Why would Norwegian do this ?

[dbrown84]

4 minutes ago, hairychick said:

How about the shuttle back, from the port back to the airport, Was that also included?

 

yes, if you get the NCL transfer, it's both ways.  I believe they charge $75 per person for their transfers

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, anyman said:

Every flight that I've been on, that was booked by NCL included the Shuttle from the airport to the port. Thinking there may be a plan here that NCL just hasn't told you yet.

Yes, it should be on their invoice as transfers with it listed both ways.

[anyman]

39 minutes ago, hairychick said:

How about the shuttle back, from the port back to the airport, Was that also included?

 

If the flight was booked by NCL, it was.

[ExArkie]

10 hours ago, itsnotjustme said:

There is also an airport in Melbourne Florida which is a little closer distance wise, but a very similar drive time.  It is a very direct shot from the Orlando Airport (which is southeast of Orlando) to Port Canaveral on the Bee Line.  Like others, I would never fly from out west same day for a cruise. eline 

MLB also has very limited service (my wife’s parents lived nearby). Last time I looked, it was Allegiant, American, and Delta with flights to/from five airports total. And not many flights a day. MCO definitely has more options, is generally less expensive, and - as you noted - essentially the same travel time to the port.

[mjkacmom]

11 hours ago, casofilia said:

NCL books the CHEAPEST airfare that will get you to the port in time to board not to suit the passengers requirements.

 

Caveat Emptor.

But in this case NCL booked them a flight coming into the best airport option and definitely want to arrive the day before coming from the west coast.

[shipmate13]

Thank all of you for your wonderful, helpful responses.  I had spoken to a Norwegian representative and asked about their flight arrangements.  I was told that most likely they would be booked a red-eye and arrive early morning of cruise in which they could make arrangements for transportation to pier.  I also wanted to ask you all on cruise critic as I know so many of you are extremely smart when it comes to this. After speaking to Norwegian and them telling me it would be a red-eye, it turned out it wasn't and so we are now planning ahead of the game since the flights are a day before.  With all your help, this should be easy to work out..    I know things can change at the last minute, but planning is part of the game.  I wish all of you a wonderful, healthy year ahead of you and safe and happy cruises.  

[dbrown84]

the best part is they are coming in a day early, which most people prefer and didn't have to pay the deviation fee.  Well, hopefully they didn't sneak in the fee without their knowledge.  It was so sad reading the post during this past Southwest airlines meltdown of folks missing their cruise.  I'm on the East coast and usually cruise from Port Canaveral and I still fly in the night before.  Mostly because I like to cruise in the winter time to ditch the northeast weather for a week and I don't want to risk a flight getting cancelled or delayed on a same day flight.  Plus I feel like my vacation has started a little earlier

[TequilaKen]

When we cruise out of Port Canaveral, we fly in the day before and take an Uber to Cape Canaveral and stay there.  We prefer to have a relaxing evening and be a few minutes from the ship instead of shuttling back to the Orlando airport in the morning and taking a crowded bus.  We book the NCL shuttle back to the airport because surge-pricing makes the Uber cost unpredictable on cruise arrival days.

[ChiefMateJRK]

15 hours ago, LadyZolt said:

There is a Hyatt Regency hotel actually IN the Orlando airport. We stayed there in December and we thought it was very nice! If they stay there, there is probably a Norwegian Cruise Line shuttle that can get them to the ship.

Bingo!!  We've done this twice.  Once we took a shared shuttle to port.  Once we rented a car and dropped it off at the port (I had a corporate rate that made it cheaper and there were three of us).  Next time, I would just take an Uber/Lyft.  That hotel isn't cheap, but if you have Hyatt points it works out very well.  There is also a Hyatt Place just North of the airport that is cheap/easy.😎

[tonit964]

15 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

Why would you not want to come in a day before the cruise?  Any delays the day off and they potentially miss the cruise.  The recommendation by members on here would to always arrive the day before.

We are doing a big family cruise this July on the Encore with all of us flying from Los Angeles area to SeaTac. My DB & DSIL are planning on flying the morning of. I’m trying to convince them to go a day early because you just never know. So far, no luck convincing them.

