Opinions on flying in day of cruise...

We booked our British Isles cruise for our 20th anniversary in May of next year. We have intentions of flying in the day of with a direct flight from RDU to Heathrow. My husband is adamant about not flying in the day before due to vacation time concerns since our cruise is on a Saturday our flight would be Friday night a day early would mean Thursday night. Our flight would arrive around 6:50am UK time. What does everyone think? I know that the chances of lost baggage go down when there are no connections. We were also thinking of doing a private taxi with touring Stonehenge on the way.

Appreciate the help. I am pushing hubby to do the day before but he's not thrilled with that and we have to book our flights next week.

We booked our British Isles cruise for our 20th anniversary in May of next year. We have intentions of flying in the day of with a direct flight from RDU to Heathrow. My husband is adamant about not flying in the day before due to vacation time concerns since our cruise is on a Saturday our flight would be Friday night a day early would mean Thursday night. Our flight would arrive around 6:50am UK time. What does everyone think? I know that the chances of lost baggage go down when there are no connections. We were also thinking of doing a private taxi with touring Stonehenge on the way.

 

 

 

Appreciate the help. I am pushing hubby to do the day before but he's not thrilled with that and we have to book our flights next week.

We have taken the RDU to Heathrow overnight flight on 3 occasions to catch the ship the following day in Southampton. There were no problems and I used the ships transfers from Heathrow to the port.

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What does everyone think?

There are dozens of threads around Cruise Critic on this topic, and uniformly the results are this: about 80% (including us)will say it is not wise for a number of reasons, including flight delays, lost baggage, missed connections, and simply, you will arrive tired, jetlagged and thus not all that happy on the first day of your cruise.

The other 20% will say, if you have to, you have to. Good luck.

So you will see there will always be disagreement on this, and that won't resolve your issues. It is up to you if you want to take the chances. We certainly wouldn't.

I'm curious as to why you have to book your flights next week.

My reason for flying in the day before is purely to do with jetlag. I really need that first day in Europe after a TA flight to be a pretty nothing day, no stress, no important decisions or places to go.

I'm curious as to why you have to book your flights next week.

I was wondering about that as well...

I like to enjoy the first day of the cruise without jet lag

if you have a sea day you can always sleep in & relax

people do the overnight flights without issue so if that is what you have to do then go for it

just hope no weather delays or other issues that cause you to miss the ship

I'm curious as to why you have to book your flights next week.

Maybe they are booking with FF points

The first two days will be a wash because you'll be tired.

Maybe they are booking with FF points

Good point but I can then see someone saying have to book it soon. The specification of next week is what got my ears up ....

Good point but I can then see someone saying have to book it soon. The specification of next week is what got my ears up ....

Maybe that is when the FF flights open up for their dates

It is usually something like 11-12 mths out to get the seats ..they usually only do so many on each flight

JMO

To get 2 seats in business class on points you really need to book as soon as the window opens; about 11 months before the flight.

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We flew in five days early last year for a British isles cruise and are flying in six days early this year for a different itinerary. I wanted more time in London last year, so we'll get to do some things we missed out on then.

I talked with a woman who flew in the day of our cruise last year. She had a frustrating experience with the transfers and check-in and had not really gotten over it when we talked.

We are flying through Dulles this year. It would be great to fly direct from RDU, but that option was more than $1,000 per person more than taking the two flights. Jet lag is a problem for the first couple of days. This year our flights are in the day instead of overnight. I'm hoping that will help us adjust better to the time difference.

I have flown in day of cruise to domestic airports on multiple occasions. I would be reluctant to do so into Heathrow. Granted you start closer and seem to arrive fairly early but I would see to many scenarios that might affect the flight. On the day of departure from my British Isles cruise a plane ran off the tarmac of one of the runways and shut it down, effectively cutting LHR capacity in half. The boards lit up with flight cancellations and many inbound flights were diverted elsewhere in England. Was a nightmare for some. We got out but with a delay. No big deal as we were heading home but I do not know what happened to those trying to come in .

Maybe that is when the FF flights open up for their dates

 

It is usually something like 11-12 mths out to get the seats ..they usually only do so many on each flight

 

JMO

To get 2 seats in business class on points you really need to book as soon as the window opens; about 11 months before the flight.

This isn't necessarily true. For one thing, while airlines begin to release their seats roughly 330 days ahead, that doesn't mean that those are the only seats that will be available, or that they will be booked up right away. For instance, if one is hoping to book Lufthansa first class seats with Aeroplan miles, they are only released 14 days ahead (I know Eva Air did this as well with business class seats at one time, not sure if it's still the same).

In terms of real-life examples, I have flown R/T to Europe in business class using Aeroplan miles 3 times (and a 1-way back from a QM2 crossing), and most of these seats were booked between 3 and 5 months out.

