Should I fly in the day before or the day of??

[poisonivynicole]

I found a super super cheap flight but it flys in the day of the cruise. It gets in to Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 but we port out of Miami. Ok so my question is when is check in for Carnival and is this a bad idea?

[TennisLover]

I would never cut it that close. You just never know what could happen with the flights. If one thing goes wrong with your flight or your luggage or the traffic on I95 in Florida, you are SOL.

 

Fly in the day before. This way you can start your vacation off relaxed, not stressed, and you don't have to worry about trying to race for the ship.

[BND]

Before. Nowadays with limited flights and seats available, if your flight got cancelled, you might not be able to get there at all that day. If there's any delay, you could miss the ship too. We always go in at least one day early. I'd rather pay for a hotel room than deal with the stress.

 

With even only 1-2 hour delay, you could easily miss the ship. That small a delay could happen easily. My DH travels for work and out of the last 5 trips he's been on, his flight has been delayed at least 1.5 hours on 4 of them. Mechanical issues, weather, and crew have all been the reasons. Just not worth the risk.

[5waldos]

Where are you flying in from? I am not an accomplished cruiser but everything I have seen here would say- NO NO NO. If your plane is delayed you will miss boarding- and Ft. Lauderdale is a hike to Miami- one accident on the road and you will miss boarding. What is you ability to tolerate stress? I'd be a wreck, and I don't stress out easily. By 12:30 I hope to be onboard, not hoping my plane can get to the gate and won't be held up by the earlier flight which has just had a flat tire and ran over a piece of luggage. Nor waiting for my luggage which just decided it didn't want to go to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

However, cheap fares are nice.

[Slimpickins]

I found a super super cheap flight but it flys in the day of the cruise. It gets in to Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 but we port out of Miami. Ok so my question is when is check in for Carnival and is this a bad idea?

 

You must check in 60 mins prior to departure time IF you fill out funpass online 3 days ahead of departure day. If you dont fill out the funpass online, its 90 mins before departure time. These are when you must BE on the ship, you can board earlier than that if the previous sailing is cleared out. Assuming its a 4pm departure, that means you must be on the ship by 3pm(with funpass online), or 230pm(with out funpass online). So, that leaves you 2- 2 1/2 hrs from your schedule landing 1230pm to make it to the boat.

 

GL

[5waldos]

Not that we are all trying to suggest that you fly in the day before.

 

Do let us know what you decide, and later, if you fly in on sail day, if you make it.

[poisonivynicole]

yes your all very right!!!!! we flew in a few days before our last cruise and visited friends.... another question should i wait to book my flight till closer... will they get cheaper?

[JordanLovesCruisin]

We always fly in the day of..

 

And we are fine.

 

Not by our choice, but with work/school not letting off, sometimes it is not possible.

[Slimpickins]

yes your all very right!!!!! we flew in a few days before our last cruise and visited friends.... another question should i wait to book my flight till closer... will they get cheaper?

 

Cant help you with that one, I dont fly anywhere, so dont know how their pricing works.

 

GL

[firefly333]

You must check in 60 mins prior to departure time IF you fill out funpass online 3 days ahead of departure day. If you dont fill out the funpass online, its 90 mins before departure time. These are when you must BE on the ship, you can board earlier than that if the previous sailing is cleared out. Assuming its a 4pm departure, that means you must be on the ship by 3pm(with funpass online), or 230pm(with out funpass online). So, that leaves you 2- 2 1/2 hrs from your schedule landing 1230pm to make it to the boat.

 

GL

 

Actually it is 90 minutes ahead of time, or 2 hours if you dont have the fun pass. typo on your post?

 

OP since you are flying into Ft. Lauderdale and leaving from Miami, thats even more reason to not fly in the day of your cruise. I wouldnt, too close.

[Slimpickins]

Actually it is 90 minutes ahead of time, or 2 hours if you dont have the fun pass. typo on your post?

