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How Do Cruisers Get To Miami/Tampa In Time?


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My wife and I thought it might be nice to escape cold weather this coming January and take a Caribbean cruise. We'd be flying out of Denver. But after looking exhaustively (and exhaustedly!) at flights to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa, what we discovered is that...we can't get there in time! All the flights we have access to appear to land in both cities too late to get to a 4:00 PM cruise departure! We were absolutely baffled! We took a Caribbean Cruise many years ago, flying out of Minnesota, and didn't recall having any problems at all getting there on time, but we only lost one hour on that trip, we lose two on this one which contributes to the challenge. How does one get to the port cities in Florida from the Mountain Time Zone in time for cruising? Is it necessary to go a day early and stay over in an expensive hotel? Or do the airlines add more flights as winter approaches so that we will have more possibilities? Anyone with some insight? Thanks!

Minnesota Rookie (now Colorado almost-rookie)

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I think you need to fly in a day early. You don't want to rush in the day of the cruise. Too many chances of weather delays starting in Denver.

 

Do some research, not all lodging in the area is expensive. It all depends on location and amenities.

 

Don

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Looking at flight schedules for this winter from Denver it seems like you have the option to take a red eye flight which leaves the night before and arrives in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale around 6:00am on the morning of the cruise. If you don't want to take a red eye, the earliest nonstops to both Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale will arrive around 1:30pm. Keep in mind that, even though these afternoon flights are within the cruise line's guidelines, they are vacation suicide and an easy way to ruin your plans.

 

Although many cruisers do fly on the day of the cruise and will tell you it's fine, it's truly not good advice. Even on a beautiful clear spring day, the list of things that can delay you is lengthy (believe me, I'm an Airline Pilot and I do this for a living. I would NEVER fly in on the day of the cruise).

 

Do yourself a favor and fly in the day before the cruise and figure the pre-cruise stay in your vacation budget. Yes, some hotels can be expensive but there are some very affordable options out there as well. Another couple of hundred dollars, when you're already spending a couple thousand dollars, is cheap insurance.

 

And you can find great deals with a bit of research. On our last cruise out of Miami, we originally booked a Hampton Inn by the airport (trying to save some money), but after a bit of research, we found out that we could stay at the W Resort in Ft. Lauderdale Beach for about $25 more! We had a fantastic view of the ocean from our beautiful and modern hotel room. It was the perfect way to begin our vacation and be fully rested before boarding the ship the next day. I encourage you to do the same. [emoji3]

 

 

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No way would we ever fly in the day of the cruise.

We always go to the embarkation port at least 3 days early. We also have to do connecting flights. But even with all these precautions, one year we still did not make our cruise out of Tampa in February. A major snow snow storm closed Atlanta and Charlotte for nearly 4 1/2 days. And the earliest flight we could get would get us to Tampa 2 days after the ship left. Thank heavens for insurance and refundable tickets.

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Yes, it is necessary to fly-in at least a day early. But its not necessary to stay at an "expensive" hotel as there are plenty of reasonably priced hotels in the area of all the FL ports. You need to change your thinking, and give more consideration to the airline industry. Flights are late on a regular basis, and there are also plenty of flights that even get canceled. And you are talking about flying out of Denver in the winter....when bad weather nearly anywhere in the country can cause massive flight problems across the nation. So you are going to invest a lot of money in a cruise....but then are willing to gamble all that money in order to save a few dollars on a hotel.

 

So think about extending your vacation by at least 1 day. Fly-in to Tampa a day early, relax, go out and have a nice dinner, etc.

 

Hank

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Sometimes it's not even weather. We have experienced mechanical issues at least twice. Once was in June, flying to Seattle we were delayed leaving for several hours and missed our connection in Vancouver. We always leave at least a day early. The first few cruises we flew in the same day and I was a nervous wreck. Not worth the stress before a well-deserved vacation.

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OP is actually lucky to have discovered that the winter flights from Minneapolis would not get him to the port in time for him to make his cruise.

 

If he had found a flight which might have gotten him to the airport by, say, 1:30 or 2:00 PM, he might have booked it. Then, when real life caught up with him, he would have had a very good chance of hitting a two hour delay.

