Fly in the day of the cruise?

[fridaythe13th]

And buy trip insurance :)

 

True.... that I always do!!

[FLACRUISER99]

So basically, 7 people out of every 100 will be late taking that flight. On a ship like the Oasis with a capacity of about 6,000, that would translate into more than 400 passengers being late. That's pretty bad.

 

BTW, statistics mean NOTHING if you happen to be the ONE person affected by a delayed or canceled flight. Anything short of 100% is not good enough if you're flying in on the day of departure.

 

I agree if your the person that misses the flight you won't be happy. I also think you are better coming in a day or three early. However sometimes you have to fly in the day of the cruise or not cruise at all. If you use common sense and look at all the factors you probity will be OK. Hey I almost missed my cruise a few years ago because of the volcanic ash over Europe and I was coming in three days early!

 

 

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[Desert Cruizers]

Tapi, because our flight out of Mobile was late getting in we missed our connection in DFW to Palm Springs, once we arrived in DFW, they did get us on a flight home within the hour, but for some reason my husbands bag continued on to Denver. They brought it back to Palm Springs on the Denver morning flight to PS. Not sure why it never got off the plane or why they didn't put it on the next flight out of DFW to PS.

 

We took a cruise out of San Diego, 2.5 hours from home and drove in the day before. Didn't want a delay due to traffic problems, preferred to give us the extra day to allow for problems. I recall talking to one lady who arrived the afternoon of our cruise at 3 PM, couldn't find 1 piece of luggage and had bought transfers, the RCL agent found both her husband and the luggage, got them on the bus and hurried to the cruise terminal. They made it but she said never again.

[reallyitsmema]

Last Thursday 6/13/13, we were flying MIA-LGA at 8 am arriving at 11 am, how bad can it be? LGA closed around 10 am, and flight was diverted to Richmond, VA for refueling. Luckily, LGA opened and we were only a couple of hours late, the Captain kept us informed and gave passengers all the options of what could have happened. Would have been extremely disappointed and upset if we were cruising on the same day. Agree with everyone, fly in a day or two before.

My DH was also flying last Thursday. He was supposed to go SNA to EWR and then had a connection to BOS. His flight was to leave SNA at 7am local time and get into EWR at 3:14pm. Well, because of the same storm they left 2 hrs late, diverted to DEN for fuel, circled the NY area for a while then diverted to JFK for fuel because EWR closed due to thunderstorms. The plane ended up getting to EWR 7 1/2 hours late and 3 minutes after my DH delayed connection had left for BOS.:cool:

 

Luckily, he bailed at JFK knowing he wasn't going to make his connection and had carried on his luggage. He never made it home until the next day since he was supposed to drive to CT for business on Friday so he rented a car at JFK and drove to CT directly.

 

Moral of the story, weather happens. Try to fly in the day before if you can and pack lots of patience.

[DonnaK]

We had to fly from NY to San Juan on the morning of our last cruise. (Due to work and school schedules, we could not fly down a day early). I was nervous about an unexpected delay causing us to miss sailaway, so I booked the 6am flight on Jet Blue. There were several later flights we could make if a problem arose, but everything went smoothly and we had no issues. We landed in San Juan just before 10am.

 

However, we were EXHAUSTED! We got very little sleep the night before, and we had to arise at 3am in order to get to the airport in plenty of time to park the car and check in. My daughters (in their 20's) went on with their usual social life instead of trying to get dome sleep, so they were grouchy as could be. WE could hardly stay up for dinner, I was headachy, we didn't attend the evening show like we usually do, etc. It took us several days to recover from "jet lag" (and we didn't even cross time zones), and we felt disconnected from the cruise itself for the first couple of days.

 

So, in addition to making sure we do not miss the ship, we will always fly down a day or two ahead just to start the cruise off in the right frame of mind and not too tired to enjoy ourselves from the start.

[KirkNC]

It is for me, we always fly in at least one day early.

[tlatrice]

We just recently returned from a cruise on the jewel. We flew in on the morning of the cruise no problems at all and actually didnt leave till about 9:15. I wasn't nervous at all. Now we met some friends on the ship that came from Texas. They started flying the day before. Well they were delayed several times. In the end that only got to the ship about 1 hr before muster drill and no luggage. It got lost on the original flight and didnt catch up to them till st. Marteen. If that's your only choice don't worry about and just do it.. If anything is gonna happen its gonna happen. No since in worrying about it

 

 

Best advice ever.

