Have you ever missed the ship?

[gay head]

My husband and I are taking the Breeze out of Miami next Satruday.We are flying in from Houston on Friday afternoon and spending the nighr at a hotel because I was afraid if there were delays we could miss the ship if we flew in the morning of the cruise.There an early morning flight out of Houston that we could of taken.Has anyone ever missed the ship?

[bury me at sea]

Personally I have not missed a departure.

 

With a winter flight I think you are wise to fly in the previous day.

[Jayp27]

Personally I have not missed a departure.

 

 

 

With a winter flight I think you are wise to fly in the previous day.

 

 

Flying out a day before is a good idea anytime of year. Plus, most of the port cities are really interesting. But, whatever you do be at least an hour early to the embarkation center because the ship will not wait for you.

 

 

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[imluvncruzn]

My son missed the ship trying to fly out of Buffalo in May a few years ago. Weather was beautiful in Buffalo but fog from a London flight delayed other flights and was a chain reaction causing my sons flight to be delayed several times. I would NEVER fly in the day of anymore....too nerve wracking!

[cruisecraze96]

If you do a search on here you will see several stories of people who missed the ship because they flew/drove in day of. I personally fly in 1 to 2 days early, this time I am lucky and my sister lives in Ft. Lauderdale so staying with her the night before the cruise when we head out on the Breeze in February.

[dland4us]

On our very first cruise, we were set to sail the Mexican Rivera on Pride. We were scheduled to depart from Long Beach on December 21, 2008 for a 7 day cruise. Living in the northwest, we're use to snow but not a huge amount. Snow started dumping the day before and the morning we were to fly out, Portland International Airport closed. In all of our 50 plus years of living here, PDX has never closed. We certainly didn't expect this. After a quick planning session at our daughter's apartment, we came up with quite the "Plan B". We rented a car and drove south to San Francisco. Because of snow and mountain passes, we drove on chains for over 100 miles, removing and putting them back on three separate times. From San Francisco, we flew to Los Angles and took a red eye flight to Guadalajara. After almost missing our connecting flight, we flew on to Puerto Vallarta. We arrived in Puerta Vallarta in the early morning and waited for Pride to arrive the next day, staying in a hotel that was far from the resort area. We woke early and watched the Pride arrive from the dock. We finally boarded while everyone else was beginning day 3, getting off the ship to enjoy their first port of call. My husbands luggage was lost along the way (we checked our bags in San Francisco), so he boarded the ship in jeans and a sweater. Having never cruised before, we felt like we were in the twilight zone to say the least. Carnival was extremely helpful and kind to us. We acclimated right away had a great time for the remainder of the cruise. Because of the great treatment we received through all of this, have sailed Carnival ever since. We are going on our 8th cruise in March and can't wait. The cruise bug bit us 7 years ago and we love it.

Our advise, like so many other seasoned cruisers, fly out the day before and keep a sharp eye on the weather!

[GottaKnowWhen]

My husband and I are taking the Breeze out of Miami next Satruday.We are flying in from Houston on Friday afternoon and spending the nighr at a hotel because I was afraid if there were delays we could miss the ship if we flew in the morning of the cruise.There an early morning flight out of Houston that we could of taken.Has anyone ever missed the ship?

 

November this year, Adventure of the Seas repositioning from Southampton to San Juan. A family was in southern France. Daughter, son-in-law, and two grandkids had one set of travel arrangements, made it to Southampton and safely aboard. The parents were traveling with a service animal, that caused travel disruptions for them. They never made it to Southampton, and it took heroic effort for them to get a flight to Funchal Madeira to join the cruise on day 4.

 

Based on my own travel experience and stories like this I would strongly echo what others here have said: do plan to arrive at your embarkation port at least the day before if not earlier. And be prepared with passports etc. so that you can do the (possibly international) flights to try and catch up if you do wind up late.

[scottbee]

I'd never fly in day-of; way too stressful. We've personally not come close to missing the ship (OK, once returning a rental car at a port stop), but..

 

• We did a 14 day cruise w/o luggage because it missed a flight and never caught up with us (LH were zero help and we had to sick the govt transportation agency to even cough up the required compensation)
  
• We flew in day before to San Diego, and a big snowstorm the night before caused us to arrive in SAN at midnight instead of 1pm; would have been a disaster if that had happened day of.
  
