Yesterday's sailings affected by the airline delays?

[emeraldcity]

Sailing on the Radiance tomorrow. We arrived in Vancouver later than planned yesterday due to the mess with United ' s flight delays. There were others on our Chicago flight who were going on Coral Princess and weren't going to make it. The woman I spoke with told me she'd never fly on same day again. Does anyone know if sailing was delayed?

[cruisingsince94]

They often will delay for a short time if passengers booked their airfare through the choice air program.

They will not wait otherwise.

[Retired LEO]

Sailing on the Radiance tomorrow. We arrived in Vancouver later than planned yesterday due to the mess with United ' s flight delays. There were others on our Chicago flight who were going on Coral Princess and weren't going to make it. The woman I spoke with told me she'd never fly on same day again. Does anyone know if sailing was delayed?

 

If they booked air on their own they will not wait. It's the passengers responsibility to get to the ship on time.

[tigger-ttfn]

Sailing on the Radiance tomorrow. We arrived in Vancouver later than planned yesterday due to the mess with United ' s flight delays. There were others on our Chicago flight who were going on Coral Princess and weren't going to make it. The woman I spoke with told me she'd never fly on same day again. Does anyone know if sailing was delayed?

Few years ago I was on Radiance and had a big delay. Flew on the day of cruise due to work and booked throught Choice Air so that if there was a problem RCC would take care of me getting to my destination. Got to the ship 11/2hr before sail away. Just made it.

[ColoradoGurl]

I read a thread from someone about a month ago where they had choice air booked and their flight was delayed and the ship left anyway. What they learned is that the choice air program only guarantees to get you on the ship, not that the ship will wait. So they were flown to the next port, but missed the first day and had to stay in a hotel overnight and they never got their luggage. Royal Caribbean doesn't guarantee the luggage will make it, just that the people make it, and with the extra flight leg, the airline misrouted their luggage. Trip insurance will reimburse you for lost luggage, but it doesn't change the fact that you spend the whole week without the things you packed. I would never risk flying in the day of a cruise. Delays happen too often and it seems it would cut too close for comfort for me! And after reading that story, the choice air program really doesn't seem comforting enough to use it over price shopping my own airfare.

[critterchick]

And what would Choice Air do on an itinerary like OP's, where all of the ports are US, including the disembarkation city? Boarding in Ketchikan and disembarking in Seward would violate PVSA - would Choice Air eat the $300pp fine? My bet is no and that any passenger who missed the ship in Vancouver wouldn't be sailing at all.

[cruisnpat]

I haven't read any where that they delayed the ships departure.

[ckfred]

I would suspect that a cruise line would hold a ship, if the nearby airport had serious delays.

 

Last year, we got off the Freedom, and our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:15. About 2:15, the first line of strong thunderstorms rolled through, and several more lines came through between then and 7:15, when our flight finally departed (the inbound flight diverted to Jacksonville and sat for nearly 3 hours).

 

If the thunderstorms had started through Orlando at 8am and kept coming through until noon or 1pm, that would have thrown off the schedules of a lot of flights. If there are thunderstorms in the area, all ramp workers have to do inside, which means no loading or unloading baggage, no service or mechanical work on airplanes, and no pushing airplanes out of the gates. So, even if a flight landed on time, it could easily sit for 30 minutes, before ground crew can park the plane and start unloading checked baggage.

 

In that scenario, my guess is that RC, Carnival, and Disney would have looked at the number of people who were scheduled into MCO between 8am and noon, guess as to the percentage that might not arrive at Port Canaveral to board on time, and then decide it it would make sense to wait and for how long.

 

If one airline is having problems, that probably won't cause a delay in departure, unless the nearest airport is a large hub for one carrier (such as AA at Miami, or maybe UA at IAH or AS at SEA.

 

Our travel agent advised us on our first cruise not to fly in the day of departure. All you need is a mechanical issue with no empty seats on later flights, the departure airport fogged in, or checked bags not making it on the plane to cause problems.

[AWOL]

We have been on several cruises where they delayed departure because of a large amount of people not showing on time because of flight delays

[Cindy]

We have been on several cruises where they delayed departure because of a large amount of people not showing on time because of flight delays

 

I've also been on cruises when there was an announced delay due to late arriving passengers. I don't know how many there have to be, but if it's several groups I think they try to be as generous with the departure time as they can be.

 

If things haven't changed in the last two years, immigration at Vancouver airport is painfully slow in the summer. I can also see them holding a ship if they know there are people on flights who have arrived but they haven't made it through immigration yet.

[cruisingsince94]

I haven't read any where that they delayed the ships departure.

 

We have been on 4 cruises where they delayed departure due to delayed flights. On each of them the captain announced that they were waiting for delayed passengers coming from the airport.

[Sea_Salt_Sailor]

Too many factor that can make the ship delay their departure. Booking your airfare through Choice Air doesn't guarantee that the ship will be delayed for you nor the cruise line rebook flight for you to meet the ship in the next port-of-call. The program that monitor your flight and make sure you make to the ship on time or book any other flight including hotel for you to catch the ship is the Air/Sea program which you pay extra and air fare are highers than Choice Air. I've seen departure been held because big amount of guests are coming in a specific flight or Royal chartered a plane and that flight is delayed.

 

But to be honest, now in days any captain like to wait since this means spend more in fuel and money (less bonus for them) to put the ship in max speed to reach the next port-of-call as schedule.

 

Unfortunately when that thing happen is not the cruise line fault, make the airline to fly you to the ship next destination and make the airline reliable for any expenses you incurred. :cool::cool:

[DebJ14]

Over on the Princess board there is a report that several cruisers on flights from Chicago to Vancouver on United were to late to embark the Coral Princess. Delays were long. On our local Houston news tonight they said United is still having technical issues today and canceled some flights.

[emeraldcity]

Over on the Princess board there is a report that several cruisers on flights from Chicago to Vancouver on United were to late to embark the Coral Princess. Delays were long. On our local Houston news tonight they said United is still having technical issues today and canceled some flights.

 

Sounds like they held the ship then. We got through customs really fast. We were checked into our downtown hotel and sitting down to dinner at White Spot less than 2 hours after landing. The woman I spoke with must have booked her air through Princess because she said they'd have to get her to the next port.