Wedding Saturday in LA, CA and Cruise Sunday in Carribean Can I make this work?

[sixfoot6]

I'm in a giant pickle here, anyone's help or advice is greatly appreciated!

 

I'm getting married April 9th of this year. Our ideal honeymoon is a 7-day cruise of the Caribbean. I was initially looking at cruises out of Miami on Royal Caribbean, on the big boats to the Western Caribbean.

 

I found a direct flight out of LAX at 7:15am (ouch, our reception lasts till midnight) arriving in Miami at exactly 3pm. However, when I purchase the cruise/air package, I'm not told what my flight I'll be on (at least not yet). The travel agent believed it would be a red-eye :( This really wont work, mostly because I can't imagine leaving the romantic setting of a wedding for a busy airport in the middle of the night, not to mention the rough night of "sleep" and full day of waiting the next day. Can anyone confirm that the "default" flight would be a red-eye, and not this early direct flight?

 

So I decided to look to a closer city, New Orleans. Carnival's big boat, Conquest, runs a similar route and looks great. Unfortunately the direct flight from LAX leaves in the later AM and gets in too late, but a hop through Houston gets me in at 2:17pm. This looked good, but the result from the travel agent was the same.

 

They want me to put money down and see what my default flight is 60 days prior to debark (sometime in Feb). If it's a red-eye, for $100 extra (plus additional cost of airfare, which by then will be bad) I can "custom flight" my trip and they'll work with me to find a better flight. However, if they can't find something that works I get a full refund (minus the travel agent fee). It'll be Feb then, and I'll be really late to the party.

 

So, the short of it is:

 

1. Would Carnival fly me on the morning flight from LAX to New Orleans by default if I buy airfare through them?

 

2. If I bought air fare myself, is 2:17pm too late to make it to the 5:00 boarding?

 

3. Any other ideas? There *are* Monday cruises out of FL but they're only 4 day and 5 day on the smaller boats. There *are* 7 day cruises out of Los Angeles here, but I've been to Mexico quite a bit and the Caribbean is just calling me :)

 

Thanks so much for the help!

[hdawson]

Travel agent fees? What's that? TAs are paid commisions for booking your business.

[sixfoot6]

This was through Yahoo and there was a $75 fee for cancellations.

 

However, their cruise packaged air is on special for $299 instead of the $550ish offered to me through AAA and expedia.

 

The real negative to that option, though, is that it seems I wouldn't find out if they could make the 2:17pm Sunday arrival work until 60 days prior to debark, which is mid-February. *AND* if they can make it work, it's $50 a ticket plus the difference in ticket prices. I'd imagine a day direct is much more expensive than a red-eye direct.

[hdawson]

Try working with some full service TAs rather than a bulk seller of travel. Online or local. One that you can "talk" to whenever you have a question.

Try some on the main Cruise Critic boards under Community or Bargains listed at the top of the page.

[Globaliser]

If your reception goes until midnight, I would have thought that a Sunday cruise in the Caribbean is too risky. You are relying on too much to go perfectly. For example, a non-stop flight to Miami arriving at 11 am would still give you a cushion against, for example, a 2 hour mechanical delay. But a 3 pm arrival does not.

 

Your risks are magnified if you connect. In addition to the risks of delays to either sector, there could be schedule changes between now and then making your connection impossible, or your baggage might misconnect.

 

None of this matters too much if your trip isn't critical, but unfortunately flying to a cruise ship leaving the same day is a time-critical journey.

 

Also, I would be surprised if you could make it to any red-eye flight from the west coast - as far as I can see, all red-eyes from LAX to MIA depart before midnight. Although there seem to be a red-eyes from LAX to IAH at about 0100, you still can't make that if your reception only finishes at midnight.

[Jimbo]

You're trying to do to much.......... You're not going to enjoy the wedding or the cruise this way. You are going to be so tired the first few days of the cruise.

 

Better off getting a hotel room the first night in Florida and then take a shorter cruise. You will enjoy it more this way.

 

Jimbo:)

[sdcruiser]

How about Celebrity Galaxy out of Galveston TX on April 14th? This is an 11-day Caribbean/Panama Canal cruise. If you can take this much time off after your wedding, this might be another option for you.

 

Good Luck!

 

SDCruiser

[jerseygirl3]

I agree with the other poster who said you are trying to do too much in two days. Is there any way you can leave on your honeymoon the following weekend?

[sixfoot6]

Oh wow. The Celebrity Summit leaves on the 11th, giving us a full day to travel. That looks perfect. Combined with the ULTRA LOW fares to FL right now ($250 rdtrp each), this looks very very viable.

 

 

So another question then, how much more am I going to spend going 11 night Celebrity instead of 7 night Royal Caribbean? Meaning, is it more "upscale" and therefore more expensive day-to-day? And I imagine another 4 days of spending should be counted in too.

 

But it sounds fantastic!

 

Thanks for the suggestions, and the warning on trying to do too much, I'm coming to really agree.

[jerseygirl3]

Note that the Celebrity Galaxy does not leave out of FL; it leaves out of Galveston, TX.

[sixfoot6]

Gotcha. I saw the Galaxy and then saw the Summit too, which leaves out of FL and is a Caribbean only 10-day, instead of the Galaxy's 11-day Panama, and it leaves on the 11th instead of the 14th, which is better for our plans.

 

Thanks for the catch tho :)

[jerseygirl3]

I've heard nothing but good things about the Summit. We're cruising Celebrity for the first time on March 11, ten-day Summit cruise. We're experienced cruisers, but we've never done a 10 day, nor a Celebrity cruise. I think if you can swing it, that would be a great honeymoon, especially since it fits into your schedule so well.

[mollyeilis]

I don't know how long you have for your honeymoon, but here's what we did.

 

Wedding a state away on Sunday. Lazed around Monday getting back up home. Spent lazy partial week opening joint checking account, adding each other's names to existing accounts, getting change we'd saved turned into cash for tip money...then made our way up to Vancouver BC on Friday, then Saturday (6 days after wedding) got on our ship to go to Alaska.

 

So all in all we had a 2 week honeymoon, and didn't have to do any "paperwork" when we got back!

 

On the other hand, I have friends who left their wedding reception early, drove over the mountains to Seattle, and caught an EARLY morning flight to Spain for their honeymoon. They enjoyed their honeymoon just as much as we did (though they did not end up with a honeymoon baby like we did LOL).

 

But I recommend the *take a slow week to get to cruise departure point* more. :)

 

Good luck!

[jnc411]

Just a suggestion , but why not fly to Hawaii for a week ?? Less stress.

Congrats and Happy Honeymoon.

Cori

[sdcruiser]

The Summit is supposed to be great, as the others have said.

 

We've sailed the Century and Mercury and loved both.

 

You won't regret this ship or Celebrity cruises for a honeymoon.

 

SDCRuiser

[OurBabymoon]

Hi! My sister is also getting married on Saturday April 9th. They are in Austin, TX. abd they also wanted a caribbean honeymoon. They opted out for the Adventure of the Seas which sails late on Sunday april 10th, 2005 thus given them some time to really finish the wedding reception and at least have breakfast with the out-of-town guests on sunday before departing for their honeymoon. This is just a sugestion since the southern caribbean cruises are really nice, but maybe by now you have already decided on something else. Best on luck and congratulations on your wedding.