What happens if we miss the ship due to flight issues?

[rogted]

If we miss our connection and don't make it to Barcelona in time what happens? We booked flights through RCI.

 

 

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[RavaRiles]

You will miss the cruise, possibly moved to the next port of call and join the ship there.

Be there in plenty of time to avoid either of these things happening !!!!!

Cheers Ian

 

 

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[Newtoncruise]

Can you fly in the day before?

[rogted]

Can't go the day before. However, we are going to try to get on an earlier flight.

 

 

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[nekicheese]

My DH and I dealt with the stress of a late-arriving flight the day of our cruise's departure. We hadn't booked our airfare through the cruise line and didn't buy travelers insurance. Fortunately, a few folks on the same flight had, so they had to wait for them and consequently, us.

 

After that, we vowed to never fly in the day of. It was way too stressful and we spent the greater part of the first day of a long awaited vacation not enjoying ourselves at all.

 

Since, we book a room close to the port using Priceline bidding to save money (and use it instead for fun stuff on the cruise) that puts us there well enough ahead of time the day before so we can decompress, start relaxing and anticipating getting in the cruise in the late morning the next day.

[xpcdoojk]

Personally, I would never do a transatlantic flight and catch the cruise the same day. Have done it one time and never again. Barcelona is a great place for at least 2 or 3 days.

 

jc

[EGG]

Sorry, if I had a cruise to Europe and I could not fly in the day before I would not go, especially with a flight change. Since you are flying in the same day, not only do you want an earlier flight, but you want 2.5 hours between flights.

 

The cruise lines pre cruise hotel package is very expensive, so most of the people on these boards book their own flights and hotels and buy insurance.

 

Make sure you buy insurance a.s.a.p. Maybe someone else will tell you if RCCL covers the costs of getting you to the next port if you have their flights. They assist you in making new arrangements (a perk that is probably more of a detriment unless they are paying for the new airfare, hotel, etc.).

[Mark_K]

It depends on why you miss it. e.g. If you miss it due to looking for your lost Euros, it's not likely to go well for you.

 

 

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[pfm18]

Sorry, if I had a cruise to Europe and I could not fly in the day before I would not go, especially with a flight change. Since you are flying in the same day, not only do you want an earlier flight, but you want 2.5 hours between flights.

 

The cruise lines pre cruise hotel package is very expensive, so most of the people on these boards book their own flights and hotels and buy insurance.

 

Make sure you buy insurance a.s.a.p. Maybe someone else will tell you if RCCL covers the costs of getting you to the next port if you have their flights. They assist you in making new arrangements (a perk that is probably more of a detriment unless they are paying for the new airfare, hotel, etc.).

 

 

Maybe the OP is European though...

[cruisenfever]

Sorry, if I had a cruise to Europe and I could not fly in the day before I would not go, especially with a flight change. Since you are flying in the same day, not only do you want an earlier flight, but you want 2.5 hours between flights.

 

The cruise lines pre cruise hotel package is very expensive, so most of the people on these boards book their own flights and hotels and buy insurance.

 

Make sure you buy insurance a.s.a.p. Maybe someone else will tell you if RCCL covers the costs of getting you to the next port if you have their flights. They assist you in making new arrangements (a perk that is probably more of a detriment unless they are paying for the new airfare, hotel, etc.).

When flying internationally, you will find that airfares are much cheaper when going through Choice Air.

[Alohaaloha]

My DH and I dealt with the stress of a late-arriving flight the day of our cruise's departure. We hadn't booked our airfare through the cruise line and didn't buy travelers insurance. Fortunately, a few folks on the same flight had, so they had to wait for them and consequently, us.

 

After that, we vowed to never fly in the day of. It was way too stressful and we spent the greater part of the first day of a long awaited vacation not enjoying ourselves at all.

 

Since, we book a room close to the port using Priceline bidding to save money (and use it instead for fun stuff on the cruise) that puts us there well enough ahead of time the day before so we can decompress, start relaxing and anticipating getting in the cruise in the late morning the next day.

 

We recently flew into Venice for our RCI cruise, and it was an RCI fly cruise package. Our TA said that because of that, if the flight were delayed the transfers to the ship would wait for us. Luckily, everything went smoothly, but in all honesty it was a worry and I think I'd fly in the day before next trip.

[pollux]

The last 3 years I have gone 1 day ahead.

Good that I did. Each time the plane did not arrive as scheduled 2.30pm. but around 5 0r 6pm.

If it was the day off the cruise I would have missed the ship.

In Oct. I fly again one day before because if I would not arrive at 2.30pm the ship will be gone and 8 days at sea.

Would miss half of the cruise to fly to the first port St. Maarten.

Never ever fly in the same day as the departure.

Just like flying back there is no guarantee you come home the same day.

