You can't embark on a port call

[tallyho8]

Since I have been on about 60 cruises, and am an avid reader of Cruise Critic, I should have known this beforehand but I am sure that at sometime I had read about someone who did this on some cruiseline. I had a cruise booked on HAL for 11-13-22 and on the way to the airport for a short flight to Fort Lauderdale from New Orleans, we got detained by a traffic condition for over an hour making us miss our flight. With no other flights getting there in time we missed our cruise.

 

I wanted to catch a flight to one of our ports of call and embark there but HAL said that is against their rules and I forfeit everything. 

 

The purpose of this post is to remind everyone that this can not be done and if you think there is a possibility of not getting to your cruise on time, be sure to purchase insurance that will cover that condition. 

 

On a second subject, our friends booked this cruise with us but went to Fort Lauderdale 2 days early to celebrate their anniversary. When we notified them we were not able to make it, they went to our cabin and got our key card and checked out the cabin. Seeing that our large balcony cabin was much larger and better than their cabin, they were wondering if they could just move to our cabin instead but continue using their key card for charges. They sailed and turned off their phones before I could answer them. 

[Hlitner]

Am surprised that an avid reader of CC would fly-in the day of a cruise.  We have seen many here on CC talk about using cruise line air since they "will get us to the ship."  But those folks have apparently never read the fine print which does not guarantee much of anything!    These days we do not even feel comfortable flying-in one day early and usually allow two days for domestic and even longer for international.

 

Folks also need to be careful with insurance.  Most require that one have a scheduled flight that gets them to their embarkation city many hours in advance.  And lately we have noticed that some policies will not cover cruises missed because of flight cancellations that were due to staffing problems (the cause of numerous flight cancellations).  

 

Hank

[USN59-79]

Not sure that this is always true.  In 2009 we booked a 49 day cruise from Ft Lauderdale to San Francisco around South America on the Carnival Splendor.  Visas were required for Brazil, but Carnival didn't make it clear that they were needed.  As a result, about 100 passengers showed up and were not allowed to board in Ft Lauderdale.  They went to Miami and got the visa and joined the ship 3 days later in Dominica.  Luckily we got our visas at the last minute and boarded in Ft Lauderdale.  If you pay attention you will always see passengers embarking and debarking at different ports.  How do you think the entertainers get on and off the ship on a long cruise?

Ray

[aprilsp88]

Thank you for reminding us. Sorry you missed your cruise.

 

I asked a "missed connection" question in the insurance forum, and someone mentioned due to PVSA, you can't embark on a port of call. I wonder if this is the case, why cruise line still advertise that if cruiseline air is delayed, they will send us to embark on the next port?

 

Is your cruise closed loop visiting Caribbean?

 

April

[Mary229]

It can be done….. with prior permission and if you purchased cruise air they do say they will assist you with joining the ship.  In light of what @Hlitnersaid, whose word I trust, I don’t know if that is true.  I agree, I would not test that “guarantee” and always go a t least a day early.  

[REOVA]

PVSA won't allow you to board if both ports are in US but if the ship sails to a foreign port not under PVSA you should be able to join ship. 

[BetsyS.]

USN59-79. I agree with you. I have seen entertainers board a ship at various ports.

[cruisemom42]

53 minutes ago, REOVA said:

PVSA won't allow you to board if both ports are in US but if the ship sails to a foreign port not under PVSA you should be able to join ship. 

 

Doesn't it have to be considered a "far foreign port"?  Not sure the Caribbean counts...

[richwmn]

7 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

How do you think the entertainers get on and off the ship on a long cruise?

 

43 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

USN59-79. I agree with you. I have seen entertainers board a ship at various ports.

Entertainers are considered 'Crew' for the purposes of the Passenger Vessel Services Act and come under a different set of regulations.

[richwmn]

4 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Doesn't it have to be considered a "far foreign port"?  Not sure the Caribbean counts...

If you board in a foreign country, which most of the Caribbean Islands are, the PVSA doesn't apply.

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

It can be done….. with prior permission and if you purchased cruise air they do say they will assist you with joining the ship.  In light of what @Hlitnersaid, whose word I trust, I don’t know if that is true.  I agree, I would not test that “guarantee” and always go a t least a day early.  