• Friends on the same cruise out of San Diego were woken at 5am in Dallas (flying in same day) by a call from AA saying "Your flight is cancelled", had to scramble, fly to Orange County and drive down to San Diego from there (barely caught the ship)
  

[Krazy Kruizers]

We always fly into the embarkation 2 or 3 days early.

But in February 2014 -- that plan didn't work for us. We do not have any direct flights to anywhere. Our connecting flight was through Atlanta. A major snow storm shut down Atlanta and Charlotte for nearly 4 days. Our flights were cancelled.

Many people missed ships.

[nimbex1970]

After a cruise that was spent with no luggage for the most of it, we will never fly in the same day. We almost missed the ship, last ones on, because of a health emergency on the plane. You can't anticipate that. That emergency landing nearly cost our group the trip.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Personally I have not missed a departure.

 

With a winter flight I think you are wise to fly in the previous day.

 

And if there's a big storm the day before (anywhere in the country with cancelled or delayed flights everywhere)) you could still be in trouble flying stand-by. Winter travel is always risky.

[Jane2357]

When I was working and didn't have unlimited free time - I would always fly in the day of - a VERY stressful way to start a vacation. Coupled with the fact when you fly out of the north during the winter and have to worry about weather - you know you are making it on a wing and a prayer.

 

Once I was meeting my daughter and a friend of mine in San Juan - they were coming out of Chicago and I out of Augusta, GA. I got to the ship and waited for them at checkin. Bus after bus dropped off airport transports but they never showed up and time was ticking . . . I was starting to panic. They showed up at the last moment - seems their flight had a heart attack on board - the plane turned back to Miami. They were shaking they were so certain that they wouldn't make it. Never again.

 

We live in Florida now and when we leave from Miami or Ft Lauderdale - we have to drive alligator alley through the Florida Everglades - the hwy south - which occasionally gets closed due to fog or more likely accidents and there would be no other way. We do drive down the day of but leave very early to give us contingency time. Once at one of the rest stops their way a family desperately trying to change a tire - they were also on the way to a cruise.

 

So if you can a day or two before is always preferred.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Jane2357

[rjack22]

We didn't miss the ship because we did fly in the day before BUT...if it had been the day of departure we would have missed it!

 

Long story short...instead of arriving in FLL at around noon we didn't get there until 9:00 PM! Ship would have been long gone.

 

It was a series of setbacks that trip. First we were delayed leaving Toledo because of our connection through Atlanta. They were having severe thunderstorms there so we couldn't leave Toledo. This was in early April if that matters. After a long wait we were finally put on a plane connecting through CVG instead of Atlanta but now we would have a six hour layover in CVG. That would have done us in right there and then if it had been the day of the cruise. Then to add insult to injury when it did come time to board there was some kind of mechanical issue and we had another wait. It was just after 9:00 PM when we finally arrived in FLL only to find out they gave our hotel room away, And I did call the hotel from CVG to tell them we would be a late arrival! Fortunately they did find us another room in another hotel that was very nice. But if this had been the day of departure we would have missed the ship. I will NEVER fly the day of. Lesson learned.

[DirtyDawg]

We have never missed the boat. We have flown in night before, the morning of, and driven 6 hours in the morning of, it just depends on the expected weather, are the flights direct or not, are there multiple flights the morning of, etc. In September we flew in the morning of from Toronto to Vancouver because we could not fly the day before, the on-time stats on that route are extremely high, there were multiple flights going that morning should we have needed to switch planes, and if we had missed the boat in Vancouver we could easily caught up the next day in Seattle.

 

So fly in the day before, or fly in the morning of embarkation. Whatever floats your boat!;)

[PAPERBKWRITER]

If weather is an issue they hold the ship as long as they can. You won't be the only one. AND the airport is full of people flying in the day of. I live so far from the airport we have to stay in a hotel close by the night before and don't need another expense. We've flown in the day of 25 times and never missed the ship. Were we lucky? Probably, but I do avoid winter cruises for that reason and I always take the insurance.

[herbanrenewal]

Even flying in a day or two before doesn't guarantee weather delays won't make it impossible to get to the ship on time if a major storm is approaching. What a lot of people do not realize is that when storms are forecast airlines will wave fees to rebook you on an earlier flight.