Last Nov. I got stuck over night in Amsterdam. But for me that was icing on the cake got 1 night to see family.

[EGG]

When flying internationally, you will find that airfares are much cheaper when going through Choice Air.

 

You are probably correct if you fly from outside the NY area. But from Newark most places in Newark are non-stop flights, so you probably don't save a lot on the flight, at least not in my experience. I guess it might also depend on when you book. I really wasn't talking only about the flight, I was talking about an entire package including flight, the hotel room and transfers. I guess the only way to know is to price both.

 

My experience is that people on Cruise Critic are wizards at finding you good flights if you can't find them yourself. An example is a post I read a few minutes ago. Someone suggested rerouting through Boston instead of NY and saved OP $750 from Choice Air.

[emeraldcity]

It depends on why you miss it. e.g. If you miss it due to looking for your lost Euros, it's not likely to go well for you.

 

 

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Tee Hee. That was an interesting read, wasn't it?

[ggo85]

Honestly, it depends.:p

 

If you book your air through RCI AND the ship can wait, it will. Had this happen in Vancouver last year when many passengers were several hours late due to late arriving flights and traffic. Had a 5-day transit to Hawaii, so more than enough time to make up those hours. We waited.

 

However, if the transit time is tight, the ship likely would sail w/o you. RCI would be responsible for getting you to the next port. That said, you'd miss the time from sailing to the next port.

 

If you book your own air, too bad, so sad. Unless, as happened to the above poster, you happen to be on a flight with RCI-booked passengers and the ship waits for them, it won't likely wait for you!

 

In terms of flying in a day early, that obviously is ideal. If you can't do it, consider the location to which you're flying. Places like London have many flights daily so there are other options -- especially if you're flying out of a "hub" city. Flying in the same day may not be as "dangerous."

 

However, if you're flying someplace like Venice or Barcelona and have to connect once or even twice and maybe have a long transit to the port to boot -- you're really tempting fate trying to arrive the same day, especially if you're doing it on your own. Most of the time it works out for people. But, as others have said, there's a LOT of stress along the way. Only you can decide what is worth what (cost, stress, extra days, etc.) to you.

[peteukmcr]

For European departures (Venice, Barcelona, Civitavecchia for example) and if you are flying from the UK and using RCI for your flights, then they will arrange to fly you into the country of departure on the day of sailing. However, you can request to fly in the day before, but they class that as a flight deviation and will charge you not only the difference in price of the flight from their negotiated rate, but a charge for deviation too. If you request this, it is at their discretion and you lose all transfers from the airport to the port that are normally included if you take their choice of flights on the day of departure.

 

Also if you elect not to use the flights RCI choose, but request a specific airline or routing, again they charge a deviation fee, and you lose the transfers as these are arrange to meet their chosen flights, not the ones you choose.

 

We have chosen a deviation from Manchester to Barcelona in the past as RCI initially gave us indirect flights via Amsterdam, whereas there are direct flights available to Barcelona. We had to pay up front for the flights, and the deviation fee too.

 

You obviously have to pay for your accommodation if you elect to take a deviation and fly in before the day of sailing.

[Priusprof]

The first time we did a cruise from Barcelona we departed the day before the cruise from Tampa, flew through JFK, and had a nonstop from JFK to Barcelona that was scheduled to arrive at 7:30 AM for a 4:30 sailing. We spent a lot of discussion time figuring out how to see a couple of things before going to the port. We booked through RCCL for the air and it was a good thing because we barely arrived before sailing. We were too late for the muster drill!

WE missed our non stop connection in NY. We ended up on Air France to Paris to go to Barcelona. Even though we landed prior to our connection the tour of the airport that we got on the buses that they use to unload the planes took 30 minutes. Once we got to the terminal we were miles from our connecting gate and once again we missed our connection. Then we hasseled with AF over getting on another flight to Barcelona. They reassured us that all was under control and our bags would arrive with us in Barcelona. When we finally arrived in Barcelona 2 of our 4 bags arrived. This was better than the other 3 families on our flights that started in Tampa. None of their bags arrived in Barcelona. So we had to deal with missing luggage claims and then the RCCL folks that were waiting on us loaded us into cabs for a mad dash to the ship. Our luggage finally arrived on day 4 when we were in Rome! The customer service people on the ship were great but we were at the mercy of Air France. It could have shown up in Cannes the next day...but it didn't! It could have arrived the next day in Livorno, nada. Rome!!!

We learned our lesson about flying in for European cruises. At least 1 day early and 2 if possible and never fly AF.

[Cruising89143]

If it were me I would find a way to try and arrive at least the day before. Too much stress involved.

[TexasRCH]

We got to the ship an hour after it was scheduled to sail from Qubec City and they upheld the ship for us! We had booked air and transfers through the cruise line and it turned out there were twenty four passengers on the Air Canada flight from DFW. We were lucky.

