Fly Aweigh Program arriving 1 hour before boarding closes

[woodsy64]

It sounds like you are on the same flight we are on. It was much cheaper through the fly-away program for us. We are coming from Canada. We really had no choice anyway because we could not fly in the day before. My vacation days are determined by my employer and cannot be changed. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out. My PVP assures us that there will be no problems with our transfer from the airport and we will not miss embarktion. Fingers crossed.

[StillPooh]

I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out. My PVP assures us that there will be no problems with our transfer from the airport and we will not miss embarktion. Fingers crossed.

We used the program for our very first Carnival cruise, back in the early 90's. I remember being very anxious about how late we were getting into Miami as well. When we arrived, there was a Carnival rep at baggage claim and a bus waiting. We didn't make it with *much* to spare, but we made it!

[nunuc2000]

I have spoken with rose Marie and angel at carnival. Angel was really helpful. Rose Marie told me to make sure I had trip insurance. No carnival supervisors will get on the phone. Janesse at delta went the extra mile too. Everyone at carnival agrees this makes no sense. Yet the powers that be are choosing to do nothing to fix it. If anyone knows the names of a supervisor I would be greatful to have it.

 

Do you have an email address I can contact you at? .... I think I can help you. We had MASSIVE issues with fly aweigh prior to our cruise last month (not arrival time, but other stuff), and also spent countless hours trying to fix things with carnival and various airlines.

 

Celine

[Ginger27]

Our first cruise we used Fly Aweigh. We were supposed to fly in the night before, flights cancelled, overnight stay in Toronto instead of Miami, but there was a rep at the airport and we made it to the ship at 3:50 p.m. We were ushered onto the ship and given our sign and sail cards on board. Next thing you know we were at the muster drill. I was in touch with Carnival from the minute our flights were changing and they talked me down off the ledge lol. I am sure that if we had not booked everything through Carnival, we would not have made it. :eek:

[nunuc2000]

Ideasamy...? did you see my last post?

 

Celine

[kicia]

Along these lines - the current "Fly Aweigh" page on the website now indicates "Carnival's Fly Aweigh® program arranges convenient flights to and from all our ports of embarkation. Our trained in-house team monitors flight operations for any delays or interruptions to ensure the coordination of your arrival to the ship. Should you experience a flight problem or delay, Carnival will be responsible for getting you to your next destination by securing flights, hotels and meals, if applicable, at no cost to you." ken

 

I don't know if you have passports but if you have to be flown to the next port I don't think you can unless you have passports. Unless it's to San Juan or St. Thomas. That was the problem that the people in San Juan had when the Victory left early to beat the storm. Those that had passports were flown to the next port while those that did not have them were out of luck.

[greatam]

:confused:

 

It sounds like they are guaranteeing the ship will wait for Fly Aweigh passengers. So what's the problem?

 

 

They WILL NOT hold the ship for a few passengers. Maybe for a whole planeload but NOT just for a few. There are NO GUARANTEES with cruise air (everyone seems to think they will get you to the next port, hold the ship, charter a plane, get you a helicopter, etc. etc.) to make it to the ship.

 

The FINAL arbiter of what almost ANY cruise line provides in the way of a GUARANTEE getting you to the ship is the CRUISE CONTRACT. PLEASE read paragraph #10. http://www.carnival.com/cms/static_templates/ticket_contract.aspx

 

Air, hotels, excursions, ANYTHING that is not DIRECTLY operated by the cruise line (which is the ship and tenders and some transport and hotels- in Alaska predominantly- which are ACTUALLY OWNED and controlled by the cruise line) are done as a CONVENIENCE for the passenger and the cruise line has NO liability or responsibility to get you to the cruise, provide you with a hotel room or anything else. All right there in writing. The ONLY thing they HAVE to do is refund your money for the "extras" you purchased.

 

I wish the OP luck but I certainly hope the OP has passports, a good credit line and GOOD INSURANCE. To have the insurance pay off, you ABSOLUTELY have to make an effort to get to the ship. And those tickets to the next port most likely will have to be paid for UP FRONT, then reimbursed by insurance.

