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

[Nova Scotia]

We flew in April on a Princess booked flight the same day. I really didn't like the idea from the beginning, but they assured us they would get us there on time. Well we got there on time alright and then the panic started because our luggage didn't!!! Fortunately the next flight in from Atlanta, (we flew through Boston), had our luggage on it. By the time we got to the ship it took a couple of hours before we felt settled in. Too much panic for me, we will always come in the day before from now on.

Just a note to add, the ship left late (a little after 6pm), because it waited for two couples that they didn't get there on time. Of course everyone was watching as those poor folks boarded.


Ken and Pat

[Ottawa Snowbirds]

Always at least a day before.

On our first cruise, on the Golden out of Fort Lauderdale, we flew with Princess arranged air same day. Everthing went as planned. No problem. Except we lost the first evening aboard to sleep. To get from Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale you need to get up at 4:00 am. By the time that second beer/ceasar/pina colada hits you in the warm sun etc etc, it is bye bye time for a couple of hours.

Always at least a day before!

Steve

[Homeseller]

My wife and I always come in the day before, With airline having problems I don't want to be watching the sunset from the dock as our ship steams slowly into the sunset!!!

Also for what it costs to go in a day early is cheep for the peace of mind

[snow 4 sand]

We have done both and feel for peace of mind that arriving the day ahead is certainly less stressful. We have a question for anyone to answer.Does anyone know of a reasonable and clean hotel to stay in Miami??? Perhaps close to few stores any last minute things, and within walkin distance of restaurants???

[balanceok]

In fact, this may be the most important decision in ensuring a fun and enjoyable cruise experience.

And in my opinion, this makes for the most enjoyable evening of the cruise. We love going to dinner, relaxing and going to bed knowing we'll be able to taxi over to the port the next morning. Really, this is my favorite part of the cruise experience.

[Stranger1]

I always travel, and recommend to travel the day before. With that said, this time I'm taking the redeye out at 11:55 the night before and arriving at 7:30 the morning of the cruise. The good thing is that it's only a 4.5 hr direct flight from LAX to FLL. I'm hoping all will go ok!

[psw]

A depends here too, have done both but recently started doing the day before. We usualy cruise in March and know how unpredictable the weather can be that time of year. If we were going to Fl to sail I might worry too much but the next two leave from CA and there is no way Id fly the day of..

[Homeseller]

[quote name='snow 4 sand']We have done both and feel for peace of mind that arriving the day ahead is certainly less stressful. We have a question for anyone to answer.Does anyone know of a reasonable and clean hotel to stay in Miami??? Perhaps close to few stores any last minute things, and within walkin distance of restaurants???[/QUOTE]

There is a Holiday Inn across the street from the bayside Market Place shopping center in Miami. It is clean and there are places to eat in the mall. I think the name is Holiday Inn Bayside. The cab ride to the pier in Miami is only $5.00

[Trijntje]

We have to fly in one day before the cruise, because w're from the Netherlands.
I mean at least one day before the cruise.
Trijntje
The Netherlands :rolleyes:

[kayr2]

On our past cruises, we have flown on departure day. Our last cruise was from England to several European ports. We flew out of Colorado Springs and by the time we boarded the ship, settled in, had dinner, etc. we had been up over 24 hours. That was a little more difficult in our 70's than it would have been in our 30's. We will be going to Australia in January and since we will be leaving from Colorado Springs, Co. in the middle of winter, we have decided to fly to Los Angeles at least a day early in case the Co.Sp. airport gets snowed-in. We will use LAX as our gateway city. It is also a 14 hr. flight to Sydney so we will have time to get some rest first.

I would say that our decision on same day or day early would depend on the season and how long the flight is to the embarkation port.

[Barry H]

Snow 4 Sand
We sailed out of Miami in April. We got an excellent deal on hotwire.com that turned out to be the Radisson Hotel at 1601 Bidcayne Blvd. It was just a couple of short blocks away from an IGA where we picked up pop for the cruise. The hotel offers a shuttle to the cruise terminals for ~$5. The hotel has undergone a $14Million upgrade. We were happy with the room and the staff. If you are going there from the airport it should cost ~$18. For any hotel in Miami, make sure that you give the cab driver the exact address as they don't know where all of the hotels are.

[AlainBob]

Since we are from the north and we cruise during winter, we always fly a day earlier just in case we might have a winter storm that might cause a departure delay...

Just don't want to miss our ship !!! :eek:

Alain R.

[Grego]

Our preference is to fly in a day before embarkation for all the reasons cited above, to minimize the before vacation stress of travel, to have time to unwind, to get somewhat accustomed to the warmer climate (usually travel in late Feb.) and we like to be early rather than late.

One other thing we like to do is to stay at a motel near the airport the night before we leave to fly to the port. We choose a motel that offers free or great rates on parking that might offset the room cost. The reason for doing it this way is to minimize the travel time in the morning of the flight and overcome any delays there might be due to the Michigan weather that time of year.