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If you have a cruise from Miami, you can fly into Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and find very reasonable transportation to the Miami airport. Many times you can find cheaper hotels in Ft. Lauderdale.

When you decided on your cruise, come back on CC and we can help you find a hotel that won't break the bank. It's still early to book the hotel. However you can make refundable reservations at a hotel and then watch for better pricing as you get closer to cruise time. If you have a credit card that gives you points, you may find that you can get $$ off of a hotel. My Credit Union has points towards gift cards at several hotel chains and we have used that to pay most or all of our hotel costs pre and post cruise.

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Totally agree with all the posts about flying in a day early. It's not just a winter problem. Flights are delayed for winter weather, summer thunderstorms, mechanical issues and crew problems. No way would I risk not flying in the day before. A hotel room is cheap when you consider having to fly to catch up with your cruise.

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You simply fly in the day prior! Most folks do that anyway. It gives you a "window" in case suitcases take a different route, and you don't really have to worry about delays or such. The ship will NOT wait for you, so go a day early. Yeah, you'll need a hotel for the night, but you will board the ship early, rested and ready to roll!

 

Oh..and crosspack...something for each of you in each suitcase...just in case 1 goes missing! Better safe than sorry!

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My wife and I thought it might be nice to escape cold weather this coming January and take a Caribbean cruise. We'd be flying out of Denver. But after looking exhaustively (and exhaustedly!) at flights to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa, what we discovered is that...we can't get there in time! All the flights we have access to appear to land in both cities too late to get to a 4:00 PM cruise departure! We were absolutely baffled! We took a Caribbean Cruise many years ago, flying out of Minnesota, and didn't recall having any problems at all getting there on time, but we only lost one hour on that trip, we lose two on this one which contributes to the challenge. How does one get to the port cities in Florida from the Mountain Time Zone in time for cruising? Is it necessary to go a day early and stay over in an expensive hotel? Or do the airlines add more flights as winter approaches so that we will have more possibilities? Anyone with some insight? Thanks!

Minnesota Rookie (now Colorado almost-rookie)

 

 

I agree with all who state to arrive one day earlier, most especially in winter. If you are set on flying the day of the cruise sailing from Tampa, flying into Orlando/MCO would give you more opportunities and then rent a car to make the drive to Tampa.

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You are planning to fly out of Colorado on the day of the cruise in the winter. Do you have any idea at all of the possible weather problems that can be encountered in the winter and especially in Colorado.

 

DON

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Red eyes are one choice. Spirit runs one between Denver and Ft. Lauderdale and it usually cheap. Amazingly, our daughter discovered her tolerance for red eyes between Denver and FLL was much lower when she bought her own tickets. Downside to Spirit or Frontier is they have little spare equipment so a broken anything can result in long delays and cancelled flights. I don't fly these guys any more.

 

But, truly, I would not try to do this winter or summer. In winter you run the risk of a storm delaying your flight. That can happen in summer, too, and really high temps can also delay things at DIA.

 

If you're looking at Southwest (good option for cruising because of the free baggage) then they may not yet be taking bookings. They're currently only booking to Jan 7, 2018. Other airlines schedules are not going to change significantly. Airlines are always shuffling flights a bit and might add or remove a flight or two, but there is not going to be a bunch of new flights.

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Looks like Spirit has direct red eyes and they are pretty cheap. Of course, that would leave you at Fort Lauderdale airport around 6:00 am just to hang out for a few hours until you can get in line to get on the ship. As others have suggested, you can get a decent hotel room for $175 to $200 in Fort Lauderdale and get relaxed and rested for your cruise. Your answer is that it can be done, but why would you want to put yourself through aggravation on the first day of your cruise.

 

My wife and I thought it might be nice to escape cold weather this coming January and take a Caribbean cruise. We'd be flying out of Denver. But after looking exhaustively (and exhaustedly!) at flights to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa, what we discovered is that...we can't get there in time! All the flights we have access to appear to land in both cities too late to get to a 4:00 PM cruise departure! We were absolutely baffled! We took a Caribbean Cruise many years ago, flying out of Minnesota, and didn't recall having any problems at all getting there on time, but we only lost one hour on that trip, we lose two on this one which contributes to the challenge. How does one get to the port cities in Florida from the Mountain Time Zone in time for cruising? Is it necessary to go a day early and stay over in an expensive hotel? Or do the airlines add more flights as winter approaches so that we will have more possibilities? Anyone with some insight? Thanks!

