Will I miss the ship?

I am booked with Princess as well. I considered adding the air since they guarantee to hold the ship. It’s spelled out in black and white on their website. However after reading this I may just go a day ahead. On our previous cruise we flew in 2 days ahead, to be honest it was a challenge to keep to excited kids entertained it felt like the longest 2 days of my life. By the time we boarded I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I would call Princess and see if you can get a refund and then book your own flight a day ahead.

 

It would be helpful if you did not provide inaccurate information to new cruisers who don't know any better.

 

The following is from Princess' Passenger Contract (section 14 G) ...

 

http://www.princess.com/legal/passage_contract/plc.jsp

 

(G) Excursions, Shoreside Services and Other Transportation: All travel facilities, tours, activities, products or services, other than aboard Carrier's vessels and tenders, provided in connection with, before, after or during Your Cruise, including but not limited to pre and post cruise activities, shore excursions, hotel accommodations, meals, or transportation of any kind by any vessel, aircraft, or other conveyance, including, but not limited to, air travel to and from the ship, are provided, owned and/or operated by independent contractors whose employees, facilities, conveyances, products and services are not subject to Carrier's supervision or control. In providing or selling reservations or tickets in connection with any such activities, services or transportation or by accompanying You during such activities, Carrier does so as a convenience to Passengers and shall be entitled to impose a charge and earn a profit from the sale of such excursions, services or transportation, but does not undertake to supervise or control such independent contractors or their employees, conveyances or facilities. Carrier accepts no liability for any loss, delay, damage, injury, death, misrepresentation arising from any excursion, service or transportation or any loss, delay or disappointment for any cancellations of any excursion, service or transportation including but not limited to air flight cancellation(s), errors in seat reservation, upgrade, overbooking or ticketing. Carrier makes no warranty, either express or implied, regarding the suitability, safety, insurance or other aspects of any such contractors, transportation, tours, services, products or facilities. Any liability for such services will be governed by this Passage Contract and the contracts and/or tariffs between You and such service companies. You agree that, Carrier's liability, if any for Non-Performance of any independent contractor providing such facilities or services shall not exceed the amounts received for such facility or services by Carrier on Your behalf. Any company or person providing services or facilities of any kind in connection with a shore excursion or other activity offered for purchase by Carrier shall have the benefit of every defense to which Carrier is entitled under this Passage Contract.

I am booked with Princess as well. I considered adding the air since they guarantee to hold the ship. It’s spelled out in black and white on their website. However after reading this I may just go a day ahead. On our previous cruise we flew in 2 days ahead, to be honest it was a challenge to keep to excited kids entertained it felt like the longest 2 days of my life. By the time we boarded I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I would call Princess and see if you can get a refund and then book your own flight a day ahead.

 

Here is what it says on the Princess website ...

 

PRINCESS EZAIR®

 

As part of Princess Cruises' continuous commitment to service and innovation, we are pleased to introduce the new Princess eZAir® program. Princess eZAir offers real-time, competitively-priced flights that complement your cruise itinerary. It also offers Late Arrival Protection – something not offered by other major air booking websites. Benefits include:

 

Late Arrival Protection – We'll work with the airline to route you to the next appropriate port of call in the event of a flight delay or cancellation at no additional air cost to you. Although alternative flight arrangements are permitted, airlines have no responsibility to get you to the ship in the event of a canceled flight or delay. Avoid stress and potential extra air cost - travel with peace of mind when you book through Princess eZAir!

 

NOWHERE does it say Princess will hold the ship for you. It only offers to get you to the next port of call at Princess' expense.

 

Additional info from Princess ...

 

Air Transportation: Late Arrival Protection

 

Passengers who book air travel through Princess Cruises will be automatically enrolled in the Princess late arrival protection program. If guests miss or will miss their original port of embarkation due to airline delay or an airline service disruption, such as flight cancelation or flight re-routes, Princess will work with the airlines to find a reasonable alternative to provide flights to the next appropriate* port at no additional air cost to the guest.

