Flying into port on the morning of cruise

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Did it once and will never, never do it again. We had a short flight (less than an hour and a half) and had multiple delays due to mechanical issues. Our flight was supposed to arrive mid-morning. We ended up getting in late afternoon and had a wild ride to the port. We just barely made it on the ship in time. Since then we've always flown in a day (and sometimes two!) early.

[LHP]

Thanks everyone. I think we are going to fly in the day before :).

 

wise move...

 

years ago (when there were more airplanes than sand in Cozumel) people did this all the time....

 

however, with the reduction of the number of airlines and even those airlines running leaner (less planes)....

 

today it is a risk I would not take.

 

Especially when you consider that all some idiot has to do is leave a package unattended or call in a fake bomb threat... and the entire airport shuts down.

 

Or there is bad weather....or there is a maintenance issue.

 

All of these result in more people having less seats to get to where they are going.

[gapearl]

We have been on eight cruises so far, and have always flown in the morning of. Only once did it not work out, due to mechanical problems with the plane. We missed the ship (RCCL), and a Rep. from RCCL made arrangements for us (and another couple) to catch a flight from Miami to Nassau, where we caught up with the ship. As much as I would like to fly in the day before, it's tough to work out for us, so we get the earliest flight possible on the morning of, and a direct flight if possible. I envy those that live in a port city and don't have to worry about flying.

 

OP- I'd recommend flying in the day before. However, if you do fly in the day of, make sure you have passports in case something like this happens. If you're only traveling with a birth certificate, you won't be able to catch with your ship unless it's headed to San Juan or St. Thomas. There was a post a while back about some guys missing the ship, didn't have passports to catch up with the cruise, had no travel insurance, and they basically lost all of their money! :eek:

[LVMetsFan]

Learn from my hard earned lesson - it could end up costing you a lot more than just a hotel room if you try to come in the day of.

 

Two years ago - got to the airport on time, but there were huge lines to get through security and the airline couldn't find our seats. Got stuck at the counter for 30 mins (after waiting on line 30 mins), then another 45 mins to go through security. We literally just missed our flight.

 

Since we had grandma with us and it was a family reunion cruise, we ended up taking a later flight to Tampa, paying for the hotel there, then paying for a flight to the Cayman Islands and paying for a hotel there, and then meeting up with the ship the next morning. My sister's family also almost missed the cruise when their flight got canceled that morning. Her party ended up on 3 different flights to get them there in time.

 

 

Sooo.... if you are going to do it, make sure you leave extra early to get to the airport, make sure you have confirmed seats (we thought we did), make sure the flight is early enough to give you problem solving time, and make sure you research other airlines/flights that are going to your destination that morning (our airline wouldn't help us out with that - we found out when it was too late that we could have gotten a flight on another airline that would have gotten us to Tampa in time).

 

Needless to say we are flying in the night before for our upcoming cruise :)

[83tonio]

Twice I flew in the day of and never had a problem. flew in a day before once. june third i have a 8am flight so I hope everything goes well not worried and I have insurance.

[H82seaUgo]

How many people fly in the morning of cruise? In order to save money my husband and I are considering flying in the morning of our cruise. The flight is cheaper and we won't have to pay for a hotel. Anyone have any advice?

 

actually, i thought flying in the morning of the cruise was standard, especially since we started cruising when air was included.

 

i suppose i would do it if i were cruising in the winter, but didn't, and still had no problem.

 

we did it once when we cruised out of san juan, just to increase vacation time, and to not have such a long day with us sailing at 10 pm.

 

since 9/11, and sealed with the tsa pat downs, we only cruise local now.

[TheTravelista]

I've never flown in the day before in all of my 20+ cruises. Always the day of and have never had a problem and it was never stressful. We booked the earliest flight and were always there before noon. Had nothing to do with saving money, it's just what made sense to us. I never knew about this flying in the day before phenomenon until I saw it all over Cruise Critic.

 

My next cruise sails from Galveston so I will be flying in a day early because it's a notoriously difficult port to get to, and it takes awhile. But a cruise from any of the Florida ports? Nah. I've flown in day of from San Juan several times as well and the ship leaves at 10 pm so there really should be no problems.

[Warm Breezes]

How many people fly in the morning of cruise? In order to save money my husband and I are considering flying in the morning of our cruise. The flight is cheaper and we won't have to pay for a hotel. Anyone have any advice?

 

I would personally never do it. When we fly it is always the day before. We had a direct flight from Michigan to Orlando once. We ended up making an emergency landing in Tennesse and spending 6 hours on the ground. If we had flown in the same day...we would have missed the ship.

[rtw68]

WAY too risky. We even try to fly in a couple days before just in case and to enjoy the sights.

 

Plus we stay over the day we disembark just in case the ship is running behind. I know it costs more to do it that way, but I want to reduce the level of stress involving travel.

[GradUT]

I'm doing it next week, so I'll let you know how it goes.

[YubaSutter]

We fly the morning of the cruise most of the time. We always take the first plane of the day, no connections and was only delayed once in Sacramento due to ice. we still arrived in San Diego by 10:30 am.

[Shipbound]

I have done this several times but with conditions-I fly direct from BDL to Fll, I will not fly in the same day during the winter and I take out travel insurance no matter what.

 

Gary

[CRUISING71]

I think it's all depend on how long the flight is. I live in LA and if I cruise out of SFO or SEA then I would catch the morning flight. If I were to cruise out of Galveston, I would catch the flight the day before.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

What if your flight has problems that time of the year..

[Disneycruisers]

I'm encouraged reading the posts from those who had no problems.

