Always fly the day before!!!

[mad-dog74]

Our Harmony cruise leaves tomorrow. Long story short, we were seconds away today from having to drive from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale because of flight delays. At one point... around 7pm, we were worrried about getting out of NC this evening. We would have surely been out of luck tomorrow flying in the day of the cruise.

 

It always pays to fly a day early... don't let anyone tell you differet. We have insurance and would have used it if needed for delays, etc. but it wouldn't have got us on the ship in time .

[nhraformula00]

Chicago had tons of delays yesterday and today with Southwest airlines. We always leave a day early and in the morning ,just incase of delays.

[Domino D]

Our Harmony cruise leaves tomorrow. Long story short, we were seconds away today from having to drive from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale because of flight delays. At one point... around 7pm, we were worrried about getting out of NC this evening. We would have surely been out of luck tomorrow flying in the day of the cruise.

 

It always pays to fly a day early... don't let anyone tell you differet. We have insurance and would have used it if needed for delays, etc. but it wouldn't have got us on the ship in time .

 

Amen. Glad you made it. Have a great cruise.

[nealstuber]

Glad it worked out for you and am sure it was quite stressful even though things worked out OK.

 

 

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[Johnamac123]

CC is littered with stories of cruisers who either missed their cruise or went through huge amounts of stress to get to the sailaway on time due to flight issues. Hanging around a hotel pool the night before a cruise is something I really look forward to enjoying. Well worth the one night hotel cost.

[maryjaden]

We too always fly in the day before. 2 Years ago my sister had to fly in the day of cruising (they usually fly in day before, but she's a teacher and because of school flew in day of sailing). They made it, but were very apprehensive.. just makes life so much less stressful being there the day before.... sometimes two days before.

[HighlandBoy]

Travelling from the UK we always fly at least 2 days before as you never know. I have once turned up at the airport flying to Orlando (not for a cruise) to be told "yes I can see you in the system but you're not on the flight" turns out the code share used by one airline was different from the one used by the other airline.

[dual]

Virgin cruise in the UK always insist fly in minimum of day before so to cost in overnight stay.

[plum24]

No way we'd plan to arrive the day of departure! We also love starting our vacation the day before. So much more relaxing!

 

 

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[LilBlackDress]

We tend to drive to ports. But even driving, we tend to leave 2 days earlier than we tend to get there for delays.

[uksimonusa]

Virgin cruise in the UK always insist fly in minimum of day before so to cost in overnight stay.

 

I think you'll find the actual reason is that most transatlantic flights from the UK to the US arrive too late for you, maybe with the exception of New York sailings, to get to the ship in time, and that's if they are on time.

[msmayor]

The weather here in the Northeast has been wild the past few days, and many airlines will cancel elsewhere to keep equipment from getting stranded...the ripple effect to airports where the weather is just perfect is inevitable.

 

Even flying between two cities with perfect weather...if a large enough weather system is in the way, the delays will happen. One should always think about what will happen if their flight is delayed or cancelled, 365 days of the year.

[starrcards]

Thanks guys for all the horror stories. Our rule too is to fly in the day before BUT we had to make an exception for our Empress cruise later this month. We were planning on spending 10 days at our second home near Orlando (Winter Haven) but found an Empress cruise out of Tampa to Key West and Havana that caught our eye. My wife loves Key West and Cuba is on our bucket list. Our flight was originally to Orlando on Saturday the 25th (the day of departure of the cruise). We cannot leave the day before our son has a performance from his dance camp. So we leave Long Island at 6 am on Saturday and hope we arrive in Tampa at 11:30 am as scheduled.

[Yvonne]

If we have to fly I actually prefer to leave TWO days early. I don't mind a little extra time to relax, sightsee, try new restaurants, etc. in the area we're leaving from on the cruise and it sure does cut down on the stress level.

