Flying in day of.....

[SadieN]

Check to see if insurance will cover you missing the plane in this instance.

 

Off topic---

 

Thanks, I try to be subtle! :o

 

Saw something going around tumblr about suggested symbols for typing on the internet. The funny brackets (they must have a name) are to be used for sarcasm. {yes, you will miss your plane}

Edited April 3, 2014 by SadieN

[Isasprings]

I think you are fine.Trasportation from the airport to the port is very easy

$26.00 cab fare:)

Edited April 3, 2014 by Isasprings

[Warm Breezes]

We are flying in the late morning of the day of our cruise (June 29th)....please tell me this won't be a problem!!?!?!?

 

Good Luck....I've had too many delays flying to risk it (and the delays weren't due to weather....they were all mechanical, including an emergency landing in TN on a MI to FL direct flight). We always fly in at least the day before.

[Warm Breezes]

I know a longer cruise is preferable, but if people only have 7 days of vacation, how about taking a 5-6 day cruise instead of taking the 7 day cruise and then coming here looking for reassurance because they have NO choice but to fly on the morning of the cruise? :rolleyes: Yes, I know that the itineraries and the ships on the shorter itineraries aren't as nice, but if that's all your vacation time allows, why risk it? Either go on a shorter cruise or take more vacation time.

 

I'd love to take a 7 nighter for our next cruise, but we only have 6 days to play with. So we're taking a 4 night cruise with a 2 night pre-cruise hotel stay. Not my ideal cruise, but it's what my vacation time allows.

 

This is exactly what we do...If we can't get the extra days to fly in a day early then we are looking for a ship that will fit into the days we have available with at least 1 day extra at the front end to fly or 2 days extra at front and 1 day extra at the back if we are driving. We've even gone down to a 4 day once to make it fit....but mostly it is a 5 or 6 days if we are limited to one weeks time.

[WindsorFred]

I do not want to start my vacation being stressed out wondering if I'll make it or not.

 

We always fly in two or three days before.

 

Same here. Have only been delayed once ,connecting flight in Atlanta due to ice, but we cruise in January from Minnesota, lots could go wrong. Always plan something for the city we are in preceeding the cruise, helps get us into vacation mode.

[mek]

I would guess that some only have "x" amount of vacation days, and flying in on a weekday goes over the amount they have.

 

True, but there are plenty of Sunday departures that allow for a Saturday flight. If I couldn't take a Friday flight, then I would take a Sunday departure.

[awhcruiser]

Shouldn't be if its on a non-stop flight first thing in the morning. Otherwise I would reconsider and fly in the day before.

We are flying in the late morning of the day of our cruise (June 29th)....please tell me this won't be a problem!!?!?!?

[KristiandEvan]

I flew in the day of last April for my Sensation cruise. I was supposed to be in Orlando by 11:00 and thought this was no big deal. My first flight out of RIC was find and I arrived in Charlotte to a 30 minute delay due to mechanical issues. No biggie... we waited. Boom. Another 30 minute delay... and another... and another. All other flights to Orlando on all airlines were full. At the last second, a passing by gate attendant recommended Melbourne and we got the last 2 seats on a flight on the other side of the airport that was already boarding. After a RUN to the new plane, we made it. The gate attendant there, when told that we were cruising, managed to talk the pilot into waiting 5 minutes for our luggage. At that point, I was prepared to buy new clothes... just as long as I got on that boat! We landed at 2:00 pm and snagged a shuttle to the port. We boarded shortly after 3 (and headed immediately to the bar for some stress relief).

 

NEVER AGAIN! The hotel room the night before is well worth the additional cost. If costs are your concern, priceline a cheap room.

 

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[sammee]

Having to shuttle my son back and forth to the airports while he was in the service. You name it, it went wrong. Weather delays, mechanical, overbooking. If he had to make a cruise, he wouldn't have. If we had to fly it would be the day before. We may be 10 hours away from Charleston, but we are going the day before. New car don't mean squat, a breakdown could really nail you.

[dljones]

I wouldn't do it myself. That is just me. To many variables to contend with. Late flight, traffic, bad weather...

[pe4all]

True, but there are plenty of Sunday departures that allow for a Saturday flight. If I couldn't take a Friday flight, then I would take a Sunday departure.

