Need another reason to fly in a day early?

[teajak]

Always insured for health and family reasons anyway...but even if I had to expend some $ OOP, I'm way ahead, noT having all those pre night hotel charges:D

We use a Marriott credit card for everything,the free hotel nights more than make up for the annual fee, no interest because it is always paid in full each month.We always have a free night waiting pre-cruise as hotel rooms in Florida are really high during season.:cool:

[teddie]

I'm reposting this account of almost missing the ship!

 

The week that we were to cruise on the Enchantment in September 2003, Hurricane Isabel was about to hit the northeast. Even though we booked to arrive one day early, I decided to check my flight online TWO nights prior to our flight, and to my horror, found that my flight was cancelled and re-scheduled to arrive AFTER the ship left Ft Lauderdale!! It was midnight, by the way, when I became aware of this.

 

My husband and I scrambled to reschedule, and the only flight we could get was due to depart in exactly SIX HOURS! So, we actually had to arrive TWO days early instead of one in order to make our cruise. Our precruise hotel could not accommodate us for the one day early, so I had to book the unplanned-for night at a different hotel, then switch to our original hotel after the first night.

 

To all my dear friends and relatives who snickered at my being completely packed and ready a week in advance: a big raspberry!! At least we could leave on six hours' notice, and not have to pack too...

 

Granted, my situation was quite unusual, but it goes to show that you can't be too prepared.

 

My advice: leave a day early/pack early :)

 

Teddie

[knittedcabin]

My advice: leave a day early/pack early :)

 

Teddie

 

I aggree-who wants to end up a day late and several dollars short :p

 

carol

[Trekker954]

And this is one reason we decided to finally move to South Florida as we are cruise addicts. :D

 

Seriously, if not sailing out of south florida, I always fly in the day before because you never know.

 

The only exception is Dec 1, I get off the Liberty, go directly to FLL to board southwest for Tampa to get on the Jewel. I figure if we find out there is a flight cancelation, we can always drive over and still make the sailing; but I certainly hope it doesn't come to that. Although this is my first time flying Southwest.

[nbsjcruiser]

I think you hit it right on the nose about leaving some time...most especially when flying near or on holidays and school vacation breaks. My DH and I have flown into FL same day for cruises for years without incident, but during the " low" seasons and when weather is unlikely to be a problem. But whenever we fly with the kids during their breaks, we always schedule at least a day before our tour or cruise. For our Jewel cruise in Feb ( snow, winter break...oh my:eek:!) We fly Thursday for a Sat departure!

Hope your DH gets out of Chicago, and you have a wonderful cruise!

 

For our winter cruises we ALWAYS fly in 2 days early. In the fall, its one day early. An extra $100 hotel and some food money is well worth it instead of missing the cruise.

[batoryfirst]

We were on a 5-hour layover in Orlando Sept. 29 and enjoying the extra time to have a nice meal before departure to JFK and connecting there to Istanbul. While eating, I suddenly felt that we should go to the departure gate. Discovered that our flight to JFK hadn't left JFK due to weather. The wonderful agents at American scrambled to get us on Jet Blue that was already on the ground in Orlando. We then had weather in Orlando so that flight was delayed.

 

We missed our flight to Istanbul and missed flying with my son & his wife and my cousin and her husband. We spent the night near the airport and flew out of JFK on Sept. 30 with arrival in Istanbul on Oct. 1. We went to the hotel where our 12 traveling companions were staying and from there to the Constellation which was overnighting in Istanbul. That took a lot of the pressure away from our flying debacle since we actually had two days to get to the ship. It was all a hassle, but a successful ending.

 

ALWAYS fly in early and remain as calm as possible when faced with these unplanned events. They are often a part of the traveling experience.

 

Nancy

[wv4dmb]

For our cruise in April we were going to fly in the same day to FLL. Our TA advised against it and after some thought we decided she was right and we will be flying in the day before! I guess peace of mind is worth the extra cash for a nights stay at a hotel! :)

 

~Steph

[orville99]

The last time we flew in the day of a cruise was way back when the cruiselines included airfare from "gateway" cities as part of the fare. Flight was delayed getting to Atlanta, and we had to run through the terminal to make the connection to Tampa (well, it turns out we didn't really have to run quite so hard, because the flight to Tampa was also delayed.) By the time we landed in Tampa we thought we had missed the ship, but the cruiseline had a limo waiting for us. We were the last people to board, and they were literally disconnecting the gangway and dropping the lines behind us. Never again. Whenever we flew anywhere after that we always flew in a day early.