Flying same day. What time to check in by (Ft Lauderdale)?

[Covepointcruiser]

Everyone flying in the day of the cruise should realize COVID flying is unlike anything experienced in the past.   Airlines are not getting you to your destination as they have in the past, airports are not functioning as in the past.   Until people get back to work expect many delays.   Most airport employees are paid little and are certainly not eager to get back to the low paid positions.   Higher paid positions are available elsewhere so airports are grossly understaffed.    Good luck to anyone not anticipating the changes for the worse.

[SireDoime]

15 hours ago, Fouremco said:

So far. We bought our first home 49 years, and we've had fire insurance coverage from the outset. But we would never cancel our insurance just because we've never had a fire so far. And it is because of the amount that we spend on cruises that we view a night in a hotel as dirt cheap insurance.

I hear you, but not the same thing, or reasoning.

Peace, have a nice a safe weekend.

[Northern Aurora]

10 hours ago, jg51 said:

 

 

 

.......

 

Why do we do this?

..... 

 

..... (2) We expect the airlines to do their jobs well enough -- as they probably do 99.99% of the time -- so we do not fear to "gamble," because the odds are with us.

 

.....

.

 

 

My husband and I never fly into an embarkation port on embarkation day.  We don't have to travel on a meager travel budget, and find cities such as London, Rome, Copenhagen and Lisbon so interesting.  We have visited all four on land trips as well as cruise stops.  

 

But I wonder if this poster ever traveled extensively by air on business.  For a number of years my husband was a "road warrior" with extensive air travel for business, and his (and my) experience was that "travel happens."  I don't understand the statement that you "expect airlines to do their jobs well enough -- as they probably do 99.99% of the time."  If the claim is that airline arrivals are on time 99.99% I want to know the source of this "information."  That has not been my personal experience.

[Northern Aurora]

6 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Everyone flying in the day of the cruise should realize COVID flying is unlike anything experienced in the past.   Airlines are not getting you to your destination as they have in the past, airports are not functioning as in the past.   Until people get back to work expect many delays.   Most airport employees are paid little and are certainly not eager to get back to the low paid positions.   Higher paid positions are available elsewhere so airports are grossly understaffed.    Good luck to anyone not anticipating the changes for the worse.

 

 

So well stated.  There was an interesting article in the Washington Post several days ago regarding the current problems airlines are experiencing.  The issues range from bad weather events, to labor shortages to capacity problems.  

 

And the news article on CNN on June 21st regarding American Airlines cancelling hundreds of flights through mid-July should give us some pause for thought; does anyone think that American Airlines will solve all of their problems by mid-July or will some of those problems continue forward.

[Travelexpert35]

We usually fly in a couple of days prior to our cruise if it’s sailing in the winter. Last Feb, my girlfriends and I were booked on the Edge and there was an ice storm forecast so I had to change our flights and we were 3nts in FLL. Thank goodness we got there as we wouldn’t have made the cruise since all flights were cancelled. 

[awhfy]

Flying since Covid is truly an adventure. I just came back from Maine & was delayed on my return flight by 11 hours (that was a l.o.n.g. day. No reason given for the delay. If you can possibly fly in the day before a cruise I’d highly recommend doing so 

[LGW59]

Southwest canceled 2,687 flights in June according to flight tracking site Flightaware.com. In that same period, United canceled 189, Delta 106, and American canceled 2,423.

[jg51]

10 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

We ... find cities such as London, Rome, Copenhagen and Lisbon so interesting.  We have visited all four on land trips as well as cruise stops.  

.

We too found London, Rome, and Lisbon "interesting ... on land trips," one of which lasted two weeks.  Thus, we do not need/wish to see them again on the days before our cruises depart.  (We never desired to see Copenhagen.)  These cities have served us well as places into which to fly on Embarkation Days.

.

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by jg51

[jg51]

10 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

... But I wonder if this poster ever traveled extensively by air on business.  For a number of years my husband was a "road warrior" with extensive air travel for business, and his (and my) experience was that "travel happens."

.

We have never had to "travel for business."  If one "travel[s] extensively by air," then -- of course -- something unfortunate is somewhat more likely to happen.  But, in our opinion, "travel for business" is not relevant to this discussion, because it involves a very large number of flights.  Since we fly to reach a cruise port just one to three times a year, the odds of a significant mishap are extremely low.

