Tempting fate on embarkation day

We are experienced HAL cruisers, but circumstances compelled us to throw caution to the wind on our recent cruise on the Oosterdam. We booked a casual repositioning cruise out of Vancouver just a few days before sailing and, as mentioned in another thread, it was a particularly busy weekend at Canada Place. The better hotels were pushing $500 per night and flights the day before were also getting expensive. So, we decided to fly in the day of embarkation.

HAL Flight Ease booked us late afternoon flights at a surprisingly low cost given the very late booking. Our flight landed as scheduled at YVR after 6pm on embarkation day as the ship was not sailing away until 11pm. Just to make it more fun, it was an international flight with a 50-minute stopover and we had checked luggage. Has anyone arrived at the airport later than that on embarkation day? We took the SkyTrain to Canada Place as there was no way that we were going to sit around waiting for a HAL bus to fill up at that hour. One perk is that the SkyTrain fares are discounted after 6:30pm! I did not see any other cruise passengers (people with luggage) on the SkyTrain. :-)

Upon arrival at Canada Place we were treated to the fastest embarkation ever as we were the only passengers present. After security we found that HAL had already closed down their boarding operations and so we were escorted onto the ship so that our badges could be issued onboard at Guest Services. There was a 5-minute makeup lifeboat drill at 8pm and we enjoyed a quiet late dinner.

Not the way I would do it again, but it did make for a lively embarkation day.

igraf

Good to hear this worked out for you!

FlightEase in this situation served you very well and Skytrain is the way to go, absolutely, from YVR to Canada Place

Your very late embarkation really gave you options that most cruisers never get.

Glad to hear your transit and boarding went off without a hitch.

Like you, we recently had a late-booked cruise back in May on the Amsterdam, sailing out of Seattle. Those of us on the West Coast are fortunate with a multitude of carriers and routes flying up and down the coast each day. So, in our case, we also broke our own rule and flew up to SEA from LAX on the morning of the cruise. We left fairly early in the morning, and had multiple back-up flights we could have used if needed.

With that said, I'd never fly in same day for an East Coast departure, or anywhere out of the US.

Glad it worked out for you.

So few flights from Pittsburgh to anywhere.

That would have been too stressful for us.

Just reading your post caused me to have heart palpitations! I would have been so stressed. I can't imagine what you must have going through. So happy to hear it all worked out for you, but I suggest you never do that again!

So stressful!

But glad it worked out for you.

I',m happy it worked out well for you but, whoa I would have been a wreck. Good thing you had a cruise during which to get calmed down or,,, you would have needed to schedule one. ;0

It was a situation where we knew what we were getting into and were prepared for any outcome, but definitely not recommended for a cruise novice! Also, it was not an expensive cruise.

The next stop on the cruise was Victoria BC, so it was easy enough to get there from Vancouver BC if we had to do so. A night in a hotel in either city was not such a bad prospect. We booked the flights through Flight Ease, so HAL would have provided assistance. The riskiest part was the second flight leg with the short time between flights.

Also, we packed so that we could still enjoy the short cruise without the checked suitcase (we also had two carry-ons), and I put a note inside the checked suitcase detailing our cruise itinerary in case the suitcase did not make it to YVR (always a good thing to do).

My regret was that there was no time to see much in Vancouver, though we had been there on previous cruises.

igraf

Just reading your post caused me to have heart palpitations! I would have been so stressed. I can't imagine what you must have going through. So happy to hear it all worked out for you, but I suggest you never do that again!

Good, organized planning as you did shows this can be done.

We've done similar, but not as down to the wire. The critical part for us is FlightEase. Without that we wouldn't be comfortable.

How was your cruise on the Oosterdam? Would love to hear about it.

Talk about cutting it close. We only did it once, fly in the day of the cruise. Never again.

Allan

I have to go at least a day before, and even then I worry! Flying in from Ontario in winter months also worries me with the weather.

The new piano quintet (piano, 2 violins, viola and cello) in the remodeled Lincoln Center Stage was the best classical venue ever on HAL. Surprisingly, the musicians were from the USA. No more dreary pop songs from the "Over the Rainbow" songbook! Just excellent masterworks worthy of their talent.

The new gallery bar was quite nice. The dueling pianos was popular, though I wish that there was better separation from the noisy slot machines. The shows were OK.

There was a problem with the BB King Blues in the Queens Lounge. Search for "subwoofer" in the title of my recent thread. Not good!

We enjoyed the day in Astoria, Oregon and of course a full day in Victoria is always a treat.

igraf

Good, organized planning as you did shows this can be done.

 

We've done similar, but not as down to the wire. The critical part for us is FlightEase. Without that we wouldn't be comfortable.

 

How was your cruise on the Oosterdam? Would love to hear about it.

Thanks for the notes about the entertainment.