 

It always amazes me when people say they are flying in the day of the cruise when it's summer, they think because they don't have to worry about snow and bad weather that they won't have any flight delays. You just never know. Could be any number of reasons for flight delays and cancellations, even during the summer. I don't want to take the risk.

[George C]

We now always fly a day before, I have had too many issues with planes not taking off because of weather, also you are more relaxed the next day knowing your a 10 min ride from port, for Europe I would do 2 or more days before

[MrsPete]

Yes, always, always arrive a day ahead of time. Even just the evening before is fine -- but "day of" is just too risky. We are close enough to drive, but it's about eight hours, and too many things can happen on the road.

[blackshirt]

We now always fly in at least a day early too but early in our cruising career, we flew in the day of a number of times. Thankfully, we never had a problem. I think it was reading all the horror stories here on CC that convinced us to fly early.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

We now always fly in at least a day early too but early in our cruising career, we flew in the day of a number of times. Thankfully, we never had a problem. I think it was reading all the horror stories here on CC that convinced us to fly early.

Yeah... for most folks...it only takes 1 time experiencing a missed flight followed by a missed cruise departure to learn that arriving a day early is prudent. In other cases, we can learn from others who had that unfortunate experience, and do things right accordingly.

[jll583]

Glad you made it! We are driving from nc next week to PC. The airport delays have been too much lately. (We are in Charlotte) Summer storms are no joke and ruin everything [emoji3]

 

 

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[Alter Ego]

To the extent one can, of course arrive the day before. But it is simply not always possible. Before I started arriving early, I cruised twice out of Europe and once out of Puerto Rico same day as arrival. I wonder what the majority of cruisers do? Especially when the cruise leaves on a Saturday and thus requires an additional day off work.

 

This post could also be titled "always buy insurance." I may be disappointed to miss the cruise, but I would hate more to lose the money. May even be cheaper to buy insurance versus getting a room/paying for meals.

[SmoothFlying]

Our Harmony cruise leaves tomorrow. Long story short, we were seconds away today from having to drive from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale because of flight delays. At one point... around 7pm, we were worrried about getting out of NC this evening. We would have surely been out of luck tomorrow flying in the day of the cruise.

 

It always pays to fly a day early... don't let anyone tell you differet. We have insurance and would have used it if needed for delays, etc. but it wouldn't have got us on the ship in time .[/quote

 

Amen !! We ( I,my wife and sometimes my sister) usually drive and still leave a day earlier, because with traffic, you NEVER know when you'll run into (no pun intended) a major traffic accident on I-so and so.:eek: I'm a retired airline employee w/29 years and the last time we tried to fly retired employee standby (to the Miami cruiseport from ATL) we couldn't get a flight out. The cruise left on Sat and we sat in the airport here from 6 a.m. till 2 p.m. on Friday till we realized we had better just drive. And off we WENT ! Drove till midnight Friday, got a hotel room and about six hours sleep then set out again and drove all day Saturday, getting to MIA airport about one p.m. Our luggage had been sent ahead, and by the time we collected it we were on the next to last shuttle to the ship ! Woww, talk about a lesson learned ! Now, we leave EARLY too drive the day before !

 

Mac

[bouhunter]

We usually fly 2-3 days early and stay 3 after:p

[Hopetotravel]

In Canada yesterday most of the cell phone system of the major players went down for about 5 hours affecting phones, debit/credit machines, interact, airline systems etc. There were/are major cancellations and delays. Friends of ours are sailing out of Denmark on Monday and have made it as far as Toronto so far. They did plan to be in Denmark 2 or 3 days before the cruise, they'll be lucky to get there by Monday now. So it's just not winter weather that you need to take into consideration.

[jndsilver31]

We tend to drive to ports. But even driving, we tend to leave 2 days earlier than we tend to get there for delays.

 

My wife and I drive also. We always arrive the day before the cruise. Just in case something happens

[GTO-Girl]

We always drive and still leave 1-2 days early.

 

I love starting my vacation relaxed!!