 

Factors taken into account in determining the appropriateness of a port of call include, but are not limited to:

 

visas and other legal documentation that may be required

application of the Passenger Services Act to the new itinerary

airport/port infrastructure

comparability of cost, flight connections, and travel time required (note, any refund due on the unused air ticket must be used to offset the cost of the new air ticket)

where in the original itinerary this port is located

Edited October 8, 2015 by Cuizer2

Cuizer2: I also notice that there is nothing in the "fine print" that actually commits the cruiseline to flying you to the next destination, paying for a hotel, or anything along those lines. In fact, it seems to say (in effect), "we're doing you a favor, we may make a profit on it, and beyond that are responsible for nothing".

Cuizer2: I also notice that there is nothing in the "fine print" that actually commits the cruiseline to flying you to the next destination, paying for a hotel, or anything along those lines. In fact, it seems to say (in effect), "we're doing you a favor, we may make a profit on it, and beyond that are responsible for nothing".

 

Apparently I snuck a post in before you that provides that information. The Cruise Passenger Contract is general in nature and applies to everyone. However, if you purchase PRINCESS EZAIR® then ...

 

Passengers who book air travel through Princess Cruises will be automatically enrolled in the Princess late arrival protection program.

Wish you luck in making the ship.

We always fly into embarkation ports a day or 2 early -- sometimes 3 days early.

We never let the cruise lines book our flights or hotels. I do all that myself.

You need to get Princess to get you new flights -- talk to a supervisor!!

They do not hold the ship for any length of time, even if the cruise line handled the flights. They may hold it for 15 minutes or so, but no way will they hold for much longer than that for many reasons. The biggest reason is that if they did hold it for long, they'd have to make up the time by speeding and we all know speeding uses up a lot of fuel, which costs a lot of money.

 

I've been on cruises where flights were late and the ship did not wait, and they made arrangements for the passengers to meet the ship at the first port of call. The real plus for using cruise line flights is that they will help you get to that first port and will even get hotels for the night, while others who miss the ship and didn't use the cruise line's flights will be left on their own to get to the ship and will have to find their own hotels.

 

Seeing the OP has to be on board 90 minutes before the ship departs, I just don't see any way they'll make it on time.

 

It would be helpful if you did not provide inaccurate information to new cruisers who don't know any better.

 

 

I agree with Cuizer2 that we need to be mindful that many newbies are reading these posts and may go on inaccurate info to their detriment.

 

The example I mentioned in my post on the first page was about 200 Brits who didn't make it onto our ship. On this cruise, if any of them decided to fly to the first port, they would end up missing five days of a 14 day cruise.

 

Another example of an itinerary to avoid flying in the day of the cruise would be northbound Alaskan cruises that start in Vancouver. If you don't make it to the ship on time (and this is one port that ships can't wait several hours as they are affected by the tides there), you won't be allowed to board the ship in any ports after that because of the PVSA Act as you can't start a cruise in an US port and finish in another US port without a stop in a foreign port.

Let's parse those words:

Late Arrival Protection – We'll work with the airline to route you to the next appropriate port of call in the event of a flight delay or cancellation at no additional air cost to you. Although alternative flight arrangements are permitted, airlines have no responsibility to get you to the ship in the event of a canceled flight or delay. Avoid stress and potential extra air cost - travel with peace of mind when you book through Princess eZAir!

The famous "We'll work with the airline" line. It doesn't say "we will provide" or "we will guarantee". Nope, we'll work with them. Kumbaya. Over on Cruise Air, we call those weasel words.

 

Then note, they say airlines have no responsibility but never say that they WILL take that responsibility for those who buy from them. They could, right then and there, but instead they use words like "peace of mind". Which legally means nothing.

Passengers who book air travel through Princess Cruises will be automatically enrolled in the Princess late arrival protection program. If guests miss or will miss their original port of embarkation due to airline delay or an airline service disruption, such as flight cancelation or flight re-routes, Princess will work with the airlines to find a reasonable alternative to provide flights to the next appropriate* port at no additional air cost to the guest.

