Flying EZAir The "Day Of"

Just getting to the ship is not the only problem you will face. A few years ago we had flights booked through Princess for the day of the cruise. Due to mechanical issues for the plane, we missed our connection in Chicago. We argued with the airline, and the airline finally agreed to pay for a hotel in Chicago overnight and they flew us to St. Thomas the next day to meet our ship. Our TA was in contact with Princess and arranged for a taxi from the airport to the ship. We got there late afternoon.

The problem is that a port stop is not set up to process arriving passengers. Difficulty getting past security at the dock, because we did not have a cruise card. No one to help us with getting our luggage on the ship, we had to drag luggage to customer service to have picture taKen and get cruise card. The cruise cards didn't work properly the whole cruise which meant repeated trips to get another card. Other issues because we were not there the first day. Then the last night of the cruise we had to meet with US authorities for a long and unpleasant interview because we had not gotten on board at the expected port. (And this was before 9/11.) We kept saying, oh well, at least we are cruising, but it was such an unpleasant experience that we didn't cruise again for several years. It is expensive to get there a day early which is why we often do land based vacations now. Less complicated.

Just getting to the ship is not the only problem you will face. A few years ago we had flights booked through Princess for the day of the cruise. Due to mechanical issues for the plane, we missed our connection in Chicago. We argued with the airline, and the airline finally agreed to pay for a hotel in Chicago overnight and they flew us to St. Thomas the next day to meet our ship. Our TA was in contact with Princess and arranged for a taxi from the airport to the ship. We got there late afternoon.

The problem is that a port stop is not set up to process arriving passengers. Difficulty getting past security at the dock, because we did not have a cruise card. No one to help us with getting our luggage on the ship, we had to drag luggage to customer service to have picture taKen and get cruise card. The cruise cards didn't work properly the whole cruise which meant repeated trips to get another card. Other issues because we were not there the first day. Then the last night of the cruise we had to meet with US authorities for a long and unpleasant interview because we had not gotten on board at the expected port. (And this was before 9/11.) We kept saying, oh well, at least we are cruising, but it was such an unpleasant experience that we didn't cruise again for several years. It is expensive to get there a day early which is why we often do land based vacations now. Less complicated.

Again, just the sort of real life experiences I was looking for, thanks very much. Of course, i would NEVER expect any such issues at a port stop like Cabo :evilsmile: Valid points all, and another reason why this is starting to sound like it may not be worth the risk, even with Princess backstopping the delay

I wouldn't do it. I missed 3 out of 8 flights in the last month.

You can fly down one day early and still us EZ-air. That is what we always do to take out the stress.

Same here!

Howard

You can fly down one day early and still us EZ-air. That is what we always do to take out the stress.

OP knows that, but overall would cost $700 more.

Answering without reading posts... can guess what most are saying.Been on CC tooo long.:D

Interesting that someone like myself who almost always flies in the day of the cruise mostly on red eyes from LAX or SNA(often, with of stop overs)........

........observes on those same day flights, many, many cruisers. So there are many people who fly in the day of and take the ships transfers, even wheel chair bound people are making same day decisions.

However, one would never think that would be the case by reading posts on CC.

Yes, have had some close calls mostly on land vacations gng to Europe and yes. have run thru airports etc, etc...this is all part of the travel experience.

Recently, have used EZ air....in May my son's same day EZ air flight arrival was changed from 10:30am to 12:57pm cut off for ship transfer 1pm....no worries, cuz he was booked on Ez-Air.

Some of us travel same day because we are limited on days available......

It works for 1000s of people flying for business or pleasure each day, so why do so many people claim it is not a good idea???

One bad experience doesn't make for a lifetime of never doing it again. MHO.

People do what works best for them. More people fly in or drive to a cruise port the day of the cruise.

but, that would require a poster to read at least some of the thread !!!

 

no time for that - need to increase posting count !!:rolleyes:

After, posting saw what you typed....don't know what the preceding posts said that generated the response...but thought it was amusing what my first sentence was...Usually always read all the posts but..not this time....

Enj:Dy

I have flown EZAir several times on the day of departure with no problems, but it's always been non-stop flights arriving early with the same airline having later flights that would still arrive on time.

I believe OP has done the appropriate research and understands the risk. With that cost difference, I would probably make the same decision. However I always travel with trip insurance which would pay any additional hotel and food costs that Princess did not cover. I don't know from personal experience what expenses Princess would cover because they've always got me there on time.

