Our Most Excellent Adventure - We Missed the Ship

[caribill]

Delta is our airline of choice.....No airline is perfect, and I am surprised and saddened to learn of the need to speak to people in India, as I had no idea this is the case.

 

The agent in India was a Princess agent, not a Delta one.

[cruisequeen4ever]

What a stressful situation! You handled it well, and I'm so relieved to hear that you at least made it to the ship to enjoy the remainder of the cruise! I am a proponent of flying in a day early, but even then, I've played out scenarios where that could go wrong, especially when flying internationally. In addition to flying in a day early, I try to fly through hub cities that have more frequent back-up flight options, and I try to avoid the last flight of the day. OP, I hope Delta and Princess treat you well as they process your letter and claim!

[Pam in CA]

Wow! What an adventure! Kudos to you for keeping your cool. Some day, you'll look back and see this as funny.

 

Years ago, I was taking the Sun Princess from San Juan to Acapulco. Lived in the Boston area at the time and was flying to San Juan the day before. A surprise snowstorm hit the entire East coast from GA to ME. All flights canceled. Not to worry, I was re-booked early the next morning to arrive in time to catch the ship. Overnight ice storm. Not just a little ice but a BIG ice storm that coated the roads with 1-2" of ice. They were a mess and I missed my flight due to road closures and delays. Managed to get on the first flight to Miami as a standby figuring I could get to anywhere in the Caribbean from there. Once in Miami, I spent two hours working with an AA rep to book a flight to Martinique the next morning on Air France. Flight left at 7:30am and we had five stops along the way. A real puddle jumper. In Haiti, we had to deplane, go through Immigration and reboard. Finally arrived in Martinique an hour before sailaway at 4pm. Turns out there were about 20 passengers on this flight who had missed the ship. We were met at baggage claim by a Princess rep with porters and a van to go to the ship. Big relief to see that rep! Turns out hundreds missed the ship. Boarded and had a great cruise. Very stressful but now I just laugh and say that I'd visited more countries on the flight than the cruise itinerary. :)

[crochetcruise]

Oh gosh, this is 1 time I'm glad for a limited selection of only 1 airline to travel with, so am forced to travel the day before! And I will be taking the earliest flight possible, even if I DO have to get up at 2 am to get the laundry done (am away for a week so want to leave everything clean). Will also look at taking the later flight from Sydney to Adelaide, warning the hotel that I'm flying in from interstate and coming straight to the hotel, and the booking is prepaid anyway. Did this when I had to go up to a Specialist, went straight from the airport to leave my luggage at the hotel-taken in by the taxi driver for me due to disability, and he brought the documentation and an access card for the Disabled entrance back to me, then took me to my appointment. I rounded up the fare, from memory it was $22, well I gave him $30 because, "Your help has made things SO much easier for me!" He was amazed, tipping isn't usual here, but I've always done it as I need so much help.

 

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to share your story to alert others to the nasty possibilities. My aunt reckons I'm a chronic overpacker-well she needed Band-Aids, tissues, and barley sugar to suck for travelsickness, she'd run out! ALL of which I had provided for myself, with some spare to share! And I did point out how nasty she'd been about the well-filled case beside me until SHE needed something! A deafening silence for the rest of the travelling resulted-she sure got the message!

 

Crochetcruise :cool:

[4x4bob]

Today we received the forms to file for our insurance claim. We have both agreed that if we do not receive a penny we will still be happy. While posting this Mrs 4x4 told me the insurance claim form asked what currency did we pay with. If they do not convert from peso's to USD we will receive $7,000.00 peso's that we paid for the Hotel. I hope that they send the Peso's in a nice bag.

 

Because if Delta had not dropped the ball in customer service we would not have spent two outstanding days in PV with some great new friends.

 

Here is snap shot of the the fun. We were walking around the marina in PV. They had posted signs with a picture of a crocodile on it. When Mrs 4x4 walked up I provided a translation for her. Don't feed the crocodiles. :rolleyes:

 

And, Mrs 4x4 has finally over come the horrible stress of this trip. :D This morning I walked into the computer room and she was researching the cost of two other cruise's. One going to Canada from New York and one going to Hawaii.

 

 

Bob

Edited March 5, 2015 by 4x4bob

[cruisequeen4ever]

Great attitude! Hope you can book your next cruise soon!

