Has anyone almost missed your boat?

[Ship2Shore41]

Last year my DW and I were sailing out of Miami onboard the Glory. We live in Az and have done the same day flights, numerous times without a problem. This day would been no different!

We arrived in Miami around 1 or so, got our bags and headed to see the Carnival agent. We checked in and was told to sit in this one area and they would come get us when the bus arrived. It was us, another couple and a family of 4, all waiting for our cruise.

About an hour had gone by and we all started to get concerned. As we were going to talk with the agent, she was getting her stuff ready to leave and we think, she kind of forgot about us.:eek:

We asked where our bus was and her answer was "I'm not sure, let me call". After a couple of minutes she told us they could not find our driver!?! She called again and told us "he was on his way and to follow her". After another 20 minutes or so, he finally showed up.

We were all told to hurry get on the bus because the ship will not wait, if we were late. The goodness we were finally heading to the boat....or so we thought!:confused:

The agent was on the phone with the boat and they kept telling her, we needed to hurry. This would have not have been a problem, until the driver showed up at Fort Lauderdale port and was told we were at the wrong port. At this point tempers were becoming very short because we were all being told to get to Miami or else we're being left behind. :mad:

Thank god for cell phones because everyone of us were on the phone with Carnival complaining that we are not missing this boat because of our Carnival drivers fault.At this point we were all told these drivers are a 3rd party and do not work for Carnival, so technically it would not be their fault. At about 4:15, we showed up and the boat was still there, however we were told to run or we would be left behind!

Even though this day started off so bad, we rebounded nicely and had a great cruise:)

Anyone else have a story to tell?

[asdjl]

I thought when you booked through carnival, they waited, 3rd party vendor or not

 

 

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[kona_wahine]

Sounds like you booked a shuttle thru Carnival and paid Carnival, so the 3rd party vendor had to have a contract with carnival, not you. Is that correct?

[lizardhowson]

Moral of the story - Never use Carnival transfers - they are horrible.

There are so many, many better options (and less expensive also)

[stnic_ca]

Sounds like you booked a shuttle thru Carnival and paid Carnival, so the 3rd party vendor had to have a contract with carnival, not you. Is that correct?

 

LOL. That's what I was saying. Business Law....Contracts!

[Keith1010]

People miss ships from time to time.

 

Keith

[E&B]

Moral of the story - Never use Carnival transfers - they are horrible.

 

There are so many, many better options (and less expensive also)

 

 

Also, never fly in the day of. What a stressful way to start a vacation.

 

 

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[bakersdozen12]

Also, never fly in the day of. What a stressful way to start a vacation.

 

 

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Correct. The Carnival transfer wasn't the problem, after all, mix ups do happen. The problem was flying in the same day. Never a smart idea.

 

 

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[KirkNC]

We came close in Manaus one time.

[RuthlessBoss]

Moral of the story - Never use Carnival transfers - they are horrible.

There are so many, many better options (and less expensive also)

 

In this case, if any other transport was used, the ship would not have waited;)

 

I got lost reading the paragraph about FLL. Why did someone say you had to get to Miami, but you already were there?

[9876]

Correct. The Carnival transfer wasn't the problem, after all, mix ups do happen. The problem was flying in the same day. Never a smart idea.

 

 

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I disagree with this. The Carnival Transfer was the problem. They got to the airport on time. As far as I am concerned once you check in with the Carnival Representative within their guidelines then it is up to Carnival to get you to the ship on time.

[jakesnana]

Similar situation, on my first cruise !!! In Feb. 1988 I decided last minute (2 weeks out) that I needed to get away by myself, so I booked a cruise pkg. (cruise, air fare and transfers). I was flying out of Boston and sailing out of Long Beach.

 

Day of departure there was a snow storm, so we spent an hour at the gate de-icing the wings. This caused me to miss my connection in DFW. The airlines put me on a flight to San Diego and then a puddle jumper to LAX. By the time I got to LAX it was 3 PM local time. The cruise line rep literally threw me in a taxi, gave the driver a voucher for the trip and sent me on my way. I was the VERY LAST person to board the ship at 3:30 and my luggage didn't catch up with me for 4 days :(.

 

Despite it all, I had a great time and I am now working on my 51st cruise. After that I NEVER relied on cruise air and NEVER arrived the day of sailing :)

[Savlamara]

I disagree with this. The Carnival Transfer was the problem. They got to the airport on time. As far as I am concerned once you check in with the Carnival Representative within their guidelines then it is up to Carnival to get you to the ship on time.

 

I agree with you. YOu pay for carnival transport to secure they have you covered. It has nothing to do with flying in the day of, thousands of people do that and make it.

 

Thank goodness i decided to go with supershuttle for our next cruise instead of carnival transport. At least they have multiple shuttles there at the airport waiting to leave. Instead of this one big bus concept..

