes you get there but your baggage comes in the next day. Just because the delays don't happen to some one who has gone on 20 cruises does not mean that it is not happening to others.

Our last cruise we did a TA out of Ft Lauderdale. We booked our air through the cruise line but were arriving in at 12:45 am. We cruised on a Saturday. I figured it would be ok to leave home Friday and arrive in Ft Lauderdale Saturday am at 12:45 but dh didn't feel comfortable so we left late thursday and arrived Friday am instead. Hotel we booked stopped their shuttle at midnight so we had to pay a cab. Rented a car for the next day and then the day after that got on our ship all relaxed.

Even a short flight can be a problem. We were taking a flight out of Miami to Europe and flying to Miami from Orlando, near where we lived at the time. Cruise was from Barcelona and we were flying in three days early. Flight left Orlando on time but as we neared Miami, pilot came on and said "thunderstorm near airport" so we dithered around waiting in the air.

After a while, pilot comes on and says "we're going back to ORLANDO!" as we don't have enough fuel to stay here. Needless to say, when we finally got to Miami our flight was long gone. American was able to rebook us but on Spanish airline through Madrid. We finally got to Barcelona but luggage did not. It was good that we were there three days because suitcases were in Madrid and we only got luggage the night before cruise left.

Now I realize you are not going to Europe, but this is my cautionary tale and now I always go at least a day or two early if I am flying anywhere. I am fortunate that by living in Florida I can drive to most ports.

(I do have two other late flight stories but I won't bore you here.)

The doom sayers seem to be out in force.

 

Flying a red eye with a 9:30 arrival should be fine. You have allowed plenty of time for any potential delays, and those flights instead of being delayed tend to be early, because your take off is so late that most of the flight congestion issues have resolved.

 

Yes, some time flights are delayed, but most delays are in the 15 minute range, not hours.

 

Ask savvy business travelers. they rely on flights to make their living and they do not hesitate to fly the day they have to be at a location.

 

Book that flight and have a good time on the cruise.

WRONG!!! "Savvy business travelers" make informed decisions, and do not always economize without evaluating the risk. If it is a meeting they cannot afford to miss, they will make arrangements which will guarantee attendance: they surely will hesitate to fly that day. A cruiser flying (apparently cross country) should see the sailing as a meeting he cannot afford to miss.

You do not know several things: origination of flight, departure airport, whether a connection is involved. A flight from LA might not be impacted by heavy snow, Minneapolis might be different. Weather en route could foul up a connection. Mechanical problems can delay flights - a red eye is likely to be the last flight out - meaning no chance of catching a later flight.

Finally, why start a cruise feeling wrung out from an overnight flight?

"Pennywise and pound foolish."

Given that you are asking this question, might we also assume that you are cutting corners eksewhere (e.g., no trip insurance or med evac).

Even with a non-winter direct flight, modern air travel has a significant number of delays. And what a previous poster suggests is the "don't worry about it" attitude of "savvy business travelers" doesn't mention that these frequent fliers have loyalty priorities for rebooking.

One should never assume, we all know what that does ;).