Reason to travel 1-2 days prior to cruise

[acctgtogo]

I like the idea of taking the bus from Seattle to Vancouver.  Does it have a name?  Searching online shows many options - not sure which are good.  Also, is there a bus that goes from Canada Place but to SeaTac?  Thanks.

[kazu]

I ended up in the air and in connection lounges and by the time I got through Customs and to my hotel (not far) it was over 30 hours.  Exhausted and not up to much that night at all.

If I had arrived as scheduled I could have theoretically boarded but no way would I have been there on time or enjoyed the first few days of the cruise.

 

I pretty much like to arrive 2 - 3 days beforehand.  In this case of International travel, there is time to catch up on, sleep adjustments and why not see the lovely city you are in.

 

I couldn’t fathom even arriving tonight and enjoying the ship and cruise tomorrow but that’s just me and several roll call members here who have all said the same thing.

[landlocked12]

22 minutes ago, Mandalay1903 said:

Another good thing about your 6 AM plan is that you'll be an early morning departure. There are usually fewer delays with early morning, since delays often build up during the day and can impact connecting flights.  Weather permitting, you should be in really good shape. The pre-cruise hotel is worth it in my book.

We got caught up in the Southwest debacle last December. Four members of our party were booked on the first flight out the morning of the cruise.  Fortunately my niece, my disabled mother and I planned to fly down the evening before.  It was San Francisco to Los Angeles so a short flight.  When it became clear that our flight would not depart, despite the assurances from the the Southwest gate agents, I called my sister. She drove to the airport, picked us up, and we began the 6 hour drive to LA. The other three members of our group drove down at the crack of dawn after collecting our luggage from the airport, bless them.  We were very fortunate.  While waiting at the gate, I overhead several people trying to rent cars to make the drive to LA and having very little luck. It was our second cruise on the Emerald Princess and she was surprisingly uncrowded for a holiday cruise.  Word was that 300 to 400 people did not make it on the ship. 

 

[aliaschief]

Always give one or two days prior to embarkation anywhere. Flight issues or luggage delays it’s just not worth the panic. 
Overseas? A couple of days in advance is our preference.

[bajae]

2 hours ago, cruising sister said:

After last years Holiday fiasco with flying. I am flying in 3 days early to San Diego for my Grand Australia cruise. Fingers crossed. 

That is my plan as well for my Hawaiian cruise. Three or four days early and if all is well, I'll enjoy San Diego for these days. If not, I have time to drive there if needed. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, dobiemom said:

Your opinion: I am flying non-stop LAX-MIA the day before embarkation. Flight is on a Saturday in December. I think I’m the first flight out at 6am. (The hardest thing will be telling DH I need to be at the airport by 4am. 😳)

 

I think I’ll be OK especially since it’s non-stop, but I still have time to change plans. What do y’all think?

 

I know it adds to the cost, but think about an airport hotel for the night before. I usually do that for an early flight, even though I'm 20 minutes from the airport. At a hotel, I roll out of bed, get dressed and I'm a short shuttle ride from the terminal. At home, something always seems to need doing last-minute and I feel rushed. 

[sunviking90]

Great advice to arrive early, and especially be in the port city the night before. I certainly understand that it is cheaper to fly into SEA from many parts of the US, but I would be very nervous to face a 4 hour bus ride and an international border on the day of my cruise.

We cruise out of Canada Place at least twice a year and while I admit it is poorly laid out and can have USBP waits, my advice is to arrive early! We are always there by 10:30 and have never missed lunch on the ship. This past week it took 25 minutes from arrival to being on our ship. 

[richwmn]

I might be a bit more paranoid than most. Even though I only live 90 minutes (or so) from the airport I stay at an airport hotel the night before my flight, which is usually around 11am if I can arrange it. I also arrive in the port city at least the day before. For international travel, it is 2 -3 days before the cruise to get a feel for the embarkation city.

 

 

[sciencewonk]

2 hours ago, dobiemom said:

Your opinion: I am flying non-stop LAX-MIA the day before embarkation. Flight is on a Saturday in December. I think I’m the first flight out at 6am. (The hardest thing will be telling DH I need to be at the airport by 4am. 😳)

 

I think I’ll be OK especially since it’s non-stop, but I still have time to change plans. What do y’all think?

