Flying day of cruise

[cruisestitch]

There is a long thread entitled "Flying In To San Juan The Day Of The Cruise" which might be worth perusing....

[LongTimeTvlr]

But here is another view - We take travel insurance and fly in the day of the cruise.

We live in the Dallas area.

Mostly no problems, but last year we did miss the Soltice sailing from Rome. Weather problems in August of all times.

We ended up getting to Rome the next day and spent the day in Rome, then caught a flight to Athens where we stayed the night and flew in to Santorini early the next morning, arriving at 6:30 local time (That seems early but was actually 1:30 PM body time).

We had the whole island to ourselves for the morning. It was wonderful, we walked the crater rim and then shopped in empty shops until noon. Then we watched the Solstice sail into the harbor from a bar on the cliffs.

As the crowds were disembarking, we embarked and went to our cabin where our luggage (loaded separately) was waiting for us.

The expenses were completely covered by insurance. We got a voucher from American for the flight delay (even though it was caused by weather, they kept us on the tarmac in a very hot plane for over 4 hours (this was before the rule was passed saying they can't do that anymore)).

So for us, missing the boat was a positive experience, both financially and recreationally.

So if you stress a lot go early. If you are up for special experiences, maybe not.

[Chicago Boy]

I too purchased my tickets through Celebrity for this cruise, but am flying in two days early so hoepfully will be OK if my flight is cancelled. I was able to get the tickets for $450 which was much, much cheaper than anything I could find via going directly with the airlines, so IMHO the added risk of booking with the cruise line and accepting what are very likely to be consolidator class tickets was worth it as it represented a savings of approximately $3,000. I booked my own air from FLL back to Chicago as this was significantly cheaper than going through Celebrity (and I wanted to fly Southwest so I would not have any baggage fees).

 

That is fortunate that when you missed your flight that you were able to get on another Continental flight. With consolidator tickets, you can go another flight with the same airlines, doing the same route. What you cannot do is have the tickets endorsed to another carrier or rerorouted. If Continental did not have another flight (with seats available that day) you would either have had to have purchased new tickets on another airline, or tried to get on a Continental flight the next day. If you purchase tickets directly from the airline, they sometimes are able to endorse your tickets to another carrier or reroute you to get to your destination.

 

There certainly are times where buying your tickets through the cruise can save some money (sometimes even a lot of money), but people do need to be aware that they are taking on extra risk when doing this option as they are almost always receiving highly restrictive tickets.

 

Good for you Gonzo 70! For the heck of it I checked American again today and their one way non stop from Chicago to Rome was over $2000.00 per person. Maybe you should be my travel agent. Lol.....I have also tried some of the other Orbits, Travelocity etc. and everything is / was considerably more expensive than what we paid. We will hope for the best.

[mamoune]

Thank you so much for all your help. I will DEFINITELY fly in a day early, as we had originally planned... Actually, we will be visiting Barcelona since we will stay for 3 days post-cruise. Cannot wait for May 14!!!

[Giorgi-one]

One caveat I would add is to read the policy carefully. Not all policies cover this, and for those that do they generally require a delay of at least six hours to have occured before they will provide any relief (some require less of a delay, but the majority seem to require six hours, or in some cases even longer). Therefore if flying in day off your cruise and a three hour delay causes you to miss the ship, very few travel insurance policies would provide any relief.

 

Good points.

[yayvacation!]

Thank you so much for all your help. I will DEFINITELY fly in a day early, as we had originally planned... Actually, we will be visiting Barcelona since we will stay for 3 days post-cruise. Cannot wait for May 14!!!

 

 

Good choice!! We debated flying in same day for a January '11 cruise leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale... then we thought back to the first cruise we took same date 2 years ago and recalled our fight being delayed out of RI by about 4 hours. :)

[mamoune]

Well... I might have to reconsider my choice. The direct, day of the cruise, flight is 861$, whereas, if we fly a day ahead, since this flight is not offered, not only do we not fly direct, the price of the plane ticket is 1250$ Ouch!!! That is à 400$ difference, each!!! That is a total of 800$ more for DH and myself. Of course, DH wants to save the money and fly the day of the cruise. I am tempted to agree with him... what do you think??

