cutting it too close?

[puppycanducruise]

We are flying from the east coast to Rome (FCO). We originally planned to only fly in ONE DAY in advance, but we are thinking we should do two days. We've been to Rome before and we will have an additional day when we disembark in Civitavecchia, but now we are thinking that one more day would be the safe way and would give us that additional day to enjoy without stressing. Never would be fly from the U.S. to Rome to board on the same day we arrive...JMO. Sorry.

 

We flew to Rome for a cruise 2 days ahead, 1 day would not have been enough, 3 would have been better.

 

To the OP, to spend all that time and money to fly to Europe for a cruise, it seems crazy to fly in the day of the cruise and miss seeing the city you are disembarking from. Copenhagen is a beautiful city, lots to see. Spend at least 1 day there before the cruise.

Maybe you'll be lucky. Non stop flights do arrive early, your bags won't be missing and there won't be any lineups anywhere. Good luck.

Hope you enjoy your cruise.

[RickT]

To the OP, as you can see there are definitely two schools of thought about when to fly in for a cruise. Many people feel you absolutely need to fly in at least the day prior, two to three if possible. There are others who look at all the facts and decide what is needed.

 

If my work schedule allows it I try to fly in a day or two before and enjoy the city and adjust to the time change. If it doesn't however I have no qualms about flying in the same day as long as I check the back up plans and ability to catch up to the ship if everything goes to hell.

 

I've done 8 Europe cruises and have only flown in a day or two in advance three times. The other five times I have flown in the day of the cruise and have made my ship even when there were delays. The key is to arrive in your departure city as early as possible and to make sure that if you have any connections that there is a suitable backup flight available if you miss the connection (this of course depends on there being availability). If you are connecting in London, Amsterdam or Frankfurt you can probably be sure there will be options.

 

If you haven't already, check out ITA Software and see what is available. Make sure you have at least 2 hrs to connect just in case.

 

While I personally have no issues flying in the day of the cruise, I fully understand that choosing to do so may mean I miss the ship if I run into too many problems.

[Hlitner]

.........................

If you haven't already, check out ITA Software and see what is available. Make sure you have at least 2 hrs to connect just in case.

 

While I personally have no issues flying in the day of the cruise, I fully understand that choosing to do so may mean I miss the ship if I run into too many problems.

 

 

Hmmm. We will admit to not being the best experts on booking air (we only travel 7 months a year) but will say that we have been underwhelmed with the ITA booking engine. They do write the great software (it is used by many other travel sites) but their own booking engine has major problems. For example, we recently booked a 1-way flight from Christchurch, NZ to Phila in Premium Economy. If I put those same factors into the ITA site it returns a fare more then double what we got. The problem is that even though we specify "Premium Economy" the ITA site keeps returning only Business Class.

We have run into other similar issues. My advice is that its fine to use the ITA site to find flights...but then check-out those same flights on other booking sties such as Kayak, Expedia, Vayama, etc.

 

Hank

[Strictly Ballroom]

I normally fly at least a day before a cruise.

 

For my upcoming worldie, I opted to arrive on next Tuesday for a Friday departure. I figure that leaves room for possible grounded flights at DFW (American doesn't fly direct from PHX and BA direct was much more expensive), and also two days for luggage recovery (I've had lost bags twice at LHR in the past, crossing my fingers all six bags arrive with me lol), not to mention allow me time to pick up liter bottles of my shampoo and conditioner and adjust to UK time zone. I figure if I'm leaving home for four months, I want everything to go as smoothly as possible, and not take any risks of not getting to the QE on time :D

 

Flying from the West Coast is a long haul, do you really want to add any sort of risks to actually making your departure?