I don’t understand paying so much money for a cruise and then risk missing it because you have an additional expense for hotel & transportation. 

I’ll be spending my day exploring Seattle stress free the day before boarding. I hope they make it.

[phissy]

4 hours ago, tonit964 said:

We are doing a big family cruise this July on the Encore with all of us flying from Los Angeles area to SeaTac. My DB & DSIL are planning on flying the morning of. I’m trying to convince them to go a day early because you just never know. So far, no luck convincing them.

I don’t understand paying so much money for a cruise and then risk missing it because you have an additional expense for hotel & transportation. 

I’ll be spending my day exploring Seattle stress free the day before boarding. I hope they make it.

AS has many flights a day from LAX/ SEA.  We live in Seattle and have a home in LA area . We fly back and forth quite a bit. 
To avoid an issue with possible flight complications , fly earlier in the day.

2 1/2 hour flight.  Allow about an hour after landing to get to Pier 66.

Enjoy the Encore. We have sailed her twice to Alaska.  10 total NCL cruises to Alaska.  We love cruising Alaska.

Enjoy your family cruise and happy travels.

 

edit to add…

We have cruised twice within the last year out of Port Canaveral. 
We fly into MCO , the day before.
Transcons can be less reliable, as there may be only 1-2 a day.

We pick up rental car at airport. Drive to hotel close to airport area.  
Good restaurants and shopping there for last minute stuff.

Drive to port in the morning, at our own pace and drop off car and take their shuttle to Dock. This has been less stressful for us as shuttle to ports from hotels are unreliable .

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by phissy

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

the best part is they are coming in a day early, which most people prefer and didn't have to pay the deviation fee.  Well, hopefully they didn't sneak in the fee without their knowledge.  It was so sad reading the post during this past Southwest airlines meltdown of folks missing their cruise.  I'm on the East coast and usually cruise from Port Canaveral and I still fly in the night before.  Mostly because I like to cruise in the winter time to ditch the northeast weather for a week and I don't want to risk a flight getting cancelled or delayed on a same day flight.  Plus I feel like my vacation has started a little earlier

Pay the deviation fee? We have asked and been given a deviation for our flight to London this summer, and it came with a credit for each of us, not a fee.

[dbrown84]

19 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Pay the deviation fee? We have asked and been given a deviation for our flight to London this summer, and it came with a credit for each of us, not a fee.

You know, now that I think about it, I was thinking about something else.  I think the gotcha with the deviation was you used to have to accept NCL's hotel but I believe that is no longer the case.  I'm totally going by reading CC over the years as I've never done it personally 

[BirdTravels]

22 hours ago, itsnotjustme said:

There is also an airport in Melbourne Florida which is a little closer distance wise, but a very similar drive time.  It is a very direct shot from the Orlando Airport (which is southeast of Orlando) to Port Canaveral on the Bee Line.  Like others, I would never fly from out west same day for a cruise. eline 

MLB is a tiny airport with limited service. For the purposes of a cruise, I would avoid it. I have flown into MLB for work a couple of times... and never again. Now I fly into MCO and do the drive. 

[OhJinkies]

23 hours ago, itsnotjustme said:

There is also an airport in Melbourne Florida which is a little closer distance wise, but a very similar drive time.  It is a very direct shot from the Orlando Airport (which is southeast of Orlando) to Port Canaveral on the Bee Line.  Like others, I would never fly from out west same day for a cruise. eline 

You must be a local… I still call it the Beeline, as well!

[The Traveling Man]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:34 PM, OhJinkies said:

You must be a local… I still call it the Beeline, as well!

So what do they call the 528 now, if not the Bee Line?

[chillyw]

Yeah, I always knew it as the bee line too!

[Sydneyberlin]

In this case it might just be NCL booking the cheapest option possible but I would ALWAYS book a hotel night in the same city as my cruise departs to be on the safe side.

 

We come from Australia so it’s a no brainer for us but even for Domestic connections, we wouldn’t risk it. Our next cruise in April leaves from Miami and fly into JFK via Japan three days before, stay in NYC for two nights (who would ever be silly enough to miss the chance for two days in the Big Apple?), then fly down to Miami the day before our cruise and then stay that night in Miami Beach.
 