[Project_gal]

We only live 200 miles from Southampton, we always travel down a day or two before the cruise. Just treat it as part of your holiday!

 

Similar. We are three hours from Heathrow so always travel down the day before our flight and then fly at least a day before our cruise. In addition to what everyone else has said, you may need the day for your luggage to catch up with you if it decides to go on it own little holiday!

 

Sue

[donaldsc]

I have a quick question. I will by flying from Montreal to Barcelona next May for a Med cruise. I have the option of taking a direct flight, only problem, it lands on day of cruise, at 11:30 and ship is leaving at 5:00. I am worried that it does not leave much room for error. Should I be better safe than sorry and fly in the day before, even if it means a longer flight (not direct)??

Thank you for your answers!

 

If the ship leaves at 5:00, you have to be on board at 4:00. If your plane lands on time at 11:30, you need to figure at least 1 hour to get off the plane, get to luggage, get your luggage, go through customs and find transportation to the ship. Add to that the time it takes to get from the airport to the cruise terminal - say 30 minutes. This means that the earliest that you will get to the ship if everything works perfectly is 1:00.

 

So, you have a 3 hour window to allow for problems. I would not be willing to take that chance.

 

DON

[cpdad]

Well... I might have to reconsider my choice. The direct, day of the cruise, flight is 861$, whereas, if we fly a day ahead, since this flight is not offered, not only do we not fly direct, the price of the plane ticket is 1250$ Ouch!!! That is à 400$ difference, each!!! That is a total of 800$ more for DH and myself. Of course, DH wants to save the money and fly the day of the cruise. I am tempted to agree with him... what do you think??

If your preferred flight does not operate a day earlier, does it operate two days earlier? or perhaps three days earlier? You may not be able to get away for that amount of time, but the additional cost for hotel rooms would be a lot less than the $800 in extra airfare. Just something to think about.

[FinlandGuy]

If you absolutely have to fly on the same day, my suggestion would be to arm yourself with a plan B. Check before leaving all other possible alternative flight connections (for example on Amadeus) and print or copy a list of these. Even better if you have access to a premium service showing place availability for other flight connections (I use ExpertFlyer). Now if there's a problem such as cancellation or delay, try to discuss with the airline re-booking possibilities on the alternative connections. You might need some negotiation skills for this since the airlines most usual fix would be to just move you to their next flight (not to a competing company flight).

 

This is the method I'm going to use for my next cruise out of Barcelona this month on the Constellation as I will have to take a morning flight on the same day.

[dalitos]

I have a quick question. I will by flying from Montreal to Barcelona next May for a Med cruise. I have the option of taking a direct flight, only problem, it lands on day of cruise, at 11:30 and ship is leaving at 5:00. I am worried that it does not leave much room for error. Should I be better safe than sorry and fly in the day before, even if it means a longer flight (not direct)??

Thank you for your answers!

 

Are you flying Air Transat? That's the only flight I see as direct from YMQ to BCN.

Since it's a charter I would no doubt fly a day before, even two.

[Chicago Boy]

Well... I might have to reconsider my choice. The direct, day of the cruise, flight is 861$, whereas, if we fly a day ahead, since this flight is not offered, not only do we not fly direct, the price of the plane ticket is 1250$ Ouch!!! That is à 400$ difference, each!!! That is a total of 800$ more for DH and myself. Of course, DH wants to save the money and fly the day of the cruise. I am tempted to agree with him... what do you think??

 

If you have been reading the boards then you know that the consensus is to fly in a day or two before your cruise. Of course, that is a personal choice and only you can make that decision. This is what we are doing. We are doing the Oct. 31st Trans Atlantic from Rome to Fort Lauderdale and are going into Rome a day early. We have booked our hotel through Celebrity for an approximate cost of $600 for two people (meals extra) for one night. All transfers are included. I suppose you could arrange your own hotel, transportation from the airport to the hotel then from the hotel then to the pier. When you factor in the "stress factor" I am not sure the savings would be significant enough to make it worth while to arrange your own accomodations etc. yourself. Just my opinion.

