trip insurance - Princess cruise

[brandygirlo]

We purchased trip insurance through Princess cruise lines. If they arrange our airfare and the only flight that arrives in Ft. launderdale from our departure city is at noon with the cruise leaving at 5:00 p.m. is that enough time to make it to the ship? I am concerned because of the common delays anymore with flights? Will Princess possibly fly us out the day before and pay for hotel for the overnight stay? If we request this, is it on our dime?

[TCF]

Agree with the two previous posters...but....just as a general rule....we always insure with a third party just because it is never wise to insure with a party that is liable to be the injured one if things go wrong. Second...we always leave at least one day before the departure. This is more certain now with the shoddy.."what are you gonna do about it"...service attitude of the airlines!

Just some thoughts.

[cherylandtk]

Not sure where the two prior posts from others went, but....Princess will most likely fly you in the day of the cruise. Noon is within the limits of arrival times.

 

Sometimes because of distance and time zones they have to fly you on a red-eye or the day before, but the hotel is on your dime. As it is if you request a deviation flight for a day early.

 

There might be a few occasions where others will report that Princess springs for the hotel, but in the written policy, it's your responsibility. The last time I got a paid hotel was in 1984.

[Jay_NH]

My first time booking a cruise I let my travel agent book it all and we flew in the day of departure. It was April and I live in the Northeast. We had a freak winter storm the delayed flights all over the east coast. We contacted Princess and told them it looked doubtful we were going to make it. They advised they would hold the ship for as long as they could and if they had to leave without us, we would be flown to the first port of call to meet the ship.

Well we made it and we were the last to board we sailed seconds after we boarded. Not a great start to the vacation with all the stress.

From then on it's a day in advance for us.

Jay:D

[rjack22]

On our last cruise, on the CB out of Port Everglades, they delayed the ship because about 50 passengers were delayed. At least some people in that group must have had Princess air, transfers ...or something. We were supposed to leave at 5:00 and it turned out to be more like 7:00. As a matter of fact, we were at dinner when we left, which was okay as it was raining cats and dogs so there wouldn't have been a sail-away party anyway.

 

Fortunately the port is not too far from the airport so you don't eat up a lot of time getting there.

[Toto2Kansas]

We purchased trip insurance through Princess cruise lines. If they arrange our airfare and the only flight that arrives in Ft. launderdale from our departure city is at noon with the cruise leaving at 5:00 p.m. is that enough time to make it to the ship? I am concerned because of the common delays anymore with flights? Will Princess possibly fly us out the day before and pay for hotel for the overnight stay? If we request this, is it on our dime?

 

If Princess can find a flight, almost any flight, getting you to the port the day of departure, they will fly you in that day. Only very rarely anymore do they fly you in the day prior and pick up the cost of the hotel (and I mean VERY rarely). So, if you book Princess air, plan on arriving the day the ship sails.

 

If you request to arrive the day prior to your cruise, you will have to pay the deviation fee (between $50-$75 per person) plus the cost of the hotel room and meals.

[cdngrl]

princess says if flights go as planned, you'll get there in time.

but, i worry (especially on a big trip) about missing the ship. for my peace of mind, i pay the flight deviation and go a day early and stay in a hotel one night. you can do this through princess or on your own.

it helps my blood pressure to know i'm getting on the ship and also gives my luggage enough time to find me!

[teripp]

If you request the day before its on your dime there is a charge for flight changes and your hotel is your own arrangement and payment.

I live in the Northeast and fly day of with no issues

(spring cruises) . an 8 am flight gets me in by 11 at latest.

[pnut362]

had the same thing happen to us this March - Princess had our flights and had they been on time like the previous year all would have been fine.. however when we got to the airport at 6 am that morning we were told our flight was cancelled.. the next earliest one into FLL was already full.. the best they could do was fly us into West Palm Beach .. yeah and hour away from FLL and the flight wasn't even scheduled to get in until 3:30 pm :eek: :eek:

 

so long story short this was the ONLY option we had- even offered to drive to Knoxville or Atlanta to get an earlier flight and were told that they just didnt have any..

 

so my husband and I spent the next 4 hours in the airport watching it storm.. and sick to our stomach and on the phone with Princess reps at the port in FLL.. they did give us the cell # of a rep at the port and said to keep in touch with her but that they would NOT be able to hold the ship if we were the only ones late.. also, our first port with an airport was going to be 3 days into the cruise in St. Thomas and that if we had to fly there then it would all be our dime up front and we could try to get reimbursed later on..

 

so we landed in West Palm Beach at 3:45 - I ran to get a cab and my husband got our luggage.. the airline did pay for the cab which would have been right at $100.. i was told by the Princess rep to call her when we got about halfway to the port and she would give us updates.. so I did call her when we were about 20 minutes out.. she said well its 4:40 and we are leaving at 5 with or without you.. I told the cab driver to drive it like he stole it and we came screeching in the port at 4:55 pm... as we rolled out of the cab, grabbed our bags and were running into the port area one of the crew started laughing at us and said "no need to hurry- there are about 30 more people we are waiting on".. I gave my husband the ***** look and was like "the lady said there were NO delays!".. but regardless we made it.. and were there.. and we ended up not leaving port until about an hour and a half later.. but oh well..

 

i was sick from my nerves being shot and missed the buffet dinner - but did head straight to the bar, to the CC meet and greet and sailaway and amused everyone with my story.. i made all my phone calls to my family who was worried we wouldn't make it..

 

I finally got a good nights rest and was better the next day - but this coming March we are flying in the day before and making all of the arrangements ourselves!

[Toto2Kansas]

I am not sure how this would work out now as I understand that the manifest of checked in passengers must be turned over to the port authority 60-90 minutes before the ship sails. So, there won't be any running up to the gangway at the last minute anymore.