This isn't necessarily true. For one thing, while airlines begin to release their seats roughly 330 days ahead, that doesn't mean that those are the only seats that will be available, or that they will be booked up right away. For instance, if one is hoping to book Lufthansa first class seats with Aeroplan miles, they are only released 14 days ahead (I know Eva Air did this as well with business class seats at one time, not sure if it's still the same).

 

 

 

In terms of real-life examples, I have flown R/T to Europe in business class using Aeroplan miles 3 times (and a 1-way back from a QM2 crossing), and most of these seats were booked between 3 and 5 months out.

I booked my business class tickets on Eva Air last year for Vietnam and this year for Myanmar on Aeroplan points about 11 months out and got what I was looking for.

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Good point but I can then see someone saying have to book it soon. The specification of next week is what got my ears up ....

At present, AA is booking up to and including 16 May 2019. (Including today (19 June 2018), that's 12+31+31+30+31+30+31+31+28+31+30+16 days = 332 days.) So it looks like the OP may be thinking that they should book (or at least be ready to book if availability is there) in 6, 7 or 8 days' time, depending on the exact time that AA opens booking for a new travel day.

Another issue needs to be factored into this, 25 May Saturday in 2019 is a UK bank holiday weekend so traffic LHR to Southampton on the day could be heavier than usual and Heathrow will also be much more hectic. This can generate possible delays.

I'm curious as to why you have to book your flights next week.

Using mileage sobest chances are exactly 330 days out

We have intentions of flying in the day of with a direct flight from RDU to Heathrow.

 

I know that the chances of lost baggage go down when there are no connections.

Two things to consider:

RDU is not a hub airport. There are very limited nonstop options from RDU to LHR (currently one lonely evening departure). If ANYTHING goes wrong with that one flight, your options are very limited to non-existent at that time of day. Maybe you would be placed on a connection flight through a hub (possibly having to spend the night there to then catch a flight across the pond the next day) or you would be placed on the same nonstop flight the next day. In either case, you’d miss your cruise. Very little room for error.

The second thing to consider is lost luggage. Yes, the chances of luggage getting lost diminish when flying nonstop, but it still happens. It happened to us flying nonstop to Seattle to catch a cruise to Alaska. Even though the airline promised us that the luggage would catch up with us the next day, and there were several other nonstop flights from our city to Seattle in which our luggage could arrive, it NEVER did. It was permanently lost. Had we flown on the day of the cruise, we would’ve not had time to obtain new items. Fortunately, we had flown in one day prior so we had time to make an emergency run to Target in Seattle to buy a brand new wardrobe for our family before boarding the ship.

In general, flying in on the day of the cruise is a BAD idea, but a lot of people do it, some because they don’t have more vacation time, and some because they don’t weigh or are unaware of the consequences. Most people won’t encounter any problems, but those statistics mean nothing if you happen to be the one for whom things don’t go as planned.

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Using mileage sobest chances are exactly 330 days out

I guess it may depend on airline, but not exactly true. Yes, cheapest award rates are typically early in the release time. But, for example, when we were looking to book First Class SFO-SYD-SFO for our 30th wedding anniversary, after monitoring the release patterns for awhile, I found the cheapest (called Saver Awards on United) award fares were released 10-12 days after the 330 day release mark. So a little patience, and we hooked two round trip First Class Saver Awards.

It probably wouldn't help in your case, but we have also hooked Saver Awards in the 14-17 days prior to flight (this was SFO-FRA-SFO, again First Class).

We are just off a British Isles cruise. We Live in NC too, had a poor experience with AA getting home, stuff happens!

Sorry, Absolutely no way would I fly in to LHR day of cruise unless I had cruise line air and probably not even then. You have no backup plan and if ship sails without you, you must get to next port on your own which for our Princess cruise would have been Guernsey (an island!) or Cork, Ireland. Good luck with that! Immigration for non EU citizens in LHR was 1 1/2 hours and the ship is then another 1 1/2 hours away. Come in day before at minimum, spend night in Southampton, get on ship the next day.

Your husband needs to reconsider his stance! You will be a mess stressed about getting there! I would be

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In terms of real-life examples, I have flown R/T to Europe in business class using Aeroplan miles 3 times (and a 1-way back from a QM2 crossing), and most of these seats were booked between 3 and 5 months out.

well I guess things have changed did not know Aeroplan was in the USA

Maybe they have a specific airline points they are trying to use

I have no FF points to worry about

Poor me we pay the fare offered if we want BUS or 1st class

Alright you guys are freaking me out :) I not only have to consider my trip, but my parents are going too, so need to figure them out as well. Hmm... guess I have to make the battle with hubby some more to convince him to go in a day early.

Do NOT even think about going to Stonehenge. The traffic in the area will be horrendous as it is a Bank (public) holiday on the Monday, as has been said.

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