flight in the early morning

[jennifer.yang0218]

we will sail Aug 17 Royal Vancouver to Alaska. i booked Aug 17 morning AC flight from Toronto to Vancouver. will arrive YVR @11:30am. DH concerned there are chances that flight delay / cancel etc. should i change flight to one day prior 

[capriccio]

Yes!  Follow DH's instincts.

[Crzn-Life]

If you booked your flight through EZair you are probably ok. If you booked it yourself I’d advise changing it to a day earlier. 

 

[Pickels]

2 hours ago, jennifer.yang0218 said:

we will sail Aug 17 Royal Vancouver to Alaska. i booked Aug 17 morning AC flight from Toronto to Vancouver. will arrive YVR @11:30am. DH concerned there are chances that flight delay / cancel etc. should i change flight to one day prior 

ABSOLUTELY, ALWAYS, ALWAYS FLY THE DAY BEFORE,  it happened to us back in 2004 or 2005, we had an 8:00 flight out of New York for a cruise out of Florida at 4:00; hey, plenty of time right?  Wrong?  Due to several delays, we arrived at the port at a little after 3:00.  Too close, never did that again!

[memoak]

I would definitely change to the day before

[deliver42]

I live in Florida, and would never consider flying to Alaska day of sailing. We're going on the Ruby May 11, and are leaving Orlando 7 AM on the 10th. Get into Seattle at 10:32 AM, and will stay at a hotel till Sat., then shuttle to the port.

[DrivesLikeMario]

It's always best to fly in the day before, but not mandatory.  We flew from So. Cal. to Anchorage on the day of travel and everything went very seamlessly.  We were lucky though.  It doesn't always go that well.

 

 IF you choose to fly in the day of the cruise, make sure you're armed with information in case you run into a problem.  Have back-up flight options ready in case your flight(s) are cancelled or delayed.  Know what the next port is that you can get to the ship and the ship's timing.  Have the in-transit Princess phone number handy in case you need it if there's a problem.

 

You'll probably be just fine but go prepared with information for any contingencies.

Edited February 28, 2019 by DrivesLikeMario

[NavyVeteran]

In many cases, flying in the day of the cruise is not much of a gamble. I am doing that on a Mediterranean cruise leaving from Barcelona. However if I miss my connection in Frankfurt, I have two other later flights on the same airline that will get there in time. Also if I do miss the ship, I would need to fly from Barcelona to Gibraltar, and Princess EZAir and Travel Insurance would take care of that.

 

Flying in to Vancouver to catch a one-way cruise to Alaska may not work so well however. If you miss the ship, you may miss the entire cruise - the EZAir next port guarantee may not be valid. After Vancouver, all of the ports are in the United States. If you board at the first US port and sell to Whittier, you would violate the Passenger Vessel Services Act. I do not know whether or not a missed connection is a valid exception to that Act, and I don't want to be the person to find out the hard way.

[Cruise-Crazzy]

Start your adventure one day early.  Fly to Vancouver the day before and stay in a Hotel.  You will have a little time to see the city.  Have a relaxing morning and board the ship refreshed and ready to start your cruise.  Enjoy!

[thinfool]

If something happens and you miss the ship, can you live with the comments by your DH?  

 

Better than one day early, stretch that to two days early...slip over to Butchart Gardens near Victoria (Vancouver Island) and see some wonderful things before you embark.

Edited February 28, 2019 by thinfool

[Colo Cruiser]

6 hours ago, jennifer.yang0218 said:

we will sail Aug 17 Royal Vancouver to Alaska. i booked Aug 17 morning AC flight from Toronto to Vancouver. will arrive YVR @11:30am. DH concerned there are chances that flight delay / cancel etc. should i change flight to one day prior 

Fly in the day before.

[WatchHill]

A few years ago we flew from PVD - Providence RI, to Toronto, and then onto YVR on AC. Let's say Toronto isn't among my favorite airports. We made the connection, but our luggage didn't. AC's computer system was "down" when we arrived in YVR, we hung around the airport for an extra hour hoping the suit cases would be on the next flight. A few couples were very upset as their luggage never arrived and their ship sailed at 4: Celebrity and RCI agents at the airport were useless. One actually said she as going to lunch and couldn't deal with missing luggage issues. Thankfully a HAL rep told us to go to our hotel and all missing luggage would be on the last flight out of Toronto. So, we headed to our hotel. Once we checked in, the hotel concierge said he would monitor AC, but  assured us the luggage would be on the late night flight. Off to explore, pick up a few necessities, and have dinner....and more than 2 drinks! I rinsed out a few items to dry over night and went to sleep. About midnight, a knock on the hotel room door and there was our luggage. The person who delivered it said this happens all too often with a connection through Toronto. One more reason to arrive a few days ahead of a cruise. 