The key word is "assist" which does not mean a lot these days.  That assumes they can get you on a flight that can catch the ship in a place where you are permitted to embark.  These days it can be difficult to impossible to get last minute flights (everything is often fully booked) and various rules can prevent folks from embarking in various places.  Also consider that many folks who take closed loop cruises do not have a valid Passport which would be needed to fly to any other country.  Another interesting issue is most cruise lines do not say they will pay any additional cost (such as hotels and meals) that would result from changing flights.  From posts we have seen over the years some lines do cover the extra cost and other lines do not.

 

 

 

Hank

 

[Sir PMP]

With flight problems all over, you should have booked a hotel in FLL or Miami.

[Essiesmom]

This has nothing to do with the PVSA.  Years ago, it was routine for people to board downline, or leave the cruise early.  However, apparently this makes the cruise no longer closed loop for everyone.  There are fees for extra paperwork for the cruise line, and can cause delays in customs and immigration at the end of the cruise, so the cruise lines have decided not to allow it.  This started five or more years ago, it’s nothing new.  EM

[RuthC]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Doesn't it have to be considered a "far foreign port"?  Not sure the Caribbean counts...

I think the poster meant 'If you pick up the ship in a foreign port, the PVSA doesn't count.' 
The post wasn't clear on that. 

[AKJonesy]

I was actually thinking about the "friends" comment vs the missed cruise.  Hmmm.

[tallyho8]

Since I live 15 minutes from the airport and the flight is less than 1 hour and 50 minutes and it is in the South where we don't have to worry about freezing conditions, I always fly in and out right before and after the cruise. I have been on 11 cruises just since the pandemic ended and never had problems with these short flights. This flight went off with out a hitch but my problem was the 15 minute drive to the airport which took over an hour and 15 minutes. It takes many of you longer to just drive to the airport than it takes me for the drive and flight combined.

 

Also, since I wanted to board in Puerto Rico and since it is exempted from the PVSA, I didn't think it would be any problem on a closed loop cruise. I knew I had read about people doing this before but evidently it was before HAL changed their rule.

 

Even if I flew to the embarkation city a day in advance, I may have had the same problem taking the taxi from the hotel to the port. Maybe traveling on the 13th had something to do with it! My luck wasn't good that day because even after I got home and turned on my computer, the monitor burned out. The friend who drove my car home from the airport went into a ditch and caused me a $350 tow truck bill. Some days you just can't win.

[Arizona Wildcat]

20 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

Not sure that this is always true.  In 2009 we booked a 49 day cruise from Ft Lauderdale to San Francisco around South America on the Carnival Splendor.  Visas were required for Brazil, but Carnival didn't make it clear that they were needed.  As a result, about 100 passengers showed up and were not allowed to board in Ft Lauderdale.  They went to Miami and got the visa and joined the ship 3 days later in Dominica.  Luckily we got our visas at the last minute and boarded in Ft Lauderdale.  If you pay attention you will always see passengers embarking and debarking at different ports.  How do you think the entertainers get on and off the ship on a long cruise?

Ray

It is not allowed for passengers since cruising resumed.  Anyone downlining must be approved in a complicated procedure.  That policy does not apply to disembarking due to medical emergencies. 

Wondering how you know the people are disembarking are passengers or are actually disembarking.  On TAs when we port Southampton we always deliver a couple suitcases to friends.  In Victoria same except they are our bags.  We spend a day or two in Vancouver before returning to Victoria. 

[firsttimer1971]

My DW and I will be going on a 31-day South America cruise next year, leaving from Fort Lauderdale and ending in Buenos Aires. We have requested permission to embark in Aruba (the first port of call after Fort Lauderdale). Our request was forwarded to the head office in Seattle and after a month we got permission. 

The letter we received may contain some points of interest to some in this thread so I will post it here (the "closed loop" provision in the letter is not applicable to us):

[Quote]

Thank you for booking a cruise vacation with Holland America Line and for contacting us to arrange an alternate embarkation port for booking XXXXXX on board the ms Oosterdam.

