Arrive Day Before or Day Of??

[KrissyRose]

So.... I am on the 5/20 sailing of the Victory out of Miami. 51 days and counting! My newest dilema is whether I should fly down Saturday night or Sunday morning. I booked my airfare through Carnival we don't get our flights until April 20th. I don't even know if it would be possible to switch my flight from Sunday to Saturday night? Any thoughts or preferences. I am having the typical worries... delayed flight,lost luggage etc. By the way I am flying out of Boston! :)

[bsdmhutch]

Flying down a day early is great. Besides knowing you have the extra time in case of delays, you also get into vacation mode sooner.

 

If your airfare is through Carnival though, I'm afraid you will be "stuck" (for lack of a better term) with what they book for you.

[OhioJeff]

So.... I am on the 5/20 sailing of the Victory out of Miami. 51 days and counting! My newest dilema is whether I should fly down Saturday night or Sunday morning. I booked my airfare through Carnival we don't get our flights until April 20th. I don't even know if it would be possible to switch my flight from Sunday to Saturday night? Any thoughts or preferences. I am having the typical worries... delayed flight,lost luggage etc. By the way I am flying out of Boston! :)

 

I like to fly down a day or two early and return home a day or so after the cruise. Its a great way to extend the vacation and lessen the stress level or making it on the ship or worrying about flight times.

 

Since you booked with Carnival you would have to pay deviation to arrive a day early, I believe its $50 per person.

 

Here is more info I found. It appears you would need to do this within the next 5 days.

 

Custom Fly Aweigh® Services

We'd be happy to personalize your travel plans.

At Carnival, we do everything possible to arrange the most convenient and comfortable flights for all our guests. But if you would like us to customize your flight arrangement, just let us know. If you want to spend a few days before or after your cruise in the city of your ship's departure, we can adjust the date of your flight. If you prefer a specific airline, we'd be only too happy to satisfy your request, whenever possible. And we can even make arrangements for you to upgrade to First Class. The non-refundable charge for this service is $50 per guest ($75 for Europe), subject to change, plus any additional airline charges. The service is available for all guests under deposit until 45 days prior to sailing (60 days for Alaska and Europe cruises). Guests booked on Carnival chartered flights may not be eligible for Custom Fly Aweigh Services. Guests may use our scheduled transfer service between the airport and pier only on arrival and departure cruise dates. Consult your travel agent to obtain request forms.

[Frenchsnowhite]

You know what they say? "Better be safe then sorry":rolleyes:

 

I'd call Carnival or you PVP to ask if you could change your flight!

[squirrelgardens]

:)

 

One or 2 days before....the extra time to explore the port city is always nice. You have no stress and then can enjoy watching your ship as it prepares for YOUR cruise.

 

Even that extra day is a stress reducer. Life is short.

[MamaParrotHead]

I don't know if I could handle the stress of all the "what if's" if I flew down the day of the cruise (might be a different story if the weather and airline industry were even remotely reliable). Not my ideal way to start a vacation. Although I do prefer to leave the port city the day we return on the ship...by that time I'm ready to get home.

[bsdmhutch]

I forgot about the deviation fee.

[zebra36]

I would guess that the vast majority of the people that fly down the day the ship sails have no problems. If the extra vacation(?) time and added expense are not a problem go earlier if you will feel more comfortable going the route.

[ozgirl96]

Even though you probably can't change, I will comment anyway. I have done both, and I do prefer arriving the day before. Last year, we were able to fly into FLL, hang out with my sister's friend in Miami, have a nice breakfast on South Beach and then drove over to the port. It just seems like you really get to enjoy day one of the cruise. I've also done the fly in the day of and that's what I have to do this year too because we're getting married the day before!! I just know I will probably get a second wind of energy when I see the ship!!

[Mrichy555]

Hey krissy ill be on the same cruise as you WOOHOO. Im coming from NY arriving in Miami 855am the day of. That gives me room for delays and such.Going in the day early is prolly nice, but not nessacary. Ive read tons of posts of people flying in at like 1 or 2 pm day of and havent read one issue yet. Im just a bit paranoid thats why im coming in so early

[Skywench]

I always fly down the day before. You invest a lot of money in the cruise, why not pay just a little more for a hotel the night before. While most people that fly down the day of the cruise probably experience no troubles at all, all it takes is a little bit of weather or a mechanical problem of some kind and then you start to stress. Not the ideal way to start a vacation.

[KrissyRose]

Yes I am completely paranoid as well! The only cruise I have been on has been NCL Majesty out of Boston, so it was a 10 minute ride from my house... easy! Now, I am just worried about the whole lost luggage, arriving late thing. Hmmm decisions decisions! I will have to call and see what I can do... My BF goes with teh whole 'whatever' attitude, so the decision is all mine! Thanks for the advice everyone! :)

[sandy toes]

