Flying to embarkation port early

[fan3car]

Today, Delta Airlines is down worldwide due to computer problems. We never fly in to port city on embarkation day, just because things like this happen and you have no control over it. Do any of you spin the wheel and fly in on embarkation day?

[First and Ten]

Obviously you cannot control airline delays....When I book a cruise that I need to fly to the embark port, I always book the flight a day early and book return flight in the afternoon. I don't want to be "that guy" pulling his luggage down the corridors shouting "I have to get off the ship, I have to get off the ship, I am an idiot and booked an early flight home so I have to get off the ship" :D

Edited August 8, 2016 by First and Ten

[lola61]

Today, Delta Airlines is down worldwide due to computer problems. We never fly in to port city on embarkation day, just because things like this happen and you have no control over it. Do any of you spin the wheel and fly in on embarkation day?

 

NEVER, just because of what you said. :eek:

[DirtyDawg]

I've flown in the day of a cruise. I have also flown in the day before. Flying in the day of the cruise is a bit riskier but the odds of missing the ship are fairly low on the our flights from Toronto to Florida most months of the year. We once did a same day from Toronto to Vancouver. As long as you know the risks and have a Plan B flying in the same day is doable, not ideal but doable.

[winddawn]

Southwest went through this same type of computer issue very recently and it took them nearly a week to get back to a normal schedule. Even once their computers came back up, it took them several days to reposition planes and flight crews where they needed them causing ongoing delays and cancellations I read posts on this board of people saying they missed their cruise due to this.

 

These days even going in a day early isn't much reassurance you will reach the ship in time.

 

Many of us don't have the luxury of so much time off we can go in much earlier than a day.

[Micahs Grandad]

We used to get to port day of cruise and no reason to worry.

 

These days wouldnt dream of getting there same day. Day before at least.

[fan3car]

We live in Virginia. If we had too much of a delay leaving the day before, we could always hop in a rental car and drive about 15 hours to Miami or about 11 hours to Port Canaveral. I say rental car because if there is a problem with the car, you can get another one from the agency pretty quickly instead of a problem with your own car which would definitely be more expensive and time consuming.

[cyntil8ing]

I will admit to doing it often for southern FL departures. Work and/or child care issues often dictate it. We book a non-stop flight early in the morning and know what our options are if the flight is delayed or canceled. We also always have trip insurance and passports to be able to fly anywhere to catch up with the ship. Knock wood, we have never had it happen.

 

However, this week we are flying in Wednesday for our cruise Saturday. We have always flown at least the day before for San Juan departures. More if possible, because we love Puerto Rico!

[Langley Cruisers]

We always fly in 2 to 3 days early and extend our vacation. :) I know others here on these forums do not. They fly in the day of their cruise, some as late as only a few hours prior, and they say they make it every time. Those people will never change. I will not turn blue trying to persuade them to fly in early. ;):p

 

It's a lesson one needs to experience. It's awful, trust me. :(

[Extra Kim]

This year it took us 26hrs to get from the hotel at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen (the hotel is in the airport) to our hotel just outside MIA airport, normaly it wouldn't take no more then 14hrs..

 

I have made a flight the same day from Kastrup to Barcelona, not sure if I would do it again. It depens if there's a lot of flights between the airports and how long the flight is.

[cmukid87]

My first cruise we were traveling from Michigan to Tampa the first week of March, traveling the morning of embarkation. A storm system popped up that was going to drop 12 inches of snow Saturday night. Luckily Southwest could switch my flight to Saturday AM for the same price.

 

Previous 2 cruises have been morning of embarkation flights and have worked out.

 

Next cruise is the afternoon prior to which I am far less anxious about.

[splintz]

i have done it several times without a hitch. baltimore to fort lauderdale direct flights on southwest. BWI is a southwest hub so there are plenty of early direct flights. i would never do a connecting flight too much could go wrong. but getting a super early flight means you have to get up at 2-3 am to get to the airport. then on the cruise the first night we are dead tired. so on our next cruise on the vista we decided to take a late afternoon flight the day before and stay over in south beach for the night so we can start the cruise off refreshed and ready to go.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Today, Delta Airlines is down worldwide due to computer problems. We never fly in to port city on embarkation day, just because things like this happen and you have no control over it. Do any of you spin the wheel and fly in on embarkation day?

