Why arriving the day before cruise is not a good idea

[Mr and Mrs C]

Friends of ours were scheduled to fly out of Syracuse to Fort Lauderdale friday for our cruise this Saturday out of Miami on the epic. Major snowstorm happening so their flight was cancelled this morning. We are already in Florida as we drove here. You can imagine their panicked call to us this morning trying to figure out how they were going to get here. We live in Ontario Canada.

They ended up getting a flight out of buffalo for tomorrow night into Fort Lauderdale. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and i have promised them a big drink when they get here!

I always read on here to never fly in on the same day as the cruise, well I personally believe, especially in the winter to arrive a couple of days in advance.

[Alliezona09]

Fingers crossed that they are able to get out of there!

[garycarla]

Glad you are already there.

 

You have to wonder how many people will not make their cruise at this point.

 

 

Here is a strange twist that might happen. Follow me on this one.

 

Some people will be flying on Friday, and some will be flying on Saturday. Assume many Friday flights are canceled, meaning those people will get the next available flight.

 

Follow me now. Saturday flights are full with lots of people including those that took a chance to fly in the same day as the cruise. Their flight gets through, but the Thursday or Friday people are still trying to find a seat.

 

Irony and Murphy's Law collide.

[megnsamsgracie]

I am on the same cruise and faced the same problem. I had last flight out of BDL tomorrow and while ours hasn't been cancelled, they let me change to first thing Saturday am. Since the snow is stopping early enough tomorrow I *should* be ok on the first flight out

 

And that is exactly why I switched yesterday BEFORE cancellations! There were only 2 flights that would put me in on time, and if I did get cancelled, being the last flight, they get to rebook before me (3 flights tomorrow are already cancelled).

Edited January 3, 2014 by megnsamsgracie

[sunbird21]

Hey I'm in CT too! I'm just hoping there are no more storms in two weeks when I go. If you have a straight flight on Saturday you should be all right. They say it's going to stop by tmrw evening I think.

 

I'm both envious of ppl going this weekend,bc you all will be escaping to warmer weather,and not, by dealing with snow travel is no fun! I'm really glad I'm flying in two days before. January sucks!

 

 

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[nascargalinfla]

I am running into the opposite. Flying from FL to NY for a cruise the end of this month. Plan is to fly in on the 24th for a sailing on the 27th. Cruise is over the 29th and we plan to fly home that night, but if we are delayed... a couple more days in the city won't kill me.

[dmwnc1959]

It's gotten to the point to where I book a pre-cruise hotel for two or three days at the port of embarkation just in case of weather related delays or aircraft mechanical issues.

[SissasMomE]

The storm was forecasted well in advance ... not sure why people wouldn't change their flights to fly out earlier.

[SissasMomE]

It's gotten to the point to where I book a pre-cruise hotel for two or three days at the port of embarkation just in case of weather related delays or aircraft mechanical issues.

 

We do as well, but only because we want to start vacation sooner :D

[NH Cruisers]

Booking a hotel for the night prior to the cruise is adequate a majority of the time even in the winter. To always book more days in advance may start your vacation sooner, but some folks don't have time for that.

 

I always have something come up when I take flights, like airline union strikes and the like. Hurricanes or other natural things. It seems nothing can ever be worry free.

 

I do like cruising out of Boston and even NY/NJ. Boston one hour away and NYC six hours away. Realatively a short ride that could be made early AM if required.

[che5904]

The storm was forecasted well in advance ... not sure why people wouldn't change their flights to fly out earlier.

 

LOL well up here storms are predicted pretty well every 2nd day, I'd be on the phone every day changing flights. Sometimes they are right, most times they are wrong :D

 

A lot of people have to set up their vacations well in advance so backing them up by one, two or more days to try and work around storms isn't a possibility.

 

OP sure hope your friends make it.

 

We normally drive down and fly out of Syracuse (a lot cheaper than flights from Canada) and only 2 1/2 hrs drive for us to Syracuse.

 

This year we are leaving a little earlier in the year than we normally do and this has been an awful year for weather. We've chosen to forego saving the extra money and flying from close to home.

 

Good luck to your friends

[che5904]

I always have something come up when I take flights, like airline union strikes and the like. Hurricanes or other natural things. It seems nothing can ever be worry free.

