Same Day Arrival IN Jan

[P&J Cruiser]

Ok, this is not our frist cruise, it's our 5th. But this is the first time were flying in the same day as departure. Yes I know it can be risky. But were on a 6:40 AM non stop to Ft Lauderdale a 3 hour flight. Yes it's in Jan , but the ship does not leave till 400. And I have been on ships that did'nt leave till 600 because of late arrivals. I also heard that with a 400 departure they "close" the gates at 200 . Is there any truth to this? Anyway I guess were just looking for some positive same day arrival feedback . J&J

[CanadaJulie]

Well, I've done a January flight from Canada same day and made it just fine. Same as you, early direct flight - we were on board by 1ish.

 

Having said that, this past January our flight went mechanical and we had a several hour delay. (we were going out a day early so it didn't matter)

 

Is it do-able ? Yes ! Would it be my 1st choice ? No !

 

Make sure you have travel insurrance which will cover you in the event of a delay.

 

As for the arrival desk closing at 2pm for a 4 pm sail ? Not sure on that one - I do know the APIS information has to be transmitted 60 mins prior to departure and that sometimes they will hold the ship if there are a lot of missing pax (they will likely NOT hold a ship if there are only 2 missing).

 

Good luck !

[happy cruzin]

You don't say where you are coming from - and that probably is the key to how much stress will occur. We come from Pittsburgh - in January or February and have done same day arrivals on many occasions - when our schedule has not permitted us to leave the day early.

We have NEVER had a problem - but it has been stressful if we have bad weather in Pittsburgh. Even with the direct flight - if you have to get out of bad weather it can be dicey.

Not sure about the 2:00 time - I thought you had to be on board one hour prior to departure because that is when they turn over the manifest. But I could be wrong.

[P&J Cruiser]

Were coming from Providence , and if there's a forcast for a blizzard we will "punt" and try to get out the day before, as Im sure 100 others will. But I have a good feeling, which if you add 1.00 will get you a cup of coffee

[winterfleer]

Out of the 10 cruises I've been on, I travelled the same day on about 6 of them. These 6 have been in the Jan/Feb timeframe and I've had 2 close calls.

 

Back in 1999, I was travelling from Saginaw, Michigan to Miami for a 10-night Southern Caribbean cruise. We were leaving on New Years Day. The day before leaving, Continental calls me to tell me the flight was cancelled and that I am being booked on a Northwest flight. I'd just have to go to the Cont. desk, pick up a paper ticket, and give it to the Northwest people (no problem, it's a very small airport). This is where the problem starts. I show up and there's no one there at the Continental desk (probably because don't have another flight leaving until much later that morning). So I walk 10 feet over to the NW desk and ask them about my reservation. They say "Oh yes, we have your reservation, can I see your paper tickets?" You see where this is going. Anyway, I thought I was going to have to purchase the NW tickets and fight with Continental later, but the NW supervisor made some phone calls and we made the flight. A little stressful, but all worked out in the end.

 

My other close call was about 8 years ago, again cruising out of Miami. We had a early morning flight out of Flint, Michigan with a stopover in Atlanta. As were on final approach into Atlanta, we come out of the clouds and we're literally almost on the ground. Big ice storm in the GA/NC/SC area. We may not get out of here.

 

Suprisingly, at 9am, they announce boarding for our flight to Miami. So we get on the plane, and its pushed back from the terminal. The captain gets on the intercom, and make the following announcement, "Welcome to flight xx to Miami...I have some good news and some bad news...the good news is that since we are in line to take off we will be leaving Atlanta...the bad news is that we have to be de-iced just prior to takeoff, there are only 2 de-icing trucks, it takes about 30 minutes to de-ice, and we're #12 in line." We sat on the plane and didn't take off until 3pm, 6 hours later.

 

It seemed like half of that flight was going to be getting on some cruise ship that day. The flight attendants were great, and called all of the cruise lines to tell them of our situation. We didn't get on the ship until about 6pm. As it turned out, the ship ended up waiting for about 200 passengers that were coming in from NC/SC. We didn't leave that night until about midnight.

 

Two close calls, so now I try not to travel the same day.

 

My advice for same-day travellers would be to at least make sure that you buy travel insurance (just in case). Have a great cruise.

[happy cruzin]

Out of the 10 cruises I've been on, I travelled the same day on about 6 of them. These 6 have been in the Jan/Feb timeframe and I've had 2 close calls.

 

<Snip>

 

Two close calls, so now I try not to travel the same day.

 

My advice for same-day travellers would be to at least make sure that you buy travel insurance (just in case). Have a great cruise.

 

Good advice - for LOTS of reasons!! ;) :D

[uppitycats]

Generally you have to be on board at least 90 minutes before the ship is to set sail...so wherever you got that 2 hour information is probably close to right -- gives you a little leeway should there be any glitches along the way, like trouble with your documentation.

 

That doesn't give you lots of time for plane delays, whether due to weather, or any other issues, like on the ground traffic to get to the port.

 

Your flight is direct, a good thing. If you can hustle out of the airport and into a cab, you will likely be OK. But I wouldn't risk it, myself.

[manmtnmike]

You don't say where you are coming from - and that probably is the key to how much stress will occur. We come from Pittsburgh - in January or February and have done same day arrivals on many occasions - when our schedule has not permitted us to leave the day early.

 

We have NEVER had a problem - but it has been stressful if we have bad weather in Pittsburgh. Even with the direct flight - if you have to get out of bad weather it can be dicey.

 

Not sure about the 2:00 time - I thought you had to be on board one hour prior to departure because that is when they turn over the manifest. But I could be wrong.

 

It is a calculated risk, for sure.

