Always fly the day before!!!

[DirtyDawg]

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.

 

In the Atlantic, not the rest of the country. Warning are fine but please, try to be realistic.

[msmayor]

We tend to cruise in March when weather is almost always a wild card. Planning a flight the day before allows us to put our super-emergency plan into effect.

 

I always tell my husband...be prepared. If a winter storm looks like it will impact our day-of travel, I'm always prepared to do a one-way car rental and start driving to FL. We can get there in 14-16 hours, or fly far enough south for an alternative flight. Worst case, but at least it's going to get us where we need to be.

[molsonschooner]

We learned our lesson on our first cruise. We had a short flight from Buffalo to New York. The plane was late leaving due to a thunderstorm. Finally landed at JFK. Had to wait for over an hour before we could to a gate to get off the plane. One of our bags did not show up until the next day. If we had flown the day of the cruise and had this happen we would have missed the cruise. We always fly the day before.

[DirtyDawg]

Yes, people have stories about near misses, but the fact is airline on-time figures are higher than 90%. So If you fly in the day of you have about a 5% - 10% chance, on average, of being late enough to miss your ship. If those odds are too high for you, go the day (or two) before your cruise. If you do fly the day-of, be realistic and have a back up plan, or a Plan B as I call it.

Will insurance cover the cost of the missed cruise to missed cruise?

Can you accept spending the week in the embarkation area for your vacation?

Can you catch up to the ship at another port? etc.

 

While we mostly fly in the day before we have flown in the day of. We once flew into Vancouver from Toronto for a short Pacific coast cruise. Due to work commitments we could not fly in the day before. If we had missed the ship I had already researched the short flight to Seattle and a one way car rental for a drive down the coast instead.

[cb at sea]

There is no need to stay several days AFTER a cruise...unless you just want a longer vacation! Not everyone CAN fly into port the day prior, but if you can, it's a good idea. We've done it both ways....haven't missed a cruise yet!

[Hopetotravel]

In the Atlantic, not the rest of the country. Warning are fine but please, try to be realistic.

It affected Toronto and Montreal also so it wasn't just the Atlantic. If you were at Pearson in Toronto last night and this morning trying to get your screwed up flight rescheduled you would have thought it was very realistic. Try being number 420 in a lineup and they're only on number 100 and taking about 10 an hour.

 

Good grief what's your problem ? I was only commenting that things can happen to cause delays. Those of us in the Atlantic have slightly more inconvenience than those of you in Ontario as far as trying to get flights.

[LADYBROOKS]

We always fly in at least a day before, most of the time we are meeting up with someone that chose to fly in the day of the cruise. I find that when you fly in the day of it's usually an overnight flight, which leaves you very tired to where you can't really enjoy the day 1 of the cruise.

[TNcruising02]

I fly several times a year and have had enough delays, even in perfect weather, to know that flying in the day of a cruise is a risk I am unwilling to take. I spend too much time and effort planning a cruise to leave it all to the chance that there will be no flight delays. Even direct flights can be cancelled at the last minute. That happened to my son, who was flying directly into Houston to later board an international flight. We've had to stay over night in different cities, had the plane sit on the tarmac while our connecting flight was taking off, and various other delays.

 

There is no way I would ever fly in the day of the cruise unless I had no other option. It's not worth it. Maybe some people are fine if they miss the cruise, but that's not me.

[hallasm]

We normally always fly in at least on day before. Once we did decide to take a 6 am arrival flight for a 5 pm cruise - however flight 12 hours delayed.

Fortunately for us there was a quite large group of guests from a travel agency with the same plane as the ship was waiting for. Made the cruise.

[tinatark]

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 .

 

You may still have some coverage for trip delay - check your travel insurance policy!

[skittles019]

I leave on the Harmony next week, so we fly out of BWI on Friday for a Saturday cruise. So I was just checking the Friday Southwest flights yesterday and noticed 80% of them were delayed or cancelled. Anyone know what happened? I am hoping for an on time departure on Friday!!

[FPP777]

I work in the OPS Center for major airline. Trust me, don't base your travel on statistics. If you want to get to your ship, go the day before. Between weather, air traffic control and maintenance issues, an extra night in a hotel is cheap insurance.

[Ukigirl]

We've been very lucky , 7 cruises in 3 years Detroit to Fort Lauderdale and each one we flew in morning of cruise and never had any problems. Feeling like the odds are against us so this November flying in day early, looking forward to relaxing, sleeping in and feeling refreshed first day of cruise.

[lenquixote66]

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 .

 

 

If it is possible try arriving 2 days early .On one of our cruises leaving from Ft.Lauderdale on a Monday at 8AM we planned to arrive Sunday at noon but due to weather delays did not arrive until 1AM Monday.

[toras]

Guess I've been really lucky! never had a TA here who arranged flights to arrive the day before and thankfully have not had a problem flying out from Toronto for 9 cruises. (Now I know better)

[Desert Cruizers]

Next April for our two Oasis cruises, we will be flying in 2 days before the first sailing since it will be 4 PM before we will arrive, plus the hour drive to our Hotel, so opted to give ourselves an extra day to relax by the pool or whatever and not stress a late dinner and getting up early the next morning to get to the port.

[tennislvr8]

We are flying in a day early for our Dec. Harmony cruise. We will arrive in FLL at 10 at night. We have never flown in the day before but now a days it seems like flights get cancelles for any reason. Leaving PA in Dec, we didn't want to chance it.

 

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[JamesEM]

Not only do I arrive a day early, I like to extend my vacation by a day, that lets me depart the ship when I'm ready and proceed to the hotel and enjoy the day, no wasting time at the airport, and then take an early flight out the next morning.

[mcatmcat]

1 day before -absolutely

2 days before to avoid delays- really?

 

 

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[hapster85]

We flew in day of for our Anthem cruise last summer. First flight of the day, nonstop. Everything went fine. Arrived in Newark at 8:30 am. I was stressed out in the days and weeks leading up to it, worried about everything that could possibly go wrong. Won't be doing that anymore.

 

On the flip side, my wife and SIL never gave it a second thought. Ignorance is bliss. Lol

[xcell]

I usually fly in a day before...more than that, it's because I want to have an extended vacation.

 

Next March we are flying from our island airport (porter -- propeller plane -- weather related cancellations), and I was thinking of taking the last flight out possible but I think it be best to take a mid day flight, just in case of weather and cancellations. Worst case, I'd drive 9 hours from Toronto to Newark.

 

Always have a back up plan I guess...

[bigque]

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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We drove from Charlotte to Port Canaveral back In 2015 and left the day before as always. When we drive we always leave early enough to get to PC at around 1:00 to 2:00. Well there was an accident on I-95 about 45 minutes to an hour out of PC and traffic detoured off one of the exits. Because of the heavy traffic getting off on that one exit and then re-routing the GPS to get to PC we did not get to our hotel until about 5:30. If it would have been the day of the cruise we would have missed the ship. So even driving people should plan on at least the day before! 😎

[bigque]

Not only do I arrive a day early, I like to extend my vacation by a day, that lets me depart the ship when I'm ready and proceed to the hotel and enjoy the day, no wasting time at the airport, and then take an early flight out the next morning.

We stay after cruises and fly out the next morning also. 😎

[Clarea]

1 day before -absolutely

2 days before to avoid delays- really?

We usually leave at least 3 days early if the cruise is leaving from a European city.

[bouhunter]

1 day before -absolutely

2 days before to avoid delays- really?

 

 

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We fly 2-3 days early because it's part of our vacation. Same reason we stay a few days after the cruise.