I did a lot of flying for business for about 5 years, averaging 2 domestic and 1 international trips per month.  My home was in San Diego and a lot of my business was in DC or NYC.  I always booked the earliest flight from San Diego (6:30 am).  As Mandalay1903 pointed out, there are fewer delays at that hour.  But I found the biggest advantage was that getting up at 4 am put me in east coast time and minimized jet lag.  I think you'll find that by doing this, you'll be well rested and relaxed for your cruise.

 

Enjoy the cruise.

[sciencewonk]

Another reason to fly 2 or 3 days early.  We have a cruise from Auckland to Sydney in November.  We're flying to Auckland 3 days early because we've never been to New Zealand before and that'll give us a chance to see the area.  We plan on taking a day trip to Hobbiton.

[Roz]

2 hours ago, acctgtogo said:

I like the idea of taking the bus from Seattle to Vancouver.  Does it have a name?  Searching online shows many options - not sure which are good.  Also, is there a bus that goes from Canada Place but to SeaTac?  Thanks.

HAL contracts with a company to provide bus service between Seatac and Canada Place.  You can book it online when you're in your HAL account.  They also provide reverse service between Canada Place and Seatac. 

 

I've used Quick Shuttle in the past, but their current schedule doesn't work for me. 

[Roz]

Now that I'm retired I can arrive 2-3 days in advance,  but when I was working that would use up too many vacation days.  

[durangoscots]

3 hours ago, bajae said:

That is my plan as well for my Hawaiian cruise. Three or four days early and if all is well, I'll enjoy San Diego for these days. If not, I have time to drive there if needed. 

My thinking too. At least I am flying through Phoenix, not Denver but getting out of Durango is always a toss of the dice in December/January.

 

Susan

Edited October 7, 2023 by durangoscots

[durangoscots]

2 hours ago, richwmn said:

I might be a bit more paranoid than most. Even though I only live 90 minutes (or so) from the airport I stay at an airport hotel the night before my flight, which is usually around 11am if I can arrange it. I also arrive in the port city at least the day before. For international travel, it is 2 -3 days before the cruise to get a feel for the embarkation city.

 

 

I wish we had an airport hotel, but airport is not that far from home. But, the early morning flights in the winter are downright scary with deer all over the road. Right now they keep moving my flight about and I will have a long layover but will cope.

 

Susan

[VermeulT]

4 hours ago, landlocked12 said:

We got caught up in the Southwest debacle last December. Four members of our party were booked on the first flight out the morning of the cruise.  Fortunately my niece, my disabled mother and I planned to fly down the evening before.  It was San Francisco to Los Angeles so a short flight.  When it became clear that our flight would not depart, despite the assurances from the the Southwest gate agents, I called my sister. She drove to the airport, picked us up, and we began the 6 hour drive to LA. The other three members of our group drove down at the crack of dawn after collecting our luggage from the airport, bless them.  We were very fortunate.  While waiting at the gate, I overhead several people trying to rent cars to make the drive to LA and having very little luck. It was our second cruise on the Emerald Princess and she was surprisingly uncrowded for a holiday cruise.  Word was that 300 to 400 people did not make it on the ship. 

 

March 2022 I had to do the same.  White Plains NY (just outside NYC) to FLL.  No planes headed to Florida the afternoon before my trip.  I changed my flight to ATL.  My sister was on Frontier and was cancelled also (due to labor dispute).  She picked me up at ATL and we drove through the night to FLL. We were exhausted when we got to the ship but it was better than sitting around hoping flights would get us there.

[VermeulT]

4 hours ago, acctgtogo said:

I like the idea of taking the bus from Seattle to Vancouver.  Does it have a name?  Searching online shows many options - not sure which are good.  Also, is there a bus that goes from Canada Place but to SeaTac?  Thanks.

Amtrak runs a train and several buses from downtown Seattle to Vancouver.

[3rdGenCunarder]

26 minutes ago, VermeulT said:

Amtrak runs a train and several buses from downtown Seattle to Vancouver.

 

It's a beautiful ride on the train and the border entry (handled at the Vancouver station) is easy. The downside is that if you want to take the train on the morning of your cruise, that one leaves very early. 7:30 or 8 AM. IIRC.  The later train goes in the evening, so you would have to stay in Vancouver overnight. There are buses that leave in between the times the trains go, but I prefer the train.