I had forgotten about the Gallery Bar. Is it as good looking as the photos? Very calm, peaceful, refined, elegant?

We'll be flying from Toronto to FLL, arriving at 10:45 AM for a same day cruise departing at 4PM ... November 11th! (So a winter day on a national day off work for most in Toronto)

I must be crazy ... :o

dh

We'll be flying from Toronto to FLL, arriving at 10:45 AM for a same day cruise departing at 4PM ... November 11th! (So a winter day on a national day off work for most in Toronto)

I must be crazy ... :o

 

dh

DomsPaPa, you are braver than I! I'm a constant worrier, until I'm on the ship, in my cabin and my luggage has appeared. We have always flown out of Toronto, but moved this summer closer to Montreal, so this will be our first flight out of there. Hopefully we won't get snow on the 10th.

Wow! That’s a huge difference from your usual conservative posts. ( But you had well thought out back up plans.)

Sort of brings to mind the big play in baseball. To Vin Scully for the play by play..... bases loaded, 2 out, bottom of the 9th, home team trailing by 3.....

Ball is hit to deep right field, ....runners on 3rd and 2nd score, right fielder babbles badly, runner on 1st scores, Batter rounds third and slides into Home, at the same time as the ball thuds into the catchers mit.....the dust clears and the umpire calls you SAFE..... you arrive on the ship and the gangway hits you in the fanny...... congratulations- you scored.

I felt "safe" when I saw our checked suitcase on the baggage carousel at YVR. :-)

Despite the ridiculously late arrival time at YVR, we had several hours to get on over to the ship due to the unusually late sail-away time of 11pm.

igraf

Wow! That’s a huge difference from your usual conservative posts. ( But you had well thought out back up plans.)

 

Sort of brings to mind the big play in baseball. To Vin Scully for the play by play..... bases loaded, 2 out, bottom of the 9th, home team trailing by 3.....

 

Ball is hit to deep right field, ....runners on 3rd and 2nd score, right fielder babbles badly, runner on 1st scores, Batter rounds third and slides into Home, at the same time as the ball thuds into the catchers mit.....the dust clears and the umpire calls you SAFE..... you arrive on the ship and the gangway hits you in the fanny...... congratulations- you scored.

Yes it is, on all counts.

igraf

...I had forgotten about the Gallery Bar. Is it as good looking as the photos? Very calm, peaceful, refined, elegant?

The only time we have done same day flights is for a Med cruise when boarding was on day one, however the ship did an overnight in Istanbul and left the next afternoon. It was a one way consolidator flight to boot but we never have checked bags.

Yes, we have flown in on embarkation day a few times, in fact we are doing it again in 14 days for our next cruise. The most nail biting time was when we flew with another couple, we were all on airline passes. We flew from Phoenix to Maui and boarded the same day. I can't say that I would do that again, no back up plan!

I got a kick out of your experience. We live in the condos on the Port Everglades Inlet and have gotten a little lackadaisical about boarding. One time after we'd checked in and were in our cabin my husband realized he'd forgotten the binoculars so he caught a cab to go home. I warned him I was sailing without him if he didn't arrive back in time. He had the cab wait for him at home and as I watched from the ship's balcony, he arrived back at the ship and raced up the gangway which was raised soon thereafter.

We had another close call on I-95 as we were driving to the Port of Miami with friends whose car broke down. A family member rescued us and drove us the rest of the way but the delay was a nail-biter.

When we cruise out of town, we always fly in a day or so early, but when you live near a cruise port, it gets a little casual.

I got a kick out of your experience. We live in the condos on the Port Everglades Inlet and have gotten a little lackadaisical about boarding. One time after we'd checked in and were in our cabin my husband realized he'd forgotten the binoculars so he caught a cab to go home. I warned him I was sailing without him if he didn't arrive back in time. He had the cab wait for him at home and as I watched from the ship's balcony, he arrived back at the ship and raced up the gangway which was raised soon thereafter.

 

We had another close call on I-95 as we were driving to the Port of Miami with friends whose car broke down. A family member rescued us and drove us the rest of the way but the delay was a nail-biter.

 

When we cruise out of town, we always fly in a day or so early, but when you live near a cruise port, it gets a little casual.

Great stories about close calls!

We live about 40 minutes door to terminal and have never once got there later than 10:30 am, although we could leave it for hours. I guess we like to be on the ship early. Now we know why this might be a good idea.

The only time we've flown on embarkation day was when we lived in Las Vegas and were sailing out of San Diego or the Port of Los Angeles. No worries for us since there are flights out of LAS every hour. Should we miss one, there are more following. Otherwise, I won't do it.

We flew into FLL the day of a cruise last year and I was a nervous wreck! We had a non stop flight but it was the weekend before Thanksgiving. Our next cruise I've already booked our flight to get in the day before we leave. We can enjoy a day at the beach in FLL?