 

Darcy

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

In many cases, flying in the day of the cruise is not much of a gamble. I am doing that on a Mediterranean cruise leaving from Barcelona. However if I miss my connection in Frankfurt, I have two other later flights on the same airline that will get there in time.

 

And how do you know there will be seats on those flights? And that you will not be a low priority over some one with a higher fare, or higher loyalty status who will get those seats first? It is well documented that cruise line airfares have many restrictions for changing flights, and low priority for re-accomodation.

 

I just love the concept of showing up for our very expensive vacation jet lagged and a little disoriented. Makes those first day or two so enjoyable...

 

OP....save yourself stress...fly in the day before.

[em-sk]

13 hours ago, jennifer.yang0218 said:

we will sail Aug 17 Royal Vancouver to Alaska. i booked Aug 17 morning AC flight from Toronto to Vancouver. will arrive YVR @11:30am. DH concerned there are chances that flight delay / cancel etc. should i change flight to one day prior 

 

Lets pick a random date (Friday). Tomorrow - Air Canada has:

7:15 AM Departure

8:00 AM Departure

9:00 AM Departure

10:00 AM Departure

12:00 AM Departure

These non-stops would all make your cruise connection several of them are large widebody aircraft seating 300-450 passengers.  In additional to that you would also be able to connect that morning through Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, or Regina.  It involves a little back tracking but you could also connect through Montreal and Victoria.  

 

The odds of not being able to be re-accommodated is very low.  That said, it could happen.     Worse case, would be thunderstorms or hail hitting Toronto.  When that happens they pull all the ground handling workers in until the storm passes.  

 

Despite the chances of a problem occurring being low and the large number of options for re-accommodation I would still go in the day before.

 

 

 

[Zach1213]

22 hours ago, Crzn-Life said:

If you booked your flight through EZair you are probably ok. If you booked it yourself I’d advise changing it to a day earlier. 

 

 

While booking through EZair may aid in your chance to meet the cruise at the next stop, it by no means prevents you from missing the start of your vacation. In either case, flying in the day before is best.

[em-sk]

9 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

While booking through EZair may aid in your chance to meet the cruise at the next stop, it by no means prevents you from missing the start of your vacation. In either case, flying in the day before is best.

 

In this case being on Air Canada, their policy is if they have a delay that causes you miss the cruise, they will route you to the next stop.  However for an Alaska cruise that may be far more difficult than one would expect in most other parts of the world.

[sinclaj]

Speaking from experience, on our first ever cruise, we flew Toronto to Vancouver on air canada, the day of the cruise....don’t do it. 

 

We we had plenty of time but...air Canada has several flights so they sometimes cancel one and consolidate those people on one of the other ones.  That happened to us.  They actually put us on an earlier flight...great!  But...our luggage didn’t make it and we didn’t get it until Ketchikan.  

 

Next alaska cruise we flew in a few days ahead and did a whistler mountaineer trip and spent a couple days there pre cruise.  I also travel with really good carry on now...nothing like being in Alaska in capris and sandals to teach about smart packing.  

[Bizmark'sMom]

YES! FLY IN THE DAY BEFORE!

I flew into Vancouver a day early for my own Alaska cruise. The immigration line was horrendous. The party in front of me was supposed to be getting onto a cruise in a couple of hours.  The time went by. The line inched forward. And I got to over-hear their increasingly desperate calls to please hold the ship. They were in line for immigration. And... The ship had to leave without them. I don't know how their story ended. I only saw the increasing panic as they waited in line, and the tears and rage when it finally dawned on them that they were not going to make the ship.

 

Also; you will have to do the immigration shuffle twice. Once at the airport to enter Canada. A second at the port before you board the ship.

[hapster85]

It's doable. People do it every day. The majority of the time it works out fine, but occasionally it doesn't. The question is, how comfortable are you with the risk?

[1982CruzStart]

On 3/1/2019 at 6:21 PM, Bizmark'sMom said:

Also; you will have to do the immigration shuffle twice. Once at the airport to enter Canada. A second at the port before you board the ship.

Yes that is true, you have to clear Canadian immigration upon arrival at the airport and then you clear US immigration before boarding the ship. 

[em-sk]

1 hour ago, 1982CruzStart said:

Yes that is true, you have to clear Canadian immigration upon arrival at the airport and then you clear US immigration before boarding the ship. 

 

The original poster is arriving on a domestic flight from Toronto.  So just once at the ship.