This is exactly what I do. 90% of my cruises leave on a Sunday so I can fly in Saturday morning. The next 5% left on a Saturday from NY - no problem getting to port, as we live 40 min. away. The last 5% left on a Saturday - and I "got sick" on the Friday of, so I could fly in. Yes, not too kosher - but that is why I have sick days!:D

[twentyknots]

I hate to fly in the day before. But I will under certain conditions:

 

1. no direct flight available

2. flight doesn't arrive before 12:00

3. backup flights cut it too close

4. cruise leaves from west coast (I'm on east coast)

5. December-March (risk of ice in Charlotte)

 

I leave as early as possible (7am) from Charlotte to FT Lauderdale. Get there at 9:30. If 7am is cancelled there is one at 9, and another at 11. I feel like my chances are pretty good at getting there on time on one of them.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

I have only chanced it once and that was on a cruise out of Boston on the glory last June. There are between 15-20 PHL-BOS flights per day and it is only about an hour flight, so chances were if I couldn't get a seat on one or there were atc delays, I would still have options. Whenever going to Florida or somewhere far away, I ALWAYS go the day before. Even then, I have have had some close calls. I have had to be rerouted from PBI to FLL (without my bags mind you - I had to drive to PBI the next morning to get them) after getting stuck in atl all evening due to fog and low ceilings. Wasn't sure we were going to make that and we left home at 1300 the day before. Even better, when I sailed the golden princess out of SEA in 2007 with multiple family members, our ATL-SEA leg got cancelled due to crew duty time regs caused by awful july storms the day before and we were not rebooked until 3 days later. No good. We had an excellent manager in PHL take care of us and build a 3-leg, multiple-airline itinerary to get us there at noon the day of the cruise. Mind you, we again were scheduled to leave home at 0600 the day before. We just made our ship and were completely wiped out for sailaway because we had to sleep at baggage claim in SFO the night before.

 

Now, those are extreme cases but they happen more than they need to. If you have to fly in day-of, make sure you either book an originating and nonstop flight or leave yourself time to make a connection in a busy hub in case of a delayed first leg. Also leave yourself multiple options in case your connection does get blown, like check to see if there are later connections or reroutes that you can get to still get you to the ship on time. Or the time my mother was going to cruise with a friend from SAN and her flight from PHL to ATL was delayed multiple times due to mx and then ground stopped to atl due to severe weather. Had to pull a miracle from home to get her rebooked ATL to LAX so they could get there in time for the next day's cruise. If not for having delayed inbound pilots on the LAX leg, you guessed it - they wouldn't have cruised that time either because they wouldn't have made their rerouted itinerary in ATL. Point is, ship happens. You have to always be prepared for the worst even though things usually go according to plan or close to it.

 

That's my advice at least, and I or myself and close relatives have done this quite a few times over the years.

Edited April 4, 2014 by FlyingCruiserNJ

[elliair]

If we were flying a long distance no way would I fly in the same day. If it were an hour and a half flight I would. We flew from Sacramento to Seattle and caught the ship in plenty of time. We always carry trip insurance so we don't worry too much about missing the ship. This time we are driving to the port which is 4 hours away. If it were much more than that we would definitely get a hotel the previous night.

Edited April 4, 2014 by elliair

[Chirpbird]

Off topic...the funny brackets (they must have a name) are to be used for sarcasm. {yes, you will miss your plane}

I call those brackets - { } - Hitchcocks. :) Get it? They look like Hitchcock's profile.

[Budget Queen]

I hate to fly in the day before. But I will under certain conditions:

 

1. no direct flight available

2. flight doesn't arrive before 12:00

3. backup flights cut it too close

4. cruise leaves from west coast (I'm on east coast)

5. December-March (risk of ice in Charlotte)

 

I leave as early as possible (7am) from Charlotte to FT Lauderdale. Get there at 9:30. If 7am is cancelled there is one at 9, and another at 11. I feel like my chances are pretty good at getting there on time on one of them.

 

Flights most often are full, your "pretty good" claim likely isn't accurate.

[FlyingCruiserNJ]

Sometimes Air Traffic Control gives you a different route than what you were filed for at the last minute, adding more miles to your trip. (Just yesterday, what was supposed to be a 990 mile flight turned into a 1,300 mile flight when we got a reroute due to weather along our original route of flight as we were getting ready to close the boarding door). Needless to say, more miles more fuel.

 

Other times, weather at your destination may drop below what was originally forecasted and they may need to add an "alternate" airport to your flight plan (a requirement when visibility or cloud bases at your destination airport drops below a certain value, just in case you can't land there). Adding an alternate also requires more fuel.

 

These are two of the most common reasons that I can think of why they may need to add extra fuel at the last minute. But there are more.

 

Since you mention Atlanta, this airport is notorious for putting airplanes on holding patterns for extended periods of time, even on a perfectly clear day just because of the sheer volume of airplanes landing there (it's the busiest airport in the world). The airline may consider prudent to add extra holding fuel if they are notified that Atlanta is on a delay program.

