Another reason to fly in a day early

[Georgiagolfer]

Makes no difference to DW and myself whether we are driving or flying. We now always travel the day before the cruise. Not just to ensure we are there in time, but to relax the night before the cruise, knowing we are in own and can get a good night sleep.

[NCTribeFan]

Yep. I now always head to the port at least the day before. I could easily drive to Charleston the day of sailing, but I just *know* that will be the time my car breaks down or I get hit or something else awful happens.

 

It just isn't worth the stress.

 

One of the reasons I sail inside cabins is so I can afford to pay for the pre-cruise hotel room. Sure, a balcony would be nice, but I'd rather have that peace of mind of arriving in plenty of time and just use the "free" deck space on the ship!

[hightownCO]

Always fly in day before but for this upcoming cruised, booked a really great fare on a day-of-cruise flight. Was nervous to begin with and last week, booked a day before flight! Just couldn't stand taking the risk.

 

So lost some $ on the flight I won't use but reading your story makes me feel so much better about making the change. So glad you make the flight after going thru all that!

[MEOWSMURPHY]

YIKES...my heart was racing reading your "harrowing experience"...So glad you made it ok. We leave Sat for our cruise leaving Sat...:eek: 10 min ride to the airport and we are leaving hrs early..gonna keep my fingers crossed we don't replicate your trip..

[jsfromsc]

Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry that you had this terrible experience, but thank goodness you were able to get to your cruise. I hope it was wonderful. We usually fly out the day before embarkation but chose a flight arriving the day of for our recent Baltic cruise. We actually left the day before but the flight arrived in London around 6:00 a.m. so we thought (hoped) we'd have plenty of time to get to the ship. To our surprise the captain announced they were delaying our take off because the tail winds were so strong that we would actually arrive too early and Heathrow would not let us land before 6:00 a.m. It turned out to be a great flight and we got there in plenty of time. But I think for any cruise departing from the US, I would not trust the airlines to get us there on time. We've experienced too many flight delays in recent years to chance missing a cruise. I hope to do an Alaskan cruise next and I will definitely tell my husband not to trust the airlines and to schedule our flights for the day before embarkation. I hope all is well with your husband and your vehicle.

[elliebelle]

Oh my goodness I had anxiety with you reading that. I am so happy it ended well.

We always fly in at least a day early. Living in New England you NEVER know what kind of flight delays you could and come hell or highwater I am not missing the cruise so even if our flight cancels I leave us 24 hours to drive to Florida if we have to :)

Our next departs 1/5 and we fly in on 1/3 so I still get a few days extra vacation out of it

Hope your having a wonderful time you earned it !!!

[KatieCharlotte]

I'm glad you made your flight. :)

 

I've flown the morning of a cruise and couldn't handle the stress, even though we ended up boarding the ship at noon. :) The odds are greatly on your side but the worry isn't worth it. My DH always thinks I'm crazy because I insist we leave for the airport so that we arrive three hours before our flight, just in case we get a flat tire on the way. Even when we're not going on a cruise.

 

I'm sorry you didn't receive more assistance in the airport. When American Airlines slashed our layover from three to two hours (when we were returning from overseas and had to go through customs in Miami...which takes forever) and then the first flight landed forty-five minutes late, we hurried as much as humanly possible through baggage claim and customs and arrived at a very long TSA security line when our plane was boarding. The security officials were completely unhelpful, but eventually all the strangers in line ahead of us waved us past them and fortunately security did not have an issue with that. We grabbed our stuff and ran barefoot to the gate. There's nothing like entering a completely full airplane with people staring at you, but five minutes later we were just relieved to have made it because we had to be home that night.

[ch27088]

Girl - that is too close for comfort. When DH and I started cruising, people told us DO NOT travel on the same day unless you are within driving distance to the port. We are going on a cruise next October out of New Orleans (we live in Alabama), and we are taking the train the day before. It's too much stress when anything can go wrong (as you experienced) on the travel day. So glad that it worked out for you, and I'm sure you used that first day to rest and catch your breath after that. Can't wait to read your review.

[Sparky2]

So glad you finally made your flight. That must have really been scary.

 

I'm sure glad we always fly in the day before we sail. Much less stress.

[HeidiHo]

Sounds a little like a crazy story I have. I'll give the short version. It was not our fault. We were supposed to fly out of Milwaukee but our flight got cancelled so they put us on bus for O'Hare for a different flight. We should have had plenty of time but the bus left Milwaukee late. We too, ended up running to the gate (which, of course was the very last one :rolleyes:) and getting there just as the doors were about to be closed. We also left my husband behind at security because he was stopped for extra scrutiny. It was spring break so I figured that the kids and I should go ahead without him because it would be easier to find another flight for 1 person than for 4 people. Luckily for us we were flying the day before the cruise anyway so I knew DH would catch up. As it turned out, he made it just in time. Like I said in the beginning, this is actually the short version, we ran into other issues that delayed us. it was just a crazy day.

[platinum.wannabe]

Oh my goodness, I thought my heart would stop reading that!!! lol! We have less than an 8 hour drive to the nearest port and we still go down a day early! Whew! So glad you made it!!!

[samiam0403]

Holy cow! I was nervous for you reading that! :eek: So glad you made your flight and the cruise. I hope you were able to relax after that and fully enjoy your cruise.

 

Oh, and one other possibility for testing positive for gun powder residue: certain hand lotions. I was told pre-liquid ban by TSA agents that the Bath and Body Works lotion in my bag was the likely culprit when I kept testing positive. The glycerin in some soaps and lotions is a common ingredient in explosives.