Distraught on Destiny right now!

[bplazo]

I am so sad that this happened to you and your son. I know how upset I would have been if my daughter missed our cruise and as you said you do hurt when your child is hurt. I do think his comment about only being sad for a few minutes if you had missed the cruise but he would forget about it and have fun!

[dwayneb236]

pot meet kettle

 

My opinion is for others who consider taking a cruise with all of those four factors present which leads to risky travel planning. OP has already admitted that her son's actions were overly risky and not very smart. The "harsh judgment" that you attribute to me has already been taken on by the OP. I did offer up sympathy to the OP for her son's decisions. Hopefully, the theme of this thread is "tough lessons learned".

 

Yep, I agree, she admitted to it.. So that being said, let's all just keep ramming the bad experience down the poor womans throat and keep reminding her how stupid they were.

 

There, is that what we were after? Success!!!!

 

Edit: I've just decided, I'll bet we'll never agree on what's going on here. I'm done for now.. I think...

[F27TW]

To the OP- you need to live it in order to learn from it. This is the stuff that happens to other people and would never happen to me.

 

See, I too learned the hard way of going the same day as the cruise==booking a 6:45am flight with NO stop overs.

 

Now i also learned-- that if the airline was making changes like that and the connections were not good-- they would have to put you on another airline.

 

Our flight was with Airtran-- I got that good information from someone on USAir. and I DID learn a great deal.

 

Wont help you now but in the future-- tell your people to check other airlines. They did NOT have to stay with what the airline was giving them

 

Sorry, but thats not exactly correct. Airlines are not obligated at all to put you on another carrier when things go wrong.

 

If weather caused the delay, they will pretty much never reroute you on another airline - and airlines find ways to use weather for alot of other conditions within their control (such as no crew or "crew rest") - its shady, but they all do it. Another time they will never reroute you on another airline is if you are on a free (award) ticket. Or, in the case of Southwest, they don't even have ticketing agreements with any other carriers - so when you fly them and something goes wrong, you're gonna wait for a seat on the next Southwest flight (assuming there is a seat) - or they may offer to refund your ticket and you're really on your own then.

 

You do have a little more recourse for asking to be rerouted on another carrier if the delay or cancellation is something that is "within the airline's control". Things like a mechanical problem, for example. But again, the list of things airlines consider "within their control" and for which you can expect reroutings on other carriers or meal vouchers or overnight hotel accomodation is VERY small. Airlines nowadays don't do much for their passengers and they could care less (unless, maybe you are a very high level FF member of theirs)

 

Trust me a little on this one - I'm a former ticket agent for USAirways and I got screamed at ALOT over the years for things like this !!

 

And yes - for a cruise, I don't care if its mid summer and there are no blizzards in the forecast, PLEASE, PEOPLE - FLY DOWN THE DAY BEFORE !!!!! :p

 

-tony

[rockwood84]

OP, I am so sorry that your son did not make the cruise. Being an eternal optimist, I was really holding out hope that he had made it to the port before the ship set sail.

 

To echo others' comments - it seems as though the lack of a passport was the real trip-killer. If you are reading this thread and are debating whether or not you really need a passport, take heed! When you consider that passports are good for 10 years, they really aren't that expensive. Yes, there's paperwork required, but it's not the worst amount of paperwork you'll have to fill out in your life.

[halos]

Op, I too appreciate you coming back with an update. You had a lot of people here, hoping things would turn out well. I'm sorry the outcome wasn't the miracle we were all hoping would happen for you, but glad that you enjoyed your cruise anyhow.

Your son sounds like a neat kid by the way....I hope your next cruise goes without hitch! :)

[re-re]

I'm sorry your son missed the cruise,from one mother to another i feel your pain,Start planning your next cruise and enjoy it with your son,next time grab him by the hand and tell him your coming with me buddy.:D

[familycruzinnewbie]

We can't go anywhere in the US without a connection on Air Canada and Continental has exactly one plane per day to Newark. So if the plane doesn't make it in the night before it doesn't go. If it arrives very late, I think it has to leave late due to pilot needing time off. And if Newark has delays and problems, the flight here seems to be the first cancelled as it's usually a smaller place. Needless to say, I can't travel on cruise day and would probably give myself another extra day. I'm curious about the return flight though. What time do most people book their return flight and what responsibility does the cruise line or other have to get you off within reasonable time. I wouldn't book early in the day, but would prefer not to have another hotel stay if possible.

[cravingacruise]

Yep, I agree, she admitted to it.. So that being said, let's all just keep ramming the bad experience down the poor womans throat and keep reminding her how stupid they were.

 

There, is that what we were after? Success!!!!

 

Edit: I've just decided, I'll bet we'll never agree on what's going on here. I'm done for now.. I think...

 

You took the words right out of my mouth! It took everything I had to "move on" and not respond....

[MzChris87]

That in itself sounds like a victory!! congrats on graduation and have fun!

 

Thanx so much

[Snookie415]

awww, too bad he didn't make it! Glad he had a good attitude about it and tried to console you! Sounds like a good kid!

[TxStacey]

OP..thanks so much for coming back here to let us know what happened. As a mom of a college student, I know that you were truly distraught as I would have been. Just think of it this way..hopefully your story will prompt others to see the importance of getting a passport and even insurance...and if at all possible, flying in a day before. You have probably helped many people by telling your story..I hope you can book another cruise with your son very soon..and congrats on the platinum status:)

[fleckle]

We can't go anywhere in the US without a connection on Air Canada and Continental has exactly one plane per day to Newark. So if the plane doesn't make it in the night before it doesn't go........

Is there some reason why you can't fly into LGA or JFK instead of Newark?

[imluvncruzn]

Just wanted say thank you again to all of you for your kind words and support! I just told my son how many people were following this drama and read him some of the kind comments that were posted on this thread! It made both of us smile!

 

Just to address a few of the issues that were brought up in this thread: We immediately started calling all different airlines and searching for flights from JFK and LGA as soon as he called me to let me know he missed his connecting flight. We found a non-stop from LGA on Delta but he went outside and talked to several different taxi drivers and they all said the commute to LGA from EWR would be at least 2 hours so that wouldn't work either.

 

My son and his friends took a shuttle to Fort Lauderdale from Miami on Monday and stayed til Wednesday morning. However, he said they didn't enjoy themselves because they were all so disappointed. He said they just sat in the room and watched tv!

 

Also, Carnival really did all they could to help us. Even though they knew the ship had already left the port, they still had a Carnival rep waiting for the boys when they got off the plane to try to assist them with travel plans. Although I desperately wanted them to wait, I knew they couldn't hold up the ship for 4 people!

[familycruzinnewbie]

Is there some reason why you can't fly into LGA or JFK instead of Newark?

 

Yes - Continental only flies YYT to Newark, not to LGA or JFK. That is our only Continental flight. It flies to Newark in the morning and the flight back is later evening, it basically gets us to any connection in Newark or I guess you could take a shuttle to LGA or JFK if needed. I can fly Air Canada or West Jet and connect through Halifax, Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa. We generally fly Air Canada as there are more options if something goes wrong. We used Continental for Ireland even with the 8+hr layover in each direction as it flew to the airport we needed and was the most cost effective. Sometimes there is a great deal for Florida, but I'm a little nervous about using for a cruise.