 

Yep, couldn't have said it better myself. Seen days in tstorm season in ATL (and PHL or any northeast airport) where things were ok up until about 1700, then all hell broke loose because a nice summer gullywasher decide to park over ATL or in the arrival or departure corridors and well....LOL. Guys who took off before the wx got bad end up diverting to wonderful places such as CHA, GSP, MGM, DHN, AGS, etc and sitting for hours because they ran out of gas holding for an hour 50 miles away from the airport and guys who pushed but didn't get airborne at their origin sit in the penalty box for 2 hours then go back to the gate to either leave 5 hours late or cancel due to someone timing out. Of course, best case is they know of the delay in enough time and never leave the gate in the first place, but that doesn't happen all the time as we know. Fun times and lots of late, late summer nights LOL. Good stories to tell around the barbeque though, people love to hear about that kinda stuff.

[Kentucky816]

My husband is a pilot for Southwest and he tells me many times of delays, weather, mechanical or otherwise that has delayed cruisers. Like someone said here cruisers are in tears knowing they many miss their ship. He of

course hates if for him but because of going through this we always go a day

before. Knowing the all the airlines as well as we do any weather/mechanical can cause delays we don't want to chance it. We sometimes have difficulty getting home him commuting from Atlanta to Cincinnati. The truth is that airlines have cut so many flights these days there is very less options like than there was before 2008. Which is one of the reasons the flights are so packed now a days and the deals not as good.

[Budget Queen]

My husband is a pilot for Southwest and he tells me many times of delays, weather, mechanical or otherwise that has delayed cruisers. Like someone said here cruisers are in tears knowing they many miss their ship. He of

course hates if for him but because of going through this we always go a day

before. Knowing the all the airlines as well as we do any weather/mechanical can cause delays we don't want to chance it. We sometimes have difficulty getting home him commuting from Atlanta to Cincinnati. The truth is that airlines have cut so many flights these days there is very less options like than there was before 2008. Which is one of the reasons the flights are so packed now a days and the deals not as good.

 

Don't you fly nonrev? You definitely would never consider flying in the day of cruising. :) I now leave days early. :) In March, I didn't even go home after getting off a ship in LA on a Wed. as I had another cruise on Sunday. Ended up flying direct to Miami.

[Tapi]

Don't you fly nonrev?

 

We avoid non-revving for cruises like the plague. We either buy confirmed tickets (like we did to sail from Seattle last summer), or we book cruises from ports we can drive to. Out of curiosity, I looked at all the flights from here to Seattle on the day we flew up there just to see if it had been worth it to buy confirmed tickets. Thank goodness we did! We would've NEVER made it. Every single flight was oversold, and the standby list just kept growing and growing as the day went by. They didn't board a single non-revver that day.

 

And even with confirmed tickets, we still had some setbacks when the airline lost our big suitcase. Thankfully, since we had flown in early, we had enough time on the morning of the cruise to conduct a marathon shopping spree at the downtown Seattle Target so that we could buy a brand new wardrobe for 3 family members.

 

And OP, that's another reason to fly in early. Even if you make it, your luggage may not. (and for the record, our cruise was last June and the bag is STILL missing! :eek:)

Edited April 4, 2014 by Tapi

[Tapi]

I leave as early as possible (7am) from Charlotte to FT Lauderdale. Get there at 9:30. If 7am is cancelled there is one at 9, and another at 11. I feel like my chances are pretty good at getting there on time on one of them.

 

What gives you the confidence to think that, if your flight is canceled or delayed, that you will be the one lucky passenger among the other 180 passenger on your original flight that gets the one open seat that may be open on a later flight? Chances are that the later flights will all be full (if not oversold).

 

That there are later nonstop flights doesn't mean that you'll be re-accommodated on them. Seriously, the airline may need to reroute you through whatever city they can. You may fly from Charlotte up to Philadelphia, sit there for 4 hours and then take a flight to West Palm Beach and then bus you to Ft. Lauderdale. Happens ALL the time. It's a very realistic scenario. And if you demand to be on a nonstop flight, they may tell you that there's nothing available until Tuesday.