Because this way, we are pretty safe to make our cruise in time AND we can slowly introduce our livers to two weeks of free flowing alcohol by having a night out in Miami Beach. Sorted.

[Miss Abbi]

We always fly in the day before.  I would rather pay for a hotel, than miss the ship due to flight delays. That’s a lot of money lost.  No way would I fly in the day of a cruise, and we live within a 3 hour flight to Florida.

[dexddd]

7 hours ago, Miss Abbi said:

We always fly in the day before.  I would rather pay for a hotel, than miss the ship due to flight delays. That’s a lot of money lost.  No way would I fly in the day of a cruise, and we live within a 3 hour flight to Florida.

Welcome to CC.

[wolft927]

I agree, I would never leave my home day of cruise even if driving. We typically drive to all departure ports (Florida, New Orleans) as now a days even flying a day before with all the sudden cancelations and delays I would rather simply drive. We always leave early morning the day before departure around 6am, arrive about 10 hours later, enjoy a night in the departure port and relax. Wake up early and a short ride or even walk to the Ship. I always imagine my truck breaking down or something so at least I would have time to either leave it somewhere and rent a car or have it fixed real fast 

[SimplyAlbert]

On 1/8/2023 at 12:30 PM, dbrown84 said:

the best part is they are coming in a day early, which most people prefer and didn't have to pay the deviation fee.  Well, hopefully they didn't sneak in the fee without their knowledge.  It was so sad reading the post during this past Southwest airlines meltdown of folks missing their cruise.  I'm on the East coast and usually cruise from Port Canaveral and I still fly in the night before.  Mostly because I like to cruise in the winter time to ditch the northeast weather for a week and I don't want to risk a flight getting cancelled or delayed on a same day flight.  Plus I feel like my vacation has started a little earlier

 

We're also on the East coast and used to fly in a day early, now it's usually two days early.  We almost missed a cruise departing from Miami and we were flying in a day early in August.  Flights were canceled all up and down the East coast due to severe thunderstorms.  There were 10 of us.  8 from the Boston area, 1 from Nashville and 1 from Atlanta.  Nashville and Atlanta made it ok, with minimal delays, but the rest of us had a terrible time.  6 were flying on SW (mid-morning flight) and the other 2 on JB (early evening flight).  SW cancelled the flight for 6 and was only able to rebook 4 on a later flight that day.  Other 2 found a flight on American out of Boston and took a shuttle there.  1st American flight was canceled and they were rebooked on the next one.  That one was canceled when they were on the runway and I ended getting them on our JB flight.  In the meantime the 4 on SW were now stuck in Baltimore.  Eventually everyone ended up getting there - the SW flight arrived around midnight (originally should have arrived around 2 pm) and the JB flight arrived around 2 am (was supposed to arrive around 11 pm).  Oh, and the cost of two one-way tickets from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale at the last minute - $1350!

[rigs32]

With a red eye, they would probably lose day 1 of the cruise to exhaustion, so for the price of a hotel room (likely not much more than $100 near MCO), they will be wide awake to fully enjoy embarkation day.

[trivimp]

On 1/7/2023 at 9:17 PM, itsnotjustme said:

There is also an airport in Melbourne Florida which is a little closer distance wise, but a very similar drive time.  It is a very direct shot from the Orlando Airport (which is southeast of Orlando) to Port Canaveral on the Bee Line.  Like others, I would never fly from out west same day for a cruise. eline 

 

MLB is a smallish regional airport, without as much in the way of shuttles, taxi, Uber services.  But if you do end up flying in to MLB, you will come RIGHT OVER Kennedy Space Center on approach, at a fairly low altitude.  I remember geeking out at the great view I had of launch pad 39, the VAB, and so forth.

[BirdTravels]

On 1/8/2023 at 8:47 PM, BirdTravels said:

MLB is a tiny airport with limited service. For the purposes of a cruise, I would avoid it. I have flown into MLB for work a couple of times... and never again. Now I fly into MCO and do the drive. 

Driving from MLB to PC is about the same, if not longer than driving from MCO. The fastest way is to drive out to 95 and then back into PC... which makes it a long drive. Driving along the coast is scenic, but it is stop-n-go local roads making it a longer (time) drive.