 

:D Remind me not to travel the same time as you, sounds like you have a black cloud over your head. :p

 

Crossing my fingers, we usually have stress free travel. We were flying to our sons for Christmas, we were planning on leaving Dec 23rd. At the last minute we got good rates to leave on the 21st and took them. Had we booked our original date of the 23rd we would have been stranded because an ice storm which had delayed all flights.

Edited January 3, 2014 by che5904

[hattack]

Many cruisers have jobs or fixed vacation times, that they cannot change their flight times earlier to beat the storm

[HokiePoq]

Friends of ours were scheduled to fly out of Syracuse to Fort Lauderdale friday for our cruise this Saturday out of Miami on the epic. Major snowstorm happening so their flight was cancelled this morning. We are already in Florida as we drove here. You can imagine their panicked call to us this morning trying to figure out how they were going to get here. We live in Ontario Canada.

They ended up getting a flight out of buffalo for tomorrow night into Fort Lauderdale. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and i have promised them a big drink when they get here!

I always read on here to never fly in on the same day as the cruise, well I personally believe, especially in the winter to arrive a couple of days in advance.

 

 

Hope they make it okay! We may need to heed your advice later this month. I was debating this a.m. whether to leave two or three days ahead to drive to Miami. Maybe three is better....

[Oppalopa]

JFK is closed so must be all other NY airports. Does trip insurance cover this?

[david_sobe]

Arriving the day BEFORE the cruise is 100x better than arriving the day OF the cruise ;)

[miataman19]

Originally from Buffalo, NY so when sailing in the winter we always arrived the day before and kept an eye on the weather forecast. We now live in Central Florida and STILL drive to our port a day early.....just in case..:D

[sunbird21]

Also want to add, it's not always possible to change flights to before the storm- airlines don't always allow this. I tried several times to change my flight years ago when the European volcano was active, and they wouldn't even touch the reservation until it was within 24 hrs of my flight. Someone could get lucky that there's an available flight in that timeframe, but it's a big chance.

 

 

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[Twiz]

Our coming cruise in Feb we are flying into Miami 5 days prior, a few days to go to the Keys first and a buffer if there is any weather related issues. We have flown on the day of before and its so stressful and we are getting to old to try and run through airports besides the weather factor. We have always been lucky and its all worked out but there is always that first time it doesnt !

[danh78]

Booking a hotel for the night prior to the cruise is adequate a majority of the time even in the winter. To always book more days in advance may start your vacation sooner, but some folks don't have time for that.

 

 

 

This right here. I get pretty limited vacation time. We are on the Epic next week, we fly down Friday morning for a Saturday cruise. As much as I would like to, I don't have the vacation time, or the money, to fly down Wednesday. That would basically eat up almost all my time for the entire year.

[jjashton711]

So, we are flying in from Minneapolis for our Epic cruise tomorrow and no problems thus far. Question, what happens to those that would miss the departure on Saturday evening? Do they fly to our first port stop?

[megnsamsgracie]

We didn't have a choice. My fiancé works at a private Jewish country club and all the members go to Florida for the winter. So this week is shut down week, all hands on deck. As it looks, if I stayed on my flight today, I would have flown as it's still saying it's on time. But that was a risk I couldn't take, all Saturday am flights are sold out.

I believe if they do miss their flight tomorrow then they would have to fly to the first port.

[Sooner61]

Ugh! Catching the Epic on the 11th in Miami. I always fly in a day early. Will the storm be over on the east coast by then? I'm flying from the midwest.

[NH Cruisers]

Arriving the day BEFORE the cruise is 100x better than arriving the day OF the cruise ;)

[NH Cruisers]

Arriving the day BEFORE the cruise is 100x better than arriving the day OF the cruise ;)

Yes it is!

 

So, we are flying in from Minneapolis for our Epic cruise tomorrow and no problems thus far. Question, what happens to those that would miss the departure on Saturday evening? Do they fly to our first port stop?

I would think any who miss the ship ,due to delayed or cancelled flights, would have to travel on their own dime to the next port O call. Unless some sort of trip insurance or booked air through the cruiseline. That would be streesful to say the least.

 

Jon

Edited January 3, 2014 by NH Cruisers