Check in question

[mossleytangerine]

I was thinking about booking a flight with Thomas Cook for 11 nights in April and booking cruise only for a week and 4 days in Barbados (have to be back so cant do cruise and stay) however TC flight lands at 15.40 but knowing TC record on timekeeping I'm worried we wont meet the 18.00 check in.Does anyone know if you can check in any later?

[geomagot]

dream leaves barbados when all their flights are in (there are often delayed flights?)

 

scheduled sailing time is 10pm (sometimes 8pm for certain cruise's? you could check this out with thoms?) you could call the ship direct if you do happen to be delayed they may wait?

 

it happened to us once when we were on the virgin, there were a few of us on that flight including the uk guest act, our airline (virgin) called the ship ahead (island star) and the ship waited for us....phew

 

but, really if you travel independently and the you dont make the sailing...they dont have to wait for you and you will need to make your way to the next port to meet the ship, it is risky in the winter from uk due to bad weather....gatwick/manchester often suffer weather related delays that can take days to catch up on long haul

 

I would recommend that you fly in the day before and book a single nights stay in barbados?

[mossleytangerine]

Thanks for the quick reply,I too think its a bit risky as the flight from Manchester drops off and picks up in St Lucia first!

[marylizcat]

I should do your 'stay' first not last!

 

 

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[BaggersCruising]

I should do your 'stay' first not last!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

That's exactly what we did last year. We flew in on Virgin and deemed it a little too risky to go straight to the ship, so had our weeks stay first before joining the ship the following Sunday.

 

From what I remember, there was conflicting information from Thomson, with the booking pages mentioning 4pm as the time you had to have had checked in by and the paperwork (e-ticket) stating anytime before scheduled sailing time, which was 8pm last year.

 

Well, as we were scheduled to land at 2:30pm IIRC, it was too tight to be on by 4pm, but 8pm would have been manageable, but anytime too close to 8pm would have been too risky also.

 

As it turned out, when we joined the ship a week later, we casually went to the port around half 12, at which point half of the ship were preparing to leave, and we'd beat the Thomson flights for that day, so there was no queue at check in and was straight into our cabin and then on for a spot of lunch in the restaurant. Beats the usual rush after getting off a long haul flight anyway!

 

Baggers

[sodafountain]

That is the risk you take booking as a cruise only, and making your own way there, not just for cruises long haul, but anywhere, look at the ash cloud a few years back, if you had booked an Easyjet flight and made your own hotel arrangements (not just Easyjet, but i use that as an example as this is how plenty of people do it to keep costs down), if the flight is cancelled, your hotel will still be expecting you, and will still charge you, as it is not their fault. If you booked as a package (say with Thomson), and the flight was cancelled, the whole thing is cancelled, or they send you on an alternate day, if possible.

 

Also, when we did a Caribbean cruise in December 2009, the weather was really bad, our flight from Birmingham was 2 hours late leaving, and even later from other airports, but the ship waited till all the Thomson flights had landed. 1 flight didn'tmake it off the ground though, from Manchester as it happens, and everyone was given the choice of a full refund, or come back in 2 days, and they'll fly you to the next port (Martinique), and i believe offered 50% refunds, i'm sure Geomagot will remember this, being on the same Christmas Cruise on the wonderful DESTINY.

 

Of course, everything might be fine, and holiday insurance may cover you for any of the above, but does a refund cover the fact you are not going on holiday!

 

Just my thoughts.

[mossleytangerine]

Thanks everyone,did a stay and cruise this year but cant next year as my other half works in college and has to have school holidays and 6th April is the last till Atlantic crossing.

[Tiggertastic]

also take a note of the baggage allowance on thomas cook - last time we went out to thomsons on it, we only got 15 kilos