 

Our family is arriving the day before our cruise out of FLL in June. However, the family we're traveling with is arriving at 12:20pm the day we sail.:(

 

They booked it because it was going to save them $700.00 in airfare (family of four.) I silently cringed, but knew they had to do what's best for them.

 

Wishing, hoping and praying (as the song goes) that everything goes okay. (It IS a nonstop from DFW, so that's a plus.) Keeping our fingers crossed.

[MRVEGAS711]

Flying in the day of your cruise would be really really risking. Don't blame anyone if it doesn't work......but yourself.

[vacruisin]

Out of 4 cruises, I've flown in the morning of twice. Both times with no issues although I know anything can go wrong.

 

When I fly in the morning of I book the very first flight of the day even if it's a 6 am flight. I figure that way, if the first flight is cancelled, there are 5 more viable options that can still get me there on time.

 

oh, and I only take direct flights.

 

Edited to add: i fly from DC so there's always a direct flight and it's only a few hours. if I was coming from the mid west or west, I'd definitely fly in the day before.

 

Wow! I just wrote a long post that didn't go thru for some reason and it was almost IDENTICAL to this post! That's kind of creepy! :eek::D

 

We fly from DC also and on our upcoming cruise we are currently scheduled to fly in the day of but we're in the process of moving to flying the day before. Of our 4 previous cruises, 2 we've flown in the day before and 2 we're flown the day of the cruise. But, we always get the 6:00am flight when we fly in the day of.

 

I am still tripping over how identical this post is to my previously unposted post. :p:confused::):cool:

[sharecruises]

I have ONLY cruised from ports we drive to

 

but I am cruising from Seattle..and flying in 3 days before from Ft Lauderdale LOL..

 

I do have some friends coming in the day of the cruise...keepin my fingers crossed for them

 

Me? I don't want the aggravation or worry....I will be in Seattle 3 nights :)

[treasure4two]

Call me crazy but I will be flying in on the day of my first cruise... January 27, 2013... it is a direct flight Boston to Miami.... with at least 2 other flights leaving after ours and arriving in Miami @ noon.... I also have travel insurance...Next cruise I will budget for a hotel room and fly in early just in case... in the meantime...

Everyone Pray for good weather on and around January 27!!!!

 

Jan. 27-Boston-winter- good weather- no chance for snow grounding all flights that day -planning a cruise almost a year in advance, never been through the cruise experience-I remember the expression, 'no guts, no glory'-hope it is not 'no cruise'.

[SNJCruisers]

Thanks everyone. I think we are going to fly in the day before :).

Here are some great choices for you for the night before.

 

 

https://secure.stay123.com/cruise-results.php?airport=169&day=7&month=12&year=2012&adults=1&children=0&rooms=1

 

The Comfort Suites is brand new and includes shuttles from the airport and to the cruiseport.

[CorbinCatFan]

We missed the ship due to a flight cancellation in 2000 and have not flown in the day of the cruise since. The flight crew didn't show up for that flight, not weather nor mechanical.

 

We had delays in 2008 flying in the day before to San Juan and ended up getting to the hotel at midnight. We would have missed the ship again had it been the day of the cruise.

[Eeyoregon]

Have taken over a dozen cruises and have never flown in early. My Mom has taken five dozen cruises and has never flown in early. Have cruised all different times of the year. Have had some delays on occasion but neither one of us has EVER missed the ship. Just make sure to leave yourself plenty of time. I would say based on our experiences that the risk is overblown. If you figure at 100 dollars a night she and I have saved around 6 grand or more not flying in a day early.

 

I've never flown in the day before in all of my 20+ cruises. Always the day of and have never had a problem and it was never stressful. We booked the earliest flight and were always there before noon. Had nothing to do with saving money, it's just what made sense to us. I never knew about this flying in the day before phenomenon until I saw it all over Cruise Critic.

 

My next cruise sails from Galveston so I will be flying in a day early because it's a notoriously difficult port to get to, and it takes awhile. But a cruise from any of the Florida ports? Nah. I've flown in day of from San Juan several times as well and the ship leaves at 10 pm so there really should be no problems.

 

You all had best be knocking on some wood!

And go buy some lottery tickets because you are the LUCKIEST people I have ever "met"!!!! :eek:

[Eeyoregon]

The flight crew didn't show up for that flight, not weather nor mechanical.

 

I have had a flight delayed by 5 hours because a pre-flight audit revealed the flight crew was over the allowed amount of flight hours allowed and they grounded the crew. It took over 4 hours for them to find a substitute crew and had to use pilots from an entirely different airline!

 

And winter weather on the other side of the country delayed my flight from Oregon to Las Vegas by 1 entire day! Nope, I look forward to my cruises for months and would never risk missing it to save $50 or a vacation day.

[erica1000]

Living just outside of Atlanta, home of the busiest airport in the world, we have many flight options. I typically book a very early flight that way if there is a delay, there is plenty of recovery time. This generally works great for us, however we did have a problem a couple of years ago.

 

A few hours before we were to fly out of ATL at 8am heading to MIA the airline automated system called to say that due to bad weather our flight was cancelled. The bad weather was snow that was expected to come in the afternoon of our cruise. We live in ATL and yes occasionally we get snow but this was March. We had trip insurance but really did not want to miss the cruise. I tried to find another flight but apparently when the ATL airport stands still you are stuck.

 

Very stressful but the good news we made it to the ship. Even though no airlines were open the rental car counters were so we did a one way rental and drove like bats out of an extra hot place.

 

The funny part is that by the time the snow actually made it to ATL that afternoon, we would have been on the boat already anyway.

 

I probably will still book flights or drive to port day of but will base that choice on time of year.

[matj2000]

Don't listen to all these people.

The majority of cruise passengers fly in the same day and they and don't have problems.

You will be fine, just give yourself some buffer time...