 

 

Of course, NOT. Always fly in ahead- at least a day and preferably 2-3 days (also to explore the pre-cruise location).

 

As for "time won't allow it":

 

If someone who is recognized as hardworking and demonstrably productive in their work cannot convince their employer (or otherwise plan ahead) to secure the advised buffer time, s/he should consider looking for another job.

 

Of course, this assumes that such requests (and/or planning) for the added time off is a not-too-often occurrence, provides employers/coworkers sufficient time to schedule accordingly and, perhaps most importantly, recognizes that there may be an associated loss of income (a reasonable cost to help "insure" their trip).

 

And the associated argument that kids may miss school is bogus as well. Forewarn the teacher, arrange for missed homework assignments, offer up a plan for learning objectives to be met during the trip (yes, this means visiting an antiquity rather than a zip line).

 

In any case, there will still be some folks who just can't swing the extra pre-cruise time. At the very least, those folks should do the research and get appropriate travel insurance. And for those whose "time off" is not an issue, to not add the extra pre-cruise day(s) is so shortsighted.

[Enforcer]

Hi,

 

We normally get to the port of embarkation at least the day before, many times two or three days so we can check out the locality.

 

A few years ago we were sailing on the Independence of the Seas from Southampton and were slightly delayed due to many passengers that had been held up by a nasty traffic accident on one of the main routes down to Southampton, we later heard from a friend who had been sailing on a P&O ship that the ship had to sail leaving many passengers behind, luckily they were on P&O transport so they joined the ship later at P&O expense.

 

The only time we have flown into port on the day of sailing was last October when we flew from Las Vegas to San Francisco on the Saturday of Fleet Week. It was a nightmare. We were stuck on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting for a stand as they were all full, President Obama's plane had something to do with it. Traffic to the port was awful, the taxi driver was moaning about it, OK ALL taxi drivers moan about traffic :)

 

We did get to the port in plenty of time but it was stressful.

 

I would tell anyone to get to the port at least the day before.

 

Pete

[Krazy Kruizers]

We never fly in on the same day.

We head to the embarkation port at least 3 days in advance. We have no direct flights to the cruise ports.

In spite of all our good planning a couple of years ago we missed our cruise as we had a major snow storm that shut down Atlanta and Charlotte for over 4 days. The earliest that US Airways could get us to Tampa was on a Tuesday -- 2 days after our ship sailed.

Glad we had insurance.

[Shmoo here]

Today, Delta Airlines is down worldwide due to computer problems. We never fly in to port city on embarkation day, just because things like this happen and you have no control over it. Do any of you spin the wheel and fly in on embarkation day?

 

We've flown in the day of 4 times, and flew in earlier (sometimes one day, sometimes a few days) 4 times.

 

The ones we flew in the day of, we had a plan B in place. Anything from actually having a reservation on another airline departing after the time of the first flight (well, airfares were cheap then) to knowing that we may wind up purchasing a new flight on the spot (and having the info printed out for use, if necessary). We tend to put at least a 6 hour buffer between our expected flight arrival to the last boarding time on embarkation day when we fly in.

 

We also have travel insurance that covers, flight cancellations/delays. Never had to use it yet.

[navybankerteacher]

We always fly in 2 to 3 days early and extend our vacation. :) I know others here on these forums do not. They fly in the day of their cruise, some as late as only a few hours prior, and they say they make it every time. Those people will never change. I will not turn blue trying to persuade them to fly in early. ;):p

 

It's a lesson one needs to experience. It's awful, trust me. :(

 

Some of these people will change - they will be the ones whose luck ran out, but still wanted to cruise.

[Piggeldy]

We are flying on embarkation day this year... not by choice though.

We bought a package deal type thing (flights, transfers, cruise) because balconey cabins were otherwise fully booked (and the package costs about as much as only an inside). We hoped we might be able to switch the flight to the previous day, no chance.