We are pleased to advise that your request has been approved. However, we do need to ensure you are aware of a few stipulations. As with any travel, cruise guests must comply with all customs and immigration specifics that are applicable to the port in which they embark the vessel, including any
additional costs that may be involved at the pier/port to embark the guests. Additionally, while we endeavor to follow our published itinerary, please understand that unplanned circumstances may require that we change or cancel our scheduled call to this port, or otherwise prohibit our ability to
honor the deviation request. Should this occur, you assume all responsibility for any additional costs that may be incurred.

A cruise passenger who is ticketed for the entire voyage, but joins a closed loop cruise after the initial point of embarkation, will not be permitted to deviate their itinerary further. Closed loop itineraries are defined as a voyage that begins and ends in the same U.S. port.

Unfortunately, we are unable to adjust the cruise fare or make a change to your invoice to manually reflect the shorter cruise segment. However, your booking has been marked with this information and the ship is being informed that you are approved to embark in Oranjestad, Aruba on November 18, 2023.

Please be advised that, because this is not a standard embarkation port with porters on staff, guests may be responsible for carrying their own luggage onto the ship. We regret any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

 

Thank you again for your inquiry. We look forward to welcoming you aboard for a wonderful cruise
very soon.

[End quote]

 

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by firsttimer1971
some lay-out changes

[mcrcruiser]

On 11/14/2022 at 7:25 PM, Hlitner said:

Am surprised that an avid reader of CC would fly-in the day of a cruise.  We have seen many here on CC talk about using cruise line air since they "will get us to the ship."  But those folks have apparently never read the fine print which does not guarantee much of anything!    These days we do not even feel comfortable flying-in one day early and usually allow two days for domestic and even longer for international.

 

Folks also need to be careful with insurance.  Most require that one have a scheduled flight that gets them to their embarkation city many hours in advance.  And lately we have noticed that some policies will not cover cruises missed because of flight cancellations that were due to staffing problems (the cause of numerous flight cancellations).  

 

Hank

 The antidote , to flights being delayed ,,read your insurance policies   .They all have number of  days  to reject or keep them   .Trip delays   & trip  interruptions do happen  . 

  Because of the foregoing plus the  much higher  prices &  difficulties of flying   in general ,we no longer  fly . We have done our share & personally I lived  out of planes & hotels when I was working  & back then  it was pleasurable  to fly with better everything including the food 

[Hlitner]

3 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

 The antidote , to flights being delayed ,,read your insurance policies   .They all have number of  days  to reject or keep them   .Trip delays   & trip  interruptions do happen  . 

  Because of the foregoing plus the  much higher  prices &  difficulties of flying   in general ,we no longer  fly . We have done our share & personally I lived  out of planes & hotels when I was working  & back then  it was pleasurable  to fly with better everything including the food 

Unfortunately, flying is part of the game for those of us who enjoy world travel.  DW and I look at it as the price we must pay to continue our love of travel/cruising.  Fortunately, we are at the point of our lives where we can often make flying somewhat comfortable,   We try to maximize our use of non-stop flights (even if it means driving 3-4 hours to the appropriate airport) and also routinely fly Business Class on really long flights and premium economy on some shorter flights.  We also have the ability to access some decent lounges in many airports, and this really helps make the experience more tolerable.  Another tip is that all airlines are not the same...especially in Business or Premium Economy.  There is a world of difference between flying on Singapore Airlines vs AA.  Most of the best airlines are foreign (for we Americans) carriers.  One exception has been flying Delta One (especially on their A350s) although Delta food is best described as "airline food."  But we have actually enjoyed some decent airline meals on internatonal Business Class including with Turkish Air, and China Air.

 

Another of our "rules" is to generally not use cruise line transfers.  The idea of waiting around for others or being dropped at an inconvenient location is something we avoid by using taxis or Uber/Lyft.  