 

It isn't always about what departure city you're flying out of ....What if there's a snow storm in Chicago or Detroit, etc. and they close off your connecting flight....you lose as well as the storm hitting Pit. One cruise we were on over a dozen people missed boarding for that very reason.

 

Now we only fly in the dAY BEFORE...WHO NEEDS THE EXTRA STESS, WHEN YOU COULD BE STARTING YOUR VACATION A DAY EARLY (whoops hit the cap button):pon a wonderful florida beach.

 

mike

[P&J Cruiser]

Thanks for all you good advice. I think were looking for more "made" it stories than "close calls" . But were happy for the positive feedback.

[Poomah]

Only did same day 1 time and that was our very first cruise. Will try to never do that again now that we know better. Of course the cruise out of Norfolk was local so we did fine but still got there plenty early.

 

Much prefer to go in 1 or even 2 days early to avoid stress.

[seguincruiser]

I hope the best for you. I think it depends on you. I can't handle the stress of late flights, traffic, lost luggage or anything else that might make us miss the ship. I would advise you, like everyone else, to purchare travel insurance. Have a great trip.:)

[serene56]

Most cruisers fly out the same day as the cruise.

 

 

For me-- its not worth the stress.

 

First cruise we booked the same day- flight was at 6:40am and cruise leaves at 4pm. Flight was cancelled and the next flight we can get on would have us arriving at 5pm./ (most of the other flights leaving that same day are sold out) What a mess-- and the stress of missing that cruise. We arrived with 5 minutes to spare-- they pulled the gangway up with us as we were walking up

 

With airlines cutting back services-- if there is a storm- whats the chances of you moving that flight to an earlier one (for free no less)?

 

My honey MUST work on the Saturday before we leave and will manage to get on the last flight out for the night on Saturday

[cgrout78]

I did same day in January...and didn't make it. Now I know better than to try to make it out of Minn. Ours was the first flight of the day and they hadn't thought to de-ice the plane until take-off time. Sooo...yeah...all downhill from there.

 

Not what you were wanting to hear, sorry!

[NYGoose82]

We left out of NYC on the same day as our cruise in January and had no problems what so ever.

[golfadj]

Years ago when the airlines were more reliable service wise we would fly in day of the cruise.

 

Now we would always fly in the day before but if we had to would do what we normally do not and take the insurance.

[hlb76]

I know how it goes once we where not able to fly in day prior. I was wreck the day before and all day until we got on the ship. Even landing in Mia was not comforting. We have never (knock on wood) had issues getting into Mia from Minnesota.

 

Once we had issues getting home. Of all places trying to leave Mia. The plan had issues so we where delayed hours it was horrible by the time we got to Chicago we had no choice but to stay over night it was that late. After a sleepless night and a rush back to the airport in the AM we boarded our flight just to get delayed by a snow storm that came in. It was miserable! But I was very thankful it happened post cruise no pre.

 

Good luck have a great trip!

[tess2cruz]

I have only did same day once, from TX to Miami, and we had no problems BUT anything could have and we were so stressed until we got on the ship, we decided that stress was just not worth it. We spent the whole week before stressing, watching the same flights all week to see if delays were commen. NEVER AGAIN.

The funny thing is on the way home, we did have a problem, big storm in Houston delayed our landing missed our connecting flight to El Paso, and had to spend the night in Houston. Showed us also, anything can happen, and too often does.

[Jen1000]

I believe Carnival says all are to be on 2 hours prior to departure of the ship. They do let people on after that, I have seen it. I don't know if this is true for everyone who shows up late though. Also, sometimes the ship will wait and other times it will not. There are many stories posted on here about the ship not waiting. I won't give you any positive feedback on your plan though, it sounds risky to me. We have had too many problems with flights, both cruise and non cruise related that it would make me too nervous that I may miss my cruise. Best of luck to you.

 

Jen in SoCal

 

 

Ok, this is not our frist cruise, it's our 5th. But this is the first time were flying in the same day as departure. Yes I know it can be risky. But were on a 6:40 AM non stop to Ft Lauderdale a 3 hour flight. Yes it's in Jan , but the ship does not leave till 400. And I have been on ships that did'nt leave till 600 because of late arrivals. I also heard that with a 400 departure they "close" the gates at 200 . Is there any truth to this? Anyway I guess were just looking for some positive same day arrival feedback . J&J

[TahoeBob]

Ok, this is not our frist cruise, it's our 5th. But this is the first time were flying in the same day as departure. Yes I know it can be risky. But were on a 6:40 AM non stop to Ft Lauderdale a 3 hour flight. Yes it's in Jan , but the ship does not leave till 400. And I have been on ships that did'nt leave till 600 because of late arrivals. I also heard that with a 400 departure they "close" the gates at 200 . Is there any truth to this? Anyway I guess were just looking for some positive same day arrival feedback . J&J

***** my first cruise I was sailing from San Pedro Calif, (near long beach) I flew the day before from Sacramento. I met a person the ship that flew from Reno the same day.(Sacramento is 35 miles further than Reno from my house) Reno was hit with the worst fog in over 30 years, his 9:00 a.m. one hour flight from Reno to LAX was late leaving Reno and he reached the ship with 10 minutes to spare.

[mrpayroll]

You could be scheduled to fly out the day before and if a storm hits, everything gets backed up. Like the saying goes. sh** happens. We go out the same day and have never had any problems. Could we? Yes. I am not going to lose sleep over it though.....We leave from Michigan....

[P&J Cruiser]

Thanks for all your help, we have just booked Sunday the day before. So we will spend the afternoon at the pool at our hotel, that I can live with. Were sailing on Destiny on the 24th of Jan, if your in Lauderdale the day before and want to have dinner, give us a shout.

J&J

[manmtnmike]

We're considering flying in 2 days before...leaving out of "snow country". As I said... better to start the vacation early then start it too late:)

 

Mike