I agree with the recommendation to book Princess transfers. If you are caught in traffic on a Princess transfer, they may hold the ship.

One of the things that OP did look at was the itinerary and the next port. Flying to LAX for a Mexico itinerary is not as much of a risk. If it were a Hawaii or Alaska itinerary, it could be a bigger problem because of the Passenger Vessel Services Act. They may not be able to fly you to another US port to board on a round trip US cruise. Since OP's next port is a foreign port, there would be no problem.

Here's a nightmare scenario:

Nonstop flight into LHR embarkation day on BA from SFO. Flight was delayed 10 hrs. Ran to AA desk and clerk took pity on me getting me the last seat on 2 flights, barely made ship. The couple right behind me missed ship.

So I asked Princess Customer Service what happens in that case. 2 reps & asst Mgr stated:

1. Flown to next port

2. I would have covered my own hotel, transfers to hotel, food bill

3. Credited for the hotel nights at the rate the ship feels valid (London = $50)

Bottom line: Don't do it!

Thanks to everyone for all the excellent advice, and for the many hints and tips I had not considered or known about. We're still relatively new cruise addicts, half way between Platinum and Elite, so we've still got a few things to learn from all you veterans. We're still on the fence about doing the "Day Of", but based on a few of the comments, we're probably leaning back into the "Day Before" side. The only factor favoring the Day Of on this particular trip is that if we do miss the ship, the next stop is one sea day away at a port, Cabo, that probably has a lot of air connections from LAX, so we would have little difficulty in making the ship.

On the down side, I had not yet studied the EZAir fine print in detail and did not realize they do not cover expenses like hotels, etc. Given that our origin, Montreal has very limited direct flights to LAX and those on a very expensive airline, we'd be making the Day Of ship connection by transferring through a major US hub and that becomes a major concern. The most practical way around that would require a 5 hour drive down to Boston, or 6+ hours to New York or New Jersey, where there should be no shortage of direct EZAir flights into LA area airports the morning of the trip.

The final variable I have to contend with is that SWMBO is a huge fan of direct flights, and as all of us guys know, A Happy Wife Is A Happy Life. :D

Thanks again for all the advice....

Jeff

Yes, I'm flying into Santiago day b4 but into Singapore day of. OK with covering hotel in Bali for those 2 sea days but will try to negotiate partial layover in Singapore

Thanks Hank. That's another reason why I have to research the EZAir Terms and Conditions. If they don't cover obvious but important incidentals like hotels, etc, then there's little chance we would bother with the risk. We would only entertain doing this if Princess/EZAir covered pretty much all of the costs.

For the record we do not always practice what we preach :). We are using EZAIR to fly to Copenhagen (in a few weeks) on the day of a cruise. But our flight is scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen 13 hours prior to the cruise departure time and we could easily catch-up to the ship the following day since it will just be up the coast at Aarhus. The irony is there is no good reason why we do not fly in a few days early ...other then DW is tired of spending time in Copenhagen. There are those times when one must lick their wounds and say "yes dear."

Hank

Day of is risky of course. That being said, we will take our 18th cruise in Oct. For economic reasons we have always arrived in our departure port the day of. There has never been a problem. We book all flights through ezair. These included many international flights. Good luck. Most responses will say don't risk it.

I have my 44th cruise coming up and always fly the day of. Only once did I have a tiny bit of a close call flying from EWR to LHR. Plane left late, but Princess was waiting at the airport for us. There were others from the cruise on the flight also.

Everyone doesn't always have the circumstances or $$ to fly in early. I have elder care and pet care (5 animals) to pay for, in addition to using vacation days from work. Flying in early would mean lots of extra money.

You all getting me worried now. We booked EZair for our upcoming cruise on the Coral Princess, November 18 out of San Pedro.

We are flying the day of the cruise from Vancouver to LAX nonstop with an arrival at the airport scheduled at 11:35 AM. We are also using the Princess transfer. Our first port after LA is Huatulco, Mexico (3 seadays later). If we would miss the ship I am not looking forward to spending 4 days in LA.

I think we should be OK but I will look into the option of flying the day before.

Theo

Big chicken here.

Having missed trains and planes in my long life, we drive to Ft Lauderdale a few days before sailing. Always.

My friends chose one time to drive the day of sailing to drive the 5 1/2 hours and ran into a major accident on 95.

