Always fly in at least a day prior to your cruise!!!

[Janet Foster]

I am the OP and am back from our cruise. Why does the week have to go by so dang fast? It was a nice no stress trip. My other tip is to pack your cruise ship itinerary inside each checked bag. I also wrote my cell phone and name of pre-cruise hotel on each paper. If my bag were to get delayed I wanted it to be known where I was so that my bags were not redirected back to my home. Ya never know!! Thanks everyone for the nice comments--

[Cruisin' Chick]

Even if you're traveling to the west, you need to pad in an extra day. About 200 Brits missed the ship literally for our December cruise out of LA. The captain even held up the sailaway for four and a half hours, but due to snowy conditions in the UK and rainy conditions in LA, the passengers didn't make it.

[PA Beachlovers]

We are flying in the same day as our cruise in October, leaving Newark NJ around 6:30 AM and arriving in Orlando before 9:30 AM. We are using the Carnival shuttle to get us from the airport to the ship. I never really gave thought to all the problems that could arise, yes this is our first cruise. We are flying direct so hopefully that eliminates most of the chance of the luggage getting lost. October is too early for snow in New Jersey and thunderstorms are not very frequent that time of year. We are from central PA and driving to a hotel near the airport the night before, at least we eliminated the risk of not getting to the airport on time. I took insurance on the cruise, if we are delayed by a problem with the airlines does the insurance cover that? I don't remember if I read that or not.