Should I be worried

We are sailing on the Mariner on the 17th of April. On advice of our T/A, we are flying out on the 17th. We are booked on Delta/Comair and are scheduled to arrive in orlando at 1:05. Should I be worried about this or shoud I try and change the flight?

I think it's always safer to arrive the day before.

That's really tight. At least if you had an early morning flight, there would be some room for error, but the timing of your flight means everything needs to go perfectly. Also, being a Sunday and busy spring break time, if your flight is delayed or cancelled it would be harder to find room on another flight. Our last two air trips just this past month have been pretty bad with delays and "complications." Just last night we were late getting into Newark with many people missing connections, then adding insult to injury the luggage conveyor belt jammed, and why they could not bring up luggage manually or use another conveyor is beyond me, but we had to wait 50 minutes for our suitcase. Part of our delay was weather, and part was because an overhead luggage bin wouldn't close and even though they took the carry-ons off, they still had to wait for mechanics to come fix it! And these types of things seem to be happening more and more. So, ideally my preference would be to fly in the day/night before my cruise, and if that is not an option, then the earliest flight possible on day of.

I live in the Orlando area and I would be nervous to even leave the airport at that time to head for the Port. I just mean for example, leaving a house near the airport. There is major traffic/ construction near the airport and the traffic on the major roads can come to a halt in the blink of an eye. It is getting more and more common for these deadly car accidents to shut down a highway for a few hours.

So air travel aside...I would leave home earlier then your plane comes in. If you can change it you might breathe a little easier. Just think if your luggage missed your flight and they put it on the next plane coming in to Orlando. You could expect to wit for your luggage. that happened on my last trip flying in from Newark. :eek:

We always fly in the day before... I've heard alot of different issues on this board of things that could go wrong...

Frank P. ....... You are taking a chance. When we take chances, we tend to worry.

It is probably safe to assume, that you are spending a nice chunk of change for this vacation. Why....would you want to add any worry to it?

If I were a TA. (I am not)..... I would always advise my clients to arrive at least one day early.

We drove to our port last week for a crusie. And....one day early.

My thought..: If stress can be avoided, do so.

I would be WAY to neurotic to arrive the "day of" :(

I will always plan to be at the departure city at least one day ahead.....but that's just me. Some people can deal with tight time-lines....I can't.

Frank, there have been a number of threads on this (and other cruiseline's) boards detailing horrific nightmares of missing the ship due to delayed flights, delayed luggage, etc. Any TA worth their salt would NEVER have a passenger fly in on such a tight schedule. One thing goes wrong and...there goes the ship, without you on it! Imagine all the hassles of trying to catch it at the next port...and all the expense, if you didn't book your flight through RCI.

This is the biggest mistake that first-time cruisers make. Take heed of all the advice that all of these experienced cruisers are giving you -- they know of what they speak. Do yourself a huge favor and change your flight to fly in the night before.

LeeAnne

You're leaving yourself with absolutly no comfort zone. Listen to everyone, other than your TA??, and fly down a day early, enjoy the evening and head to the ship the next morning. Scheduled to arrive at 1:05 p.m. the day of embarkation is way, way, way to close.

Stretch

Leaving the day before is not only the smart thing to do (to avoid a possible flight delay) but the rest and relaxation of walking onboard the ship in the morning after a peaceful nights sleep is the best that money can buy.

Why hassle with running through an airport, locating luggage, hailing a taxi, and racing to the port to make it on time, or at least an hour before the ship departs.

This is the biggest mistake that first-time cruisers make. Take heed of all the advice that all of these experienced cruisers are giving you -- they know of what they speak. Do yourself a huge favor and change your flight to fly in the night before.

 

Well said LeeAnn. I would be way too stressed (and tired) to fly in the day of. :D :D

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I work in the dispatch office of a major airline. We are the people who attempt to make sure that there is an aircraft, cockpit crew and a flight attendent crew for every scheduled flight. It is a very complex situation with many outside influences beyond the control of the airline. We are also the people that determine what flights get cancelled.... with all that said, fly in the day before, just like I do.

FYI, it is roughly an hour distance by car between MCO and Port Canaveral and that is if there is no traffic. With a 17:00 PM sailing, you are supposed to be boarding between 14:00-16:00. If your flight lands at 13:05, the earliest you can expect to have gotten off the plane, waited and retrieved your bags, found the shuttle stop (it gets worse if you are trying to rent a car, but I assume you are not if you are just arriving day of) is about 13:45. Thus the earliest you could arrive at the port would be 14:45-15:00...not very much breathing space.