They had allowed a 3 hour window and they couldn’t even get to an exit to go down US1. They called Princess and were told the ship couldn’t delay more than 30 minutes. They hoped maybe some planes were late with multiple passengers.

They missed boarding even though the ship had not left.

No amount of arguing got them on board.

I felt so bad for them I didn’t even think I told you so.

I wouldn’t risk the pain if I could possibly manage to go early.

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Interesting reading

Our Most Excellent Adventure - We Missed the Ship

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2175456

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For the record we do not always practice what we preach :). We are using EZAIR to fly to Copenhagen (in a few weeks) on the day of a cruise. But our flight is scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen 13 hours prior to the cruise departure time and we could easily catch-up to the ship the following day since it will just be up the coast at Aarhus. The irony is there is no good reason why we do not fly in a few days early ...other then DW is tired of spending time in Copenhagen. There are those times when one must lick their wounds and say "yes dear."

When flying from the USA to Europe to start a cruise we always fly in the day before.

This is not because we are afraid of missing the ship if there is a delay in travel. It is because we need that extra day to get time adjusted after crossing multiple time zones, usually arriving in the AM after an overnight flight with very little sleep.

It is no fun if you start a cruise totally exhausted from traveling to the embarkation port.

due to the fact that we take long cruises and my husband's job allows only so many days off in one swoop,. we have always booked EZAir to arrive the day the ship leaves - this includes several transatlantic flights as well as to the east coast for other cruises.

We have never experienced (fingers crossed) any delay or problems and always arrived the morning of and took a cab to the ship. I try and book something that gets us where we want to go by 10:30 AM which gets us to the ship by 11:30.

Certainly anything could happen and we have been fortunate.

Have a great trip:):):)

In 2000, we flew from Toronto to LAX on the day with Air Canada. We had no problems going. On our return flight, we waited, and waited and waited on the plane to be told the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. The plane had just come from Toronto and was a turn around flight. We were told to leave the plane and go to the desk to try to rebook a flight. The full flight got off and lined up. When it was our turn, we were told you can come back for the late evening flight and TRY to go standby. We decided to go on the same flight the next day. Air Canada put us up at an airport hotel.

All we could say, was thank goodness it was the return flight and not going to the cruise.

Most flights now are full with very few available seats.

due to the fact that we take long cruises and my husband's job allows only so many days off in one swoop,. we have always booked EZAir to arrive the day the ship leaves - this includes several transatlantic flights as well as to the east coast for other cruises.

 

Certainly anything could happen and we have been fortunate.

 

Have a great trip:):):)

Yep, this is us, too. My employer officially allows only 2 weeks off at a time, but I have been pretty successful at "stretching" that to almost 3 weeks a few times. Haven't been fired yet!

But it means that sometimes we can't fly in early, as much as we'd like to. So we book EZAir to arrive as early as possible and hope for the best.

In 2000, we flew from Toronto to LAX on the day with Air Canada. We had no problems going. On our return flight, we waited, and waited and waited on the plane to be told the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. The plane had just come from Toronto and was a turn around flight. We were told to leave the plane and go to the desk to try to rebook a flight. The full flight got off and lined up. When it was our turn, we were told you can come back for the late evening flight and TRY to go standby. We decided to go on the same flight the next day. Air Canada put us up at an airport hotel.

 

All we could say, was thank goodness it was the return flight and not going to the cruise.

 

Most flights now are full with very few available seats.

Good ol' Air Canada. On our last trip out of FLL back here to Montreal, we made it off the ship and were checked in before 8AM for our 11:30AM return, Nice and safe, right? We spent the next 12 hours in the departure lounge at FLL when our flight was canceled, and didn't get home until 2AM the next day.

Interesting reading

Our Most Excellent Adventure - We Missed the Ship

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2175456

 

 

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I was trying to remember who posted that. He kept such a great attitude about it that would have had a lot of people losing it.

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Although I have never had a problem flying in the same day for a cruise departing from a USA port, I have been on some cruises where some passengers did not make it due to delayed flights. I have also been on a cruise where the ship delayed scheduled departure for five hours because a number of flights were delayed due to severe weather problems.

Never travel on the embarkation day no matter what sort of cover you have got!! Fly in at least one day early.

If OP has to meet the ship in Cabo, hopefully they realize it’s a tender port. Princess uses its own lifeboats here.

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