.

[jg51]

10 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 I don't understand the statement that you "expect airlines to do their jobs well enough -- as they probably do 99.99% of the time."  If the claim is that airline arrivals are on time 99.99% I want to know the source of this "information."  That has not been my personal experience.

.

We did not (and would not) "claim ... that airline arrivals are on [schedule] 99.99%" of the time.    Instead, we said that the "airlines ... do their jobs well enough."  By that, we meant that their flights have arrived early enough (reasonably close enough to their scheduled times) to allow us to get to the ships quite early (often before embarkation is even allowed to begin).  We arrange to land in the target city as early as we can (the first flight of the day, if possible), to allow for a leisurely transfer to the ship.

.

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, jg51 said:

.

We did not (and would not) "claim ... that airline arrivals are on [schedule] 99.99%" of the time.    Instead, we said that the "airlines ... do their jobs well enough."  By that, we meant that their flights have arrived early enough (reasonably close enough to their scheduled times) to allow us to get to the ships quite early (often before embarkation is even allowed to begin).  We arrange to land in the target city as early as we can (the first flight of the day, if possible), to allow for a leisurely transfer to the ship.

.

When you say we in all of your posts, I have a vision of several people sitting around your computer providing group responses 🙂

[RichYak]

20 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

ahh.. thought celebrity would hold the ship for them? (and thus me since im on the same flight.)

never thought of celebrity getting those passengers to the next port for free instead of that. 

 

in that case, might as well book celebrity air (no luggage) and pay the extra fee to have 1 carry-on

 

It should give you no comfort to independently book the same flight that Celebrity Air uses. Celebrity will not hold the ship.

 

In this post COVID world, last minute flight changes and cancellations due to reduced airline staffing has become all too chronic.

[graphicguy]

4 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Southwest canceled 2,687 flights in June according to flight tracking site Flightaware.com. In that same period, United canceled 189, Delta 106, and American canceled 2,423.

Those are amazing stats.  Guess that's why I feel more secure in flying in the day of embarkation.  I  fly Delta.  Rarely, do I fly AA and almost never SW.  But, when I do, there do seem to be many more snafus.

[LGW59]

36 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Those are amazing stats.  Guess that's why I feel more secure in flying in the day of embarkation.  I  fly Delta.  Rarely, do I fly AA and almost never SW.  But, when I do, there do seem to be many more snafus.

I refer to the SW boarding process as the call of the cattle, count me out.  Rarely do I fly AA, unless no other options.  Like UA and Delta premium economy/plus for domestic travel.  Most all of my cruises start in Europe, by my choice and I use international airlines for those flights. 

[Denny01]

I think the point of much of our postings here isn’t to convince someone who has and will continue to arrive same day that they shouldn’t, but to help those thinking about it that there are major issues with doing so. 

 

Personally, I was a bit surprised by some of the rationales of not arriving well prior. It doesnt matter if someone who flys for business posts about missing/late flights and another poster only travels for vacations, and therefore much less odds, both of you have the same chance/odds of a late flight on any particular trip. And not visiting a city because they’ve done tours of it prior surprised me. I’ve been to many international, and US, cities over and over, and always find something new to experience. there are a few more ‘things to do’ in most interesting cities beyond what we can experience on a tour, no matter how long. 

 

And by the way, at least for Celebrity London isn’t a port of departure and for All cruise lines, Rome certainly isn’t. The actual ports are not just around the corner but a good time-consuming trip away. And even arriving on the normal overnight flights that gets you in on time…..when no issue arise….you have a good amount of time to get to the actual port. And if there is issues, there isn’t exactly lots of alternative flights to get you to your cruise, and you Will miss the ship. the only ones with lower risk are leaving directly from the US-to Europe airport. Most of us have connecting flights which adds more to the risk.

 

Personally, even with later night flights to European cities, I leave early from my town (emphasizing ‘town’) to arrive 4-5+hrs prior and arrive in Europe at least the day prior. 

 

Enough. Preaching to the choir and just irritating those that insist on arriving that day. 

