Flying day of cruise

[Project_gal]

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 !!!

 

How about letting your husband stay with Air Transat and you flying with someone else and saving yourself the stress!!!!!

 

Sue

[Ships R Great]

No one has menioned the other end of the spectrum---that is flying hom e after a cruise. If you are flying back after a TA or Hawaii (especially Hawaii-the Pacific is not peaceful!), booking a flight on the same day, late morning/early afternoon may cause, a hassle. We flew to Hawaii a few years ago. Booked the same hotel for one day both before and after.

 

On the 3/4 days sailing back to the US we hit days of very high head winds between Hawaii and Ensenada . The ship arrived in LA several hours (5-6) late. Celebrity staff made phones line available to all, not just the passengers they had booked airfare for either.

 

Staff from desk relations were giving every assistance possible. I saw upper level officers chipping in to help. Yes, some---make that many--- people did get upset and others slipped through the cracks and maybe did not get all the help they thought they should but we saw X trying .

 

Thankfully for us we were able to sit back and relax since we knew we did not have to fly home until the next day and a hotel room was waiting for us. We really felt sorry for those folks who were not making flights that had connections or for those who were missing people and friend connections at LAX.

 

So the moral of this saga is: Think about staying over a day if you have to make a flight and you have several sea days before you dock.

 

I hope this makes sense. It is 3:30 am and I cant sleep so I am browsing my favorite site. I have had to make many corrections to make it legible and I may have missed some.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide,

[donaldsc]

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.:)

 

$600 for a hotel room in Rome just to sleep on the night before the cruise. I have a bridge that I am certain I can convince you to buy. Did you do any checking before you bought the package? I doubt it.

 

DON

[thevacationer]

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:

 

We are also flying into San Juan around 1pm for our cruise on the milli. We do have a direct flight out of Atlanta. We will just have to see what happens, and hope for the best.. I feel rather confident things will go smoothly but we do have insurance for a back up. This will be a live and learn trip. If it goes badly next time we will fly in the day before. This time I guess I feel like rolling the dice....LOL!

[Gonzo70]

we do have insurance for a back up.

 

Have you carefully read the policy to see what it covers? Not all travel insurance provides coverage for not arriving on time for a cruise because of a flight delay or cancellation. Those that do often require a very lengthy delay to have occurred before they provide coverage - so if a five hour delay leads you to miss the ship, you may not receive any relief from the travel insurance. Other policies may cover this, but only provide a fixed dollar amount to fly you to the next port - i.e. $250 per person (and the tickets may end up costing a great deal more). Some policies do provide good coverage for missing the ship - but it is imeprative to carefully read your policy to see what it does and does not cover.

 

Hopefully you make the ship with lots of time to spare, but do read up on your policy so you know what to do if something goes wrong.

[fleckle]

........ If it goes badly next time we will fly in the day before. This time I guess I feel like rolling the dice....LOL!

Whatever happens this time will have no bearing on what may or may not happen next time.

 

You are right in that it is like rolling dice. When it comes to flying, each roll is independent and you use different dice each time. Flying in the same day is very much like gambling. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. Some people are greater risk takers than others.

[Denny01]

As to spending overnight after a cruise just to make sure you make a flight? We dont' do that. I'll stay to see the city or visit friends/family, but not to lower the chance of missing a flight. I'm not that worried about the consequences even in this day of fully booked flights. I'm not going to miss a cruise, heading home - I just call my office and tell them 'another day...too bad!!'.

 

But that's my priorities.

Denny

[Lou33]

Our flight from San Francisco to Barcelona was cancelled, and BA couldn't get us on a flight until 24 hours later. But fortunately, we planned to stay in Barcelona 3 nights before our cruise, so we still had 2 nights left.

 

Not only would we have missed the cruise if we flew in the same day, but we would have missed it even if we planned to fly in one day early!

 

There are so many advantages to getting there days early. You are virtually assured of making your cruise, you have time to get over your jetlag, and you have time to enjoy Barcelona. Barcelona was the highlight of our cruise and I really missed losing that extra day.

 

I would guess that many people wish they had spent more extra precruise days in Barcelona. And you would be hard pressed to find *anybody* who wished they spent less time there.

 

If there is any question, then always go for the extra days if at all possible. And if it's Barcelona, don't fly in one day early, fly in three days early.

[thevacationer]

Yes, I actually have carefully read the policy, and it is covered. But thanks for the tip! Sure hope I do not need it!

[Jobeth66]

I'm on the same cruise as the OP, and we're also flying in the day of (direct flight from Philly, we are scheduled to land at 8:30am, though, so we have a little more room to play with).

 

For us, it was about vacation schedule. This is a 12 night Mediterranean, it departs on a Saturday (5/14) and returns on a Thursday (5/26). We're taking time after the cruise to enjoy Barcelona, since we get back the Thursday morning before Memorial Day weekend (which is a 3-day holiday for many folks in the US). But that means hubby's taking 10 days vacation for the cruise, and that's all he can take at once. So flying in the day before the cruise isn't an option, unless we want to fly home the day we return so he can work the Friday before the holiday weekend. And that'd just be silly. :) We had one person who couldn't come with us because her company wouldn't allow her to take more than 8 days at once.

 

I don't worry so much about jet lag, our secret has always been to take a quick afternoon nap (maybe an hour or so) and the push through to the late night. Next morning we're ready to go.

 

Normally we WOULD fly in a day early for a cruise, but I'm not as worried about this one - the first port is Cannes, which if we miss the ship in Barcelona is a drivable trip to catch it the next day. We could rent a car and head out if necessary. On a Caribbean, if you miss sail away, you ARE flying to the next port. That's a stressor I don't need. Driving to the next port? Eh. No biggie. I like to drive, I do it all the time, and it's only about 6 hours from BCN to Cannes by car. Easy-peasey. :)

[Bholling]

On our 12 cruises we've flown out of Detroit the day of the cruise 6x (including Alaska via Seattle and several departing from SJU) and the day before 6x (Barcelona, FLL & MIA). On none of the trips have we had major delays that caused us much inconvenience - although we realize that is a possibility and prepare accordingly. We ALWAYS try to depart on the first flight of the day so we have later options if something goes wrong, and I also keep the airline customer service number in my speed dial.

 

Sometimes we prefer to take extra time after the cruise (as we are planning on our next trip this spring), but all in all we've been lucky!!

[thevacationer]

On our 12 cruises we've flown out of Detroit the day of the cruise 6x (including Alaska via Seattle and several departing from SJU) and the day before 6x (Barcelona, FLL & MIA). On none of the trips have we had major delays that caused us much inconvenience - although we realize that is a possibility and prepare accordingly. We ALWAYS try to depart on the first flight of the day so we have later options if something goes wrong, and I also keep the airline customer service number in my speed dial.

 

Sometimes we prefer to take extra time after the cruise (as we are planning on our next trip this spring), but all in all we've been lucky!!

 

 

Thanks for sharing your batting average with us. Sometimes these boards are dominated by the "sky is falling" kind of folks. I personally share your optimism. Have a great trip!