 

There is a sticky in this forum which explains ALL the downsides to cruise air.

 

Good luck

[greatam]

Well, it's not like boarding a plane...if you get to the dock and the boat is still there, they WILL let you on. And you will likely have a number of other passengers racing with you, so that makes it even more likely the cheapskates at Carnival will wait a few minutes rather than have to pay to fly y'all to the first port of call and put you up.

 

Good luck!

 

This is not always true. Forget the cruise line. The passenger manifests MUST be turned into Homeland Security at a minimum of ONE HOUR before the ship sails. And it takes about 1/2 hour to prepare and transmit the manifest. That is why the majority of cruise lines REQUIRE you to check in 1.5-2 hours early.

[Ken076]

They WILL NOT hold the ship for a few passengers. Maybe for a whole planeload but NOT just for a few. There are NO GUARANTEES with cruise air (everyone seems to think they will get you to the next port, hold the ship, charter a plane, get you a helicopter, etc. etc.) to make it to the ship.

 

The FINAL arbiter of what almost ANY cruise line provides in the way of a GUARANTEE getting you to the ship is the CRUISE CONTRACT. PLEASE read paragraph #10. http://www.carnival.com/cms/static_templates/ticket_contract.aspx

 

Air, hotels, excursions, ANYTHING that is not DIRECTLY operated by the cruise line (which is the ship and tenders and some transport and hotels- in Alaska predominantly- which are ACTUALLY OWNED and controlled by the cruise line) are done as a CONVENIENCE for the passenger and the cruise line has NO liability or responsibility to get you to the cruise, provide you with a hotel room or anything else. All right there in writing. The ONLY thing they HAVE to do is refund your money for the "extras" you purchased.

 

I wish the OP luck but I certainly hope the OP has passports, a good credit line and GOOD INSURANCE. To have the insurance pay off, you ABSOLUTELY have to make an effort to get to the ship. And those tickets to the next port most likely will have to be paid for UP FRONT, then reimbursed by insurance.

 

There is a sticky in this forum which explains ALL the downsides to cruise air.

 

Good luck

 

Along these lines.........

 

Section 6 of the Cruise Contract does indicate that "reservations will be held until 30 minutes before departure" - but that's cutting things a bit close.

 

There's nothing that I can find anywhere (binding) that indicates Carnival "guarantees" they will hold the ship for latecomers - they may choose to do so if it's convenient, if they can make-up the time, there are enough "latecomers" likely to arrive w/in reasonable time - but I don't see that they have to or for how long.

 

The relevant Cruise contract sections addressing "Fly Aweigh" are are at the end of the contract "Terms and Conditions for Fly Aweigh Airfare supplements":

 

Section 2 indicates "

If your flight is delayed, refer to

http://www.carnival.com/flyaweigh

" which indicates "

Our trained in-house team monitors flight operations for any delays or interruptions to ensure the coordination of your arrival to the ship. Should you experience a flight problem or delay, Carnival will be responsible for getting you to your next destination by securing flights, hotels and meals, if applicable, at no cost to you.

"

I'd be happier if the contract itself

included

these words.

 

Section 4 "Carnival assumes no liability for

airline's acts or omissions

, including....flight delays...." which IMO limits Carnival's legal liability for problems within the Airline's control (versus backed-up runway, weather, backed-up landings.....).

bottom line - when booking cruiseline airfare (1) it's probably preferable to pay the optional, extra surcharge to be able to select your itinerary and avoid the latecommer situation, (2) while there's some indication that Carnival will step-up get you to the ship (eventually) it might be preferable to get decent Trip Insurance. (3) if you are running late, stay in touch with Carnival.

 

ken

[PegNRay]

Fedex a letter of complaint to Cahill's office. It worked for me with a similar situation many years ago. Bottom line--my flight was changed to an earlier flight. That was the first and last time I used Carnival air.

[ideasamy]

Amy@destinationroad.com. Thanks

[gapearl]

:confused:

 

It sounds like they are guaranteeing the ship will wait for Fly Aweigh passengers. So what's the problem?

