Fly in the Day of Cruise?

[knittinggirl]

It's a lot less stressful to fly in the day before. We've had them lose our luggage twice, and once our flight was cancelled. Flying in a day early gives them more time for the luggage to catch up with you before sail away. On our cancelled flight, if it had been the day of the cruise, we would have missed the ship.

[Mango Tango]

I know a woman that flew into Miami from Minnesota the day of the cruise. Her flight had been delayed and as they were approaching the airport, she saw her ship leaving without her. :eek: She had to catch up to it at the next port. :(

[naturalbeauty2011]

I know this thread is old, but i had a experience like this before. Me and my sister went on a cruise last year and flew from from ny to florida. we had a very bad snow storm. a bunch of flights was cancelled, and ours was delayed . we made it but it was very scary we thought we was going to miss the cruise, but thats not the crazy part!!! originally we was going to fly in a day earlier but we decided not to, and we met a girl on the boat, who friends decided to fly in a TWO extra days earlier and their flights was cancelled due to the bad snow storm and they had to miss 2 ports. so my point is you can plan ahead all you want just to be pushed back at the last moment. Me and my sister flew in the day of and everything was good vs those girls who flew in two days extra just to miss out on two amazing ports..

Edited January 1, 2015 by naturalbeauty2011

[LuCruise]

Good post.

 

We're deciding the same thing. We'll be flying in month of April from Ontario. So less chance of snow issues but still possible. If we fly in day of, then we'd definitely take a direct flight , which is about 3hrs long...and take 6:30am flight. But we're thinking of flying the day before so we aren't exhausted our first day from getting up at 3am. Our cruise leaves on a Sunday so this is easy to do. We just have to look at the cost of Saturday flight vs Sunday flight and hotel for a night.

[catm6156]

Cruise care has nothing to do with it. How much do you value boarding the ship on the first day as opposed to 2 or even 3 days later? I fly from the snowy, stormy North and always travel at least the day before.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

I agree! I live in Wisconsin and I'm flying in 3 days before just in case a storm system moves in it will give me time to drive if I absolutely have to! Or change my flights which I can do on Southwest without a fee. Fly in a little early and extend your vacation.

[bme]

I know this thread is old, but i had a experience like this before. Me and my sister went on a cruise last year and flew from from ny to florida. we had a very bad snow storm. a bunch of flights was cancelled, and ours was delayed . we made it but it was very scary we thought we was going to miss the cruise, but thats not the crazy part!!! originally we was going to fly in a day earlier but we decided not to, and we met a girl on the boat, who friends decided to fly in a TWO extra days earlier and their flights was cancelled due to the bad snow storm and they had to miss 2 ports. so my point is you can plan ahead all you want just to be pushed back at the last moment. Me and my sister flew in the day of and everything was good vs those girls who flew in two days extra just to miss out on two amazing ports..

 

I had a similar situation last February.

 

Travel companion had a flight from Newark, NJ to Florida the day prior to the cruise but local snow led to flight cutbacks at the airport that day. He and his family spent a very long day at the airport trying to get out to anywhere to connect to Florida. It all worked out but was so stressful.

 

Meanwhile, my flight, early on day of departure, left and arrived without a hitch.

 

You just never know with weather.

 

(I do buy travel insurance but sure hope I don't need to use it!)

[wassup4565]

It's not just weather, although coming from Canada in winter (or even shoulder seasons to winter) that's always a factor. And it's not just mechanical problems. But we've also been left cooling our heels because although the aircraft was there and provisioned waiting to fly, the crew was delayed. And most recently, we had a delay because the crew for our flight were the only available crew in the airport licensed to perform some safety inspection of an entirely different plane. So we waited while they inspected.

 

There are just too many things that can go wrong. And you only have to run through an airport shoeless and beltless once while the clock ticks down to know that this is no way to start a vacation.

[3dog]

4) Never fly same day in winter -- just too risky as weather can throw a major monkey wrench in the plans during winter

 

Not picking on this poster, but flying in a day before in winter is false security. As history has shown, when weather causes havoc to air travel, it can be days before flights get going again. And passengers who were on canceled flights have to stand behind those that already have reservations.

 

It is just as feasible that weather (or other circumstances) cause the canceling of the flight the day before, but the next available flight isn't till the day after such that a person flying the day of makes the ship but the person flying the day before does not.

 

All that flying the day before reduces risk is to make it easier to absorb casual delays and increase the probability that luggage is also there.

 

I consider flying in the day before (or more) if:

• Personal schedule accommodates
  
• I want to spend more time in the embarkation port
  
• Flight schedules/prices either make it more attractive or prohibitive (no practical chance of making a ship on the day of)

 

I consider flying in the day of if all of:

• I am flying non-stop from and to a major airport
  
• The scheduled arrival is at least 5 hours before all-aboard (allows for boarding for even moderate delays)
  
• Effective travel time is less than 8 hours (actual flight time + timezone change)
  
• There are several non-stop flights between the two airports (allows options in case of equipment problems)
  

Edited January 2, 2015 by 3dog

[reney313]

I see that a lot of the folks here are recommendinging flying in the day before in the event of a flight cancelation/delay. While I agree with them on that, I would suggest flying in the day early if possible for a different reason. It allows you to get the stressful part of the trip out of the way and give you a chance to unwind a bit before the day you board. We flew in the day of for the first cruise we went on. We were exhausted from having to get up at 4am to make it to the airport on time. We ended up calling it an early night on the first night of the cruise. On our next cruise we plan on flying in the day before, watching the Oasis leave port, get some last minute shopping done for the 10 things we probably forgot to pack, and then just relax for the rest of the night.

 

If you have the time available to fly int he day before I would highly suggest doing it. It will relieve a ton of stress, and let you start your vacation that much earlier.

 

This is exactly why I fly in a day prior. I have flown the day of and fortunately have not had delays or problems. Beside the worry, I am just plain tired by the time I board the ship and miss out on the late night activities as well as being in a bit of a "haze" during the day. Flying in same day typically means a very early flight for me (generally 5:00am) so I have to be up around 3:00am to get to the airport, checked in, etc. It makes a world of difference on my cruise to be well rested, waking up in the embarkation port city, eating a leisurely breakfast and making my way to the ship early.

 

I realize it's not always possible. In those times, I book the flight with the least chance of delay (connecting cities, etc...I can't fly direct from our airport). If it is possible to fly in early, I consider that extra hotel cost as part of the overall vacation deal.

[lovesthebeach2]

I wouldn't recommend it. We only did that ONCE, also in March.

 

We booked the air thru RCCL, but there was a weather delay when we landed to wait for our second flight. We were delayed for hours. RCCL told us that if we missed the cruise due to weather, it was our problem.

 

Fortunately since the plane was almost full with cruisers, they held the ship an hour for us. We were two bus loads. We checked in on the bus and had to run onto the ship. It was NOT the best way to start a vacation.

 

Lessons learned, always fly in the day before.

[ronandcarla]

As you can see by our sigatures of the amount of cruises we have been on, with or without family members and we have never flown the day or two before, just the day of, and thankfully we are travelling from Phila, Pa., all non-stops; our attitude about going the day before is just another costly expense and incovenience, we always buy insurance so if it don't happen we would just re-book at a later date. As a matter of fact one of our separate trips to St Maarten was cancelled becasue of snow and a month later we went.