[CAZephyr]

Much thanks for your story, and all the useful advice your story inspired. I would like to know the final outcome, if you wish to share. I thought we had an advantage, in that we fly out of Sacramento where we enjoy moderate weather. (I always select fights with southern connecting flights, too.) It looks like moderate weather is trumped by mechanical problems (ugh!). I am now sold on flying in a day in advance of every embarkation.

 

Glad to see the stress has thinned and plans for future cruising are afoot. Good luck.

 

CAZ

 

Second thought, after your story, we might start to budget for two days in advance of future cruises.

[cr8tiv1]

I'll spare you the details because it was a flight on Delta but not for a cruise. I, too, wrote a detailed letter with documentation about how often my flight never made it to the connection.

 

In return, Delta apologized and credited my miles account with a couple of thousand mile points.

 

Ironically, I wrote back to them thanking them for the kind gesture but let them know that I do not fly Delta unless I absolutely have to. The miles were a mute point.

 

I would have gladly accepted travel vouchers for a future flight, but the miles were just worthless. Good luck.

 

This was a most interesting thread. Thank you for starting it and continuing with more details and updates.

[Jetswdo]

reminds me why I ALWAYS make sure that I am near the embarcation port at least 1 day ahead. Personally I would rather not take the cruise at all, if that can't be done. Even if I stay in a "dump" the night before- I need to be relaxed before stepping foot on the ship---When I was on the Celebrity Relflection mediterranean cruise- dh and I got friendly with a guy who barely made the ship. He said he was forced to work --so he couldn't fly in to Rome 1 day earlier to relax, was very lucky as he barely made it on to the ship.

[RJ2002]

Bob, thanks for your update and best of luck on the claim.

 

I'm re-quoting this valuable advice again, with emphasis as noted. When you are searching for the next scheduled flight if your original flight is delayed or cancelled, be sure to check if THAT NEXT FLIGHT IS ON TIME! I made this mistake once, and rebooked myself on a later flight, only to find it also was delayed. :(

 

 

For what it's worth and to the benefit of anybody reading this' date=' I fly nearly weekly for work and have for 25 years. This exact kind of thing happens everyday with every airline. Mechanical issues are far less predictable than weather and more challenging to manage. There are some things as a savvy traveler that you can do. First, make sure that you have a few tools on your phone or tablet - I recommend your airline's app and either Flight Stats or Flight Aware. The combination of these sites will give you updates about your flight status before your gate agents even know. A modest delay for a mechanical is tolerable - but when you first learn of it is when you need to start making a back-up plan. Things to check: when's the next flight on your airline to your destination and does it meet your timing needs. [b']If not start looking at other airlines and identify flights that would work. Are those flights on time? [/b] If things go south with your mechanical - like they're flying in a mechanic and part (or they'er driving it across the airport from the hangar) - that's when you bail. Don't wait until the end. Ask to be booked over on one of your identified back-ups. Insist they book you over to another airline if necessary. Through those apps you can also check where your inbound plane is coming from and whether it's on time. Airlines often do not post delays even though they know an inbound aircraft will arrive too late to turnaround in the alotted time. It's best to take these matters into your own hands and actively monitor your flights and be prepared to change plans quickly. Typically under this kind of scenario bailing and changing flights could cause you to be separated from your checked luggage. However, in this case, given the type of delay and size of the airport, I think they would have been able to pull the bags and move them to the new flight.

 

The same kinds of things hold true for hotels. When I get stranded (sometimes it still happens, especially at the end of the day) I try to take matters into my own hands and identify available, acceptable, and convenient hotels. If waiting for an airline voucher looks like it's going to take a TON of time, I just eat it because my time is valuable too.

 

Happy travels all!

[searoses]

What a nice change of pace....constructive info for those stuck in airport limbo...we went a day early from portland me to jfk....our 1 hrs flight was finally cancelled after hours of this,that and the other....finally got to nyc around 6pm....so glad we stuck to the day before rule for such a close flight....booked sju for next feb...after this winter we have bumped that to 2 days and hope it's enough! We won't have to mow the lawn til the 4th of july at this point!

[rianvi]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We can all learn from it.

