Same day fight arrangements

We have booked the Transatlantic from Barcelona in November and are looking at flying out from USA on the afternoon on November 22 and arrrive at 9:00 am on November 23 in Barcelona. Ship leaves at 5:00pm.

Choice air says no worries traveling same day.....really don’t wish to spend a night in Barcelona even though we love that city. Were planning to extend our stay in Argentina instead.

We have always arrived at least 1 day before departing cruise.

Thoughts and experiences with choice air services would be appreciated

Thank you

What is your gateway city and do you live there/drive there or do you have to fly to the gateway?

How early in November is the cruise?

We fly Nashville to Newark and Newark to Barcelona

Flight is November 22 and arrives the next morning. Cruise leaves that afternoon. Thanks

We have flown in the same day and found it to be too exhausting. It may be ok if you can sleep on the plane. Some can’t even when flying first class. It can make for a very long tiring day and not a great way to start a cruise because you will be too worn out on the first night to enjoy the cruise.

I guess what you really need to look at is the total amount of time it will be that you get up for the flight there and the time you board the ship using the same time zone as the reference and determine if you are willing to deal with it.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

I think the more important question is, what if the flight is so delayed that you miss your ship? Where would you pick it up?

On the Eclipse Eastbound TA last month, dozens of people missed the ship because of bad weather. They then missed seven days of the cruise!

The first port was Punta Delgado, and yes, Choice Air got them there, but what a disappointment.

Definitely would fly in at least a day early. Too many possibilities of delay.

As you already know it really depends on how much risk you want to take. I have a sister who likes to find the cheapest seats on the cheapest possible airline with a red-eye flight, arriving the morning of embarkation. Typically Miami or Fort Lauderdale. They arrive half awake and stumble around whilst waiting for embarkation, get aboard ship (finally) and then find someplace to snooze. It takes them a couple days of their cruise to catch up on sleep and starting to enjoy things.

The biggest issue, however, is a flight delayed or cancelled due to weather, mechanical, or staffing issues. As we all know the cruise ship will not wait an extra hour to sail because we just arrived and can't get there in time for planned departure, right?

For us it's a no-brainer. We arrive a day early and enjoy the departure city, not having to worry about missing a flight. But, there IS always the taxi or shuttle ride to the port. Hmmmmmm..... life is full of risk. I hear Barcelona is a great city to stay an extra night.

Having this year had our flights to the US cancelled 9pm the day before we flew owing to ‘unseasonal storms in the NE USA’ in March we were so grateful that we had built in a two day cushion to our plans....If we hadn’t we could have missed our cruise and our luggage certainly would have as it arrived 24 hours later than us. We would never, ever, recommend to anyone to cross the pond arriving and cruising the same day.

If you do not want to visit Barcelona again still fly in a day or two early, hire a car and see some local wonderful countryside and small towns or book into a more beach type resort nearby and crash out....

A final point is that jet lag factor....you will be into day 2/3 of your cruise before your body really starts to adjust.....You are paying a lot of money per cruise day if you can not make the most of it....

Next port is Cartagena Spain the next day. The next available port is 3 days later after embarkingand is in the Canary Islands.so possible to miss up to 3 days.

Yes it si a long trip. We will arrive around 2 am our home time so we will be tired even though we were able to find a great price for business class. However not lay flat sleeper.

Thanks for input

Oops sorry bad spelling

Choice Air told all those people who were flying from Minneapolis for that TA "No worries", too. But they didn't tell the Minneapolis weather! Some of them ended up flying to Boston, spending a couple of nights there and then flying to Punta Delgado and spending a couple of nights there. There was no alternative.

With one more European port as an alternative before the transatlantic, I guess I might chance it.

I think one thing people do not take into account if they are ‘close to the wire’ between flight and cruise is the emotional stress endured....As I said in my previous post, with our two day margin crossing the pond we made our cruise as did our luggage (just).....I can honestly say I have never boarded a ship so emotionally ragged and exhausted....

Barcelona to Cartegena is just under 8 hours by train...

I guess Clint deserves the last word “Do you feel lucky?”...

For Choice Air to say no worries is ridiculous; flights are greatly delayed and cancelled all the time - they are not psychics and have no idea if you will make it or not in time for your cruise. Most of the time flying in day off works out, but there is some risk involved. Personally I wouldn’t do it - between the risk of missing the ship (even higher with a connecting flight vs. non-stop as in your case), being jet lagged to start my cruise and traveling so far and not being able to take advantage of spending some time in the arrival city. Also, while Choice Air often has outstanding prices for one way international flights, realize these deeply discounted tickets are essentially consolidator tickets - so can be highly restrictive when things go awry (such as a missed connection or canceled fligh); as such building in more wiggle room than normal is prudent when taking advantage of these deeply discounted fares.