Overall, those two things help to get the trip off to a great start.

[CruiseFever]

[quote name='Grego']Our preference is to fly in a day before embarkation for all the reasons cited above, to minimize the before vacation stress of travel, to have time to unwind, to get somewhat accustomed to the warmer climate (usually travel in late Feb.) and we like to be early rather than late.

[b]One other thing we like to do is to stay at a motel near the airport the night before we leave to fly to the port[/b]. We choose a motel that offers free or great rates on parking that might offset the room cost. The reason for doing it this way is to minimize the travel time in the morning of the flight and overcome any delays there might be due to the Michigan weather that time of year.

Overall, those two things help to get the trip off to a great start.[/QUOTE]
Great idea, we do that too!

[Charlene]

We like to fly in 2 days before the cruise, this give's us time to unwind from all of the stess before the curise.
And also, it makes the vacation start earlier!!

[Deb in Cali]

On our last cruise we flew in the day of, but we were close enough to drive there if it was necessary. It did cause some stress because the airline we were flying on were considering a strike. I had a rental car lined up in case.


On this cruise we are driving the 3 hours to SF. But we are leaving at 6 AM. The ship doesn't leave until 4 PM, so we have a 7 hour of leeway time. I don't think that SF traffic is going to be that bad....

[Sunrise]

I've done it both ways -- am flying the same day this time. It was nice being there a day early, but I have never had trouble (knock on wood) flying the same day. We are on the first flight of the day out of DC so hopefully all will work out fine!

[elmtree]

The only time we did not fly in a day early, we missed the muster! I think they were pulling up the gangplank right behind us! so, now, we always fly in a day early and stay a day longer at the port..It's more fun, and a LOT LESS stress!

[queenL]

I didn't vote because we do both it just depends on the circumstances. I take several factors into consideration, the airline I'm travelling on, (some have better reputations for timeliness and cancelled flights than others) the distance we have to travel, (if it is far away it may be worth it) what time I can get a flight out, (If we have to wake extremely early or stay up extremely late you start your cruise off tired) the length of the flight and whether or not we bought trip insurance. That said, we are flying in on the day of for our cruise this month. It would have been nicer if we could go down a day before, but it just didn't work out that way. Both ways work for us.

[Mike A]

We always fly in the day before, to be on the safe side, unless we are sailing out of NY. We only live an hour from the NYPST.

[jody]

I took cruiseline air on my first cruise (out of Puerto Rico) because I didn't know any better and we didn't arrive until after 5 pm on sail away day. The ship waited two hours (after 10 pm) for final passengers before our late sailaway. Once we figured out that we really missed a full half day on the ship, we now always fly out the day before. This is especially important as we normally cruise in the winter when snowstorms and weather are unpredictable. Even if you live and fly out of a warmer climate, be aware that your inbound plane can be delayed in a colder area of the country. If you can swing it, it's always much more relaxing to fly a day early. You can be one of the first people on the ship and start off your vacation relaxed. It's the only way to go!

[laxdad944]

Most of the we fly in from Syracuse NY the same day but this next cruise(1/15/05) "Carribean" we are flying in a day early to avoid any bad weather.

Everyone have a great holiday season.

Randy:cool:

[zebra36]

This is a topic that pops up fairly often and I am surprised at the 5 to 1 in favor of a day early. I can appreciate wanting to avoid the stress of same day arrival but as far as airline problems go the carriers are only required to find you a seat on the next flight with space available and this may not be the next flight out or until the next day.

[Lindypc]

[font=Comic Sans MS]I have a different opinion; maybe we have just been lucky! We will make the 2+ hour drive to Atlanta in order to take a non-stop flight but we usually fly in the day of the cruise. We even did that in May when we flew to Gatwick (over night), waiting 20 minutes at the airport and took the RC bus to the ship. You save sooooooo much money that way (no hotels or extra meals) and that money is used for another cruise. In May we'll fly in a few days early to London in order to sight-see before our British Isles Cruise![/font]

[rowmcvie]

We took the red-eye from Sacramento to Ft. Lauderdale and arrived the morning of our cruise. We had taken the red-eye from California to Orlando the week before for my mother's 80th birthday and had to fly back to California for 5 days of work and then back to FL for the cruise (don't ask - way dumb). We hung out in the airport for about 4 hours before getting on Princess's transfer to the ship (Golden). When we got to embarkation, we found out that we had been upgraded from a mini-suite to a penthouse suite. Never having cruised before, I was sure they had made a mistake and refused to unpack until we set sail. I also cried when I got to the cabin - it was so beautiful and I was SOOOO tired. :D In the future - I don't want the stress and I don't want to be so tired at the start of a vacation - even though it was truly lovely - so we'll fly/drive in next time (moving to North Carolina.)