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

[LARGIN]

[b][color=darkred]Since we live in the San Francisco/Bay Area, we fly for east coast departures the day before and for west coast departures the same morning.[/color][/b]

[mii]

[b]We are exactly like Largin in that we live about 90 miles east of San Francisco so for east coast departures we also go the day before and for west coast departures the same morning.[/b]

[b]Marilyn[/b]

[queen_kathy1]

If you took note of the recent winter weather enjoyed in both Canada and the NE part of the US this past week - you can see how havoc has played out for a number of travellers over the Christmas holiday.

Our flight home to Toronto from Ft. Lauderdale on Dec 22nd was supposed to connect through Cincinatti. Cincinatti pretty much shut down that day due to unheard of snowfall - so we were routed through Atlanta. When we got to Atlanta, our flight to Toronto was cancelled due to that same snowstorm making its way up to Toronto. The later flight at 10pm was also cancelled.

So we were stuck in Atlanta the night of the 22nd. The 8am flight on 23rd was also cancelled due to ongoing freezing rain. Our 9:45am flight finally left at 12:30pm. No complaints from us - at least we got home!! There are thousands of others still stuck in airports.

We could relax and take comfort in knowing we did not have a ship to catch. We remained at the mercy of Delta's schedules - but if we were pressed to get to our destination, we could have tried exploring other airlines with bigger airplanes who were still flying during the storm.

You always want to give yourself extra time to get to the ship particularly in the winter time. I would hate to have to figure out how to catch up with the ship if I missed it because I didn't want to shell out a few bucks for a hotel room the night before it sailed.

[CruiseLunatic]

Between Dec 15 and March 15 - I would say two days if you are coming from the North and can swing it! OK, so you are early. ENJOY IT!:cool:

[Flintstone]

[quote name='CruiseLunatic']Between Dec 15 and March 15 - I would say two days if you are coming from the North and can swing it! OK, so you are early. ENJOY IT!:cool:[/QUOTE]
After all the snow we've gotten this year....I'm thinking the same thing for our 11/26 cruise next year. Have already booked for the night before.....but maybe we ought to think about ditching the kids and leaving Thanksgiving night just to be sure. Could always leave them with the dishes !! :D

[pacurnl]

Definetly glad we are flying in on the 7th for the 1-9-05 sailing of the Dawn---at least that is the plan--maybe we'll be flying in on the 8th after all. When you live in the upper Midwest, you have to factor weather in no matter how you plan to travel, driving or flying.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Yes, yes, yes, get there a day before.
When I got the tickets from the travel agency for the first Caribbean cruise I was going on, I had called bf (now hubby) to tell him we got the tix. I was looking at the plane tickets for Miami, and said, oh, wait. They were for a red-eye flight for Saturday night for a Sunday cruise. Got on the phone to the agency and demanded they change our flight for a Saturday arrival and make the hotel room (that came with the flight) were included. Apparently Carnival had counted on giving people with the air option, a really crummy flight and the use of the hotel for a few hours -- unless one was savvy to demand a decent flight and hotel room for the night. We would have been jet lagged for sure!
Last summer we took the train to Seattle and padded in an additional day and were glad we did. Amtrak runs behind sked for the most part.

[helen_t]

I'm glad I booked a day ahead, well a few days ahead actually as we are going to spend some time in Fort Lauderdale. Yesteday was a disaster here in Toronto with freezing rain and ice all over the place. One of my friends was due to fly to Chicago at 7:00 a.m. and plane was delayed until 6:00 p.m. last night. Just as well we are going ahead of time as we'd have missed the ship.

[Grego]

If at all possible you should plan to get to the embarkation port at least one day before the ship leaves. The stories about plans being delayed due to bad weather are too common this time of year to risk spoiling your cruise.

This should be the time of the of your trip when you are beginning to relax and unwind a bit before you get in the riptide of cruise life. Leaving a day or two early takes the edge off of a delay in the flight. The extra cost is worth it.

And besides, what's wrong with leaving snow and ice a day or two early to be in Ftl Lauderdale with the sun and sand?

That said, we are driving down from the Detroit area to arrive in the Vero Beach area two days before we sail in the 27 of Feb. Lots of cushion for us, regardless of the weather. We like to take the risk out of the equation, not by driving - that's recent personal choice so we can view possible retirement sites along the way - but by leaving early enough knowing it only takes 24 hours to drive the entire way.

Get there early and who cares when you get home!

[cruzinchris]

This thread is interesting and timely as DH and I are flying to FLL the day before our January 22 sailing on the [i]Caribbean Princess. [/i]This is a first for us because it is usually quite simple to fly from the Detroit area on the day of sailing; direct flights take 3 hours or less. That said, after a harrowing experience last year - the first ever in our cruise history - we didn't board the ship until shortly after 4PM. We vowed then and there to never let this happen again.

Due to convenient flight times, we flew to Miami instead of FLL. Lesson learned - never fly to Miami for a FLL sailing. There were several hundred [i]Princess [/i]passengers who arrived in Miami that day for sailings on the [i]Grand[/i] or [i]Coral. [/i]We were escorted to a waiting area where several buses were lined up awaiting Princess passengers. It took nearly an hour to load luggage and all those people; the buses left in tandem at 3:00. The ride to Port Everglades was slow in very heavy traffic, and we arrived at the terminal shortly before 4:00. This was the latest we had ever boarded a ship, and we never want that to happen again!