So...they will now "work" to find a "reasonable alternative". But who decides what is "reasonable"? Surprise - it's the cruise line. And where are their "outs"? Let's look:

Factors taken into account in determining the appropriateness of a port of call include, but are not limited to:

 

visas and other legal documentation that may be required

application of the Passenger Services Act to the new itinerary

airport/port infrastructure

comparability of cost, flight connections, and travel time required (note, any refund due on the unused air ticket must be used to offset the cost of the new air ticket)

where in the original itinerary this port is located

So...the cruiseline gets to use comparable cost to see if they will give you the new flight. Your original ticket cost them $200 -- your new one would be $800. Oops, that's far from comparable, so "Too bad". And, of course, new ticketing would likely be at walk-up rates, not what was obtained months in advance.

 

So...I pose the question again. Where does it actually say "we will fly you to the next port so you can join your cruise"?? I'll give you a hint - it never does, because it's designed to be at their option, at their choice. If it's no real skin off their nose - maybe. If it is going to cost them - well, you can see in the words above that they have the escape clause.

 

The Late Arrival Protection Program is a lot of marketing fluff without real solid provisions behind it. Take off the rose-colored glasses and read the actual text. Not what you hope it means, not what you wish it means, not what you guess it means. Plain text says you have no guarantees, no assurances, nothing more than "work with" if it meets our own criteria for cost and ease.

 

Still waiting for the words that say "We will fly you...." And without that, or perhaps "We will transport....", it's all marketing fluff. Post in Cruise Air and ask that bunch of travel realists if you think I'm nuts.

...Still waiting for the words that say "We will fly you...." And without that, or perhaps "We will transport....", it's all marketing fluff. Post in Cruise Air and ask that bunch of travel realists if you think I'm nuts.

 

Just what I was thinking when I read the whole "peace of mind" thing on Princess's website.

 

My bottom line interpretation is that, instead of the traveler having to deal with the airline(s), wtc., Princess will do it for you, the same way that travel agents used to do back in the day. Plus if there's a possibility to fast track you to the ship...or there's some latitude in the departure time, you have a better shot at making the ship over the traveler who booked his/her own air.

 

But if you miss the boat, yer on yer own for everything except the air fares.

 

The best shot is to do what Krazy Kruisers suggested above and try for an earlier arrival in FLL. If you can't make that work try the luggage valet approach to cut out the baggage claim delay.

Update:

 

Problem is solved! Another person in my party called the airline herself and was able to get the flight changed so that we arrive in Florida at 11:30 am.

 

We talked to three different customer service reps at Princess and all thought we would be ok, but I still didn't feel comfortable with the timing. One of them even contacted the airline while I was on hold and was told the reservation couldn't be changed.

 

But when we called the airline ourselves, they did change the flight and there was no charge because they were the ones that caused the problem.

 

So lesson learned on this one. If I take another cruise, I'll definitely fly in the day before.

Update:

 

Problem is solved! Another person in my party called the airline herself and was able to get the flight changed so that we arrive in Florida at 11:30 am.

 

We talked to three different customer service reps at Princess and all thought we would be ok, but I still didn't feel comfortable with the timing. One of them even contacted the airline while I was on hold and was told the reservation couldn't be changed.

 

But when we called the airline ourselves, they did change the flight and there was no charge because they were the ones that caused the problem.

 

So lesson learned on this one. If I take another cruise, I'll definitely fly in the day before.

 

I am so glad you were able to change your flight time. Now you will be able to start your vacation in a more relaxed frame of mind. And you have learned lots from this board, including how to interpret the vague promises.

Update:

 

Problem is solved! Another person in my party called the airline herself and was able to get the flight changed so that we arrive in Florida at 11:30 am.

 

We talked to three different customer service reps at Princess and all thought we would be ok, but I still didn't feel comfortable with the timing. One of them even contacted the airline while I was on hold and was told the reservation couldn't be changed.

 

Of course they all thought you would be okay. It is not their trip being ruined. If I was working for Princess I would have told you you would be okay also. Do you really expect a Princess rep to say, OMG, this is really bad, but there is nothing I can do for you. Tough luck. NEXT!

 

The time to start worrying is when someone with no personal interest in your outcome says, "Don't worry".

Update:

 

Problem is solved! Another person in my party called the airline herself and was able to get the flight changed so that we arrive in Florida at 11:30 am.

 

We talked to three different customer service reps at Princess and all thought we would be ok, but I still didn't feel comfortable with the timing. One of them even contacted the airline while I was on hold and was told the reservation couldn't be changed.