[Tapi]

All it takes is one time

[lizardhowson]

I disagree with this. The Carnival Transfer was the problem. They got to the airport on time. As far as I am concerned once you check in with the Carnival Representative within their guidelines then it is up to Carnival to get you to the ship on time.

 

Exactly ! Some might want to reread the threadstarter's original post.

 

With bags in hand (about 1:30) that is plenty of time to get to POM by any other means.

 

The problem was that Carnival bungled (multiple times) their transfer which caused the dilemma.

Edited March 16, 2016 by lizardhowson

[Tapi]

 

Thank goodness i decided to go with supershuttle for our next cruise instead of carnival transport. At least they have multiple shuttles there at the airport waiting to leave. Instead of this one big bus concept..

 

 

What makes you think that super shuttle will guarantee you that you won't have any issues?

 

Yes, the issue was the ground transportation. But by flying in on the day of departure, you leave zero room for exactly this kind of situation.

[Jesse1179]

We sailed on the Magic in 2013. My brother, his wife and myself drove in, as did my brother's wife's family. Thing is, we were so excited, the three of us left before sunrise from near Lafayette, LA. We got to the ferry in Galveston and had zero wait, arrived at the port in plenty of time, got on the ship and started our vacation. But as time passed, the rest of our group hadn't shown up. We even did muster and still no sign of them. Finally, after much worrying, we located them on the ship. Turns out their leaving late created a problem at the ferry as there was a very long line. I don't like being late to anything, especially my vacation. My wife and I sail on the Magic next month and decided to book a room in Galveston the night before, just in case!

[loubetti]

Correct. The Carnival transfer wasn't the problem, after all, mix ups do happen. The problem was flying in the same day. Never a smart idea.

 

No, the problem was the transfer and Carnival agent seeming to forget about the pax. Otherwise, flying in the day of was just fine.

 

I always fly in the day of the cruise, even to Europe, never missed the ship, and I do not consider it a dumb idea either.

[yankee04]

One time it happened and I vowed never to fly in on the same day again. I left new york for miami and was supposed to land at 11:30, plenty of time for a 4pm departure. Unfortunately as we were waiting to take off, a thunderstorm started and we couldn't take off. We waited on the plane nearly 4 hours before taking off. We landed at 3:30 and were 20 minutes from the port but also had to wait for our bags. It was 3:50 when we finally got a taxi. I called carnival as soon as we could once we landed and let them know the situation. They actually held it for us. The ship was mid-muster drill when we boarded and left maybe 2 minutes after we boarded.

[Savlamara]

What makes you think that super shuttle will guarantee you that you won't have any issues?

 

Yes, the issue was the ground transportation. But by flying in on the day of departure, you leave zero room for exactly this kind of situation.

 

Actually I leave MUCH room for error... I am on the first flight (6am) with 4 followup nonstop flights to the port city landing at 9am. And in the case Supershuttle messes up the 8 HOUR headstart I have built in to get on the boat, I always have the option of taking a taxi if I see time getting close. Which to me once it hits noon, I'm taking the next thing smoking no matter the cost! :cool:

 

Those of us who do fly in the day of, for whichever reason, dont all cut it as close as you might think.

[butterflys]

I can't handle the the stress of same day flying. I am constantly checking the flight status for any delays, panicking over lines that aren't really that bad and in an all around tizzy until I lay eyes on the ship.

 

The day before is just more relaxed because my mindset is I have nothing but time.

[Ship2Shore41]

Sounds like you booked a shuttle thru Carnival and paid Carnival, so the 3rd party vendor had to have a contract with carnival, not you. Is that correct?

 

I thought when you booked through carnival, they waited, 3rd party vendor or not

 

 

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That is correct. Carnival said they are paid by them, but there not a Carnival representative.

[Ship2Shore41]

I thought when you booked through carnival, they waited, 3rd party vendor or not

 

 

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Even though, they did wait, they were telling us and the Carnival rep on the bus, they were not going to wait. We were scheduled to be gone by 4pm and thank goodness they waited.

[YourCruiseGurl]

I can't handle the the stress of same day flying. I am constantly checking the flight status for any delays, panicking over lines that aren't really that bad and in an all around tizzy until I lay eyes on the ship.

 

The day before is just more relaxed because my mindset is I have nothing but time.

 

 

Me too! Even thinking about driving to the port (3 hours away) on the day of stresses me out. I can relax more if I go the day before.

[Ship2Shore41]

Correct. The Carnival transfer wasn't the problem, after all, mix ups do happen. The problem was flying in the same day. Never a smart idea.

 

 

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You know, we have done this several times and never had a problem (6 times in fact). We arrived in Miami with hours to go to, so that truly was not an issue. The issue to us was the chaos and being told hurry or else when it was their bus we choose and paid to take.

As it had been stated a couple of times, not the best choice. But on the other hand, we had taken the Carnival shuttle every time and never had a problem....until this one.

We do see your point about flying in the same day and having airline issues but flying from Phx is never an issue when it comes to weather issues:-)