Is landing in Miami at 120pm too late?

[SNJCruisers]

12 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

OP, never ask this question.  All the nervous folks will tell you to fly in days early.

 

Me, I'm okay with a bit of risk. I would look into getting the Carnival airport shuttle to the ship if available. 

No nervous folks, just ones with common sense.  Besides the possibility of bad weather there is always the possibility of a mechanical breakdown.  You do you and roll the dice and fly in the morning of because you don't want to spend the money for a hotel.  And don't give me the extra vacation day nonsense because there are night flights.  In the meantime those with common sense will be relaxing the night before and will leisurely arrive the following morning well rested to start the cruise.  And you'll be up at the butt crack of dawn to catch your morning flight.

I have to infer that I would think that someone who could possibly be 51 years old would have more common sense.

[cruizergal70]

18 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

No nervous folks, just ones with common sense.  Besides the possibility of bad weather there is always the possibility of a mechanical breakdown.  You do you and roll the dice and fly in the morning of because you don't want to spend the money for a hotel.  And don't give me the extra vacation day nonsense because there are night flights.  In the meantime those with common sense will be relaxing the night before and will leisurely arrive the following morning well rested to start the cruise.  And you'll be up at the butt crack of dawn to catch your morning flight.

I have to infer that I would think that someone who could possibly be 51 years old would have more common sense.

I'll ignore the insults and say this. Thousands of people fly in the morning of a cruise and it's fine.

 

People have important business meetings and such and fly in the same morning. My common sense is fine. 

 

Why do you think cruise lines offer same day shuttle service?

Edited January 14, 2022 by cruizergal70

[Schoifmom]

Here's my take on this.  It's fine to fly in the same day of the cruise.  I will only do this if (1) it arrives fairly early in the morning and (2) it's a direct flight.  Would I take a flight from Ottowa arriving at 1:20 in the afternoon?  Not on your life.  That is cutting it entirely too close.  My last cruise from Miami had an all on board time of 2:30.  There is absolutely no way that you would make that unless everything was perfect, and we don't live in a perfect world.

[ColeThornton]

10 minutes ago, cruizergal70 said:

I'll ignore the insults and say this. Thousands of people fly in the morning of a cruise and it's fine.

 

People have important business meetings and such and fly in the same morning. My common sense is fine. 

 

Why do you think cruise lines offer same day shuttle service?

 

I've flown in the same day many times, always early morning flights, always non-stop (not direct...there is a difference).  That was due to work commitments.  But, these are not those same times when things were stable.  There are many hundreds to thousands (without exaggeration) of flights these days that are either delayed or outright cancelled.

 

The OP's plan is not a good one.  

[cruizergal70]

3 minutes ago, Schoifmom said:

Here's my take on this.  It's fine to fly in the same day of the cruise.  I will only do this if (1) it arrives fairly early in the morning and (2) it's a direct flight.  Would I take a flight from Ottowa arriving at 1:20 in the afternoon?  Not on your life.  That is cutting it entirely too close.  My last cruise from Miami had an all on board time of 2:30.  There is absolutely no way that you would make that unless everything was perfect, and we don't live in a perfect world.

Now  this I agree with. Ottawa is a bit far and 1:20 is late. I would buy tickets for the last shuttle and work my way back as far as time.  

[skywalkr2]

LOL I am so risk averse I am flying out of Philly at 5:30AM to get to Miami at 8:30 AM.  Now what the heck do I do for hours until I can get into the port is the main question? lol

[K_e_short]

9 hours ago, jsglow said:

D@mn Katie.  Helluva story.  We ever sail together and I owe you a Labatts.

Hey OP, you see this?  Even Katie will say 'Don't be Katie.'

 

To clarify for a few that have asked questions.

 

1 - I could have flown out on Christmas Day. But I had to be home for Christmas dinner. I didn't look specifically but normally there are 2-4 flights  a day to Orlando on the different airlines. I did have options

 

2 - In regards to the shuttle. If I had booked with Fly2Fun and my flight was delayed Carnival would have had to wait and get me to the port, so the shuttle would have left that late.

 

3 - The flight was scheduled to arrive at 11:35am, which would have been enough time.

 

As I said before I took the chance and was lucky. The OP can do the same, or decide the risk isn't worth it.

 

 

[dbrucern]

12 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Does anyone know CCL's current policy, if you miss embarkation, can you even board the ship at another port?  As I stated, since Covid, X doesn't allow you to.  If you miss embarkation you miss your entire vacation.

