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

[Lynda90]

[quote name='zimmerjulie']Before!

On my first cruise, the air was booked by the cruise line from Portland, Oregon to Miami, Fl ON THE SAME DAY AS THE CRUISE. That cured me of ever trying to do that again:D .

Even on our most recent cruise, when we had a 2.5 hour drive to the port, we still arrived a day early. Can't beat a stress-free embarkation day. It gives you another half day of enjoyment on the ship, as opposed to spending it exhausted from flying/making connections, going to baggage claim, getting taxis, yuck. The extra cost is well worth the extra hours of cruise enjoyment, for me.[/QUOTE]
[b]Julie,[/b]

[b]We did the same thing on our cruise to Alaska. Even though it was only 3 or so hours to drive to Seattle, we arrived a day early. It's really the only way to go. I would have been a nervous wreck driving in the same day. You just never know what the freeway will bring. It's just not worth the worry. Besides it's kind of nice to wake up in the morning and know you are only a few miles from the pier.[/b]

[DesrtDrmr]

We always go a day early, even when we drive, too. The BEST part of being there the day before, is waking up and watching your ship come in...................before going back to bed for another hour or four!!! :D

[Northender]

The Day Before. Taking no chances. One of yesterdays flights from Philly to Boston was "delayed" exactly one hour. I was standing in a 55 minute line to get thru security and did not know about the delay. The gate was the furthest one away, I swear. :eek: Got to gate and agent advised delay. Well after fanning myself for about 10 minutes, I overheard the crew talking about only 59 passengers on my flight and less that that on the next one, so guess what - they combined the flights. I understand the airlines reason for doing this, but that is one of the many reasons for going in the day/evening before.

Besides, you can get on the ship around noonish and have all afternoon to unpack, walk around and find all the dining rooms, bars, pools, bars, show rooms, bars, etc. :D

[Rustynail]

[b][size=3][color=green]We fly in the day before and take a extra day at the end of the cruise.[/color][/size][/b]
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[b][size=3][color=#008000]Two reasons for this:[/color][/size][/b]
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[b][size=3][color=#008000]1- Want to milk our vacation for everything it's worth![/color][/size][/b]
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[Host Caroline]

Never done the days at the end (well ex. this year when our 7-day cruise was 9 due to Hurr. Jeanne) but always always take at least an extra day off at home to read mail, etc. when we get back... Would never drive/fly to the port the same day --heard too many "horror stories" about near misses etc.

[Bucky3]

Surprised to find another Californian that drives to the ship like we do - even when we cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale!!

[melissa_bel]

We're going to drive from Montana to Fort-Lauderdale;).Nice roadttrip. For our first cruise, we flew the same day from Chicago (it was in May,no bad weather) and we got there in the early afternoon. Our second cruise,we drove from Chicago and thought we'd be there in the morning of the sailing date but got delayed... then delayed some more. We spend 2 hours looking for DH's wallet then realize that he had left it at the hotel were we had spent the night... we really raced the last few hundred miles! *lol* We got to the ship at 4:30 *lol*. Let me tell you, embarkation was a breeze *lol*. That was a lesson though. This time, we will be several days in advance in fact.

[YOW]

Peace of mind.

This time we're flying to New Orleans for Xmas, then on to Houston the day before departure from Galveston.

[cruisingfreak]

A few years back, after our flight, we got to the ship at 9PM. Lucky we bought this flight through Princess.


Another year there was a blizzard up north, & many passengers never made it out of the airport. They were delayed 3 days, when they finally made it to the ship. This happened to be a 10 day cruise, but for them it was only 7.


This is why we now come in a few days early, for any cruise we do.


Minette

[SHayesShip]

I always arrive at the port area the day before. I would NEVER fly on the same day as cruise, period.

Steve Hayes


[quote name='Host Chris']Which do you do?[/QUOTE]

[DEERINH2O]

We going in two days early, just to relax and not have to worry.

Makes embarkation easy and relaxing...

[seastar2]

When I fly overseas I take the cruise line flights...chances are out of JFK there will be other passagers on the same flight..if fact we have found them just by checking tags on carry ons!!!

My next trip is from FLL so I booked my own air and will be going down the day before..as several others said to extend the trip a day! :D

[JohnLauben]

Again, we need an "IT DEPENDS" vote. I voted same day, since I am still among the employed and working stiffs. I guess that about half of my cruises have been same day (I live in New York City), but usually don't cruise when weather-related delays can be a factor. I HAVE landed in Tokyo at 4:30 PM to board a cruise that departed from Yokohama at 10:30 PM the same evening! (Long story behind this one, so I won't go into it.) But, anywhere in this country, weather-related delays can occur; and, they can also occur at the port of embarkation! If PRINCESS knows that they have over 1,000 passengers arriving on flights, and only 100 have shown up because of known airport delays, they aren't going to sail without the 900. A dozen or so might be a different story ... it all depends.

