What If Your Ship Comes In Late?

[megmno]

Just curious, probably a dumb question -- John Heald mentioned on FB that due to a medical emergency which caused the Conquest to return to Cozumel, it would be arriving late into Galveston, around 10 am.

 

What happens if you end up missing your flight due to a late arrival? Would your airline just put you on another flight at no extra cost? I guess if it did cost extra you could get reimbursed by travel insurance. I want to be prepared just in case I had to lay out some unexpected money.

[*Mach*]

It varies by situation, of course, but generally the staff will attempt to assist in getting your flight changed or allow you to use the ship to shore phone to make changes.

There really is no hard and fast rule about how such situations are handled, though...

:)

[jenjens1023]

Our Spirit cruise in March arrived in San Diego four hours late because the port was closed due to the tsunami threat. The phones on the ship were opened so passengers could make necessary calls, but most of us waited until we had a cell connection.

 

We flew Southwest, the only airline that made changes without charging. Other passengers were being charged as much as $150 per person to change flights! I don't know what happened with those whose air was booked through Carnival.

 

It's just another reason for travel insurance. Although we didn't have a flight-change charge, we did have an extra night at a hotel, because SW couldn't get us out until the next day, and 24-hours of extra meals. Our second call, after the airline, was to the insurance company who was well aware of how the tsunami was messing up travel and immediately opened a case file on us.

[firefly333]

I think it was Ecstasy recently that came in late, about 2:30 pm and they gave each pax $15 toward buying lunch.

[gadan1]

My first cruise came in 2 days late, due to a hurricane. I was lucky and had traveled enough to know that if you expect to miss your flight, you need to contact the airline before the flight was scheduled to leave. I saw a lot of folks who were supposed to fly out on Sunday call the airline on Monday only to find out that because they were "no shows" they had to buy all new tickets.

 

If you notify the airline ahead of time, you will likely be charged the normal flight change charge ($0 on Southwest, up to $150 on others) plus fare difference unless it happens to be a circumstance where the airline is waiving change fees (common when they have a lot of cancellations due to extreme weather).

 

When you book your tickets, check and see what ways you can rebook: phone (carry the 800 number with you), web, etc so if you need to, you can act as soon as you know there's a problem.

[megmno]

@gadan - thanks - that sounds like excellent advice!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

most of the time

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I think it was Ecstasy recently that came in late, about 2:30 pm and they gave each pax $15 toward buying lunch.

 

wasn't that for the pax who were boarding late ?

 

I think the OP is asking but not sure, about being on the ship that comes in late which causes her to miss her flight?

 

 

Bill

[megmno]

OP here - yes, that is what I was wondering. I want to make sure my emergency credit card is able to handle any unexpected items, such as having to buy new return air tickets if we happen to miss our flight home.

[wrp96]

I've missed flights before and haven't been required to pay anything to get on a later flight (this was on American). But I've also stood next to others that missed their flight, who had to buy completely new tickets. All of it depends on by how much you miss your flight, when you notify the airline, and availability of seats on later flights.

 

Note on Southwest you won't be charged a change fee, but if the price of your new flights is more than you originally paid, then you will be charged the difference in fares.

[Crusin Karen]

NOT YET SAILED

Coral Princess 5/21/11 - Alaska (sea & land)

Holland Eurodam 6/27/11 Baltic Sea (12 days)

Star Princess 8/22/11 Greek Isles (12 days)

Crown Princess 10/14 Quebec to FTL (12 days)

Holland Noordam 11/11- 11 days

Carnival Freedom 12/11 - 8 days

Emerald Princess 1/7/12-10 days

Emerald Princess 1/14/12 - 10 days

Norwegian Sun 2/25/12 - 7 days

Carnival Dream 3/03/12 - 7 days

Vantage Waterways of Holland 4/18/12

CRIPES! Love this countdown!!! :eek::D;)