Poll: Fly in a day before or same day as ship departs?

[CruiseFever]

Which do you do?

[sue d. miller]

I don't fly, but always arrive the day before. I would rather avoid stress, and board the ship rested. Embarkation day is hectic, and exciting. :)

[lynn1]

You didn't have a third choice - IT DEPENDS :)

 

Sometimes we fly in the day before, sometimes same day as ship departs. THIS coming trip we will be flying in on the departure day (hope I don't regret THAT decision!).

 

Lynn

[MikeH]

Yeah, after hearing of "war stories" about people flying in same day and missing the boat...we will always fly in at least a day early.

 

In fact, we are flying in 2 days early this trip...have some fun in Ft Lauderdale to get a head start on the fun!

 

Mike :D

[srphnx]

Unless you want a bad experiance potential, fly day before, among other things it gets you in cruise mode a day sooner.

[isujim]

It only took flying in the day of the cruise once.........we weren't late or anything but worn out after being up for 21 hours before getting to bed.

 

Now it is AT LEAST the day before and next April when we go to Hawaii we are going in 2 days early.

 

Jim

[cnmiranda]

Exactly for the same reasons listed by MikeH and Srphnx above. I'm not willing to risk "missing the boat":D:D:D

[sunluva7]

ALWAYS fly in the day before - less stressful!

[Guest Anorak33]

I would like to arrive a day early but it has not worked out like that for us recently.

 

On our last cruise from Vancouver it would have cost a bundle extra for early flights and hotel and when we looked at the risk involved we would have been paranoid to have arrived 4 days early on the other available charter flight.

 

The scheduled air was over double the charter flight and when we checked the charter had an excellent record of arriving on time so we went with that and it all worked out fine. We had a 4 hour margin of safety.

 

I won't say I wasn't worried though.

[sunsetme]

I fly the day before to adjust for the time change. Otherwise I find the whole first day is shot.

[teedee]

I always go a day early. No stress or worry about getting there on time, I can start enjoying my vacation a little early, and get on the ship the next day rested and happy!

 

Terri

[hstrybuf]

I voted the day before. And so far 92% agree!

[Flintstone]

Has anyone been watching that show on A&E about Southwest airlines???? (Name escapes me at the moment...CRS disease!) After seeing what goes on with the airlines...I will NEVER trust flying "same day".

[WazAnOkie]

Our first cruise, we used the cruise air, and flew in the day of the cruise. Then we learned better and have flown in a day early. Travel on the same day was a lot of hurry up and wait, and a constant state of stress.

 

Going a day early allows us to relax and enjoy things. (Hey, isn't that the reason we are going? ;) )

 

It may not be possible or feasible for everyone, but I would recommend going a day early and staying a day late. That removed most hassles, and all the stress of having to rush all the time to meet many of the almost impossible short deadlines between events.....

[obnurse]

Since we (like most of us) like to cruise when the weather isn't so favorable at home, we ALWAYS fly in a day early to have that cushion of time in case of flight delays in our hometown because of bad weather. We look forward to our cruises SO MUCH that we're not willing to take even a little chance of missing our ship.

[spongerob]

Don't forget the most important aspect of going in a day early. You can be on board as soon as the ship is ready, and get started on your vacation. The day you embark is the first day of your cruise - why spend it cramped in Sardine Class or waiting in Layover Hell?

[zurmoly]

Yep, we are flying from Ma in Feb two days before. I seems like everytime we fly now there is always a problem. Of course I am still nervous about a snowstorm.

[GloriaF]

When we have to fly to the port, it is a day early.

 

When departing from FLL, we take the Cruise Connection bus the same day.

[Angiem]

We have always flown in the day of the cruise and been exhausted!!! So this October we're coming in to FLL a day ahead and staying two days afterwards!!!

 

Angie M

[bbfine]

We always fly in a day early and if we return to home port on a weekend we stay over for a post cruise till Monday to avoid the FL airport crowds.

[Coolmama_1]

Love flying in early. Anything to extend the vacation!:D

[psupa]

I've never left the day prior to a cruise, but I think for our next cruise sometime next year, we will fly in day prior to the cruise.

[ghgeckos]

We fly or drive in a day or more early too. DH is obsessed with being places early. We usually fly southwest because we get enough free tickets to fly the family free and they take all day to get anywhere.

 

Flintstone my DH started watching that southwest show on AE too. Too funny sometimes. Have you seen the British airline that is on the show sometimes too?

[Kssafrg]

Twice this year alone I have been put up in a hotel by American Airlines because they coudl net get me to where I was going. Either a flight was cancelled or the flight I was on arrived too late to make my connection. I'd hate to miss the ship...

[elliair]

Always, always a day or two before. We always drive to our ship - I'd hate to wait 6 months to go cruising and then miss the boat!:eek:

 

P.S. A friend of ours was scheduled to fly from LAX to Sacramento Thursday evening. His flight was cancelled and passengers were scrambling to catch other flights. His wife is an airline stewardess and even she couldn't pull any weight. They ended up spending the night, went back to the airport to fly standby. They ended up renting a car and driving home. I don't trust the airlines. However, wewere in Cabo San Lucas 2 weeks ago for a wedding and the flight there and back was easy.