 

The airlines have a responsibility to get you from point A to point B. But they don't have a responsibility to get you there on the flight that you would prefer or by a certain time. Don't be fooled into thinking that you will be OK because there's a nonstop flight 2 hours later. As far as availability is concerned, it doesn't exist.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Tapi

[CBuzzy]

Here is another reason you need to be careful of when flying in the morning of a cruise. We had a early flight out of Atlanta to Orlando one time and arrived with plenty of time to spare. The only problem was that some of our luggage did not make it on to the plane with us and had been left in Atlanta! It being Atlanta they had quite a few flights into Orlando that morning and were able to send our bags down on the next flight. It put us behind schedule but we still made the ship in plenty of time. Different story if this had been a five hour flight into Orlando instead of 90 minutes. We always fly in the day before now!

 

 

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[Budget Queen]

We avoid non-revving for cruises like the plague. We either buy confirmed tickets (like we did to sail from Seattle last summer), or we book cruises from ports we can drive to. Out of curiosity, I looked at all the flights from here to Seattle on the day we flew up there just to see if it had been worth it to buy confirmed tickets. Thank goodness we did! We would've NEVER made it. Every single flight was oversold, and the standby list just kept growing and growing as the day went by. They didn't board a single non-revver that day.

 

And even with confirmed tickets, we still had some setbacks when the airline lost our big suitcase. Thankfully, since we had flown in early, we had enough time on the morning of the cruise to conduct a marathon shopping spree at the downtown Seattle Target so that we could buy a brand new wardrobe for 3 family members.

 

And OP, that's another reason to fly in early. Even if you make it, your luggage may not. (and for the record, our cruise was last June and the bag is STILL missing! :eek:)

 

I always non rev. :) Seattle is a high load destination. But, I've had good luck flying into Portland. Bolt bus and Greyline are cheap and easy to use.

 

I just came home out of Miami a week ago, ALL flights noted as oversold, with a lot of nonrevs listed. We headed to the airport early and were listed for the first available. There were non revs in a panic who decided to take TriRail to FLL since there appeared to be space. There also seemed to be a number of listed non revs, no shows. We were cat 4 listed, way down the pole, but they cleared us, along with about 6 other people. This involved the "eating" passengers I mentioned above. Same with the connecting flight, we cleared that as well.

 

We are both retired, so, it is different for us. And I've been very lucky and good at making the decisions for routing.

[chrisnatca]

I'm an Air Traffic Controller in Houston. Here's my opinion on flying in the day of a cruise.....

 

Don't do it ever, ever, ever, ever.

 

For a vacation that you've spent thousands of dollars on, why take a chance of missing it altogether. All it takes is one thunderstorm, or medical emergency, or minor maintenance issue and, BOOM, no cruise for you.

 

Is it quite common to buy a ticket to, say, Houston only to find yourself sitting on the ground in Austin because fog hit the Houston airport.

 

So unless you're quite ok with not going on your cruise at all, don't do it.....ever.

 

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[awhfy]

Only one experience of flying in day of cruise (& that was only because a former TA didn't understand two major things, I'm flying from CO in February & I want to go to San Juan two days early).

 

We received our airline tickets, wait a minute, day of cruise, flying from Boston to San Juan. Immediate call to TA, what part of I live in Colorado didn't you understand...oh sorry, I forgot, oh I also forgot you wanted to go in several days early (but I had hotel reservations made by TA...)

 

Ok, TA makes calls, so sorry, all precruise flights to San Juan are sold out, have to travel day of cruise. DH isn't happy. I say book the flights thru a Choice Air, she says I'll lose my commission, my comment not my problem at thus point! Get to airport, of course, no nonstop flights, transfer at DFW. Depart early out of CO, that's good, wait for gate at DFW, hmm. Get to gate for San Juan, on time...ok this might work. Ok, here comes first delay, then the second (5 delays in all).

 

Finally land in San Juan, cruise departs in 20 minutes. Luckily I'm Platinum on American & run off the plane first, grab luggage (all of it). Tear up the ramp & here's the guy from Celebrity with a sign with our name, go up to him says, that's us, he says RUN & we did, threw luggage into van & tore out of airport, ran thru cruise terminal, ran across gangplank. Purser says, nice of you to join us & the gangplank closes. Purser says time for muster, DH says, not till I've had a drink...

 

Go to get SeaPass at Guest Relations, oh so sorry, we've assigned your stateroom to someone else. Oh no, we had specifically requested this stateroom (to be with the rest of the family). DH, who is the most mild mannered guy in the world, says get my room back & that's all he said. I don't know how they did it, but we did get our stateroom back.

 

Go to muster, meet family, go to stateroom & all of the luggage is there, life is now good. Rest of cruise was fantastic.

 

End of story, TA also forgot to cancel the hotel room for the two days that we weren't on San Juan. She paid for the hotel.

 

I'd never, ever travel day of to a cruise unless I was driving less than 2 hours. The stress of that trip was horrible.

 

 

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