Do you stay for a couple of days ofr fly home on the first available flight?

[Hlitner]

We do a lot of cruising (and other travel) and have a few basic rules. If we are cruising out of Florida (or other US ports) we always do our own air and fly-in at least one day early. In Florida we will sometimes fly down a few days (or a week) early, rent a car, and spend a few days in Key West. When we do European cruises we always take advantage of the location. On most of those cruises we will fly-in several days early and have often spent weeks in Europe after a cruise. It is the same with Asia, Australia, etc. We view flying to be such a hassle that we like to maximize our time in any place that we fly. That being said, our next cruise involves using ships both ways to Europe and we have finally hit the "holy grail" of cruising as we are taking an 8 week trip without one flight!

 

Hank

[not2old]

We always fly in at least a day early but when our cruise is over, we're glad to be going home. We board our dogs and it costs almost as much as if we booked an inside cabin on ship for them-LOL! That is our incentive for flying home the same day we dock, if possible!

[Karysa]

We usually take a flight home around 12 or 1pm after disembarking so we usually carry our luggage off of the ship ourselves but since we have no place that we need to be how do you suggest we disembark this time?

 

 

 

Any suggestions?

 

Do you put your luggage out the night before or pack up in the morning and carry your luggage off?

[bluesea777]

After 4 recent cruises (since Dec 2006, that is) and now have an upcoming cruise booked, it boils down to this: we NOW very much prefer to fly to port city 1-2-3 days pre-cruise and fly home on day of disembarkation.

 

Post cruise stay isn't as much fun as being on ship (or pre-cruise) and we were all ready to come home!

 

This up-coming cruise is in Miami and there is only one direct flight per day between Bermuda and Miami. Outward is early morning which is great because we'd be at Miami hotel by mid morning and geared up to hire a car and go shopping that same day and the day after! The morning of cruise we'll relax in our hotel room before going to ship.

 

The return is late afternoon from Miami - we will either book a disembarkation tour in Miami or hang around on ship until they kick us off and then go to airport and have a leisurely lunch on top floor of the Miami Airport hotel before tackling the long security lines!

 

Once home we have 2 days to unwind, interact again with our much-missed moggies and do laundry - before returning to work refreshed.

[Hlitner]

We usually take a flight home around 12 or 1pm after disembarking so we usually carry our luggage off of the ship ourselves but since we have no place that we need to be how do you suggest we disembark this time?

 

 

 

Any suggestions?

 

Well, we have learned how to actually relax and enjoy the disembarkation process. Lets look at the last morning of a typical cruise. Folks rush to an early morning breakfast (some even take luggage) and then many passengers start the waiting process. You see them packed in the lounges, standing around the atrium, crowding near the exit, walking to and fro nervously looking at their watches, etc etc. Then they finally get off the ship, rush to the huge piles of luggage and rush around gathering their luggage and trying not to trip over other passengers. Does that sound like fun? So here is what we do. We go have a nice breakfast (as late as possible) and then return to our cabin. We retrieve our carry-off luggage (as little as possible) and go up to the pool deck where we find a perfectly located deck chair. We then relax with a book, enjoy the quiet atmosphere and hopefully soak up the morning "rays." Perhaps every half hour I will walk over the portside rail and try to gauge the flow of disembarkation. Then, usually around 9:30 or 10, when there no longer appears to be hoards exiting the ship we pick-up our carry-off luggage, take the elevator down to the appropriate deck, walk right out the door and into the terminal where we easily find our luggage (all the other luggage is gone) and walk outside where we grab a taxi with no taxi queues. The result is we have enjoyed our laid-back morning and leave the port totally relaxed. A few times we have nearly forgotten to leave the ship :)

 

Hank

[pris993]

We always fly in at least one day early, sometimes more; and add a day or two afterwards. We feel more rested when we do so. Do not have to stress about meeting flights or what time we get off the ship.

 

Traveling is stressful anyway, so we like reducing the stress in ways that we can by taking charge of our trip. We book our own air for the same reason, direct flights as much as possible.

