Flying into departure city question

[tennisobo]

Our first two cruises we flew to the departure port on Day 1 of the cruise. The first time I ended up with a migraine that I believe was caused by the stress and excitement. We made it onboard with no problem (except the headache) both times. However, since then we have flown down 1 or 2 days before the cruise starts. This has been so much better. We don't have to get up early to catch a flight on the first day of the cruise. Instead we arrive at the ship well-rested and ready to have a relaxing vacation. Of course it does cost more money to do that. But it's worth it to us to save some extra vacation money so that we maximize the enjoyment of the cruise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

On another thread many posters stated that EXPERIENCED travelers fly into the port city a day ahead. We've done 3 cruises and have always flown in on the same day and have never had problems getting to the ship on time. I am curious to know of different comments, opinons or experiences.

 

Sorry to be picky but from your post on the other thread, you make it seem that you've been on many cruises. Being lucky on three doesn't mean you'll be lucky in others:

 

"Same day flights...no problem

You guys are scaring me. :eek: On all our cruises, we flew in the same day and never even came close to missing our cruise. Our flights always arrived into the port city early AM; 9 or 10. All our bookings except for 1 were made on our own including the flights and yes we always take flight insurance. Not all of us are able to fly into port a day earlier and the remark that all EXPEREINCED travelers should know better is unfounded."

 

 

As I said on that thread, I have yet to find anyone who said they regretted flying in at least a day ahead.

[Nancyquilts]

It is true that you can have quite a bit of experience cruising and not be able to fly in the day before. We have done this in the past, but now that we are retired, we get to the port a day early. If you have the choice, try it - you'll like it! Nancy

[bjkTX]

Almost a horror story.

 

We have flown in a day early on 2 of our 4 cruises (and the 5th one coming up). The first time we flew in the day of the cruise we were going out of NYC and we got in, got a cab to the port, walked on the ship, no problem.

 

Last fall we were re-doing that same cruise out of NYC. At 9pm the night before we were supposed to leave (at 7am) I received an email from the airlines saying that our flight had been delayed or cancelled. When I called the airline they told me the flight had been delayed 7 hours, and we would now arrive 1 hour AFTER the ship departed. Obviously it became a very busy night.

 

Eventually I was able to get a flight into NJ instead of NYC - arriving at almost the exact same time as our original flights. Then I just had to contact the limo company I had arranged to pick us up in NYC and they were able to shuffle the reservation to Newark. Although we were a bit concerned that the driver didn't speak English, didn't seem to know where we were going (finally put a GPS unit on the window), we finally saw the ship in the distance and knew we had dodged a bullet (or two).

 

On our next cruise we're going in a day early :-) My doctor wouldn't have it any other way.

[MaryPoppinz]

We make the decision case-by-case. I use some flight tools to make sure I know what the alternatives are if the flight is delayed, I use historical information about the weather, I try to book the earliest morning outbound flight (if the on-time arrival for that flight is good), I factor in that we live close to, but not in, a hub city and I consider whether we are going east or west. Finally, we insure all pre-paid trips.

 

But, this is stuff I think "EXPERIENCED" travelers do whether they are flying in the day before or not.