Minnesota Rookie (now Colorado almost-rookie)

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We are also flying out of Denver for a cruise this coming Jan. Our plan is actually to fly out 2 days early. Never know if snow will be a problem that time of year. We just look at it as starting our vacation 2days early. I also noticed that upon returning, the direct flights to Denver are either too early so safely make after docking, or not until early evening. We figure we'll extend our vacation on the back-side too and catch a morning flight the next day.

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My wife and I thought it might be nice to escape cold weather this coming January and take a Caribbean cruise. We'd be flying out of Denver. But after looking exhaustively (and exhaustedly!) at flights to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa, what we discovered is that...we can't get there in time! All the flights we have access to appear to land in both cities too late to get to a 4:00 PM cruise departure! We were absolutely baffled! We took a Caribbean Cruise many years ago, flying out of Minnesota, and didn't recall having any problems at all getting there on time, but we only lost one hour on that trip, we lose two on this one which contributes to the challenge. How does one get to the port cities in Florida from the Mountain Time Zone in time for cruising? Is it necessary to go a day early and stay over in an expensive hotel? Or do the airlines add more flights as winter approaches so that we will have more possibilities? Anyone with some insight? Thanks!

 

Minnesota Rookie (now Colorado almost-rookie)

 

 

 

Fly much?

Same day arrival? Bad idea!

 

 

 

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Red eyes are one choice. Spirit runs one between Denver and Ft. Lauderdale and it usually cheap. Amazingly, our daughter discovered her tolerance for red eyes between Denver and FLL was much lower when she bought her own tickets. Downside to Spirit or Frontier is they have little spare equipment so a broken anything can result in long delays and cancelled flights. I don't fly these guys any more.

 

But, truly, I would not try to do this winter or summer. In winter you run the risk of a storm delaying your flight. That can happen in summer, too, and really high temps can also delay things at DIA.

 

If you're looking at Southwest (good option for cruising because of the free baggage) then they may not yet be taking bookings. They're currently only booking to Jan 7, 2018. Other airlines schedules are not going to change significantly. Airlines are always shuffling flights a bit and might add or remove a flight or two, but there is not going to be a bunch of new flights.

 

Of course, Spirit is the least likely airline to get you there on time. Very small fleet means minimal chance of replacement aircraft in case of mechanical problem. Lack of any sister line minimizes chance to get you on another flight. Cheap? Yes. But if you are the sort who believes that "you get what you pay for", you do not even get that on Spirit. Minimum service, minimum comfort plus worst on-time record and greates chance of cancelled flight --- with zero support from staff.

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Our experiences trying to fly to Florida from Michigan:

 

June 2004 I believe we were on United, I may be wrong there. We had a direct flight from GRR to MCO. Ended up with an emergency landing in Tennessee due to a mechanical issue. We were on the ground for 4-5 hours while they fixed the plane.

 

April 2014 Delta flight direct from DTW to FLL. Delayed 4-5 hours in Detroit due to a mechanical issue. We had to wait for a replacement plane to arrive from Philadelphia in order to fly out.

 

May 2017 United flight from GRR to MCO with a layover in ORD. Delayed on our layover in Chicago for 3-4 hours due to a mechanical issue while they fixed the plane.

 

All of these flights were either the day before our cruise or for a land vacation so our travel plans were not upset. I would never fly in the day of. Our percentage of getting to Florida on time is at 40% from Michigan (and none of the delays were weather related and they occurred from 3 different airports, 2 different airlines). Not good odds if you ask me.

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Don't forget that you can be on a perfectly good airplane that takes off on time on a non stop flight and have a passenger experience a medical emergency forcing you to land in the middle of nowhere.

 

Almost happened to us, but a doctor was able to determine the actual issue (nothing major) and the passenger was okay to finish the flight.

 

In that incident, chances are the crew would have timed out upon landing.

 

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Fly much?

Same day arrival? Bad idea!

 

One would think that living in the Denver vicinity they would know about the unpredictability of winter weather in that area. I am puzzled that they weren't able to realize that. They said nothing about weather concerns in Denver, only about available flight itineraries arriving too late.

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