 

:)

[elliair]

Now, we must contact the Princess Insurance file our claim. And, after a few days when I have a chance to relax a little I will be writing a letter to the Delta CEO outlining the poor customer service that we received at both Sacramento and LA airports. I really think I will not receive a answer back, but will make me feel better for trying.

 

 

Note: I realize that my post has some misspelled words due to typing fast and not proof reading before I get signed out. If the spelling police are out and about, hope they have fun.

 

Bob

 

Well Bob, I found your experience armchair gripping. I listen to KGO radio Sunday mornings to a guy who does travel for a couple of hours. He never fails to say that Delta Airlines is the worse airline EVER! Like you, we are flying in the same day but flying with Southwest. We've flown in the same day before and knock on wood never had any problems. If push comes to shove, we can always rent a car and meet the ship in Santa Barbara. It wouldn't bother us to miss San Francisco as we only live 2-1/2 hours from there and I use to live there so no biggie for us.

 

Still, your experience is something to think about. Trip, insurance, trip insurance, trip insurance....don't leave home without it!

 

P.S. We're flying out of Sacramento as well, but we're taking the earliest flight available.

Edited March 7, 2015 by elliair

[piper28]

Well Bob, I found your experience armchair gripping. I listen to KGO radio Sunday mornings to a guy who does travel for a couple of hours. He never fails to say that Delta Airlines is the worse airline EVER!

 

I think that's a little unfair to delta to be honest. The reality is, all the airlines are pretty bad these days. Read flyertalk if you really want proof of that :). The real problem these days is that if something happens and your flight gets cancelled for some reason, it's a *lot* tougher to get on another flight at the last minute, because there's no space free. It used to be there were enough seats on other flights that if something happened, you still stood a chance of getting to your destination in a reasonable period of time. Nowadays, the planes are full (good for the airlines, bad for the passengers). If something goes wrong, there's simply not the space on other planes to put the people that got displaced. Which means that it could take a lot longer to get to ones destination as a result. Add to that that there's fewer flights in general (which is why the planes are fuller), and you're in trouble if something goes wrong. Flying just sucks these days.

[caribill]

If push comes to shove, we can always rent a car and meet the ship in Santa Barbara.

 

Not possible if the cruise ends at another US Port. The law prohibits disembarking at a different USA port than the embarkation USA port for cruises like the coastals.

[lolane1]

I think that's a little unfair to delta to be honest. The reality is, all the airlines are pretty bad these days. Read flyertalk if you really want proof of that :). The real problem these days is that if something happens and your flight gets cancelled for some reason, it's a *lot* tougher to get on another flight at the last minute, because there's no space free. It used to be there were enough seats on other flights that if something happened, you still stood a chance of getting to your destination in a reasonable period of time. Nowadays, the planes are full (good for the airlines, bad for the passengers). If something goes wrong, there's simply not the space on other planes to put the people that got displaced. Which means that it could take a lot longer to get to ones destination as a result. Add to that that there's fewer flights in general (which is why the planes are fuller), and you're in trouble if something goes wrong. Flying just sucks these days.

 

I don't fly frequently but usually book Delta and fortunately, never had a problem with them. I actually like Delta. For my upcoming cruise out of San Pedro, I will be flying with them but arriving a day early. I feel better about that decision after reading this thread.

[elliair]

Not possible if the cruise ends at another US Port. The law prohibits disembarking at a different USA port than the embarkation USA port for cruises like the coastals.

 

Well then, we'll just get our money back for the cruise/flights/ etc. Like the OP, we'll take it in stride. At least we'll be in the USA and capable of renting a car and sightseeing So. Cal.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Not possible if the cruise ends at another US Port. The law prohibits disembarking at a different USA port than the embarkation USA port for cruises like the coastals.

 

And isn't Santa Barbara a tendering port? Seems it would be hard to embark at a tender port, especially if there isn't a check in terminal.

[dcdisney]

I'm a big believer in the private travel insurance--especially with the concierge services where they will make all the arrangements for you. BUT in booking an extended family cruise through Princess we have found that for the older members of our family the Princess Platinum trip insurance is more coverage for far less money. Since it's charged based on the trip cost rather than age and even with a mini-suite as the basis. If you don't do air through Princess though it's not covered so either do air through Princess or get a separate small plan to cover just the air. For a 60 and 70 year old it was hundreds of dollars more to get a similar level of coverage privately. For 2 40ish year olds and 2 teens it was hundreds of dollars less to get private coverage that is more coverage in every area except baggage. Princess has a very generous amount in that one area.