 

Enjoy your cruise whatever you decide.:)

[dalitos]

Well... I might have to reconsider my choice. The direct, day of the cruise, flight is 861$, whereas, if we fly a day ahead, since this flight is not offered, not only do we not fly direct, the price of the plane ticket is 1250$ Ouch!!! That is à 400$ difference, each!!! That is a total of 800$ more for DH and myself. Of course, DH wants to save the money and fly the day of the cruise. I am tempted to agree with him... what do you think??

 

Probably I'm pointing the obvious, but have you tried other airlines? LX and LH, among others, have good rates and there seems to still be space available for the lower fares, although I don't know exactly which date you want to fly.

[cruiseacecat]

I am flying in the same day we leave, now I am getting nervous, is this bad, has there been alot of times when you didn't get there on time? We land at 1ish and are set to sail at 8:30 out of San Juan...any thoughts?:confused:

I am doing the same thing. Usually I will fly in the day before but could not do it this time. I will be keeping my fingers crossed. :rolleyes: Good Luck. :)

Anne

[Gonzo70]

If the ship leaves at 5:00, you have to be on board at 4:00.

DON

 

If San Juan goes by same rules as ships departing from U.S. mainland, then the OP will actually have to be onboard by 3:30pm - there is a 90 minute before scheduled sailing rule in place for sailings departing from U.S. (at least from U.S. mainland).

[CaroleLee]

Well... I might have to reconsider my choice. The direct, day of the cruise, flight is 861$, whereas, if we fly a day ahead, since this flight is not offered, not only do we not fly direct, the price of the plane ticket is 1250$ Ouch!!! That is à 400$ difference, each!!! That is a total of 800$ more for DH and myself. Of course, DH wants to save the money and fly the day of the cruise. I am tempted to agree with him... what do you think??

 

Ouch is right. Unfortunately there is no correct answer. Everything is dependent on the weather @ your departure airport as well as weather @ destination airport. Then there is always the equipment problem ( airline speak for the plane is delayed,we can't find a crew,the toilet doesn't work etc). I assume that you have booked the tickets already- so a rebooking fee would prbably be $$ if available.

My advice- keep your tickets, get to the airport early so if there is a delay you can work immediately with an airline rep- ****suggest that you have your airlinereservations dept on speed dial on your cell phone- sometimes it is easier to get through to a call center & rebook the flight yourself than @ the gate.

Let us know how you make out & enjoy your cruise.

Carole

[CathyCruises]

If you have been reading the boards then you know that the consensus is to fly in a day or two before your cruise. Of course, that is a personal choice and only you can make that decision. This is what we are doing. We are doing the Oct. 31st Trans Atlantic from Rome to Fort Lauderdale and are going into Rome a day early. We have booked our hotel through Celebrity for an approximate cost of $600 for two people (meals extra) for one night. All transfers are included. I suppose you could arrange your own hotel, transportation from the airport to the hotel then from the hotel then to the pier. When you factor in the "stress factor" I am not sure the savings would be significant enough to make it worth while to arrange your own accomodations etc. yourself. Just my opinion.

 

Enjoy your cruise whatever you decide.:)

 

You do realize that $600 for your hotel is an outrage, right? They make a LOT of money booking hotels for pax and triple charging for them. You could find a much better hotel, is my guess, for less than half of what you are paying. I was forced to take a hotel booked by X in Barcelona one time--never again! Just want to be sure you know you are getting ripped off--if you're okay with that, I'm okay with that.

[mamoune]

If your preferred flight does not operate a day earlier, does it operate two days earlier? or perhaps three days earlier? You may not be able to get away for that amount of time, but the additional cost for hotel rooms would be a lot less than the $800 in extra airfare. Just something to think about.

