Splendida Dubai general questions

[kevinrobedm]

We tried to do what Ryan is doing and flying in the day of for a cruise last November. We were supposed to arrive into Barcelona at 8am and the cruise was not leaving until 8pm.  We thought we had lots of time. I mean it was 12 hours and even if we had a short delay it was 12 hours ......

 

One thing dominoed into a lot of things.  A slight delay leaving Canada,with our flight to Paris, was the first delay of just a few minutes.  We then got to Paris and found out there was an issue with the computer systems in Customs/Border Patrol so we could not enter Paris and had to stand in line for an hour and half with the other, what seemed like, 10000 people.  That caused us to miss our flight from Paris to Barcelona and had to sit in the airport in Paris for what seemed like hours. There was only one other flight left that we could take from Paris to Barcelona that day.  We then got on the last flight from Paris to Barcelona and had baggage on the plane without a passenger so we were delayed while they took the baggage off the plane.

 

We got into Barcelona just after 5:30pm and had the best and fastest taxi guy get us to the ship just after 6pm.

 

It just goes to show that best laid plans can go sideways in a minute.  One small things leads to another and another and none of them were anything we could control.

 

Was the most stressful day of our lives, thinking you were going on vacation and finding out you may miss the ship and have to try to catch up with it.  NOT a great feeling or way to start a vacation.

 

We learned our lesson and for our upcoming cruise from Dubai in March we are flying in the day before just to be on the safe side.

 

Nothing worse that worrying about missing your ship and trying to figure out how you will catch it if you miss it.

 

One close call for us was enough and will NEVER EVER fly in the day of the ship leaving again.

 

The vacation ended up being great but we learned our lesson.

 

 

[SeaTheW0rld]

Emirates Airline lost my luggage when I took a cruise out of Dubai.  Glad I had an extra day.  I had insurance, but the next stop was Oman, then Yemen... I don't know how it would have caught up to me. Bag got to me 3 hours before I boarded. 

[cruiser man 60]

Took us over an hour to get through airport as customs check every passport individually and stamp them . However I did notice a fast track line which a few were using and assume you can pre-purchase unless just for business/first class.

[ryan1228]

2 hours ago, framboesa said:

The information in the MSC webpage of my country says that In Dubai you must board 2 hours before the departure time. Don't want to bother you, but try to figure a plan B just in case and just to make you feel safe...You should contact MSC telling them that you will arrive late so they can give you some advice. We always arrive the day before our cruises, until last year when our flight was canceled...now we plan to arrive 2 days before (actually will arrive 4 days before to enjoy Dubai). Once again, don't want to scare you, just be prepared. 😉

 

I know we’re definitely cutting it close, but trying to get the schedules of 6 people to align can be hard, lucky for us this flight is direct to Dubai- no connecting flights to complicate things.   And the “nice” thing is, we can catch the ship about 90 mins down the road in Abu Dhabi if the worst happens.

 

As far as finding a contact for the ship, anyone have recommendations for that?  We booked this ourselves and not with a TA.

[framboesa]

9 minutes ago, ryan1228 said:

 

 

 

As far as finding a contact for the ship, anyone have recommendations for that?  We booked this ourselves and not with a TA.

I found this: Contact:  phone +00870 764911645 / 646 / 642    Fax +00870 764911644 / 647

Wishing you a fantastic cruise :)

[SeaTheW0rld]

26 minutes ago, ryan1228 said:

 

I know we’re definitely cutting it close, but trying to get the schedules of 6 people to align can be hard, lucky for us this flight is direct to Dubai- no connecting flights to complicate things.   And the “nice” thing is, we can catch the ship about 90 mins down the road in Abu Dhabi if the worst happens.

 

As far as finding a contact for the ship, anyone have recommendations for that?  We booked this ourselves and not with a TA.

Ah. I didn't notice you had a direct flight. That increases your chances of making it. Those long-haul flights are important. 13 hours in the air, nonstop. Shudder.