How Often do you Gamble with Flights?

Taking a flight on the day of the crusie may sound brillantly planned out. An early morning flight, and stright up to the port to board the cruise. No need to pay for hotel, parking charge.

But what happens if there are delays and cancellations...

I'm planning my first cruise in March to the carribean. And trying to get from New York to Florida is a bit of sticky jam..with the high airfares (baggage included).

I don't really wish to stay a night in Florida pre-cruise, seeing as we are planning for a evening flight after our cruise, just to see the Space Center.

So the main question is...do i shift to a pre-cruise night stay? How bad are the delays with US flights from New York to Fort Lauderdale?

Thank you in advance.. :confused:

My biggest piece of advice is "Don't" fly in the day of the cruise.

It doesn't matter if others do this and have no problem because that doesn't mean you won't.

So what can go wrong?

Mechanical issues.

Security shutdown at airport.

Computer glitch for airline

Computer glitch for FAA

FAA shutdown

Weather

Insufficient flight personnel.

Delay of plane arriving to New York

Snow in New York

I can list more but things do go wrong. And when they do affecting those who flew in the day of the cruise and they missed the ship what you will hear them say "I will never do that again."

Keith

I do not gamble with flights and always arrive the night before. You may or may not have any delays. Many people can come on here and say they did it and it all worked out. It does not mean it will for you. Many people can say they had a delay. It does not mean you will.

What happens with delays and cancellations? Well if you do not get to the ship in time, the ship leaves without you. You will then have to see if it is possible to meet the ship at one of the port of calls or you miss the entire cruise.

Depending on the precise details, statistically at least 98% of folk make it on time.

So no need to worry until your 99th cruise.

Unless anyone can see a flaw in my maths. :D

For one land-based vacation we cut it too fine, and missed the first night in our resort hotel.

No big deal - the hotel hadn't sailed. ;)

JB :)

We don't fly in on the same day. We always book flights so that we get to the embarkation port at least 2 or 3 days before the cruise.

But even that didn't work last February. We had a major snow storm that stalled over the east coast. Since we live in an area where we do not have direct flights to Florida we got caught in the mess. All flights going to and leaving from Charlotte and Atlanta were closed for 3 1/2 days. We were scheduled to fly out on a Thursday for a Sunday cruise. Needless to say that since many flights before ours were cancelled, the earliest they could get us out would be either late Monday or Tuesday.

Too many potential problems for me. We fly in at least one night before the cruise

Too many potential problems for me. We fly in at least one night before the cruise

Agree totally. Why gamble?

Wait a minute. Your cruise leaves out of Fort Lauderdale?

The space center is about 3-4 hours north of Fort Lauderdale, so there is no way you'll be able to visit there between disembarking from your cruise and your evening flight at FLL.

To answer your original question, we generally fly to the port the day before, however sometimes it is not possible for us due to work/school schedules. So, we take a direct flight that leaves very early in the morning, and only if there are other flights leaving after us that we could take should something go wrong. We've been lucky not to have any issue, but we do always arrive onto the ship exhausted and cranky, and it takes about 2 days to recover from that.

I am sure there are a lot of people fly in the day of and have zero bad experiences. I flew day of my first cruise. I have a cruise booked in February. I will be flying in the day of(have super early flight).

Got trip insurance so I feel fine. I will continue to do this as the night before just adds more expenses to me.

Only exception is if I wanted to go earlier to do stuff.

I have never done it I know my dad and mom did it once back in 2003 and they flew from my hometown of Fredericton NB Canada to Miami and just barely made it to the cruise terminal in time for the ship so ever since hearing that story,I would never chance it espically in the winter months

I know I dont enjoy paying for pre cruise hotels but if it saves my blood pressure from going threw the roof then 120-170$ is well worth it

Taking a flight on the day of the crusie may sound brillantly planned out. An early morning flight, and stright up to the port to board the cruise. No need to pay for hotel, parking charge.

 

But what happens if there are delays and cancellations...

 

I'm planning my first cruise in March to the carribean. And trying to get from New York to Florida is a bit of sticky jam..with the high airfares (baggage included).

 

I don't really wish to stay a night in Florida pre-cruise, seeing as we are planning for a evening flight after our cruise, just to see the Space Center.

 

So the main question is...do i shift to a pre-cruise night stay? How bad are the delays with US flights from New York to Fort Lauderdale?

 

Thank you in advance.. :confused:

Never, not worth it and now with flights so full for international travel, one day in advance is not enough.... just went through watching to see if Air France returned from a strike so we would not lose a flight.... not fun.

I'm not a gambler with travel. From the time I make the initial budget, I include early arrival if it's a cruise trip. If I can't afford that day early arrival, I can't afford the cruise. Plain and simple.

