EZ Air Same Day Late Arrival Protection?

[IndyKid]

So I've been toying around with the idea of doing the Saturday, October 26th 7-day California Coast cruise on the Ruby Princess later this year. The ship embarks at 4 PM, and there's a non-stop flight available from our local airport that arrives at just after 8 AM. We've usually adhered to the rule of arriving a day earlier "just to be safe" but I'm wondering how much risk there would really be. I really don't care to burn an additional vacation day along with an overpriced hotel for the night. I went and looked into EZ Air and it mentions their Same-Day Late Arrival Protection? How does that work? They certainly aren't going to hold the ship for someone who's late, correct?

[Rick&Jeannie]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the EZ Air Late Protection bit...but just wanted to comment on the flight you're looking at.  For a flight that arrives to the west coast at 8:00am it must REALLY leave early from your home airport.  That being said...I've been burned in missing a flight that cost me a transatlantic cruise.  How disappointed would you be if something happens with that flight?

[Cruise Raider]

 The weather here in the SF Bay Area is usually good in October.  If you are using EZ Air, if you miss the flight for one reason or another, they will either get you on another flight put you up in a local hotel and get you to the next port of call.  The time change works in your favor.  And spending on how many people are going to be late, they may try to hold the cruise for a limited amount of time.  
I am not a huge risk taker but, I would probably chance it if I was using EZ Air!  
 

. 

Edited January 28 by Cruise Raider

[IndyKid]

13 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the EZ Air Late Protection bit...but just wanted to comment on the flight you're looking at.  For a flight that arrives to the west coast at 8:00am it must REALLY leave early from your home airport.  That being said...I've been burned in missing a flight that cost me a transatlantic cruise.  How disappointed would you be if something happens with that flight?

The flight leaves at 6:10 AM from Indianapolis, arrives at 8:19 AM in San Francisco.

 

If we were traveling east-bound across the pond to Europe or even to the US East Coast we would probably go the day before. The time difference is what makes me want to consider it. I figure since it's a non-stop flight I don't have to worry about missed connections, etc. And if there's a delay of a couple hours it's not a big deal, we still get there in plenty of time.

Edited January 29 by IndyKid

[Lady Arwen]

We’re doing the same on our Canada New England cruise from New York in August.  We are literally an hour and a half from Toronto to N.Y.  and there are loads of flights all day.  We booked through EZAir for an 8:00 am flight.  We just didn’t want to spend a night in a NY hotel.  If something happens, we’ll catch up to the ship the next day.

[Rick&Jeannie]

19 minutes ago, IndyKid said:

The flight leaves at 6:10 AM from Indianapolis, arrives at 8:19 AM in San Francisco.

 

If we were traveling east-bound across the pond to Europe or even to the US East Coast we would probably go the day before. The time difference is what makes me want to consider it. I figure since it's a non-stop flight I don't have to worry about missed connections, etc. And if there's a delay of a couple hours it's not a big deal, we still get there in plenty of time.

Are you willing to bet your cruise that absolutely nothing will happen with that one flight?  There are way too many stories now about delays, cancellations or mechanical issues.  

[SCX22]

I would chance it since if booking through EZAir.  It's probably the first flight of the day, so the aircraft will have been there from the night before.  I would study alternative flight plans.  Also, would keep an eye out on the flight the day before.  EZAir has made exceptions for rebookings if there is weather involved the day of travel.  My friends had bad weather forecasted the day of their flight from their originating airport and EZAir let them rebook a flight a day before their original flight to JFK without the airline actually cancelling their original flights.  They, of course, had to pony up for their hotel out of their own pockets.

 

TBH, SF is dangerous at the moment and staying a night a there would cause me more panic than enjoyment.  I live in the Bay Area and don't even go to SF anymore.

[partybarbie]

I would probably go with the flight you have. The odds are in your favor. If something does happen the day of, you might also try getting a flight into Oakland. There are cabs, and public transit, there that can get you to the ship.

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, IndyKid said:

They certainly aren't going to hold the ship for someone who's late, correct?

Umm. They have held the ship for several passengers arriving late due to flight issues. But in that you are due to arrive to SFO by 8 I think you're safe (says someone who flies to both Seattle & San Pedro on embarkation day as long as I land by 10). 

[TheMichael]

43 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Are you willing to bet your cruise that absolutely nothing will happen with that one flight?  There are way too many stories now about delays, cancellations or mechanical issues.  

 

With the EZ Air protection, you don't have to bet the cruise (or at least the whole cruise).

 

Not exactly sure how they handle timing in the event of a missed embarkation, but if they'd fly me to the first port stop right away and cover my meals and hotel as I play there while the ship is doing sea days, it might actually make me want to gamble with same-day flights. 😄

[skynight]

I believe in your case the EZ Air protection will not work. The cruise is RT San Francisco. The first port of call is Santa Barbara nd actually all the ports are U.S. ports except the last one in Mexico, a near foreign port.  It's a PVSA violation to board at Santa Barbara and disembark in San Francisco. You would not be able to board until the ship docks in Ensenada. You should fly in a day early.

[mtnesterz]

We have experience with this in action.

Embarking out of San Pedro, Ca, there was a plane that was delayed into LAX. Those passengers had booked EZAir and Princess transfers. The ship waited for them, about an hour. There was an overhead announcement on the ship to this effect.