Currently not allowing boarding at another port, this happened to someone that we know that was traveling on embarkation day from the West Coast and we warned them but they didn't believe us.

[beerman2]

SNJ post #28 makes a lot of sense.

1) Early to head to airport  day of

2) You aren’t frantically rushing around

3) You are well rested flying the day before

4) You’ve spent 💰💰💰💰 for the cruise , a couple of hundred dollars for piece of mind, leisure dinner/breakfast is worth it.

5) You are in “Vacation Mode” relaxed.

6) You beat the rush onboard and can enjoy that first cocktail/lunch before most.

[Lee Cruiser]

Yes, you would be pushing it with a flight that close to time.  Our last flight into Miami back in September arrived 50 minutes late and then it took quite a while to get luggage.  Thankfully, we were flying in the day before our cruise, so it wasn't as stressful as it could have been.

[jsglow]

55 minutes ago, skywalkr2 said:

LOL I am so risk averse I am flying out of Philly at 5:30AM to get to Miami at 8:30 AM.  Now what the heck do I do for hours until I can get into the port is the main question? lol

Assuming this is the same day as the cruise, this is a completely reasonable strategy.  As others have said.... non-stop, first flight of the day, alternative options on other flights/airlines, if necessary but NOT landing at 1:20p.

[vacruizer]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

No nervous folks, just ones with common sense.  Besides the possibility of bad weather there is always the possibility of a mechanical breakdown.  You do you and roll the dice and fly in the morning of because you don't want to spend the money for a hotel.  And don't give me the extra vacation day nonsense because there are night flights.  In the meantime those with common sense will be relaxing the night before and will leisurely arrive the following morning well rested to start the cruise.  And you'll be up at the butt crack of dawn to catch your morning flight.

I have to infer that I would think that someone who could possibly be 51 years old would have more common sense.

I won’t even book a night flight anymore after nearly missing a next day cruise years ago. 6pm flight from VA to FLL cancelled for weather, all other flights full through the next morning. Finally got seats on an early flight the next day after much waiting. That flight was delayed by fog and had less than 20 minutes to connect on the other side of the Charlotte airport by the time we arrived. We ran the whole way and they closed the doors behind us as we boarded the connecting flight. Way more stress than I ever want to have again starting a vacation. 
 

[jsglow]

5 minutes ago, vacruizer said:

I won’t even book a night flight anymore after nearly missing a next day cruise years ago. 6pm flight from VA to FLL cancelled for weather, all other flights full through the next morning. Finally got seats on an early flight the next day after much waiting. That flight was delayed by fog and had less than 20 minutes to connect on the other side of the Charlotte airport by the time we arrived. We ran the whole way and they closed the doors behind us as we boarded the connecting flight. Way more stress than I ever want to have again starting a vacation. 
 

We always fly day before.  Back before I retired that would often be a 5p flight after work.  The good news is that we were always traveling between two major airports so there were always options.  And historically if weather was approaching, one would be granted leave to switch flights to beat the storm.

 

Our worst experience: morning of flight (day bf cruise) we get cancellation notice.  But with fully 24 hours to work with we got routed on alternate flights by Customer Service.  Still arrived in FLL that same evening albeit about midnight.

[mikebisch]

Best I can do without changing airlines is 1220.  Ugh.  So much for using Southwest points.

[jsglow]

12 minutes ago, mikebisch said:

Best I can do without changing airlines is 1220.  Ugh.  So much for using Southwest points.

And we're assuming you simply can't the night before.  Well, at least you got good advice here mike.  Quick question, are you somewhat new to cruising?  Reason I ask is that experienced cruisers would know your original plan was a No Go.

 

Have a great time.

[Buckeyefrank100]

2 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

I'll ignore the insults and say this. Thousands of people fly in the morning of a cruise and it's fine.

 

People have important business meetings and such and fly in the same morning. My common sense is fine. 

 

Why do you think cruise lines offer same day shuttle service?

Lots of people do, but how much one wants to actually receive the vacation they paid for, will determine how much risk one will entertain.  The OP is flirting with disaster in this scenario.  In addition to the general weather and maintenance related items, you have a huge number of flights cancelled now due to covid.  My wife and I are going out of Charleston in a couple weeks and decided to drive in the day before instead of fly. If the OP is OK with missing the ship, that's their call.