 

 

Unfortunately, the direct flight is a charter operated by Air Transat. It only operates on the week-end, Friday, Saturday ... :-( I have looked at all other alternatives, and as I have stated before, the least expensive of all my other choices would be about 1250$ per person... So it means paying 800$ extra just for the plane ticket.... Personally, as we are already forking more than 10,000$ for the trip itself, what's an extra 800$ right ? ;-) Unfortunately, DH does not see things the way I see them... Oh well, I have not decided on a course of action yet, but I will have to make a decision pretty soon !!!

[Jade13]

You do realize that $600 for your hotel is an outrage, right? They make a LOT of money booking hotels for pax and triple charging for them. You could find a much better hotel, is my guess, for less than half of what you are paying. I was forced to take a hotel booked by X in Barcelona one time--never again! Just want to be sure you know you are getting ripped off--if you're okay with that, I'm okay with that.

 

 

Have you been to Rome? Besides the hotel, while high by US standards, a private driver to and from Civitavecchia (one hour 15 minutes) is very expensivbe. I am sure this was figured in the calculations.

[Denny01]

Many of us are relating issues over flying to Europe and to San Juan....we had friends fly out of NW Florida, thru Altanta (Yug) to Ft Lauderdale on a TA - they were delayed and only go on the ship Right before she sailed. Ship did wait a bit, but not that much. And boy, do you have a problem when you next port is on the other side of the Pond!

 

Never again for them (or us). And yes, a direct flight does cut down on the chances (by 50% I guess) but you can still have issues. For me, not worth the hassle and stress leading up to it. Some of our best 'ports' have been enjoying the departure port a day or so. You get to see and experience much more than pulling in at 0700 and leaving that afternoon. And for the OP: Barcelona - a city that really isn't one to miss!

 

Denny

[Gonzo70]

Have you been to Rome? Besides the hotel, while high by US standards, a private driver to and from Civitavecchia (one hour 15 minutes) is very expensivbe. I am sure this was figured in the calculations.

 

It is still a lot of money. For the same cruise I booked accommodations and transportation for about a third the cost. Four star hotel by the Vatican for $150. Transportation from the airport to the hotel for $15 (for two). And a group of us from Cruise Critic staying in Rome are sharing a bus to the port for $20 each - so I am paying $205 total. It did require some planning and extra work, so it is definitely easier to book this directly with the cruise line, but you do pay a huge premium for that convenience.

[CathyCruises]

Have you been to Rome? Besides the hotel, while high by US standards, a private driver to and from Civitavecchia (one hour 15 minutes) is very expensivbe. I am sure this was figured in the calculations.

 

Many times. I spent 5 days there earlier this year and am going again next month. We paid 85 euros for our hotel, and took the train to the port for a total of 9 euros--not that everyone would do it that way, but $600 is way more than one needs to spend. And I guarantee that this will not be a private driver--rather, a bus with 50 people on it. Also, from what I've heard, the hotels that the cruise line uses in Rome are far from the central area most people want to be in, especially if they have only one day there.

 

I just want to be sure the poster knows there are less expensive, and probably much better, alternatives.

[patned]

My brother and I flew from Canada to Barcelona arriving on the day of the flight. Made it with 4 hours to spare no problem.

 

Would we do it again? Not on your life. All we thought about for about a month before the trip was things that could go wrong.

 

Fly in a day early. You will no doubt be less stressed.

[Louiss]

Last year on 2 jan 2009 we leave montreal a7.30 for a flight to Nort Carollina w connection to San-Juan.

We leave the hotel a 3.45 am to the airport (remember the crazy guy on delta flight on 27 december) At 4.am at the airport we begun the tiketting and luggage (25.00$) per luggage - metal detection - Custum -and why not a super check-up they check everybody open all the bags EVRYTHING....oufff.

 

The plane start 30 min later we get in the airplane at 7.50 am, wow... horrible beginning after that... running to the connection flight and get it....oufff again.

 

In San-Juan at the air port a delay to get the luggages....oufff

 

And we get the peir a 7pm 1 hours before the ship leave.

 

Trying to find our setsail pass at the peir, all our handbag was upside down, due to de super check-up...

 

 

I never do that again.....

 

(sorry for my english i'm french canadian)

 

Louissss