 

It doesn't look like they always wait.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=29650679&posted=1#post29650679

 

Good luck to everyone with the flight issues. I don't know why the Carnival reps won't use some common sense when booking flights for customers.

[alcpa1]

You have several issues which are applicable to every cruise line.

1. Your arrival by air could be delayed. These things do happen.

2. Homeland Security must have the manifest processed before the ship's timely departure.

3. Regardless of what you have been told there is absolutely no guarantee that the ship will not sail without you.

4. In order to fly you to the next port of call outside the US and its territories you must have a valid passport with more than 6 months remaining before expiration.

5. There is also no guarantee that the cruise line will provide you with air to your first port if they can't get seats.

6. Travel insurance will only assist after the fact and by contract you must make every possible attempt to meet the ship at your own expense (for later refund.)

7. Keep every receipt and record of your transactions. Pay any additional fees by credit card and keep the receipts in a secure place. You will need them.

8. The only thing that will expedite your airport transfer is to avoid checking luggage.

9. I've never seen or heard of it being done but if the Carnival airport staff could expedite your check in via phone or text that would give you the only breather in your circumstance.

10. The other option that you have is to book your own flights and throw away the tickets from Carnival. You will have to book a round trip ticket since you will not be flying the first portion of the ticket and your return will be automatically cancelled. Don't count on a refund from Carnival. The most they will probably or might do is offer you an OBC or a discount on your next Carnival cruise, and I wouldn't count on that either.

This is no way to take a vacation and I am sorry that you have encountered such headaches.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

:confused:

 

It sounds like they are guaranteeing the ship will wait for Fly Aweigh passengers. So what's the problem?

 

I guess you missed some of the post from other pax that had this similar situation.

 

One persons family landed late and they had them on the bus the whole time they were on the bus to the port radioing them back and forth.

 

They were told the ship is still there they told them and assured them they'd wait.

 

Got to the pier, no ship, gone !

 

that's just one instance i remember.

 

There are others.

 

Bill

[goose30]

It seems to me that people need to take a deep breath. While missing the ship, for whatever reason, surely will disrupt your holiday it will not be as drastic as the heart attack that you might get from over reacting.

 

If you choose the cruise lines air package its done. Live with it. If you miss the ship. live with it and see it as an added adventure.

 

The only thing that you can do and you should have done is get and take a passport with you in case you have to fly at the cruise lines expense.

 

Again decision made sit back and enjoy what you can. Learn from the experience. Its only money, I know for most of us it is a lot of money, but not your life or health.

 

Good luck, enjoy every minute of every aspect of your trip even if it is not going the way you hoped or wanted.

 

Live, Love, Laugh and be Happy.

 

Other option: cancel cruise air eat the fare and book your own. Don't cancel until you have other arrangements or you may be doubly sorry.

[greatam]

Along these lines.........

 

Section 6 of the Cruise Contract does indicate that "reservations will be held until 30 minutes before departure" - but that's cutting things a bit close.

 

Your RESERVATION may be held but if your name is NOT on the DHS manifest at the time it is transmitted, the ship WILL sail without you from a US port. Your RESERVATION is still intact, but you would have to join the ship at a later port. This is all addressed in the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 19 CFR Parts 4 and 122; 6 CFR Part 5

 

"For sea travel, CBP will require vessel carriers to transmit passenger and crew manifests for vessels departing from the United States no later than 60 minutes prior to departure.

 

For vessels departing from foreign ports destined to arrive at a U.S. port, CBP is retaining the current requirement to transmit passenger and crew arrival manifest data at least 24

hours and up to 96 hours prior to the vessel’s entry at the U.S. port of arrival."

 

This section adopted as final in February, 2008

 

 

You hit the Catch 22 right on the nail. And it is the same Catch 22 with Choice Air and Princess EZ Air. The CRUISE CONTRACT refers to a website which is NOT part of the actual CRUISE CONTRACT.

 

Will you get help to the next port???? A VERY BIG MAYBE. The Carnival rep asking if the OP has insurance is a BIG giveaway.