[csm5986142]

How upset will you be if you miss the ship?  I'm not being sarcastic...I fly in day of embarkation about 50% of the time (and I'm quite a distance from the ports) but that's because the cruise is an extremely afford casino rate and adding the cost of a hotel doesn't make sense (and more leave time from work also).  If my flight doesn't make it as scheduled, I'll deal with it.  

And I do realize it's a good possibility (especially these days) - in July we were on our way to a cruise and our connecting flight was cancelled, and our luggage lost.  Had we been flying in same day of the cruise, there is no way we would have made it to the ship.

As it was, we finally got to the hotel around midnight and got our luggage 1 hour prior to boarding the next morning.  

[1kaper]

4 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

I'll ignore the insults and say this. Thousands of people fly in the morning of a cruise and it's fine.

 

People have important business meetings and such and fly in the same morning. My common sense is fine. 

 

Why do you think cruise lines offer same day shuttle service?

A lot of that will depend on where you are flying from.  Flying out of somewhere like NY where there can be snowstorms that ground a plane is a lot different than flying out of somewhere with moderate weather. 

 

My first cruise my husband did all the booking and booked us to fly in the day of the cruise.  We were on the last airport shuttle.  I was nervous but we made it.  My number 1 concern then was bad weather. 

Weather used to be my #1 concern, however, in the past few weeks there have been tons of flights delayed and cancelled because of staffing issues with COVID.  

Personally, I wouldn't risk it on a good day and certainly not now. 

 

[vwrestler171]

Arriving that late, ANY delay can be disastrous.  You have no room for anything to go wrong.  

[nycruise1]

On our last cruise in October, we had a late flight that was supposed to land in FLL at 11:15.  Our plane was delayed in getting to us, so we took off and landed 2 hours late.  Annoying, we finally got to bed in our hotel at 2:30am.  But we were minutes from the port, slept a bit later than usual, and were well rested to begin our cruise.  Flying the day of and having a 2 hour delay could have meant missing the boat, versus an inconvenience when it happens the night before.

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, cruizergal70 said:

I'll ignore the insults and say this. Thousands of people fly in the morning of a cruise and it's fine.

 

People have important business meetings and such and fly in the same morning. My common sense is fine. 

 

Why do you think cruise lines offer same day shuttle service?

Cruise lines offer same day shuttle service to make money off of people that can pay less and take an Uber or private shuttle for less money. Important business meetings at 600 am before your 800 am flight?. You're correct about thousands of people flying in the morning of a cruise just like there are thousands that fly in the day or night before.

I though can say with 100% certainty that I will always make my cruise.  You can't make that same statement even if you have lucked out with your dice rolling over the years.  Your luck will eventually run out.

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, skywalkr2 said:

LOL I am so risk averse I am flying out of Philly at 5:30AM to get to Miami at 8:30 AM.  Now what the heck do I do for hours until I can get into the port is the main question? lol

When arriving at MIA at 830, by the time you get your checked bag and catch an Uber to the port, it'll be pushing 1000, so you'll have an hour to kill. Unless your PHL departure is during the winter, then all bets are off.

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, mikebisch said:

Best I can do without changing airlines is 1220.  Ugh.  So much for using Southwest points.

So, put the points back into your account and pay to fly on another airline.

[floridafish]

18 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Does anyone know CCL's current policy, if you miss embarkation, can you even board the ship at another port?  As I stated, since Covid, X doesn't allow you to.  If you miss embarkation you miss your entire vacation.

There are no other ports. LOL

[jsglow]

1 hour ago, nycruise1 said:

On our last cruise in October, we had a late flight that was supposed to land in FLL at 11:15.  Our plane was delayed in getting to us, so we took off and landed 2 hours late.  Annoying, we finally got to bed in our hotel at 2:30am.  But we were minutes from the port, slept a bit later than usual, and were well rested to begin our cruise.  Flying the day of and having a 2 hour delay could have meant missing the boat, versus an inconvenience when it happens the night before.

A fantastic way to think about it.  I don't care if delays the night before don't get me to my hotel until the wee hours (well, I do, but you understand).  Overnight provides that 12+ hour cushion that is totally worth the $75-$125 hotel bill for us.  We've stayed in some very modest accommodations on pre-cruise nights as it's just a 'sleep', but we're always an Uber/shuttle ride away from the pier when our head hits the pillow.

Edited January 14, 2022 by jsglow