 

OP since you are flying into Ft. Lauderdale and leaving from Miami, thats even more reason to not fly in the day of your cruise. I wouldnt, too close.

 

 

No typo:D. From Carnival and Link:http://www.carnival.com/CMS/FAQs/Embarkation_Procedures.aspx

 

 

 

How does the Embarkation Process Work?

 

Remember, Government regulations for U.S. departure ports require that a final departure manifest is submitted 60 minutes prior to departure. Guests are required to provide us with the required information prior to embarkation. The easiest and most convenient way is to complete our FunPass on line registration process at least three days prior to departure. Guests that do not complete the registration process prior to embarkation are required to check-in at least 90 minutes prior to the published sailing time

 

Slim 1, firefly333 0...... :D

[RAVI360]

I like flying in the day before.....but my neice always come in the day of, so far hasn't had a problem.......:Dscares my to death:eek:

[sam1148]

I found a super super cheap flight but it flys in the day of the cruise. It gets in to Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 but we port out of Miami. Ok so my question is when is check in for Carnival and is this a bad idea?

 

 

Too close. Consider even if things go well.

 

12:30..30 mins to gather luggage and deplane. It's now 1 o'clock.

 

30 mins to wait for xfer to MIA, it's now 1:30...45 mins 1 hour travel time..Depending on traffic. It's now 2:15 or 2:30. 15/30 mins to check in port security..Good luck. The money you save isn't worth the stress.

[sam1148]

I found a super super cheap flight but it flys in the day of the cruise. It gets in to Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 but we port out of Miami. Ok so my question is when is check in for Carnival and is this a bad idea?

 

 

I'm guessing you might be looking at SouthWest? They have very cheep flights to FLL. Try them again closer to the date. They might have other flights for the day before.

 

They always fly into Orlando..a bit of drive, you'd need to rent car. But doable for morning if numbers work out (car rental/cheep hotel/and cab from rental drop off to MIA port). If it's sunday depature..don't do that, as rental near MIA port closes at noon or soon.

 

BTW: if you aren't looking at southwest..go to their website..as they don't play the 'orbitz/travelocity' game. So you have to look at their site directly.

[deepnite10]

we re finishing packing tonight..we ll be leaving first thing in the morning, spending a evening and day in miami befor our cruise..

 

on that full free day we plan on either taking the Key West or Everglade s

tour out of the hotel..

 

if you noticed..the price of gas is going back up a bit..so i doubt that

air fares will go down..id lock in a flight now..*but that s just me*

 

we ve already booked flights for our May cruise..

[sam1148]

we re finishing packing tonight..we ll be leaving first thing in the morning, spending a evening and day in miami befor our cruise..

 

on that full free day we plan on either taking the Key West or Everglade s

tour out of the hotel..

 

if you noticed..the price of gas is going back up a bit..so i doubt that

air fares will go down..id lock in a flight now..*but that s just me*

 

we ve already booked flights for our May cruise..

 

 

Ohhh...I'd rethink the Key West from Miami thing for a day trip. It's about a 3.5 hour drive..8 hours rounded trip back to MIA. The traffic speed limit is slow..so even tho it's 'close'..it's slow.

 

The everglades tour is nice..but. If you have a rental car and GSP..and want to see some local stuff try. The "Coral Castle" near Miami. Near "Homestead, FLA"

A decent day trip. Built by one person..who kept his techniques secret. Very impressive structure.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

we re finishing packing tonight..we ll be leaving first thing in the morning, spending a evening and day in miami befor our cruise..

 

on that full free day we plan on either taking the Key West or Everglade s

tour out of the hotel..

 

if you noticed..the price of gas is going back up a bit..so i doubt that

air fares will go down..id lock in a flight now..*but that s just me*

 

we ve already booked flights for our May cruise..