I'm a bit bummed reading posts that indicate we may not be picked up at our hotel until 1:30 or later. What's up with that? The whole purpose of going down a day earlier is to be on the ship earlier than last year! What is your experience with [i]Princess [/i]transportation to the pier? Are we better off skipping the pre-paid shuttle and taking a cab? We're staying at [i]Marriott North. [/i]I'll appreciate your suggestions.
[i]Chris[/i]

[MoreCruise]

[quote name='cruzinchris']
I'm a bit bummed reading posts that indicate we may not be picked up at our hotel until 1:30 or later. What's up with that? The whole purpose of going down a day earlier is to be on the ship earlier than last year! What is your experience with [i]Princess [/i]transportation to the pier? Are we better off skipping the pre-paid shuttle and taking a cab?
[i]Chris[/i][/QUOTE]Skip the shuttle and take a cab around 11:00am - you won't regret it.

[elmtree]

One year we flew into Florida the day of the flight and also got in line with hundreds of other passengers and waited to board the bus...fought the traffic and got to the ship so late we didn't even make the muster..We vowed...never again...so we have since flown in the day before and used our own transportaion to the ship...Much less stress!

[ladymargaret]

We will never, never, ever go in on the same day again. We are supposed to be on the Diamond Princess as we speak and instead are back home in Scottsdale. We encountered the day from hell on Dec. 29th. Rain, cancelled flights, lost luggage that was returned 3 days later and 19 hours of the worst mess imaginable to try to get a 1 hour flight from Phoenix to LAX. We usually go in the day before but becauser it was only a 1 hour flight we thought leaving our home at 5:30 am would be plenty of time. By far the worst day of our lives.:mad:
ladymargaret and bobo

[Lindypc]

[font=Comic Sans MS]Lady Margaret, so sorry about your terrible vacation:mad:. I did notice however that ya'll will be with us on the Golden for the British Isles Cruise. Please join our boards at: [url="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=67799&page=1&pp=25"]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=67799&page=1&pp=25[/url]
We've been posting since this summer and have become quite good friends. In fact, most of us have already taken care of all of our transports and have even purchased a Castle Tour in Wales. We'd be so happy to have you! Lynne[/font]

[rucruizin]

The way I see it...

It's always smart to fly in ahead of time,. I don't want to spend the morning wondering if there will be delays or problems. If I'm already in my departure city I can sleep in and get to the ship at my leisure.

But most important! Start vacation as soon as you possibly can!

We love to spend a few days before the cruise in Florida. After the cruise I just want to go home and see my dogs.

In March we are flying out the 25th but our cruise doesn't leave until the 29th...now that's a vacation!

[dalwhitt]

When I sail on Freedom of the Seas I'm planning on going down MORE than a day early. Planning on hanging out at South Beach with the beautiful people.

[unboringuy]

More often than not, the day of. But it really depends. We live in the midwest. If we are cruising from the west coast, we generally fly in the night before. If we are cruising in the dead of winter and can't get a direct flight early in the morning, we go in the night before. Otherwise, we go the day of. We rarely book our air through the cruise line, so that is a factor.

[chrysalis]

Ask all those folks from the NE of the US stuck in the blizzards if they had wished they had flown a day or 2 before their cruises left FLL or MIA.....

marc

[captrain]

always at least a day early if at all possible, also nice to stay an extra day at the end much easier at the airport.

[Cruisin' Chick]

After watching the news about the freezing weather in the East, it just confirms it: fly in a day before! Even when you're flying into LA or Floriday, you're running the risk of stormy weather there or that heavy snow in the East or Midwest will affect the availability of flights.

[gonna go cruising]

We always go a day early also. This next time in March we were not able to get a flight the night before that worked for us. We did get one that is to arrive FLL at 9:38am day of the cruise. I am hoping for no glitches but will not rest until we have our feet on the ground in Ft. Lauderdale.

[micheleblank]

Yep. We learned the hard way. Planned a Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 20th Anniversary with our kids and another family. The weather in Miami was perfect...the weather here in Austin was perfect...the weather in Dallas (for our connecting flight) was not! By the time we got to Miami at 11:30 pm our "ship had sailed". So yes, we always fly in at least a day early. It has also had a side advantage that we have gotten to see some of the cities from which we sailed: Boston, San Juan, San Francisco. We now include a day of sight seeing as part of our vacation.

[BILLP1]

How about a week before.

It is cold here in New York in February so we head south to defrost ourselves before our cruise.

[Times Prince]

We have found that it greatly reduces stress to fly in the day before. Like others, we've learned to enjoy the port city and to relax after the stress of flying.

The other thing is that by getting there a day early and boarding the ship early on the day of departure, we beat the crowds at boarding and it feels like we are getting an extra day aboard ship. More time to just relax and enjoy.

Now isn't that what vacation is about?

[schatje]

We will be sailing this year on the Sea Princess Dec, 3 from Ft Lauderdale and I have already booked two days in advance so we can get there on time as well as enjoy the sights. The cruise is the only vacation we get this year so I wouldn't want to take the chance of missing the boat!

Mary