The BeeLine Expressway can back up for no reason (even if there isn't the aforementioned car accident) on a busy day. Unfortunatley, every day is busy and it doesn't revolve around the work day since there is a huge amount of traffic between Orlando and the Space Coast. Many people who are visiting in the Orlando area with rental cars are driving out for cruises and/or visiting Kennedy Space Center or the big trek to RonJon's surf shop, or the beach, yada yada yada. I have worked at KSC for flight missions and commuted for weekends to my parents house in the Orlando area and I've been caught in a nasty backup on the Beeline before (and there is no reasonable alternative road to get out there) The amount of traffic on that road could easily cause you to be a couple of hours late. And then you might miss the 16:00 deadline (all passengers are expected to be ONBOARD at 16:00.

If you have to arrive day of, I would make sure you arrived by 11:00 at the latest ... and even then, I would be nervous and jumpy. See how much it would cost to move your flight to the day before.

We are sailing on the Mariner on the 17th of April. On advice of our T/A, we are flying out on the 17th. We are booked on Delta/Comair and are scheduled to arrive in orlando at 1:05. Should I be worried about this or shoud I try and change the flight?

on our cruise last December ( I live at Lake tahoe, 95 miles to SAC airport) I flew to LA from Sacramento the day before, got to San Pedro about 6:30 P.M. had a nice quiet dinner, sat in the hot tub and just realaxed had a nice breakfast went to the ship and was having lunce by 12:30. On the ship I met a family who lives in Reno about 55 miles from where I live. They flight on South West was to leave Reno at about 8:30 A.M. and its only a 1 hour flight. well that Week Reno had some of the worst fog in its history and this family did make thet ship but they got to the dock at 4:35 P.M. for a 5 P.M. Sailing.

The reason I chose to fly from Sacramento was I have family there and I drove to Sac on Friday for a Saturday flight, That way if by some reason the airport was closed because of weather I could awalys drive to LA (8 hour drive) and still make the cruise. I just like to have options open to me.

I have been reading messages on CC for some time now and the family from Reno's story in not that uncommen.

fly down early

Bob P.

I think I'd be pretty angry with my TA, leaving such a small window to make the ship. I would fly in a day early, but if I had to fly in the same day I would be arriving a lot earlier than you are. Orlando traffic can be a nightmare! :eek: If you can change to an earlier flight or the day before you should do it....the extra expense would seem like pennies if you miss the ship! :eek:

Oh, and YES you should be worried.

Frank P,

I am assuming that you are in the Northeast since you are going April 17. If not, be aware that that is school break in the Northeast. I'm not sure if you will be able to get an earlier flight. Most flights have been soldout since the summer. My fingers are crossed for you.

Ditto what everyone else has said about the TA.

We did something similar - we flew out of Cincinnati and into West Palm Beach, then rented a car and drove down to Miami. The day of the cruise.

Long-story-short, we made it.

Here's the long story:

1) Major security backup at the airport. We literally had to run to catch our flight. Cincinnati has an enormous airport - that was a long run.:eek:

2) Our flight landed on-time, went to the rental car desk and found out that they had no record of my car reservation. Had to board the shuttle bus to Hertz.:eek:

3) Finally have the rental car. Get on the interstate and are doing well for about 10 miles, then it turns into a parking lot. Construction and very heavy rain. We're now averaging about 10mph.:eek:

4) Drop-off the rental car in Miami and are told we have to wait about 5 minutes for the van that will drop us off at the port. End-up waiting 25 minutes.:eek:

We saved a lot of money on the flights and not needing a hotel room, but it certainly wasn't worth it. Next time, we'll definitely fly-in the evening before!

Frank --

What everyone has said is true to some extent, but it is not the end of the world.

While the people on these boards all fly in a day early, that's not always possible & thousands of cruise passangers who are no on these boards fly in the day of all the time. The horror stories do happen & they are so upsetting, everyone focuses on them. Millions of poeple arrive on time everyday.

That said, if you can change your flight, do it. If you can't "officially" change it, check out the Delta web site & find out what's leaving from your area earlier. Then arrive at the AP in time to make that earlier flight & see if you can fly standby. That's what we did last cruise. We got in 4 hours earlier & it was great. There is no cost to do this, either. ALso buy the travel insurance, just for the peace of mind.

We'll all keep our fingers crossed for you.

Trish

Hi Frank- We are also on the Mariner on 4/17!! I agree with Trish, if you can change your flight, do it, otherwise try and standby for an earlier flight. Hate for your vacation to start out being stressed out on whether or not you will make it in time.

26 days til we sail!!!

Amy

Went back to T/A and tried to find an alternate flight. RCCL said there is nothing they could do for me. I looked at booking my own air and cancelling theirs and the cheapest ticket price I could find was over $1200.00(flying out of Buffalo,NY). With hotel and meals I was looking at almost $1500.00. At this point I'll leave things as they are, go for the ride and hope for the best

A lesson well learned here. Thanks to all for the advise

Frank......I too am on the 4/17 Mariner with AMYT we will wait for you.........

Don't worry too much you will make it..........

Terry

RI CLAN

25 more to go Frank and Amy