lovevacadays Posted December 23, 2008 #1 Share Posted December 23, 2008 We've booked the Emerald Princess for Nov 29th, 09. It leaves the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We are now wondering if we should switch dates. Does anyone know how crowded airlines are and what might be a good day to travel Thanksgiving weekend? We don't want to fly in on Sunday so would be looking at Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. Any thoughts? If we don't do that weekend we would have to do the week before Thanksgiving as the Emerald is going into drydock the 1st two weeks in December and then sails two holiday cruises. Anyone know if mid-November is still hurricane season? What might be the chance of rain, etc for the Eastern Caribbean. Any info would be much appreicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toto2Kansas Posted December 23, 2008 #2 Share Posted December 23, 2008 We've booked the Emerald Princess for Nov 29th, 09. It leaves the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We are now wondering if we should switch dates. Does anyone know how crowded airlines are and what might be a good day to travel Thanksgiving weekend? We don't want to fly in on Sunday so would be looking at Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. Any thoughts? If we don't do that weekend we would have to do the week before Thanksgiving as the Emerald is going into drydock the 1st two weeks in December and then sails two holiday cruises. Anyone know if mid-November is still hurricane season? What might be the chance of rain, etc for the Eastern Caribbean. Any info would be much appreicated. They say that flying just before or just after Thanksgiving is the busiest time for airports everywhere in the U.S. And that is what we have found during that time of year. Personally, if it were me, there is no way I would take a cruise where I had to fly on those dates, especially if I could make alternate plans for a different date. IMHO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Cruise Junky Posted December 23, 2008 #3 Share Posted December 23, 2008 We've done two cruises the week after thanksgiving. We were flying from a Canadian airport into a US and didn't have any problem at all. The last one was the Sea Princess in 2006, we flew actually on the Thursday, US Thanksgiving and sailed on the Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Cruise Posted December 23, 2008 #4 Share Posted December 23, 2008 we love cruising the week after Thanksgiving - very few kids on board! Believe we had less than 150 this year. This year we flew in on Sunday since the departure was at 11:00pm - taking a chance, I know, but it worked out. We have flown in on Thursday and Friday often without any problems - especially if we are just flying to Miami/Ft Lauderdale. If you are looking for a quiet, not-so-crowded, less expensive cruise, the week after Thanksgiving is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsqrl Posted December 23, 2008 #5 Share Posted December 23, 2008 I definitely wouldn't fly on the Sunday after Thanksgiving! Friday or Saturday should be okay, though -- Friday obviously being quieter than Saturday. I've often flown on the Friday after Thanksgiving when spending turkey day with relatives, because I had to get back to my part-time retail job on Black Friday, and the airports were almost always dead quiet. People just don't start traveling for home that early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caa Posted December 23, 2008 #6 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Yes, November is hurricane season. We cruised on NCL Sun during Thanksgiving week in 2005. We booked in Sept, just after hurricane Katrina, when NCL announced the ship would be leaving from Houston instead of New Orleans and there were good deals to be had. Between booking and sailing, Houston got hit by Rita and the Yucatan got hit by Wilma. We missed one port in Mexico due to damage from Wilma, and we were one of the first ships to get into Cozumel. While we were aboard, storms Gamma and Delta were both active, although not near us. 2005 was an exceptionally bad year though, and hopefully 2009 will be much less severe. As for flying, you should be o.k. on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The main problem with flying on those holiday weekends is if any flight is canceled for any reason, there's no empty space for you to get on another plane. Friday should be early enough that you'll have time to find alternate flights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebr.cruiser Posted December 23, 2008 #7 Share Posted December 23, 2008 We flew to San Juan to board the CB Princess on the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year. All the flights were very full, but we had no problems at all--even got upgraded to business class all flights with our AA Gold card. All flights were ontime. We used FF miles for the trip. Airports (Dallas, San Juan) seemed just normally busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colo Cruiser Posted December 23, 2008 #8 Share Posted December 23, 2008 We've booked the Emerald Princess for Nov 29th, 09. It leaves the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We are now wondering if we should switch dates. Does anyone know how crowded airlines are and what might be a good day to travel Thanksgiving weekend? We don't want to fly in on Sunday so would be looking at Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. Any thoughts? If we don't do that weekend we would have to do the week before Thanksgiving as the Emerald is going into drydock the 1st two weeks in December and then sails two holiday cruises. Anyone know if mid-November is still hurricane season? What might be the chance of rain, etc for the Eastern Caribbean. Any info would be much appreicated. Where are you flying in from? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovevacadays Posted December 23, 2008 Author #9 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Southern California - most like LAX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmlt Posted December 24, 2008 #10 Share Posted December 24, 2008 We flew the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year for a cruise that departed on Sunday. Other than longer lines than usual (probably 20-30 minutes longer than usual) at our home airport we had no issues. I don't know if flying Sunday would have made a difference though, but flying Saturday we didn't have any issues. Since we flew southwest I didn't book my airfare untill the dates became available and I think the rates were a little higher than I would have paid on a non-holiday time, but not high enough to make me reschedule my cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kooljamming Posted December 24, 2008 #11 Share Posted December 24, 2008 The Atlantic hurricane season is between June and November. Being at the begin or tail end, June and November are usually pretty calm. I have experienced hurricane in both months but I vacation in Mexico or the Caribbean quite often. I would feel comfortable going in November. I would avoid traveling the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Evey one is trying to get back and some might be very pizzed off about their family encounter:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoosh21 Posted January 8, 2009 #12 Share Posted January 8, 2009 we love cruising the week after Thanksgiving - very few kids on board! Believe we had less than 150 this year. This year we flew in on Sunday since the departure was at 11:00pm - taking a chance, I know, but it worked out. We have flown in on Thursday and Friday often without any problems - especially if we are just flying to Miami/Ft Lauderdale. If you are looking for a quiet, not-so-crowded, less expensive cruise, the week after Thanksgiving is great. I am glad to hear this. Hopefully the same holds true on other lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crynsky Posted January 8, 2009 #13 Share Posted January 8, 2009 With the exception of one cruise last Feb we always go the week after thanksgiving and fly out of cak or cle leaving on fri or sat to arrive one or two days early to embarkation location and have never had any problems or major delays. Had more trouble getting home from San Antonio in Aug from a bussiness/vacation trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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