The San Francisco cruise port is quite a distance away from the airport, but you have plenty of time to get there. Just get Princess transfers too.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, TheMichael said:

 

With the EZ Air protection, you don't have to bet the cruise (or at least the whole cruise).

 

Not exactly sure how they handle timing in the event of a missed embarkation, but if they'd fly me to the first port stop right away and cover my meals and hotel as I play there while the ship is doing sea days, it might actually make me want to gamble with same-day flights. 😄

Well...I can only speak for myself, but if I had to face all of this type of drama on the front end of a cruise I've been waiting quite some time for...I would feel very disappointed and would be in a bad mood for the whole cruise.  Everybody's got their own idea of what makes a great vacation...having to jump through hoops to meet up with a cruise in a follow-up port (regardless as to whether it is "legal" or not) is just not what I want to experience.

[TheMichael]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Well...I can only speak for myself, but if I had to face all of this type of drama on the front end of a cruise I've been waiting quite some time for...I would feel very disappointed and would be in a bad mood for the whole cruise.  Everybody's got their own idea of what makes a great vacation...having to jump through hoops to meet up with a cruise in a follow-up port (regardless as to whether it is "legal" or not) is just not what I want to experience.

 

Yes, everyone has their threshold for "spontaneity." Mine is, I show up in Osaka for 10 days in Japan with the only thing certain being tickets for baseball games in Tokyo and Sendai.

[MacMadame]

 

3 hours ago, partybarbie said:

I would probably go with the flight you have. The odds are in your favor. If something does happen the day of, you might also try getting a flight into Oakland. There are cabs, and public transit, there that can get you to the ship.

I would too. Especially since there were other flights from Indy to SFO that get here in enough time in case something happened to that first flight and there are plenty of non-stop flights.

 

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Well...I can only speak for myself, but if I had to face all of this type of drama on the front end of a cruise I've been waiting quite some time for...I would feel very disappointed and would be in a bad mood for the whole cruise.  Everybody's got their own idea of what makes a great vacation...having to jump through hoops to meet up with a cruise in a follow-up port (regardless as to whether it is "legal" or not) is just not what I want to experience.

The first flight of the day is unlikely to be canceled and the time difference gives her a very big buffer. It's a risk but a pretty small one.

 

Not to mention, everyone is different. I would be annoyed and stressed while it was happening but by the time I got on the ship, it would have turned into a funny story. 😄 

 

[AZjohn]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Well...I can only speak for myself, but if I had to face all of this type of drama on the front end of a cruise I've been waiting quite some time for...I would feel very disappointed and would be in a bad mood for the whole cruise.  Everybody's got their own idea of what makes a great vacation...having to jump through hoops to meet up with a cruise in a follow-up port (regardless as to whether it is "legal" or not) is just not what I want to experience.

You know, you can try to explain this to people but, unless they actually experienced or seen it themselves they likely won’t listen.

 

We ourselves came within minutes of catching a Baltic cruise because of a series of the most bizarre airline issues that even though we got onboard when they started pulling the ropes up, we were in such a sh…y mood, exhausted, and baggage MIA for 4 days (fun living in the clothes you wore on the airplane for 4 more days😡)

 

We will never make the same mistake.

 

The cost of one night hotel is peanuts compared with the cost of flights the full cruise. No brainer for us to arrive a day early and have peace of mind boarding the ship😊

 

Cheers

[BettyCruiser]

3 hours ago, skynight said:

I believe in your case the EZ Air protection will not work. The cruise is RT San Francisco. The first port of call is Santa Barbara nd actually all the ports are U.S. ports except the last one in Mexico, a near foreign port.  It's a PVSA violation to board at Santa Barbara and disembark in San Francisco. You would not be able to board until the ship docks in Ensenada. You should fly in a day early.

 

4 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

We’re doing the same on our Canada New England cruise from New York in August.  We are literally an hour and a half from Toronto to N.Y.  and there are loads of flights all day.  We booked through EZAir for an 8:00 am flight.  We just didn’t want to spend a night in a NY hotel.  If something happens, we’ll catch up to the ship the next day.

 

5 hours ago, IndyKid said:

So I've been toying around with the idea of doing the Saturday, October 26th 7-day California Coast cruise on the Ruby Princess later this year. The ship embarks at 4 PM, and there's a non-stop flight available from our local airport that arrives at just after 8 AM. We've usually adhered to the rule of arriving a day earlier "just to be safe" but I'm wondering how much risk there would really be. I really don't care to burn an additional vacation day along with an overpriced hotel for the night. I went and looked into EZ Air and it mentions their Same-Day Late Arrival Protection? How does that work? They certainly aren't going to hold the ship for someone who's late, correct?

skynight is right, round trip SF and round trip NY would not be able to board at the first port if they missed the ship, it would be a violation of PVSA.

[nini]

6 hours ago, skynight said:

I believe in your case the EZ Air protection will not work. The cruise is RT San Francisco. The first port of call is Santa Barbara nd actually all the ports are U.S. ports except the last one in Mexico, a near foreign port.  It's a PVSA violation to board at Santa Barbara and disembark in San Francisco. You would not be able to board until the ship docks in Ensenada. You should fly in a day early.

I would heed the advice given by @skynight