[GORDONCHICK]

On our last cruise, we flew in 2 nights prior to the cruise (stayed in Miami) and stayed 2 nights post cruise (stayed in Ft Lauderdale). Got to see a little of both areas and enjoyed it. The biggest benefit we saw (financially) was it was so much cheaper to fly on those days when the biggest bulk of the cruisers weren't. Miami had 3-4 ships on each the day before and the day of our cruise. Ft Lauderdale had 5-6 on those days as well. Both MIA and FLL were madhouses. The savings on our airfare more than paid for the 4 nights of hotels, sightseeing, shopping, dining and rental cars!

[mtwingcpa]

So here is what we do. We go have a nice breakfast (as late as possible) and then return to our cabin. We retrieve our carry-off luggage (as little as possible) and go up to the pool deck where we find a perfectly located deck chair. We then relax with a book, enjoy the quiet atmosphere and hopefully soak up the morning "rays." Perhaps every half hour I will walk over the portside rail and try to gauge the flow of disembarkation. Then, usually around 9:30 or 10, when there no longer appears to be hoards exiting the ship we pick-up our carry-off luggage, take the elevator down to the appropriate deck, walk right out the door and into the terminal where we easily find our luggage (all the other luggage is gone) and walk outside where we grab a taxi with no taxi queues.

 

I agree, that's an excellent plan! The key, I suppose, it not to schedule a flight home so tightly that you CAN'T do as you've outlined.

[debshomespun]

We almost always fly in a day or more when coming to our cruise. After it is over, I like to get home. Once or twice, we have stayed longer after the cruise, but I prefer to vacation before the cruise, then get on the plane ASAP after leaving the ship to get back home. I leave my 3 cats w/my mom while away, and I like to get back to them ASAP.

[Karysa]

Thanks everyone. The reason that we are staying for 2 days post cruise is because of a couple of reasons. This past spring break on route to our destination we almost missed our connection and by almost I mean our first flight got in 5 minutes after our 2nd flight was suppose to leave and we ran like crazy across the airport and they were closing the door and we begged them to wait. Then we sat on the ground for 45 minutes due to mechanical and weather issues. Our luggage didn't arrive until the next day but that was only a little bit of an inconvenience as this was a beach vacation and not a cruise. We had a similar experience on the way back with them telling us between flights at security that we have to run if we want to make our connecting flight and when we got there we found out that they just delayed us for 30 minutes. This was the last flight of the night. This airport stuff is just getting too stressful for us. For our cruise next spring the only direct flights back on disembarkation day were flights before 11 so we decided to extend our vacation by adding a couple of days on the beach. Let's hope this eliminates the madness that we just experienced. Believe me I know that it could have been a whole lot worse, I am just hoping for a relaxing vacation from start to finish and thought that this plan just might do just that.

[Gingee]

We usually come in a day or two before and stay a day after. This time we come in the early hours of the day before the cruise leaves. We are staying two nights after this time - then taking a two day train trip home. Then off three full days before work.

[lovemylab]

We prefer to fly in a few days before the cruise. After the cruise, we prefer to fly home right away however depending on airfare prices we will sometimes stay for 1 night post cruise.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

We always leave at least day' s " things go wrong time " before traveling to any cruise, that way it's less stressful. We do two TA's to and back the USA each year. When we fly over to the USA we book a week's timeshare, get over the jet lag , and enjoy the cruise home home . The other way around in the fall we sail over, book a timeshare for a week again, then fly home. We book our air tickets with the outboard jorney in the spring, and the return leg of the ticket in the fall. We are of course retired so we have the time. :D

[GlendaleCruiser]

Last cruise was Med in and out of Rome, so we stayed 3 days pre-cruise and did all our sightseeing. When we came back we didn't care about flight delays since we were on our way home. We actually sat on the tarmac for so long that they rerouted us over Greenland (radar in Ireland was out) and missed our flight in Chicago, so spent a night there. I like to use my post cruise time at home getting over the trip and jet lag.

 

Next cruise is Med in and out of Barcelona so we will do the same. We will see all we want to see before the cruise.