[COMBOY]

OK, here's my story: I book a nonstop red-eye from LAX to San Juan on American arriving 9:05AM the day of sailing. About two months before my cruise American cancels the non-stop flight and put me on a connection flight via Miami now arriving San Juan 12:15PM. Ship sails at 8:00PM. So...OK. I think no problem. Well...it didn't work out that way. I arrive Miami at 7:30A on time. I check the departure TV monitor flight to San Juan now departing 11:35A - one hour late. Plane from Boston has to turn back due to mechanical issues. (Oh...they makes one feel secure..LOL) Anyway...We wait and wait. Now departs 12:15P. I'm getting nervous and stressed hoping is does come in on time and there won't be any further delays. The plane comes in and we board and take off around 12:30P; arriving 3:15P. By the time I deplane, collect my luggage, get a taxi and check in it now 4:30P. I am completely starved and barely make the buffet for lunch. Mandatory life boat drill at 5:00PM so I only had 20 minutes to eat and go back to my cabin and get my life jacket. At this point I am a complete wreck. Look, I made the ship and the cruise was great, but I swore I would never ever ever book a same day flight again. Never. Yes, if everything goes as plan it's no problem until there is a problem. It's simply not worth the hassle. You plan and so look forward and pay a lot for the cruise so it's so worth the extra day. I think some of us just want to believe nothing will go wrong - but it can and does. Fly in the day of the cruise all you want, but just plan for the possible delays and stress that goes along with it.

[PCWalton1]

One word: NO (do NOT fly in the day of the cruise, not smart)

 

Thank you for calling me stupid. :p

 

We have been on two cruises this year and have flown in the same day. The flights left at night but we arrived in the morning. March we flew Seattle/Dallas/Tampa to catch Jewel and last month we flew Seattle/Ft Lauderdale to catch Allure. Didn't stress much over it and enjoyed our cruises.

[Mel8730]

Plenty of people fly in the day of the cruise. I am cruising next month with my daughter, mother and 2 brothers. My daughter, mother and I are flying in the day before and my brothers are flying in the day of. We did the same thing when we sailed Freedom in 2009.

 

Do whatever works best for you.

[bigque]

I plan the time I take off from work for my cruise to include the day for flying to the port the day before thus the begining of my vacation.

I see where people say that "The majority of the people" fly in the day of the cruise and have no problems. I look at it like this.......... A majority of people pay for auto insurance and home owner insurance also and never have any problems...but it's the "ONE" time that you do have a problem that you wish you did have the insurance or in the case of the cruise that the one time you miss the cruise you will wish you did fly in a day early!

I have Auto & Home Owners Insurance and I fly in the before...Same principle to me!

[m*u*g*]

Risky, but many do it. If you have no choice, you have your answer.

[cmaygar]

It is very risky. All it will take is one major delay due to mechanical issues or weather re-routing (remember, you are flying in prime hurricane season) to be out of luck. I've read of terrible situations here on the boards about folks that attempted to fly in on the same day as the departure and they didn't make it to the ship on time.

 

Even if you use Choice Air, the ship will not wait more than an hour or so after the scheduled departure time. They need to get everyone else that paid for the cruise that made it on time on their way. I've been on cruises that waited an hour for late arriving passengers, but invariably there are a number that miss the sail away and need to catch up later on in the week.

 

If you have absolutely no other choice, then hopefully all will be on schedule and you may be fine.

 

Best of luck.

[RockeyBullwinkle]

seems it would depend where you are flying from and to, time of year and which airline.

[varoo]

BTW, statistics mean NOTHING if you happen to be the ONE person affected by a delayed or canceled flight. Anything short of 100% is not good enough if you're flying in on the day of departure.

BINGO! We have a winner.

 

Whatever happened to other people on any other flight is irrelevant as it does not affect what will happen to you on your flight.

There are just too many different variables involved.

 

Even when I myself have flown the same route previously dozens of times with no problem, that is no assurance that something will not go wrong the next time I take the flight.

Each incident is an independent occurrence.

 

If you miss the ship, it will be no consolation to you in the slightest to know that hundreds of others flew in the same day and made it with no problem.

 

 

I see where people say that "The majority of the people" fly in the day of the cruise and have no problems. I look at it like this.......... A majority of people pay for auto insurance and home owner insurance also and never have any problems...but it's the "ONE" time that you do have a problem that you wish you did have the insurance or in the case of the cruise that the one time you miss the cruise you will wish you did fly in a day early!

This is an excellent analogy.

 

[constable145]

We are thinking of taking the red eyes flight and arrive to FLL at 8:30am for the Oasis in August. We usually fly in the day before, but due vacation time. We don't have a lot of option. Do you think it is too risky?

 

Don't do it.

 

I'm not going to bother reading the previous 3 pages. Just don't do it. Any delays could jeopardize your cruise.

[Virtopia]

I honestly think it depends where you're flying from, where you're flying to and what time of year it is.

 

I do try to fly out the day before but I have 3 upcoming cruises that will depart from New Jersey, which is a quick 90 minute flight from Toronto. Yes, I could miss my flight but more than likely, there are a dozen other flights leaving within the hour going to the same destination or nearby New York.

 

Under those circumstances, if I am not able to leave day before, I will catch the first flight out or the red eye and be completely comfortable in my decision.

[varoo]

We are thinking of taking the red eyes flight and arrive to FLL at 8:30am for the Oasis in August. We usually fly in the day before, but due vacation time. We don't have a lot of option. Do you think it is too risky?