Next port is Cartagena Spain the next day. The next available port is 3 days later after embarkingand is in the Canary Islands.so possible to miss up to 3 days.

 

Yes it si a long trip. We will arrive around 2 am our home time so we will be tired even though we were able to find a great price for business class. However not lay flat sleeper.

 

Thanks for input

Seems you are going ahead with same day plans...time adjustment, travel delays all big all concerns. But wish u good luck!

OP has stated tickets are booked/purchased, so changing flights at this point may be a moot point.

There are a few posts where CA has gotten passengers to meet the ship, yet it appears that it was a few days into the sailing when they boarded.

The question I have is how comfortable they are, possibly boarding a few days later vs. not wanting to spending a day or two in Barcelona before, just in case? Apparently enough to book the flight(s).

Ultimately, the OP's question is valid as to 'how comfortable past passengers have been with CA services' which means to me, if I miss the sail away, will I still get to the ship at some point with CA's assistance.

I trust the OP will be taking out insurance as well, just to be covered in case a stay in Barcelona cannot be avoided for some reason.

bon voyage

It's one thing if you are booking a domestic nonstop flight with same day departure and there are many other flights you can be switched to if there is a problem. On the other hand, if it's an international flight (without many alternatives ) or connecting flights, too many things can go wrong to miss your ship . These factors go into our decisions generally as to whether we will arrive one or more days early before a cruise. In addition, if you've booked other than with CA and you miss embarkation, you're on your own to catch up with the ship in another port.

I read it that the cruise is booked but the flight isnt and the question is not moot

IMO, the OP is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They either fly the 22nd, which is Thanksgiving, or the 21st the day before Thanksgiving and one of the worst days to fly. If the flight is on the 22nd I would leave early and have a longer layover in Newark.

I would never fly in day of unless the ship had an overnight in that city.

The flight is not direct, there are way too many factors in play here that can go wrong. With all the plane changes, sometimes luggage does not get there either.

Also it is Thanksgiving. Flights are usually overbooked and or cancelled due to weather. The chances of getting another one are not that great.

Go the extra day.

I read it that the cruise is booked but the flight isnt and the question is not moot

I stand corrected. Thank you.

bon voyage

IMO, the OP is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They either fly the 22nd, which is Thanksgiving, or the 21st the day before Thanksgiving and one of the worst days to fly. If the flight is on the 22nd I would leave early and have a longer layover in Newark.

Oh my,,.,.two of the absolute worst travel days,...go early, enjoy Barcelona or areas nearby...

I think the more important question is, what if the flight is so delayed that you miss your ship? Where would you pick it up?

 

On the Eclipse Eastbound TA last month, dozens of people missed the ship because of bad weather. They then missed seven days of the cruise!

 

The first port was Punta Delgado, and yes, Choice Air got them there, but what a disappointment.

Well here's the answer to your question in a nutshell.

I was going to say, that I have personal experience with airfare through the cruise line that worked out well for us - the ship was held for at least half an hour for a group of about 20 of us that got bumped off our original flight from ATL to Barcelona - but that was a LONG time ago and was not Choice Air, it was RCCL air. The whole point of taking the cruise ship air is that sometimes it might be better than the deal you can get on your own , AND, more importantly, they are responsible for getting you there. Whether or not getting there a week late is acceptable to you, only you can answer.

I would assume that those people got some sort of compensation for missed week. Personally, I would go a day early. We just booked a TA from Southampton and we are going 3 days early, but we have always had bad luck with air transport, sometimes comically bad. We would never go day of unless we could swim to the ship somehow,

Nope haven’t bought tickets yet so have all my marbles to still play with...lol

Interesting point was made that going with choiceair vs direct with our airline is really a disadvantage. Choice may get you there but may not have as good of options as your airline you book direct with.

Just for fun I am gonna see just how many airlines service Barcelona from the states...if it’s even possible to do

Thanks for all of your inputs

I hope you go with your gut feeling after reading all these posts and evaluating all the possibilities too. I wish you luck in your decision making and the same for your cruise. I had people tell me that I could not make a flight from Southampton to LHR, so I changed it; since it was on a weekend, I would have been just fine, but again it depends on so many factors out of our control!

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I would so not do that! Save yourself the stress and worry, and just fly in the day before. You said yourself that you like Barcelona.

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