 

One thing that became VERY evident with cruise air during the Princess "earthquake" cruise out of Valparaiso Chile-those with CRUISE LINE insurance and CRUISE AIR were "helped" much more than those who had cruise air but purchased their own insurance or had no insurance. Very, very few were "helped" because the ticket class the cruise lines purchase tickets in generally allow NO rerouting, NO changing airlines, no deviation from the original tickets. The few who were already in the air when the Santiago airport was made unusable were diverted to another airport by the airline (most to EZE) AND if they had cruise line insurance were flown to Ushuaia or Puenta Arenas at the cruise line expense to join the ship.

 

Those still in the USA when the earthquake struck were just SOL even IF they had cruise line insurance because of the ticket class cruise lines purchase tickets in (which is duly noted in the actual FlyAWeigh addendum to the actual cruise contract-lowest economy fare WITH fare restrictions). The Princes cruise air tickets COULD NOT be rerouted to Buenos Aires due to the fare restrictions. If they could have been rerouted, the cruise lines could have hired the luxury South American buses to get passengers via road to Valparaiso to the ship. Over 500 people missed their cruise entirely, primarily due to the non endorsable, non reroutable cruise air tickets. NO REFUNDS for the cruise, just a refund for air.

 

Why is the combination critical in some circumstances? Because most cruise lines use insurance administered by Berkley Care but is ACTUALLY underwritten by the cruise line (self insured or reinsured through someone like Lloyd's). So they pay for a few airline tickets, reap the profits off all the other insurance and are GUARANTEED to be repaid for their expenditures.

 

PS-I am a non practicing attorney who specializes in transportation and runs an international logistics company. I do know what I speak of. And I flew into Santiago right after the earthquake for business. Actually, I was on an AA flight to Santiago. But because it was a PUBLISHED FARE ticket without most of the restrictions, I was able to transfer the ticket to LAN who WAS flying into Mendoza. LAN then provided a free bus to Santiago.

 

The sticky in the cruise air forum carefully explains EXACTLY what situation cruise air tickets can leave you in IF there is a glitch. NOT pretty. I fly over 100,000 miles per year for business (I am currently in the lounge at LHR waiting for my flight to Kuwait). We book between 500-600 air tickets per year for our customers. We DO NOT book consolidator/vacation package/cruise package tickets with all the restrictions UNLESS our customers sign a release of liability if they become stranded and do not make it to their destination at the time they expected. Cruise lines just sell you these highly restricted tickets WITHOUT letting their customers KNOW what kind of deep doo-doo they could be in IF there is a glitch.

 

 

There is a way to match or get something cheaper than the cruise line air price (if that is your only consideration) about 95% of the time. Just have to do a little "out of the box" thinking, research and planning. AT LEAST, if you book a PUBLISHED FARE ticket (one where you can read the ENTIRE FARE rules) and there is a glitch, you have all the protections from the airline meaning your ticket is generally re-routable, endorsable to another airline and you ONLY have to deal with the airline, not through a third party.

 

The relevant Cruise contract sections addressing "Fly Aweigh" are are at the end of the contract "Terms and Conditions for Fly Aweigh Airfare supplements":

 

Section 2 indicates "

If your flight is delayed, refer to

http://www.carnival.com/flyaweigh

" which indicates "

Our trained in-house team monitors flight operations for any delays or interruptions to ensure the coordination of your arrival to the ship. Should you experience a flight problem or delay, Carnival will be responsible for getting you to your next destination by securing flights, hotels and meals, if applicable, at no cost to you.

"

I'd be happier if the contract itself

included

these words.

 

Section 4 "Carnival assumes no liability for

airline's acts or omissions

, including....flight delays...." which IMO limits Carnival's legal liability for problems within the Airline's control (versus backed-up runway, weather, backed-up landings.....).

bottom line - when booking cruiseline airfare (1) it's probably preferable to pay the optional, extra surcharge to be able to select your itinerary and avoid the latecommer situation, (2) while there's some indication that Carnival will step-up get you to the ship (eventually) it might be preferable to get decent Trip Insurance. (3) if you are running late, stay in touch with Carnival.