 

Last January when we were flying to Buenos Aires a major East Coast storm was in the forecast for our day of departure. We couldn't get a flight the day before from Baltimore, but could from NYC, so we Amtraked to NYC and flew a day early. The airlines waved fees.

 

My advice would be to know your backup plans in advance, and if bad weather is forecast try to rebook tickets early rather than wait until everyone is trying to get out after the cancellations start.

[Laughing Angel]

Never missed the ship, but had a couple of close calls due to weather, medical emergencies and luggage issues.

 

We always fly in 1 or 2 days before sailing. Since I am in the Midwest (the rest of the family is in California), I have to watch out for snow, ice and various winter weather situations. Thunderstorms in the spring and summer can also cause problems (or delays that cascade through a host of other airports), so I always try to build an extra day or two into the trip. It just makes it a lot less stressful, and I am all about less stress, especially when on vacation.

:D

[CAnative1]

I agree... if financially able to, fly into port cities at least a day before is always a great practice. So far I have only had the pleasure of sailing 3 times. The first two times I flew to the port city 2 days before our sailing departure. I got to explore the city and just get my vacation started in general. My third cruise was from a port only an hours drive away. I still left home plenty early in the event of any unexpected traffic.

[pristinehart]

We always fly into the embarkation 2 or 3 days early.

 

But in February 2014 -- that plan didn't work for us. We do not have any direct flights to anywhere. Our connecting flight was through Atlanta. A major snow storm shut down Atlanta and Charlotte for nearly 4 days. Our flights were cancelled.

 

Many people missed ships.

 

I live in ATL and I remember this. I'm hoping this doesn't happen again. My cruise is on Jan. 25th 2015.

[Cruisin' Chick]

If weather is an issue they hold the ship as long as they can. You won't be the only one. AND the airport is full of people flying in the day of. I live so far from the airport we have to stay in a hotel close by the night before and don't need another expense. We've flown in the day of 25 times and never missed the ship. Were we lucky? Probably, but I do avoid winter cruises for that reason and I always take the insurance.

 

I guess you're lucky at cards too. Personally, I wouldn't want to stress out about a flight being delayed or cancelled. Or some weather condition someplace in the county affecting flights elsewhere (which happens). And weather conditions do happen at other times than just winter (think hurricanes and tornadoes).

 

Since I don't get to go on vacations every year, each day is precious to me. And certainly a cruise is a finite period of time. You can't extend one by a day or two, unlike a land vacation (assuming the hotels aren't all booked for the day after your scheduled departure).

 

Most of our cruises have been from our home port, an hour's drive away. And even then, we aim to load the car and be off by 9:30 or 10am. For other cruises, we always get to the embarkation port ahead. Why start a vacation with that kind of stress. And the first time I left for Miami, we were given red eye flights to arrive the morning of the cruise, and we insisted the tix get changed to an arrival the evening before. The next morning, we got up to have breakfast and we ran into people getting off of the elevator with blurry eyes to take advantage of a "day room" at the hotel. Not a great way to start a cruise, right? I certainly don't think so.

 

A couple of cruises ago, there were about 200 Brits who were traveling (or trying to) to Los Angeles to start a Hawaiian cruise. Unfortunately, there was a massive snowstorm in London. Plus a record number of consecutive days of rain here in LA. The captain did delay the sailing by four and a half hours, but finally had to start the sailing. Even if they had flown off to the first port, they would have missed the first four days of the cruise. Every time we ran into someone with a British accent, I did ask if they were in this group, but each one said they had made their own arrangements and flew in days early (and some had made their way to Paris, but even then flew in early). No one said they heard any of them flew to Hawaii to join the cruise.

[GUT2407]

I live about a 2 hour drive from the Port sail from.

 

Still prefer to go the day before and stay overnight [if nothing else t's an extra day of holidays.

 

If I am driving on the day and I have done so twice, I plan on arriving before boarding even opens, two reasons really:

 

1. That builds in 5 to 8 hours in case anything goes wrong

 

2. I do like boarding early and getting a few extra hours for my $$$

[screwsmcernst]

We cruise January 24th out of San Juan, and we live in KY. We are leaving 2 days early because in January, it can be sunny and 60, or -2 and snow. We never really know what we are going to get. I also made sure that our connection was in FL.(not that it's a guarantee of no delays) instead of Baltimore or other airports North. We will be watching the weather like crazy people. If it looks like it may be bad, we may even try to leave earlier. I will never fly in day of.