Flying in on the same day as the cruise: Bad idea!

[bepsf]

Interesting article regarding the air industry - the last line states:

"Customers are going to have to make some adjustments. It's just no longer prudent for a passenger to take a morning flight to meet a cruise ship in the afternoon,"

 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003787032_airwoes13.html

[lka1012]

I've felt this was the case for years. Between possible terrorist attacks, bad weather, missed connections, airlines in general and a host of other reasons, I never want to try to fly in on the same day the ship sails. I am too affraid it will sail without me (or my luggage). I have never like thet fact that if I want to use HAL's cruise-air, I have to pay a surcharge for that "privilage."

[sail7seas]

Out of all our cruises, through many years, we only one time flew on the same day we boarded a ship. It worked out fine but I was nervous and never did it again. We always go pre-cruise at least one day.

[sondrad]

DH and I flew out the morning of our recent cruise (against my better judgement). Fortunately everything went smoothly. And luckily, DH realized how lucky we were that there were no delays, and made me promise to make him book tickets for the day in advance next time! See, we're always right. :D

[Odd Ball]

Good article. I travel a lot for business and have found most flights are full. Every now and then I see a couple of empty seats maybe 2 or 3, all my other flights are full.

[Catnip]

Good article. I travel a lot for business and have found most flights are full. Every now and then I see a couple of empty seats maybe 2 or 3, all my other flights are full.

 

And the airlines are still saying they are losing money!!!!! :cool:

[fcorey]

I have to travel as part of my job and its been getting progressively worse , particularly over the last 2 years. The chance of delays and other assorted problems has skyrocketted. If you have to fly through a major hub like Chicago or DFW , god help you.... We are flying in to Seattle two days early just in case we have a luggage or flight problem.

[Bill S]

Brian-thanks for the link-veritable words to the wise!

Like Sail, we have only once flown in to a port on the same day as embarkation: Vegas to San Diego, on SW, we could have still made it on the next 3 flights if something happened to ours. It worked out fine.

We like to fly in a day before, especially for an overseas cruise or one from the east coast. There are just too many things that can go wrong to mess up plans, especially when you are at the mercy of the airlines, the weather, the FAA and/or "Mr. Murphy".

Oh, Brian, would you consider posting that link over in the "Cruise Air" sub forum within the "Cruise Discussions" board? There are a lot of horror stories over there. Also, it might be good to post it in the "First Time Cruisers", sub-forum, too.

Thanks again!

[Copper10-8]

We've done it only on short (2 hrs or less in duration) flights and have not had any problems. Would not recommend doing it on cross-country, trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific flightsl Too much potential for headaches plus you arrive all zonked out on the ship and it's going to take you at least a day to recuperate.

[OldCodger73]

We'll fly same-day only from Seattle to Vancouver, otherwise it's at least the day before.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have to admit we have been lucky as far as cross country of the 3 our of FLL only did we fly in the day before. That was actually more hassel than it was worth and the red eyes we took previously were far less painless. We also did a Red Eye to catch the Maasdam in Boston in July 2005 and everything went fine. I guess we have been lucky. As far as our frequent sailings out of San Diego like Bill said we have Southwest Airlines that goes almost every hour from LAS to SAN and the plus with SW is that if you flight has a mechical or a weather problem with the incoming flight then the next plane coming in is yours. They just change around the aircraft so not to have long delays. Now we are going to play our odds for our next Noordam out of Seattle. We are going to fly in the day of the cruise. We leave at 7 AM and arrive at 9:30 on Alaska Air. Now Alaska Air also has another flight that would get us there in plenty of time after that as well as 4 other airlines including Southwest that if I had to pay for another ticket I could. So we are going to take our chances on that one.

[jhannah]

Like BillS, we have flown same day when going from Las Vegas to San Diego or LAX. With flights literally every hour, there's little concern. Otherwise, we always go early. Just too many things have a chance to go wrong.

[sail7seas]

But what if the other Alaska Air flight is full?

 

As Frank said, most flights are going out full these days and everyone on your flight that didn't go, still needs to go so they are fighting for the same seats.

 

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Sail the flight we are taking is called an Originator which means that it has to leave that morning even if it is not full. I have checked and there are at least 12 different options we can take that would still get us there in plenty of time. With being a flight that is just over 2 hours and being very early Sunday morning I am pretty confident we are going to be just fine.:)

[fcorey]

Sail the flight we are taking is called an Originator which means that it has to leave that morning even if it is not full. I have checked and there are at least 12 different options we can take that would still get us there in plenty of time. With being a flight that is just over 2 hours and being very early Sunday morning I am pretty confident we are going to be just fine.:)

 

The earlier in the morning you travel the better these days, after 10am you are risking delays. The 6-8am area seems to work out.

[Atomica]

I only flew the day of the cruise once, and that became the only flight I've ever been on that has been cancelled due to mechanical problems :)

 

Never again!