 

Hank

[mcrcruiser]

8 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Unfortunately, flying is part of the game for those of us who enjoy world travel.  DW and I look at it as the price we must pay to continue our love of travel/cruising.  Fortunately, we are at the point of our lives where we can often make flying somewhat comfortable,   We try to maximize our use of non-stop flights (even if it means driving 3-4 hours to the appropriate airport) and also routinely fly Business Class on really long flights and premium economy on some shorter flights.  We also have the ability to access some decent lounges in many airports, and this really helps make the experience more tolerable.  Another tip is that all airlines are not the same...especially in Business or Premium Economy.  There is a world of difference between flying on Singapore Airlines vs AA.  Most of the best airlines are foreign (for we Americans) carriers.  One exception has been flying Delta One (especially on their A350s) although Delta food is best described as "airline food."  But we have actually enjoyed some decent airline meals on internatonal Business Class including with Turkish Air, and China Air.

 

Another of our "rules" is to generally not use cruise line transfers.  The idea of waiting around for others or being dropped at an inconvenient location is something we avoid by using taxis or Uber/Lyft.  

 

Hank

Flying business class or even first class  makes a huge  difference  over coach seating  however , getting luggage  at those carousels  can be challenging  as well as getting to the  road  transport areas  . lat time we flew was first class Sydney Australia to San Diego  because there were no business class on Quantas  to LAX  .Well 3 airlines  ,25 hours & 5 days lost luggage    .This was 2015  after cruising  on  Nordam  to Sydney  from SD .

 

 When I was fling back before 9/11  in the 60s 70s & 80s  things were more relaxed  . Todays world is very different & even the best airlines can have their glitches 

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Flying business class or even first class  makes a huge  difference  over coach seating  however , getting luggage  at those carousels  can be challenging  as well as getting to the  road  transport areas  . lat time we flew was first class Sydney Australia to San Diego  because there were no business class on Quantas  to LAX  .Well 3 airlines  ,25 hours & 5 days lost luggage    .This was 2015  after cruising  on  Nordam  to Sydney  from SD .

 

 When I was fling back before 9/11  in the 60s 70s & 80s  things were more relaxed  . Todays world is very different & even the best airlines can have their glitches 

We always live in fear of losing luggage (on the way to a trip).  Hence the willingness to drive some distance for non-stop flights.  Like many, we have also moved into the "Air Tag" era which does help in terms of having an idea where the luggage is located.  The downside to Air Tags is that if you luggage misses your flight you will likely be aware (as you sit on the plane) with no solution other than to cry.

 

Hank

[*Miss G*]

14 hours ago, tallyho8 said:

Since I live 15 minutes from the airport and the flight is less than 1 hour and 50 minutes and it is in the South where we don't have to worry about freezing conditions, I always fly in and out right before and after the cruise.

 

Many have experienced delays and cancelled flights due to weather conditions at the airport where the plane and/or crew is arriving from.  It can be a beautiful day where you are but if there’s a storm in Chicago, and that’s where your plane is coming from, it will have a rebound affect elsewhere.  I cite Chicago specifically as we left port without 250+ passengers because of a storm there; even though most of them weren’t flying out of/thru Chicago.  Some of them caught up to us a few days later but they had to pull their luggage onboard themselves.

[tallyho8]

7 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Many have experienced delays and cancelled flights due to weather conditions at the airport where the plane and/or crew is arriving from.  It can be a beautiful day where you are but if there’s a storm in Chicago, and that’s where your plane is coming from, it will have a rebound affect elsewhere.  I cite Chicago specifically as we left port without 250+ passengers because of a storm there; even though most of them weren’t flying out of/thru Chicago.  Some of them caught up to us a few days later but they had to pull their luggage onboard themselves.

Were you on an HAL closed loop cruise when the passengers got on at a port call? And do you know if the ones who got on had booked the air from HAL?

[*Miss G*]

1 minute ago, tallyho8 said:

Were you on an HAL closed loop cruise when the passengers got on at a port call? And do you know if the ones who got on had booked the air from HAL?

 

Yes and yes.  I watched them come onboard and then happened to have a conversation with a couple of them the next day.  Their plane was coming from Chicago and they were waiting for it in Atlanta if memory serves.  They boarded in Cozumel.  They missed Half Moon Cay and Georgetown, Cayman Islands.  Possibly because those are tender ports.