[SargassoPirate]

14 hours ago, cruising sister said:

After last years Holiday fiasco with flying. I am flying in 3 days early to San Diego for my Grand Australia cruise. Fingers crossed. 

Smart move.  I've booked air travel to arrive three days ahead of a WC.  I priced the cruise line extension and the booked my own stay and will Uber to the port.  No stress.

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Having been blessed to cruise since 1971, we travel 2 to 3 days in advance and generally stay 2 to 3 days after to accommodate any weather, airline, airport, etc. etc issues. Anything can happen. That said, all the best to everyone!

[mame42]

14 hours ago, cruising sister said:

After last years Holiday fiasco with flying. I am flying in 3 days early to San Diego for my Grand Australia cruise. Fingers crossed. 

Same here.

[mame42]

11 hours ago, richwmn said:

I might be a bit more paranoid than most. Even though I only live 90 minutes (or so) from the airport I stay at an airport hotel the night before my flight, which is usually around 11am if I can arrange it. I also arrive in the port city at least the day before. For international travel, it is 2 -3 days before the cruise to get a feel for the embarkation city.

 

 

Although I live theoretically 45 minutes from the airport, I always book an airport hotel the night before a morning flight.  Many would be travelers are unaware that bridges and interstates in my area may be closed for hours at any time of year because of accidents and/or fog.

[hhoope01]

The first cruise my wife and I ever took (along with the kids) was out of Galveston.  We live in North Texas about 6.5 hrs away.  We decided to drive down the day before, get a hotel room, have a nice dinner.   During dinner that evening (after the 6.5 hr drive) I realized I forgot our passports.  So my son and I jumped in the car and drove 6.5 hrs back home to get them.  Turned around and drove 6.5 hrs back to Galveston (i.e. almost 20 hrs. on the road).  We made it back the next morning with a couple of hours to spare.   😵‍💫

 

The moral of this story is, yes, never forget your passports (and I haven't since.)  But just as important, building in a day or 2 buffer can be a life-saver should anything "unplanned" happen.  I'd rather be in a different city with and extra day or 2 trying to figure out what to do until we board than risk missing our cruise ship.

[DennisNV]

Hello All! I have spent my entire career working in the airline business and currently work for a very large Chicago HQ'd airline. So many thing have to come together exactly right for a flight to depart on time: crew in position, fuel, bags, weather (not just at your departure and arrival cities but also enroute,) not to mention a serviceable airplane. I have never and would never fly on embarkation day! With time to spare, go by air!

 

Dennis

[richwmn]

15 minutes ago, hhoope01 said:

But just as important, building in a day or 2 buffer can be a life-saver should anything "unplanned" happen.  I'd rather be in a different city with and extra day or 2 trying to figure out what to do until we board than risk missing our cruise ship.

Similarly, I was on the Christmas and New Years cruises prior to the World Cruise last year. When I checked into the hotel for my pre-flight stay the chip on my card wouldn't work and they didn't allow swipes. No big deal, I used another. When I got to Fort Lauderdale the same thing happened (same hotel chain). I looked at the card and found that it was due to expire before I got home.

I called HAL to see if I could get a replacement shipped to the port agent and was told no. Luckily, I know a couple of people who live in the FLL area and was able to use one of their addresses to have the card shipped to. On the turnaround between Christmas & New Years I visited the friend and got the replacement card.

 

[mcrcruiser]

Wow there is no doubt that traveling has become quite bad these days because of so many iairline delays &  cancelled flights  . This places a great deal of stress on the travelers . 

We are fituante to lice 28 miles to the San Diego port ,We ni linger fly & we just go for the cruise . San Pedro t cruise terminals are a 1,5 hour drive ;but ,we do not like the craziness of their parking lot,so we avoid San Pedro world cruise center .

 

 In years past long before this crazy man made virus disease ,We traveled all over the world & it was  in many trips very long flights but ,we did not have the problems that I have just read on this thread  . We have empathy for all of you who have experienced the hassles ot traveling .As we all age these pressures take a toll on our health ,so personally ,we avoid as much pressure which we now contril by local trasvel either to the SD port or driving on a land vacation  .

 

 Not onlt gave cruise prices gone up & will continue to fo up but ,the very bad travel in planes & on some cases hotels & grounf connections that if not dixed will cause people to rethink their future tracel plans