[hammybee]

Thanks Brian for the reminder,

 

I find it fasinating that cruise lines continue to sell air for flights on the date of sail, including connecting flights. And of course most who buy such air feel the ship is going to wait for them or that the cruise line will fly them to the next port of call, at the cruise line's expense.

 

If the delay is due to something within the air carrier's control, the air carrier is responsible for getting the passenger to the next port of call, if possible. The whole Jones act just makes this all the more interesting.

 

And as we know, the air carriers and cruise lines do not control the weather.

 

It's really foolish to not fly in a day early. The late flights are often the least costly and usually one can snag an inexpensive hotel room near the airport via some last minute hotel engine.

[ute_fan]

Just happened to see this thread on the list of new posts. There's a horror story over on the NCL board from someone who left Florida at 6 AM on a Saturday morning and STILL missed their ship that was sailing from Seattle on Sunday afternoon.

 

It was enough to scare me off from flying in the day of, and now, if I'm going any distance at all or have any connecting flights, I'm thinking I may want to fly in 2 days before!

[twinkletoes4445]

We always fly in a couple of days early. That way if luggage is lost, we can shop for some clothing to take along (in the event that ours doesn't show up).

 

My friend just returned from a trip to Paris. While they were in flight from Chicago, their was a medical emergency and had to land in Montreal. She said that after the man was helped off the plane, they also had to wait for his luggage to be removed (which required all the luggage to be pulled until they found this mans luggage). I believe she said this took about 3 hours.

 

If my destination wasn't leaving (like a ship does), I'd probably not worry that much, but since a ship sails away, we'll probably always allow ourselves at least a day...just in case.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Just happened to see this thread on the list of new posts. There's a horror story over on the NCL board from someone who left Florida at 6 AM on a Saturday morning and STILL missed their ship that was sailing from Seattle on Sunday afternoon.

 

It was enough to scare me off from flying in the day of, and now, if I'm going any distance at all or have any connecting flights, I'm thinking I may want to fly in 2 days before!

 

Now I will say I would not fly a 6 AM flight from Florida to Seattle to arrive the same day (although many do it successfully), maybe a early Red Eye leaving the evening before but never in the AM going across the US. Now being on the West Coast Las Vegas to Seattle really is not all that far and like I said the flight options are numerous. I am also in the postion that if something did happen I would just pay to meet the ship in Juneau and pay the $300 Passengers Services Act fee if need be but I who never gambles am willing to gamble on this one. ;)

[ute_fan]

No, I wouldn't either. The OP on the NCL board was flying out early SATURDAY morning for a SUNDAY flight:eek: . I would consider, possibly, flying from SLC to Seattle or the LA/San Diego area the same day. Just like you said, there's multiple flights, they're short flights, and for the most part, they're direct flights. Even though, when we flew into Seattle for our cruise in May, we flew in Saturday afternoon. I got a good enough hotel rate (less then $60) that it was cheap insurance.

[kryos]

We've done it only on short (2 hrs or less in duration) flights and have not had any problems. Would not recommend doing it on cross-country, trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific flightsl Too much potential for headaches plus you arrive all zonked out on the ship and it's going to take you at least a day to recuperate.

Same here. I generally leave Philly on the day of the cruise if I am either taking a car service to New York, or just flying from here to Florida. For cross-country west coast departures, I wouldn't risk it. That's why I try to cruise from Northeast ports as much as possible. It conserves my vacation time if I don't have to "waste" a day pre-cruise staying in a hotel. After all, my vacation time, sadly, is not unlimited.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Robin7]

We usually fly in the day before as we live in the West, but we're taking a gamble on our next cruise. We leave Thanksgiving night and arrive in FLL about 9am on the day of boarding the Volendam. It makes me very nervous but there was no other way. Who would cook the turkey if I wasn't home???:eek: I just pray we don't get burned.

 

Robin

[Nic's Mom and Pop]

Okay now I'm nervous. We are leaving Friday Nov.23rd on a red eye from the SF bay area to FLL. It is supposed to arrive at 8:00 am on Saturday morning. The Zuiderdam sets sail at 5:00 PM Saturday. This will be our first cruise out of Florida. Booked this flight through Jet Blue because it was the only non- stop from SF or Oakland to FLL. If this flight was canceled we would be in trouble. All of the other airlines flights leaving Saturday would not get us there before sail away. Do you think we should fly in earlier on Friday and give up the non-stop? We have done red eyes before sailing out of New York with no problems. Jet Blue does have a very good record but they can't control weather, FAA or terrorism. Only four months to worry about it. :confused:

[haligonian37]

For our cruise this past Feb., my friends flew from Seattle on the red eye Saturday night for our 5pm Sunday departure on the Westerdam. They flew Continental and had no problems but they were wiped out the first night as was I (flew from Halifax to FLL same day, Superbowl Sunday, arrived onboard in time for the muster drill). We've decided never to fly in the same day again as it was just too stressful on the body not to mention the mind.