Bad idea: fly day of departure

When I was in school (not terribly long ago), we never did anything important the last day before a planned break (Holidays, Spring Break). Mostly, even in high school, we watched movies. I was able to arrange to take some exams early to be able to go visit my family early before Thanksgiving one year.

I agree that mostly this is a funding issue. If there are a certain percentage of students "Absent" from school on ANY given day, the school cannot count it as a day of school and must make up the time somewhere in the year. My school always added on minutes to the end of the day, which ironically was a total waste of time, as the last 10 minutes of ANY class was always packing up and waiting for the bell to ring.... :rolleyes::D

We always fly in the day of. Been doing it for the last 29 cruises. We aren't paranoid enough to fly the day before. Beside its only PHL to MIA or PHL to FLL or PHL to TPA. I don't consider us lucky just do what we always do and don't put anything "negative" into the process ;

Roll the dice, take your chance, but if you do, get the insurance!

We now always fly the day before, for next cruise since it leaves from Barcelona we are flying in a couple of days before, we have more delays than ever now , planes are overbooked, 30 years ago I had no problem flying the day of. The lucky few that are a close drive or taxi from port ( lived in NYC till early 80's loved just taking taxi to cruise port), now we also get insurance

For years it has been the policy of our school district in Texas that missing school for a vacation is not permitted. The kid gets an unexcused absence and any work missed is given a grade of zero.

Yes. Anytime kids miss, the teacher's job becomes harder.

They have to think outside the box.:)

I have flown couple of times on embarkation day...one was on our Med cruise where the cruise ship was overnight in Venice. It was perfect, no hiccups...went straight from airport to cruise port. But there was the peace of mind that that even if the flights were delayed by a day, our cruise ship would still be in Venice and we would embark a day later. At other times when we have flown in the same day as embarkation day, we have gone through the air travel offered by the cruise line as we have been told that if flights were delayed, they would get us to the next port. We fly in a couple of days early when we use our travel points for flights and of course combine it with visiting the city we are embarking from...which are like two vacations in one, like Copenhagen for our Baltic cruise and San Francisco for our Pacific Coastal cruise and San Jose,PR for our Southern Caribbean cruise and Vancouver for our Alaskan cruise. Just hope our luck continues as we plan our next cruises. All I can say when I heard of the Delta flights being cancelled how unnerving this would be for all their passengers and staff.

As good as the advice is many people don't have the luxury of adding days to their vacation to do this.

Excuses Excuses! :). We remember the days when we worked and traveled and had to deal with the vacation issues. But when you consider the investment you make in a cruise vacation, and the risk of flying-in the day of a cruise you find a way. I recall managing to leave work an hour early, jumping in the car to pick-up my wife from her teaching job, and then continue more then an hour to BWI to catch an early evening flight so we could be in our embarkation city the night before a cruise. The risks involved with same day fly-ins are simply not worth the worry. If one can't find a way to get in a day early, perhaps they should look at other cruise options that allow this small level of insurance.

Now that we are retired and have the luxury of time. we are starting to think that even 1 day early is not enough. The only time we would consider flying in the day of a cruise is if we knew it was possible to easily catch-up to the ship the following day :). This is possible with many European and Asian cruises....although we still follow the basic rule of getting in "at least" one day early.

Hank

Im too much of a worry wart to arrive the day of. I need at least a day or two buffer. But I do understand some people do not have the opportunity to get extra time off of work or the additional funds for a 1 or 2 nights stay at a hotel.

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I am taking mine out of school in Sept. For 10 day cruise to the Mexican Riveria. I have spoke to the principle and she will be getting work and will have it turned by the time she gets back. They view it as educational trip and they have approved it. This is a special occasion. We will be celebrating our 30th anniversary. Each school is different need to talk to them

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Ds was booked on an 8 am flight today, Newark to Chicago, 3rd flight of the day. It is delayed 11 hours, and he was unable to get a spot on the almost hourly flights on this route. All are full.

hile I am one of those who has flown in at least one day early since our second cruise (where we almost missed the ship despite a very short flight that was delayed multiple times due to mechanical issues), I totally understand not everyone can do that. Some of these statements have been painted with a very broad brush that assumes our lives are all the same..."I can do this so everyone else should, too!" While I think it's sage advice, there are many reasons (not necessarily excuses) as to why this may not work for many people.