One couple did not make the connections because the plane was full and the cruise line flue them to the next port that had an airport.

I have not flown Air Canada sinse and have always flown a day or two early,

[papaflamingo]

I am a pilot for a major airlines. Go a day early.

[drarill]

The first time we did a cruise from Barcelona we departed the day before the cruise from Tampa, flew through JFK, and had a nonstop from JFK to Barcelona that was scheduled to arrive at 7:30 AM for a 4:30 sailing. We spent a lot of discussion time figuring out how to see a couple of things before going to the port. We booked through RCCL for the air and it was a good thing because we barely arrived before sailing. We were too late for the muster drill!

WE missed our non stop connection in NY. We ended up on Air France to Paris to go to Barcelona. Even though we landed prior to our connection the tour of the airport that we got on the buses that they use to unload the planes took 30 minutes. Once we got to the terminal we were miles from our connecting gate and once again we missed our connection. Then we hasseled with AF over getting on another flight to Barcelona. They reassured us that all was under control and our bags would arrive with us in Barcelona. When we finally arrived in Barcelona 2 of our 4 bags arrived. This was better than the other 3 families on our flights that started in Tampa. None of their bags arrived in Barcelona. So we had to deal with missing luggage claims and then the RCCL folks that were waiting on us loaded us into cabs for a mad dash to the ship. Our luggage finally arrived on day 4 when we were in Rome! The customer service people on the ship were great but we were at the mercy of Air France. It could have shown up in Cannes the next day...but it didn't! It could have arrived the next day in Livorno, nada. Rome!!!

We learned our lesson about flying in for European cruises. At least 1 day early and 2 if possible and never fly AF.

I agree with you. They need time between flights for their luggage to make it to the final destination. Hope the OP can make a better connection or arrive the day before the cruise.

[girlcruiser]

I missed a cruise in the Caribbean due to technical problems on a flight. I didn't book my air through RCCL but 6 others did. We finally arrived about 30 mins after departure time and no they didn't wait for us. The airline eventually put us up in a hotel and flew us to Nassau

the next morning. Next day approx 30 of us arrived by air so if the ship waits for

late arrivals you are really lucky.

[kyriecat]

Because of work scheduling, I am only allowed to take 2 weeks off at a time. Since I like to take 12-14 night cruises, that can be a problem for international travel.

 

I have flown in the day of cruise once and it worked out for me. I arrived about 8 AM for a 5 PM departure. For that cruise, we had port stops scheduled for the first couple days so I researched train schedules and had a plan for meeting the ship the next day in case we had flight problems. I contacted RC and was told since we were boarding in Italy and our first stop was also Italy, there would be no immigration/customs issues if we had to board a day late due to flight problems. We were lucky to have no problems and were on the ship by noon on the day we were supposed to embark.

 

For my most recent Med cruise, our first two days were sea days followed by a stop at Santorini. There are no trains to Santorini - only ferries or flights, and those seemed difficult to arrange "last minute" if we missed boarding. After a bit of begging, I was able to get an extra day off work to fly in the day before.

 

Even if RC made my flight arrangements, I would check my itinerary before deciding whether to arrive on the day of embarkation. From personal experience, I know that Choice Air is NOT always cheaper for international flights. I have heard they tend to be better for 1-ways, but I haven't taken a transatlantic or pacific cruise to find out. If getting time off work was a problem and the first port was easily accessible by train/air, then I would be less concerned about arriving the day of departure.

[baggal]

Two years ago, I let DH talk me into taking a flight from Newark to Barcelona with a stop in Frankfurt planning to arrive at 1 p.m. for a 5 p.m. sailing. We booked the air with RCI, thinking that would help us, and we also always take insurance. The flight out of Newark was delayed 3 hours, due to mechanical problems on ANOTHER jumbo jet, but it took that long to get those people rebooked and everyone else checked in. By the time our plane took off, we knew we were going to miss our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Barcelona, but that there was a later flight that we hoped we could get on.

 

If it weren't for one wonderful Lufthansa agent, we would not have been able to get on the later flight leaving at 1 p.m. While we we flying, my daughter in NYC was on the phone alerting RCI that we were running late. Under no circumstances would they hold the ship for us, but they did sent a rep to meet us at the Barcelona Airport to help us find our luggage and get into a cab. Our cab arrived at the pier at 4:20 p.m. - a full 10 minutes before the final deadline for checking in.

 

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER will I ever attempt to do something so stupid again. Its just not worth it!

 

BTW, this happened a few months before the Costa Concordia accident. We missed muster drill and as we were running onto the ship (at this point the ship was radioed that we arrived and they kept a gangway open for us) a security guard handed us a paper with some emergency information. At some point later that evening we actually located our muster station but we were not required to do it. Yikes!