 

Den

[Fouremco]

17 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

I think the point of much of our postings here isn’t to convince someone who has and will continue to arrive same day that they shouldn’t, but to help those thinking about it that there are major issues with doing so. 

 

Personally, I was a bit surprised by some of the rationales of not arriving well prior. It doesnt matter if someone who flys for business posts about missing/late flights and another poster only travels for vacations, and therefore much less odds, both of you have the same chance/odds of a late flight on any particular trip. And not visiting a city because they’ve done tours of it prior surprised me. I’ve been to many international, and US, cities over and over, and always find something new to experience. there are a few more ‘things to do’ in most interesting cities beyond what we can experience on a tour, no matter how long. 

 

And by the way, at least for Celebrity London isn’t a port of departure and for All cruise lines, Rome certainly isn’t. The actual ports are not just around the corner but a good time-consuming trip away. And even arriving on the normal overnight flights that gets you in on time…..when no issue arise….you have a good amount of time to get to the actual port. And if there is issues, there isn’t exactly lots of alternative flights to get you to your cruise, and you Will miss the ship. the only ones with lower risk are leaving directly from the US-to Europe airport. Most of us have connecting flights which adds more to the risk.

 

Personally, even with later night flights to European cities, I leave early from my town (emphasizing ‘town’) to arrive 4-5+hrs prior and arrive in Europe at least the day prior. 

 

Enough. Preaching to the choir and just irritating those that insist on arriving that day. 

 

Den

Excellent points, well said.

[graphicguy]

16 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I refer to the SW boarding process as the call of the cattle, count me out.  Rarely do I fly AA, unless no other options.  Like UA and Delta premium economy/plus for domestic travel.  Most all of my cruises start in Europe, by my choice and I use international airlines for those flights. 

I totally understand that.  I've only done one cruise out of Europe.  Given I don't get to any European destinations, for work or leisure, all that often, I come in days early just to get myself acclimated to the time changes, as well as take in sights I may only see once in a lifetime.

 

Domestically, I'm a 2-3 hour flight from my home to all the FL cruise ports.  Most of them are direct.  Most of them are on Delta (who in my humble opinion, is the most reliable carrier in the U.S.).  So, regardless of how some feel, I believe I mitigate most of my flight worries flying the same day as embarkation.  

 

If something happens at the origination point (CVG), there are at least 2 other flights later in the day I have as back up. Double that amount of flights if I would need to go to Miami and drive to Ft Lauderdale (or vice versa) to catch the ship.  I have options.  Not just a few, but many, options.

 

Can I totally eliminate ALL variables when flying?  No!  But, that would be true if I came in the day before, also.  As some have pointed out, even though they live in the state of FL, they can not eliminate all the variables for delay even when driving.

 

Fact is, I hate spending a day just milling around waiting to embark on the ship.  Maybe if embarkation was in a city I want to spend time in, my sentiments would be different.  Again, this is not a slight to FL.  I have been to Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, etc so many times, hanging out in any of them does not appeal to me.

 

I'm not trying to convince anyone to do things the way I'm doing them.  Just providing how I have been successful flying in the same day and identifying the ways I've continued to do so.

[cangelmd]

22 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Southwest canceled 2,687 flights in June according to flight tracking site Flightaware.com. In that same period, United canceled 189, Delta 106, and American canceled 2,423.

Sure am glad we pretty much always fly Delta

[vswan]

Living in land-locked MN, we need to fly (or drive) to any cruise port. We started out taking the air flights through the cruise lines. Then, we decided we could save dollars booking our own flights and for the most part flew in the day of the cruise. There were still a couple of situations when we booked through the cruise line - north to south Alaska comes to mind. Several years ago cruising out of Port Canaveral we had a flight delay and had a tense drive from Orlando to the port - made it with time to spare, but decided it wasn't worth the worry. We now fly in on a red-eye or a day early - mostly cruise in the winter and weather can cause problems. We no longer have the work/vacation time off problems to deal with. If the weather looks bad, we would just jump on a flight earlier in the week.

 

If you are comfortable flying in day of cruise, go for it. Worked for us for many years. I can always find something new to see or do a day or two before and/or after the cruise so we have switched the way we do things now.