 

So... we will arrive in Heathrow at 9.45 am (at least it's a quick 45 minute flight to London) and then have a bus transfer to Southampton for a 4 pm departure. Never again. It's driving me mad already. Especially as the TA has been less than stellar so far (84 days out, no reservation number yet...).

 

Nearly missed a plane once, because the 5.30 am train we wanted to take to the airport was cancelled. They didn't announce it until the quicker (and more expensive) train had just left. So a 90 minute direct train turned into a 2 1/2 hour trip with two stops. We were lucky though. Just made it. Also made a mini cruise to Norway with just 15 minutes to spare this spring (cruise was free, wouldn't have been much of a problem) because our train was four hours late. I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that we will be lucky again (and we are spending the night in an airport hotel).

[MrMan]

We always fly in 2 to 3 days early and extend our vacation. :) I know others here on these forums do not. They fly in the day of their cruise, some as late as only a few hours prior, and they say they make it every time. Those people will never change. I will not turn blue trying to persuade them to fly in early. ;):p

 

It's a lesson one needs to experience. It's awful, trust me. :(

 

You make the assumption that most CAN fly early ie retired. As a consultant, I often fly same day as the lost billable time to fly in several days early would offset the price of the cruise.

[MCC retired]

If your cruise was today and so was your flight on Delta , you are in big trouble [emoji26]

[Sequim88]

#3 on my list of reasons to live near a port. You're already there. #1 is (duh) no airfare cost. :D

 

BUT... for those Transatlantics we like so much we fly to Miami a couple days ahead. Adding a couple days to a 15 night cruise is worth it to not be all stressed out on vacation.

[bakersdozen12]

If your cruise was today and so was your flight on Delta , you are in big trouble [emoji26]

 

 

I already saw one guy post on the Delta social media page that he bought his parents a cruise and they missed the ship today due to their canceled flight. They should have flew in yesterday! I would never fly in the day-of. Even with a 10 pm departure for our upcoming cruise from San Juan, I would never risk it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Strophic]

We are flying blind on our first Real Adult™ vacation (yay recent college grads!) so someone please tell me if this is a feasible plan.

 

Boyfriend gets home from work on Friday at 7:30pm and I have the car packed and ready to go. We drive down to Jacksonville, FL from around Salisbury, NC and check into a hotel at whatever ungodly hour in the morning we make it down there. Wake up the following morning and head out maybe 11am and drive the remaining 2 hours to Orlando with hopefully time to spare.

 

I don't want to leave unnecessarily early, but I would much rather be two hours early than one minute late, and I'm not familiar with traffic in and around Orlando so I want to play it safe.

Edited August 8, 2016 by Strophic

[Langley Cruisers]

...Wake up the following morning and head out maybe 11am and drive the remaining 2 hours to Orlando with hopefully time to spare.... I don't want to leave unnecessarily early, but I would much rather be two hours early than one minute late, and I'm not familiar with traffic in and around Orlando so I want to play it safe.

 

For this very important and valid reason, if we were driving (even only two hours), we would be leaving at 8 am. Personal choice, but I will tell you that you will need to get to the port, park your vehicle, unload bags and check in - and basically, our philosophy is that we have paid for that first day and want to get there in good time. Your plan to leave at 11 may put you into Orlando at 1, and it may not. What about an accident? Car breaks down? I mean, any number of things could happen.

 

Better early than late, and you said that yourself. ;):D

[Strophic]

For this very important and valid reason, if we were driving (even only two hours), we would be leaving at 8 am. Personal choice, but I will tell you that you will need to get to the port, park your vehicle, unload bags and check in - and basically, our philosophy is that we have paid for that first day and want to get there in good time. Your plan to leave at 11 may put you into Orlando at 1, and it may not. What about an accident? Car breaks down? I mean, any number of things could happen.

 

Better early than late, and you said that yourself. ;):D

 

That's the annoying part. Ship departs at 4pm and I feel like I have to choose between waiting hours upon hours in a port to get on the ship OR potentially be late and miss the whole thing. I guess I could always bring the good old Kindle and resign myself to the boredom of safe planning. I'd really, really hate to miss the boat, but I just can't do the whole trip down to Orlando in one night.