I have done both. It is so nice to fly down a day or two before, see some of the port city and be relaxed (as in sleep in) the day you sail. Getting to the dock is usually about 30 min from a good hotel. BUT many times I can't do that (sigh...have to work sometime!). I have only used cruise air one time (try to cruise at least 2-4 times depending upon itinerary a year) and it made me be at the airport at dawn and have a 2 hr layover. Not a good way to start my holiday. I book my own air. You can use a TA if you aren't sure how to do it yourself. What I enjoy doing when I cannot get the extra day off work...I drive to the airport city 1 1/2 hr away, stay the night and have the hotel shuttle drive me to the airport. I can park my car right there at the hotel and they come get me when I return. I am less stressed that way. It has worked well for about 15 sailing. Not as good as a day or 2 before to relax but pretty good 2nd choice (MUSH nicer than waking up early, driving to the airport, flying, transfers to dock...rush, rush, rush. Makes for a tired vacationer that first night)

[CruiseReg]

We normally fly down a day earlier. Once we actually needed the extra day, when I (bonehead move) made us miss our flight out screwing around at home. It was a major holiday and we had to scramble to find another flight down to Orlando. Delta want us to pay ~$800 for confirmed seats - we ended up paying an extra $300 for one way tickets to Tampa and another $50 to get a rental car to drive to Orlando (family members that we *were* supposed to hang out with that night drove us to the port).

 

As someone else put it, better safe than sorry. With us living in North Carolina, if something happened with flights or such that was major, in a pinch, I could drive us down to Florida. That would suck, but its still an option.

[Bunkie103]

We were on the Legend on 3-16 and if we hadn't flown down the day before we would have missed the ship. It was the last ice storm and nothing was moving out of the northeast. Not much chance you'll run into an ice storm, but it doesn't take much for the airlines to get messed up. Since Carnival booked your flight they will either wait for you or fly you to the first port.

[Mrichy555]

It's all personal prefences. I read a post of someone who booked a flight night before, and it was so delayed the flight the next morning made it to the port before his. Anything could happen.

 

I debated flying in a day early, but work permitting it would simply be too much of a hassle.

 

My 2 cents, if your that worried, book night before. Either way you'll make your cruise but if you want peace of mind, book day early.

[TakeMeAway1001]

I always fly down before, I love being well rested and not having to rush the day of the trip. I just find that the less stress the better, and the one time I did fly in the day of I was so tired by time we finally got on the boat it.

Enjoy your cruise :)

[crusinmama06]

I always try to book the day before cause you just never know what could happen.

 

When we fly into Orlando, I usually add a few days in Disney for the kids too. :)

[Jolimont]

Day before, definitely day before!

[MzOhioLady]

Krissy - I've been on six cruises now, one per year for the past six years and have a cruise booked for September 2007. We've always flown to the port the day of the cruise and have yet to miss a ship or have any delays, everything has gone off without a hitch. So I guess Im in the Minority when I say we always fly to the port the day of the cruise. I just look at it like this: the extra $$ I'd use for food, lodging and other expenses, I prefer to have all for the actual cruise itself. Its just my preference and you have to choose what will work for you. I've just been Blessed when I say that nothing has gone wrong for any of my cruises. Good luck on your upcoming cruise and have a blast!

[PA Dutchman]

We now do the day before and the day after. Makes it more relaxing for us. We now have eliminated the rush for embarkation (platinum) get to the port around 1130 and for debarkation (stay extra day), let the herd get off then we will.

[makeda]

never flew in the day of... i like NOt have the worry about getting there on time...so, i make all my own reservations, go down at least one night before and try to get on the ship as soon as they let me!

[kooljim]

Been on three cruises and have gone day of twice. Last time we had to re-pack everything in to carry on to make connections because of canx flight. We were the last ones on ship. Went stright to cabin grabbed life vest and to muster. Never again. Going three days early in April, hang on beach in Florida, get rested and then have a wonder cruise with no stress of the same day flight and sail.:D

[Djptcp]

Before DH and I moved to North Carolina, then to Florida, we always flew down the day of our cruises from Minnesota and never had a problem. We cruised from November to February, the heart of the northland winter and included our first five cruises. We always had the cruislines make our flight arrangements. I know we were fortunate to avoid wintery weather, but we really didn't have the extra time to fly down the day before. If I had it to do over again I would make the time and fly down the day before. We cruised three times while living in NC and always drove. Living in Florida now is great for many reasons, but at the top of the list is being able to drive to the FL ports very easily....one is less than an hour away. Takes alot of the arriving-on-time stress out of the equation.

 

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[MistyRo76]

More likely than not, you will have no problems flying in the day of. On my first cruise, we did it and it was fine. Although, it made for a REALLY long day. We were up at 2:00AM for a 2 1/2 hour drive to the airport we were flying from. Our flight was at 6:00AM, we had a stopover in Charlotte and onto Miami. Of course, it being our first cruise, we wanted to experience everything that first day so we were up really late, too. Ever since, we have gone the day before.

 

On the flip side of that, I also now work for a major US Air Carrier and have seen on a very regular basis, people missing their cruises due to missing a flight. One couple I worked with, only left themselves 2 hours between the time their flight landed in Orlando and the time their cruise left Port Canaveral. That's just cutting it too close. With most airlines cutting flights over the past few years, if you miss your connecting flight, there are few (if any) options to get you to your port city in time for your cruise. The couple I mentioned above, ended up spending 1 night in Atlanta and traveling to Cancun the next day where they spent another night and catching up with their ship two days later in Cozumel.

 

I would rather play it safe® and go down the day before.

 

Misty