 

But when we called the airline ourselves, they did change the flight and there was no charge because they were the ones that caused the problem.

 

So lesson learned on this one. If I take another cruise, I'll definitely fly in the day before.

 

Just what I posted earlier, call the airline. Glad it all worked our.:)

Update:

 

Problem is solved! Another person in my party called the airline herself and was able to get the flight changed so that we arrive in Florida at 11:30 am.

 

We talked to three different customer service reps at Princess and all thought we would be ok, but I still didn't feel comfortable with the timing. One of them even contacted the airline while I was on hold and was told the reservation couldn't be changed.

 

But when we called the airline ourselves, they did change the flight and there was no charge because they were the ones that caused the problem.

 

So lesson learned on this one. If I take another cruise, I'll definitely fly in the day before.

 

Thanks for the update, the earlierl posters know that the advice helped.

Another consideration: if you have to fly to the next port, will you need and do you have a passport?

 

Thanks to the OP for updating with good news! - :)

 

I was also thinking about the above passport Question - anyone know?

Totally unacceptable...which is one reason why we do our own air and generally arrive at least one day early. So, lets assume you booked a specific flight and the airline changed your flight time until later. In this case you normally have the right to change the flight (at no additional charge) to an earlier flight since the airline altered the terms of your ticket. So we are puzzled as to why the airline and Princess are refusing to help...but nothing surprises us anymore which is why we never rely on the cruise lines for support with transportation.4

 

The good news is we assume you are flying into FLL which is pretty close to the port (although it can take 20 min to get from the airport to the pier even if using a taxi (a lot faster then waiting around for a cruise line transfer). But since you did book via Princess they will likely allow you to board at a later time then advertised. Just pray that your plane is close to being on time. And if you check luggage you can normally expect to wait 30-40 min (after landing) to get your luggage.

 

The sad thing is that you are now going to suffer from some anxiety over the flight...which is a lousy way to start off a fun vacation/cruise. This is why most experienced cruisers arrange their flights to arrive at least 1 day early, or in the worst case, at least many hours prior to their cruise.

 

Hank

Thanks to the OP for updating with good news! - :)

 

I was also thinking about the above passport Question - anyone know?

Almost always - Yes. On "closed loop", you have broken the loop by missing the ship. So the rules that allow for DLs don't now apply. For non-loops, it depends on your itinerary. And remember that a passport card will not work for air travel.

 

Buy the passport. Rock solid ID and allows you the freedom to travel without documentation worries. Cost is $110, but when you amortize that over 10 years, that's $11 per year. You'll spend more than that for a drink with a funny umbrella at some port. Or a T-shirt or knock-off sunglasses.

 

Now, I will confess that I am someone who now needs to buy a new passport after 6 years....I've run out of pages and they can't put any more in. Still, it's a wise investment for anyone.

Totally unacceptable...which is one reason why we do our own air and generally arrive at least one day early. So, lets assume you booked a specific flight and the airline changed your flight time until later. In this case you normally have the right to change the flight (at no additional charge) to an earlier flight since the airline altered the terms of your ticket. So we are puzzled as to why the airline and Princess are refusing to help...but nothing surprises us anymore which is why we never rely on the cruise lines for support with transportation.4

 

The good news is we assume you are flying into FLL which is pretty close to the port (although it can take 20 min to get from the airport to the pier even if using a taxi (a lot faster then waiting around for a cruise line transfer). But since you did book via Princess they will likely allow you to board at a later time then advertised. Just pray that your plane is close to being on time. And if you check luggage you can normally expect to wait 30-40 min (after landing) to get your luggage.

 

The sad thing is that you are now going to suffer from some anxiety over the flight...which is a lousy way to start off a fun vacation/cruise. This is why most experienced cruisers arrange their flights to arrive at least 1 day early, or in the worst case, at least many hours prior to their cruise.

 

Hank

 

Obviously you did not read the update in post #34 where the OP says they were able to change their flight time.

Thanks to the OP for updating with good news! - :)

 

I was also thinking about the above passport Question - anyone know?

 

Yes, to fly one would need a passport.