 

ken

[nunuc2000]

Amy@destinationroad.com. Thanks

 

Check your email :)

[katiepe]

At one time you could pay 50.00 per person and get a "deviation" on the air Carnival arranges.

Not sure if this is still in effect but it may be worth paying for the peace of mind under these circumstances. You might try asking.

[nunuc2000]

At one time you could pay 50.00 per person and get a "deviation" on the air Carnival arranges.

Not sure if this is still in effect but it may be worth paying for the peace of mind under these circumstances. You might try asking.

 

Nope... deviations are no longer allowed - we were able to take advantage of that on our first cruise with Carnival - it was worth it, for sure!!

[smac67]

Glad to see this topic here. Going on our first cruise in 28 days. We received our flight information and much to my horror our flight arrives in Miami at 2:10 pm. I just got off the phone with Carnival and was told that since they booked the flight they guarantee we get on the ship. I appreciate that but would prefer to get to the ship earlier. I see there are plenty of other flights into Miami earlier in the day, but they said they could not change my flight. Keeping fingers crossed for good weather that day! :)

[jaxflygirl88]

Thank you anyway. I love it! If you ever find out please let me know.

Happy Cruising!

[Ken076]

Glad to see this topic here. Going on our first cruise in 28 days. We received our flight information and much to my horror our flight arrives in Miami at 2:10 pm. I just got off the phone with Carnival and was told that since they booked the flight they guarantee we get on the ship. I appreciate that but would prefer to get to the ship earlier. I see there are plenty of other flights into Miami earlier in the day, but they said they could not change my flight. Keeping fingers crossed for good weather that day! :)

 

The point of some of the above discussions is that this "Guarantee" is a bit "wishy-washy" in your cruise contract. They look to have no responsibility to hold the ship for latecomers and their Guarantee to get you to the ship is weasle-worded - and who wants to potentially lose 2 or 3 days meeting ship in first port.

 

Having said all that, there seems to be only a small percentage of cruisers that encounter such a problem!

 

ken

[sullaRaffaello]

..... Should you experience a flight problem or delay, Carnival will be responsible for getting you to your next destination by securing flights, hotels and meals, if applicable, at no cost to you." ken

 

What if your next destination is the last destination and is 3500 nautical miles across the ocean?

[nunuc2000]

I have spoken with rose Marie and angel at carnival. Angel was really helpful. Rose Marie told me to make sure I had trip insurance. No carnival supervisors will get on the phone. Janesse at delta went the extra mile too. Everyone at carnival agrees this makes no sense. Yet the powers that be are choosing to do nothing to fix it. If anyone knows the names of a supervisor I would be greatful to have it.

 

Any luck yet?

[ideasamy]

Thanks for checking on me. I was lucky enough to get the name of a supervisor from another board member :). She was out of the office until Wednesday. First she had a lady named Maria call me back, that call did not go very well. She would not offer ant reassurance or change our arrangements and the only reassurance she could offer was crossing her fingers for us. I sent the supervisor a follow up mail and she was very nice and caring. While she would not make any changes to our flights she did explain that they do hold the boarding on the ship open for longer for fly aweigh passangers and that the booking model they follow allows for 99% of people to make it to the cruise. If we miss we will discuss options. At this point it seems like the whole thing is out of my hands and despite getting no where after 6 phone calls and multiple e-mails at least I know I did everything I could. Thanks to everyone who cared enough to offer support and useful advice. I will post after our vacation and let everyone know when we boarded and if we boarded. IMHO I think Carnival needs to hire more customer service oriented people in their Customer Service department. In talking with 6 people only two offered any support or even seemed to be listening. While nothing changed after talking with each of the 2 helpful ones I had a better understanding of how this all worked. The others I spoke with left the impression Fly Aweigh was some sort of bait and switch scheme. This our first cruise so not sure if it will be for us, but if so, the next time, I will book our own flights and I would suggest the same to others if you are outside the geographic area where they will put you up the night before near the port and fly the day of.