 

Have a great cruise. Maybe I'll seeya onboard.:)

 

Bill

[chicken08]

you never know what flights you can find!! don't give up! I can't say from experience since I will be going on my first cruise w/ my fiance' the day after our wedding. and there wasn't any evening flights to florida that sat night. so I kept an eye out by checking SW, AA, etc. we were going to take SW since it went in straight into FLL, but it had one stop and it was iffy. but just last week, I was just checking prices and found a flight for $81 one way from STL to MIA. it is direct and we get there more than enough time- early AM. just keep on looking around, you will find one! plus my dad flys a lot for his job and he told me tonight that flight prices should be going down again, but you really just never know! also, the official airline websites offer better deals. good luck with your flight searching and have fun on your cruise!! :o

[Wolfie48]

I found a super super cheap flight but it flys in the day of the cruise. It gets in to Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 but we port out of Miami. Ok so my question is when is check in for Carnival and is this a bad idea?

 

A very good friend of ours booked her flight same day and missed her flight due to weather and other factors. She ended up flying into Puerto Vallarta and staying one night to meet the ship. If she had planned to fly in the day before and missed that flight she would have had options. Pay a little more for the peace of mind....and enjoy your cruise!

[JLC@SD]

I found a super super cheap flight but it flys in the day of the cruise. It gets in to Fort Lauderdale at 12:30 but we port out of Miami. Ok so my question is when is check in for Carnival and is this a bad idea?

 

If you fly to FLL....there will be a cost to get to Miami, so you need to add that to your the difference in flight costs.

 

By the time you get your luggage and get to Miami, a couple of hours, will the savings be worth the risk to miss the cruise.....and how much will it cost to fly to the next port.....and do you have passports if it is a foreign (non US) port.

[ShaynaS]

If I were paying thousands for a cruise and had to fly to the departure port I would fly the day before. Better to be safe than sorry!! I live in Fla so can drive to the ports but if I had to fly I would fly in the day before so i had nothing to worrie about! In fact I live in Tampa and if I were cruising out of Miami i would most likely go the day before.

[pe4all]

On our last 4 cruises, not once have our flights departed on time to Florida! (1-2 hour delays each time) Add in winter weather, and it seems to be a no-brainer - fly in the day before!

[deborahjo]

I am a day before person. On our last cruise we left Denver on time but got stuck in Texas for over 3 hours. The pilot of our plane was coming in on another flight that was late also.

 

Instead of getting into Ft Lauderdale at 3pm it was after 7pm. We missed our dinner plans.

Made for a heck of a long day. From 5:30 am to almost 8 by the time we got to our hotel room.

 

So even flying in the day before you are not always safe.

[Kethry88]

I've done both, so here's from my own experiences:

 

Our first three cruises, we did air through Carnival, so the flights were the day of the cruise. Our last cruise, I researched and booked our own air, and we flew down to Fort Lauderdale the day before. After that experience, we will always fly down at least one day before our cruises.

 

It was such a different experience, and so much more pleasant. Before, we would get to the pier between 2 and 3 o'clock, frazzled, exhausted, and still in our traveling clothes (which always feel icky, even after just a three to four hour flight).

 

The last time, we got to the hotel in the afternoon, checked in, changed, and went across the street for a nice relaxing dinner. We also picked up some toiletrees at a nearby drugstore that we'd decided not to pack to save the hassle of the liquids restrictions on the plane. Then we spent the evening at the hotel pool, and talked with a lot of great people. Almost everyone at the hotel was there for a pre-night cruise stay, and most of them were even going on the same ship as us.

 

The next morning, we got to Port Everglades way earlier than we ever had before (11-ish), dropped our bags off at the porter, and checked in. We were a little too early to get on the ship, but it just gave us enough time to sit in the air-conditioned terminal and fill out the little forms for the BVI. We were on the ship in time for lunch, we looked relaxed and happy in our welcome aboard photo instead of tired and frazzled, and it was absolutely the best experience I've ever had at embarkation.

[sdaniel105]

I think you are cutting it a little close. Is it a direct flight? If not, I would not even consider it.

 

Sean