Risky? Yes.

Too risky? Maybe, maybe not.

 

Depends on how much of the cruise you would miss if you need to fly to the next allowable port to catch up with the ship.

 

Also a lot would depend on your coping skills, how much of a risk taker you are, and how well you tolerate stress.

 

There are some for whom missing the ship under such circumstances and needing to fly to the next port would be a major catastrophe that would cause them great distress.

 

Then there are others for whom it would merely be a disappointment, but one that they would view in perspective and take in stride.

 

Some would be tense, on pins and needles until they reached the port.

 

Others would relax and have more of a "que sera, sera" attitude.

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Just to give you an idea... a bunch of folks on our Roll Call all scheduled flying in the day before our Oasis cruise. Because of the remnants of Andrea, they had all kinds of delays... one even said their 90 minute flight turned into an 8 hour trip.

 

Here's the link to the page on our Roll Call talking about it...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1538964&page=38.

 

Obviously, if flying in the day of is your ONLY choice, that's what you must do. But I'd do everything in my power to fly in the day before (at least the night before) because you just never know.

[matj2000]

How do you know that?

 

On our roll calls I usually ask what peoples plans are and most say they fly in one or more days prior to the cruise. But I certainly don't know the statistics.

 

Also I know a lot of people who speed and go through lights as they are turning red but that doesn't justify nor make this right.

 

Keith

 

This question comes up every month or so because people do not know how to use the search function.

If you have ever been too FLA or MIA on a Sat or Sun morning you would understand.

But since people need the facts, here it is....

 

http://www.cruising.org/sites/defaul...eport_2011.pdf

 

 

See pages 37-40 of the CLIA study entitiled "The Contribution of the North American Cruise Industry to the U.S. Economy in 2011"

 

Passengers arriving the day of the cruise outnumber passengers with overnight stays by about a 3 to 2 margin according to their study.

 

 

It doesn't differentiate between flying or driving to the port, but it's better than the anecdotal banter on the board

[notsomadhatter]

Interesting statistics.

 

Would say that because it doesn't differentiate between flying and driving arrivals makes a big difference though.

 

Living in Florida I know a lot of people drive in for cruises, especially in the offseason. We arrive the day of most of the time when driving because it's not nearly as risky as flying.

[tonyt]

I have cruised 35 times and flew in the day before only 2 times. Missed the ship only 1 time and that was due to airline labor problems in the late 70's (Eastern Airline ) . We usually cruise in January. I know that we have been fortunate.

[abridalmaven]

We've done it on short hops like Fla or PR from NYC in the mon winer months. NYC has so many flights it is not that hard.

 

 

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[Esmerelda]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/southwest-grounds-flights-due-computer-glitch-19462244#.UcWgwfmsH-o

 

 

nuff said....

[gw2fll]

Here's our story:

 

Waiting in the security checkpoint line in San Juan after our first cruise, I overheard a couple behind us talking with another couple about their luggage fiasco. Apparently, their luggage did not make it to San Juan with them on the plane (they flew in the same day). The airline forwarded it to the next port, but it arrived after the ship left. The airline continued forwarding to the next port and each time it arrived late, so their luggage never caught up with them.

 

Overhearing this, we recalled the first time we had a luggage issue when we went to Las Vegas. One of our bags missed a connection in PHX and arrive 3 days later. When we received the bag it had stickers on it from Hawaii. (We have always wanted to go to Hawaii - at least our luggage has been there - LOL.)

 

Interesting, the next Spring we went back to Las Vegas and our flight was canceled and we were booked on the last flight out of CLT. Our bags did not make the new flight, but USAir assured us it would be on the first flight the following morning. The bags made the flight and arrived at 9:00 am; however, it did not make the hotel until 4:00 in the afternoon.

 

After that experience we adjusted our strategy to try to accommodate flight schedules in case something goes wrong with the luggage.

 

For our recent cruise to Alaska from Seattle, our plan was to fly in Thursday evening. When I checked the arrivals for Friday I realized there would only be one flight for the airline to fix a luggage issue - and that would be cutting in close. Luckily for us, our jobs allow us to work remote, so we flew out late Wednesday and we worked from the hotel in Seattle on Thursday. (Our bags arrived without issue.)

 

We all have different situations with which we can work with. Once we surrender our bags to the airline it is out of our hands. I think our best strategy is to play defense and try to remediate the risk:

 

• Don't pack medications in checked bags
  
• Cross pack between suitcases (this includes all aspects of the wardrobe, not just shirts for instance)
  
• Include contact information for where you will be inside the suitcase (tags get lost)
  
• Take a picture of the suitcase with your cell phone before you close it so you have a record of the contents

 

Hopefully, some day, the airlines will get better with how they handle baggage. We can have several flights without instance, but it only takes one problem to impact a cruise that was a long time in the making.

 

Happy cruising everybody.