OP: Sounds like you want someone to say it will never happen to you. Don't be "penny wise and pound foolish." Always arrive at least the day before any cruise where you fly into the embarkation.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Always fly in the day before. Flights been delayed for reasons including:

Massive amounts of rain flooded streets leading to departure airport, flight crew not able to make it on time, other flights left on time

Accident shut down one runaway at connecting airport, delaying multiple flights

Mechanical issues

Lightening in area shut down ground crews-Florida is the lightening capital of the US

Flight member not present

As many have stated, you could be lucky and not have a problem flying in on the day your cruise starts. The question is not whether you are feeling lucky, but whether you compared the cost of one night's stay in a hotel against the cost you have spent on your trip. You have spent thousands, and you are willing to take a chance that saving the cost of a single night in a hotel is worth taking the chance of missing your entire vacation. Look at the cost of that one night as some extra insurance.

As for visiting the Kennedy Space Center, someone has already pointed out that that is about a five-hour drive from FLL, then the tour is long, and then it is five hours back!

Thank you for your inputs

Following the advice, I will most probably be doing a pre-cruise of 1 or 2 days before going on the cruise.

As for the Kennedy space center, well...I guess we will have to find a way to fit into our itinerary.

:)

Thank you for your inputs

 

Following the advice, I will most probably be doing a pre-cruise of 1 or 2 days before going on the cruise.

 

As for the Kennedy space center, well...I guess we will have to find a way to fit into our itinerary.

 

:)

Maybe fly in early the day before, stow bags at your hotel, and do the center that day? The space center is SUCH a cool place. You'll really enjoy it!

I live on the Left Coast and whenever I've cruised out of FLL, I've always flown in the day of departure. With that in mind, I take the red eye flight which gets me in at 10:00, for a 4:00 cruise departure. So IF you choose to fly the day of departure, make sure you are on an early enough flight that, should you have a delay, you have some wiggle room built into your travel plans. One thing to take into consideration is what the weather is like in New York in March.

I live on the Left Coast and whenever I've cruised out of FLL, I've always flown in the day of departure. With that in mind, I take the red eye flight which gets me in at 10:00, for a 4:00 cruise departure. So IF you choose to fly the day of departure, make sure you are on an early enough flight that, should you have a delay, you have some wiggle room built into your travel plans. One thing to take into consideration is what the weather is like in New York in March.

I also fly in at least yearly during this time from LAX-FLL for our cruises...I use the redeye or a quick connect in ATL (I fly DL)..Sure if I have more time I love some pre-cruise days in Fort Lauderdale but it doesn't always work out that way...you have to do what your personal situation dictates...not the many many on these boards post that will have to never make that decision...Lucky for them ...but...there are many on those flights with me doing the same same day arrival..probably a bigger percentage than most realize..

Never do I gamble with getting to my cruise on time. Last year we had three seperate itineraries in one day to get to the cruise, got in 6 hours late. We were going in the day before. The 8 people waiting with us were trying to figure out how to get to Cozumel to catch up with their cruise as they were trying to fly the day of the cruise and couldn't get there./

If you are going to fly the day of the cruise: book through the cruise line's agency, have insurance, a large credit line on your credit card (cause you have to pay ahead and then get reimbursed) and be flexible with how soon you start your cruise.

Enjoy yourself! Get into the cruise frame of mind a day early. Get to the port, have a frosty beverage of your choice and have fun.

We live so far away from Florida (western Canada) that what we do every year is make the pre-cruise part of the holiday. We go 4 days ahead, see the beautiful state of Florida and if our flight is delayed it is not a huge issue. Last year our flight came in 6 hours late because of tech issues. If we had flown in the day of the cruise we would of missed it! If you do fly in the same day I would suggest insurance for missing the boat. For the same price you could book a hotel. We plan our trips a year ahead of time. We got excellent air fair prices this way and a couple of discounts on the cruise from the odd sale here and there. Try some of the last minute deals on websites for deals on your flights. Good luck and have a great trip no matter what you decide.

Maybe fly in early the day before, stow bags at your hotel, and do the center that day? The space center is SUCH a cool place. You'll really enjoy it!

Kennedy Space Center is near Port Canaveral.

The OP's cruise is from Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) and he is flying into FLL.

That's at least 3 driving hours in each direction.

Purchasing airfare through the cruise line minimizes worry. If there is a delay, they will straighten it out. With travel insurance it's a calculated risk, not a gamble. I have seen greater risk returning home than getting to the ship and the airline has eatten my extra cost.

Purchasing airfare through the cruise line minimizes worry. If there is a delay, they will straighten it out.

They will TRY to straighten it out. So will the airlines if you book directly with them. Cruiseline air offers no guarantees whatsoever.

If you try to fly in the day of the cruise and there is a security breach that closes the airport for several hours or a bad storm don't count on the airline or the cruise line to be of value. The ship could easily leave without you.

All it takes is missing the ship one time and you won't do it again.

It does happen.

Keith