As far as taking kids out of school for vacation, I've done that only once and it was two days in 2002 so we could take our girls to see Ground Zero in NYC. My oldest daughter is a teacher and seeing the kind of work it causes her when parents take their children out of school, I wouldn't do it again.

I'm looking forward to a one-day cruise next month that's taking me to the embarkation port for my Pacific coastal cruise. I'm taking the train from Portland to Seattle on embarkation day. I'm perfectly well aware of the risk, and if the train is delayed and puts my getting to Vancouver at risk, I know my options--I have a Plan B I will activate if we run into issues.

As good as the advice is many people don't have the luxury of adding days to their vacation to do this.

Very true.for us! Always a.nervous Nellie when it is the day of the cruise. Try hard to leave as many hours as can before.cruise departure. We have been very fortunate every year for years even with the worst rated of airlines.

Went Air Fiji to meet our Crystal ship in Australia and shockingly enough we.were early and the rating for.AF was terrible and thus far it was by far the best!

Not a retired couple.so yes we are taking our chances.....so with a wish and a prayer luck has shone on us for the time being......YIKES!

Also depends on:

1. Where you're flying from, and to, and
   
2. If you've booked air through your cruise line.
   

If you're flying a direct domestic flight, you can probably safely fly same day - depending on departure time. But if you're flying overseas with one or more connections, there are too many variables.

Our first cruise, we flew from Denver to Nice for an embarkation in Monte Carlo. We had two connections and were lucky enough to get to Nice on time, but by the time we drove to MC, we literally got on the boat and sailed about 90 minutes later. We didn't get to see MC at all, except from the harbor. That was our last time flying in same day...

As a retired teacher <40 years> I have to weigh in this on the teacher's side. The biggest percentage of times that I had to prepare work for a student who was going on vacation was a waste of my time. I would say that 90% of the time they came back with nothing done. Not that that was their fault. I taught pre cal as well as IP calculus and invariably had to tutor students that had missed 5-9 days because of vacations to get them caught up to the rest of the class.The subject matter needed me to present it to them. So why did I keep dong it? Had no choice according to district policy.

Also depends on:

 

1. Where you're flying from, and to, and
   
2. If you've booked air through your cruise line.
   

 

If you're flying a direct domestic flight, you can probably safely fly same day - depending on departure time. But if you're flying overseas with one or more connections, there are too many variables.

 

Our first cruise, we flew from Denver to Nice for an embarkation in Monte Carlo. We had two connections and were lucky enough to get to Nice on time, but by the time we drove to MC, we literally got on the boat and sailed about 90 minutes later. We didn't get to see MC at all, except from the harbor. That was our last time flying in same day...

Just to bust your chops a little....Monte Carlo is the casino. Monaco is the city/state. Guessing you didn't embark at the casino. :D

Just to bust your chops a little....Monte Carlo is the casino. Monaco is the city/state. Guessing you didn't embark at the casino. :D

And Chops is a steakhouse.

Just to bust your chops a little....Monte Carlo is the casino. Monaco is the city/state. Guessing you didn't embark at the casino. :D

Just "to bust your chops a little" .......Monte Carlo is actually the name of the Region (and some would say city) (and Port) located in the Principality of Monaco. If one wants to get hyper-technical they could argue that it is a tiny administrative area that includes the main Casino...as well as some of the surrounding properties.

Hank:confused::D:eek:

In many cases it possible to avoid embarkation day flights by taking an afternoon or evening flight after getting out of work a bit early or immediately after released from school - sometimes considering driving to an alternate airport - you would need a motel room - even if you took a redeye, so you could get some rest so your first day wouldn't be a wipe out.