[ChiefSealthCruz]

On our last cruise, a 7 day Alaska out of Seattle, we had a tense few moments. We lived about half an hour from the terminal in Seattle, so we planned on driving over and parking the car at the port. We loaded our baggage, jumped in, and buckled up. I turned the key in the ignition, and... Nothing. The car wouldn't start.

 

My wife looked at me and asked me what were we going to do. I told her that we were going on a cruise ship and that I would call a cab. After I called the cab and started unloading the luggage, she asked what I had planned for the car. I told her that I wasn't even going to think about it for the next week because I was going on a cruise. And I didn't.

 

The cab got us there in plenty of time. We enjoyed the cruise. It turns out that the battery in the car was dead. A neighbor drove me to the auto parts store when we got back and the car started right up after I installed the new battery.

 

I realize that this is nothing like the trouble that the OP had, or that some others have had. If I do ever wind up in that tough of a situation, I hope that I can handle it as well as he and his wife did.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...we have found that for the older members of our family the Princess Platinum trip insurance is more coverage for far less money. Since it's charged based on the trip cost rather than age...

 

A bit OT: This is where Princess insurance really shines, in addition to providing cancel-for-any-reason coverage. Be sure to also consider MedJet Assist or similar coverage to fly you home if hospitalized while traveling; many don't realize that travel medical insurance often doesn't cover this--only evacuation to the nearest hospital that can treat you.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Ryndam2002

[Jetswdo]

Just to throw in my two cents-- In total agreement with poster regarding insurance once you are around 60 (like me)

 

I have compared in depth travel insurance coverage over the years. Once you are up in years-- are on any typical medications- cholesteral, heart, diabetic, etc--- the best bang for your buck: medjet membership- join AARP for a substantial savings on that-- and get the cruiseship insurance-- If booking seperately your airfare (which I always do)-- most airlines will allow credit of some type-- maybe at $200 or so change fee per segment-- (check your airline policy) often you will receive a voucher good for up to a year. Allianze? I think that's the name will insure your flight, don't know if it is really necessary---or how much better it is than let's say, Travelguard.

 

Bottom line- maybe you will lose 25% of the trip cost-- but if you are someone who goes on at least 1 cruise a year, if gd forbid you do need to cancel the cruise, at least you will have salvaged 75% of the cost without having to jump through hoops or major hastles with insurance companies. Plus if you consider the amount of money you will have saved on high insurance premiums over a few years, you are financially ahead in the game.

 

Now if you are someone that is always having medical problems which likely involves frequent cancellation- I would just book at the last minute and skip the insurance altogether---but make sure you are at embarkation port at least 1 day early!

[caribill]

If booking seperately your airfare (which I always do)-- most airlines will allow credit of some type-- maybe at $200 or so change fee per segment-- (check your airline policy) often you will receive a voucher good for up to a year.

 

The airline "voucher" is usually good for a year from when the booking was made, not from when the reservation was cancelled. So if you booked your air long before the cruise, you may actually only have a couple of months to use that voucher.

 

And if the reason for canceling was a serious illness, you might not be healthy enough to travel before the voucher expires.

 

It is my understanding that even Princess insurance only covers the change fee and you also get that airline voucher subject to the airline's rules.

Edited March 8, 2015 by caribill

[4x4bob]

We were lucky we had our passports with us. If we did not we would have been walking out the front door of the airport and catching the Blue Van back home.

 

Several times I have read from other members here that they do not take a passport on a closed loop cruise.

 

We have always taken ours, even on the three day cruise last Sept out and back to San Pedro, Calif.

 

Bob

[partybarbie]

We were lucky we had our passports with us. If we did not we would have been walking out the front door of the airport and catching the Blue Van back home.

 

Several times I have read from other members here that they do not take a passport on a closed loop cruise.

 

We have always taken ours, even on the three day cruise last Sept out and back to San Pedro, Calif.

 

Bob

 

Not only do we bring our passports, we also bring paper copies and pack them in a separate carry-on bag. When DH lost his passport, the paper copy was invaluable as he was able to show it to the US Passport office, thus avoiding the research charges to find the passport number.