[Kami's pal]

especially since I'd hate to spend the $ for air to a port and then peer at it through a bus window. In Quito a day early (this Friday :D !), in Barcelona 2 days early, in Athens 2 days early and staying in Rome 1 day after each to be certain I get to explore those cities. Did twice have to try same day flight to embarkation at Christmas because my daughter couldn't leave work early. It was a nightmare both times. In 2001, we were 2 of thousands delayed by shoe bombers' antics. In 2002 Air Canada sent our connecting plane off leaving 12 frustrated passengers to try to connect to any plane flying from Toronto to somewhere near Florida so we could rent a van the rest of the way. Never again! :D

[lgt]

This summer on our Golden 8/1 cruise alot of people (30 or so families) missed the ship due to a computer problem. It affected several major airlines, then everyone. We had gone to San Juan several days early, so it wasn't a problem for us. We have another cruise out of San Juan next Sunday. Originally, we were to fly in the day of. American cancelled our early morning flight & put us on a later one that day. It was like pulling teeth to get someone to change our flights to the day before, but we are now going in the day before, much to our relief. Will never go in the day of again.

[cruisetigger]

I am not the forward planner, however, my wife is great at keeping me going. Despite her best efforts, and due to a change in Homeland Security the day before, our 1 hour advance arrival at the airport caused us to miss the plane we were booked for. Worse still, there were NO OTHER FLIGHTS to Ft Lauderdale that day. In the last moment, the guy at the next check in desk helped our checkin lady find a flight to Miami and make the boat, 20 minutes before scheduled departure.

In my procrastinating opinion, ALWAYS FLY IN EARLY!!

[sgtgerryf]

We will be flying in a day early to FLL for our upcoming cruise on the CP. Our last cruise on RCCL out of Miami convinced us to go a day early. We arrived at the cruise terminal at peak embarkation time due to our flight arrival time and had to wait about one and one-half hours to get through the line.

This time I used Priceline and got a hotel with transfers from airport to hotel and hotel to cruise terminal for under $80. The whole day in FLL will make the cruise even more enjoyable as we can sit back and relax and still be among the first on the ship.

[TOMMYCRUISER]

I say fly in at least a day early if not two and then stay a day later.


Tom

[CharlesDC]

We always fly in early. I think it gives you some time to get into vacation mode before getting on the ship. When arriving at the ship we are always relaxed and stress free. When leaving from NYC we take the train up the day before also.

[Taters]

With one exception, we've always flown in a minimum of two days prior to departure. Flying from Alaska to anywhere takes forever, and there are always a minimum of two, usually three, changes of planes along the way.

The one time we flew to our port city the day of was for our Conquest cruise. We were in Nashville the night before and it was a short flight between Nashville and New Orleans. We arrived in NO at 10 am with no problems, except that we ended up with the cab driver from hell. (She was driving 75 miles per hour through construction zones while trying to repair her portable TV, while making making threatening phone calls to some judge and then praying to God all at the same time!) Whew!~ We were lucky to get to our ship! LOL

Taters

[kryos]

[quote name='Host Chris']Which do you do?[/QUOTE]
I voted for same day, but it really depends on where the cruise is departing from.

So far, all have been Fort Lauderdale and since it's only a 2.5 hour plane flight from Philadelphia, I can't see blowing a vacation day to fly in a day early.

Of course, when I do my Hawaii cruise next fall, I will fly into San Diego maybe even two days early for that.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[kryos]

[quote name='cruisetigger']I am not the forward planner, however, my wife is great at keeping me going. Despite her best efforts, and due to a change in Homeland Security the day before, our 1 hour advance arrival at the airport caused us to miss the plane we were booked for. Worse still, there were NO OTHER FLIGHTS to Ft Lauderdale that day. In the last moment, the guy at the next check in desk helped our checkin lady find a flight to Miami and make the boat, 20 minutes before scheduled departure.
[/QUOTE]
I missed the Rotterdam last March and had to pick up the cruise in Puerto Limon.

But that was a special situation. Our plane lost an engine and had to divert to the Baltimore Airport. It took several hours to fix the problem and US Air claimed they didn't have another airplane to use. There was only one other flight to Fort Lauderdale before we got off the ground, and that was a fully-booked Southwest flight.

There were six of us on that airplane who missed the Rotterdam by about an hour. I couldn't believe that they didn't hold the boat for us in this type of a situation.

By the way, we took off from Philadelphia at something like 8:00 a.m. ... so cutting it close was not the issue. The Rotterdam was not due to depart the pier until 5:00 p.m.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[AmyinGA]

We have always flown in the same day. We live in Atlanta and we get the 2nd flight to FLL. There are four others after ours on one airline and there are at least 6 others to pick from in case something happens. But I have read so many horror stories that we will now book a late flight out the night before. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[PINEVIEW01]

[quote name='lynn1']You didn't have a third choice - IT DEPENDS :)

Sometimes we fly in the day before, sometimes same day as ship departs. [/QUOTE]
Ditto, about half & half. Time of year, prices, vacation time. Would rather fly in the day before.
1st cruise booked with line same day.
2nd & 3rd day before.
4th & 5th day of.
6th day before, air was cheaper and paid for room:)
7th my husband actually agreed to day before instead of non-stop morning of. He didn't want me streesed:) He may be learning;)
We still haven't decided how early to go into Rome.

[SuzanneE]

We will NEVER fly on the same day as we sail.....on our first cruise, we were fogged in at Atlanta and missed the first day entirely. We cought up to the ship in St. Thomas at about 2 pm.....our nerves never caught up with us!!!! Sue