Missed boarding Getaway 2/3 in NYC

[BOS_CruiseGuy]

Are you able to claim 'trip-in-vain' for your airfare?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[garycarla]

Are you able to claim 'trip-in-vain' for your airfare?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

I am not sure... but "trip in vain" is when the airline is not able to meet the original agreed upon schedule and you tell them... never mind, no reason to travel now, give me my money back.

 

Since the flight did take place, and the OP did fly, it is a different story. If he said, never mind, I am not flying, then....

[kirsty_r]

always a learning point. I thought when embarking you had to be on 2 hours before, so I guess NCL logic is leaving an hour early covered that. Better luck next time. xxx

[CI66774]

I just checked my travel insurance and it would have covered me in OP's situation under trip delay. It's always a risk traveling in the winter and cruising at that time of year without insurance AND arriving the day of the cruise is just too big of a gamble to me.

[RJ2002]

This is Wed 5th of Feb,I will miss Carnival Splendor sailing at 4pm. The Eastern PA, NY,and NJ are having an ice storm with 1/2" of ice on everything,this is after an 8" Monday snowstorm. The weather service did not say this would be disaster weather,or I would have gone to NYC yesterday. All buses,trains were cancelled this morning. The first bus from E PA today is 1:30, I would get to NYC at 3:45,then take a taxi,get to ship about 4:30,they take up gangplank at 3:30. I talked to Carnival emergency 4x,they can't do anything because the port of NYC makes the decision when the ship leaves.

I feel so bad for you,I did not need to fly,it is so sad to do all you did and still not make the ship.

 

So sorry that you will miss your cruise. You are probably not alone, unfortunately. Enough of this bad weather!

[DISNEY1975]

Oh, how awful! Can you at least try to get the Nassau hotel $$, as you are cancelling a couple of days in advance? Also, exchange the return airline ticket before you are considered a "no show". Youll have to pay a small fee to change, but at least you can make use of it in the future to another destination.

 

This is a terrible situation, Im sorry you are going through it.

[rthereanynamesleft]

So sorry to hear you missed the boat. I too had wanted to do that 2 day cruise but no one to go with last minute. I did the Trans Atlantic from Southampton to NYC on the Breakaway April 30. Missing the ship is not the only problem that can happen if you do not arrive a day early but not receiving your luggage in time for your cruise can be another problem. In our case arriving one day would not have helped. We arrived in London only to find out our luggage did not. All we had was our carry on. Turned out our luggage was still sitting in Dallas. We were told it would arrive tomorrow. Well, tomorrow came but our luggage did not. We did not finally receive our luggage till the third day. Luckily we were in London for a week. Always carry a carry on. Best if both you and your companion have your own. Make sure you pack it with all the essentials that you would NOT want to be without on the cruise. I did not pack well for that one. On the way to the airport I bought my hubby 2 new pairs of pants. He ended up with enough clothes for 3 days. I only packed one change of clothes. Put my hair brush and hair spray in my checked luggage. First thing we had to do was locate a drug store. :( You can do without formal wear but clean underwear, :eek: a swim suit and toiletries are a must! :D

[Love my butler]

This is Wed 5th of Feb,I will miss Carnival Splendor sailing at 4pm. The Eastern PA, NY,and NJ are having an ice storm with 1/2" of ice on everything,this is after an 8" Monday snowstorm. The weather service did not say this would be disaster weather,or I would have gone to NYC yesterday. All buses,trains were cancelled this morning. The first bus from E PA today is 1:30, I would get to NYC at 3:45,then take a taxi,get to ship about 4:30,they take up gangplank at 3:30. I talked to Carnival emergency 4x,they can't do anything because the port of NYC makes the decision when the ship leaves.

I feel so bad for you,I did not need to fly,it is so sad to do all you did and still not make the ship.

 

Did you read this thread when it started a couple days ago? The gist was always be a day early, just in case.

[KJE Atlanta]

OP, so sorry you missed the cruise. The weather sure was was a mess in NYC on Monday. We were on the cruise and just disembarked from the Getaway in Nassau.

 

I'll double-check the time stamps on my photos once we're back in Atlanta, but I'm pretty sure we started pulling away from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal right around 2:35 p.m. We were watching the crew have a snowball fight on the bow and noticed that we were just starting to move. My brother asked if we were leaving early and he looked on his phone and said , "yep, by about 25 minutes." I also know I sent a text message to a friend with a picture of us as we were passing the Statue of Liberty at 3:07 p.m. and if I'm remembering correctly I sent that almost immediately after taking it.

 

We too were originally scheduled to fly in Monday morning from Atlanta, but once I started seeing the forecasts on Friday and Saturday for Monday in NYC - which kept changing for the worse... from a dusting, to 1-3 inches of snow, to 3-6 inches of snow, to 5-8 inches of snow, I called Delta and had them switch us to a Sunday afternoon flight (they did so for free). As it turned out, our original 6:45 a.m. flight on Monday morning ended up getting cancelled so we probably would have missed the ship too.

 

It really was snowing like crazy in NYC Monday morning. It was a heavy, wet snow. We had stayed in Times Square and got a taxi to the pier and it took us about 30 minutes to get there and we were less than a mile away. But once we got to Pier 88, check-in took less than 5 minutes and we were on board around 11:30 a.m.

 

We almost always fly in a day or two early and this re-confirms for me that that is a good policy - especially in winter (but weather events can happen year-round). If you are scheduled to fly in the day of the cruise like we were on this one, I'd really recommend watching the weather forecasts in your departure, connecting, and destination cities very closely in the days leading up to travel day so you can make necessary changes.

 

Again, OP, I'm so sorry you missed the cruise.

[Ti2m]

After having two September cruises interrupted by hurricanes I've learned my lesson. Just the comfort of having trip insurance saves me from having that knot in my stomach. So far I've never had to use it but I feel it's money well spent.

 

A travel agent told me that if you can afford to lose the cost of your vacation don't bother buying trip insurance. If you can't ... buy it.

[khirschman]

Even when we drive.. we arrive a day early..you never know when you will have car trouble etc. We've been stopped for a couple hours before because of an accident ahead of us. We will be going on the Dawn in June. We live 3 hours from Boston but will spend the the night before hand in a hotel close to the port. So sorry you missed the ship!

 

On another note..whey is NCL insurance not good?

[RickT]

To the OP, sorry this happened to you.

 

Not sure this would have made a difference, but the one time we were delayed in transit we called the cruiseline when we finally landed at the airport (hrs behind our scheduled arrival time). We quickly let them know we had landed and were going to be on our way to the ship as soon as we got our bags.

 

We made it will less than an hour to spare. Not sure they would have done anything but at least they knew we were on our way.

[LrgPizza]

Even when we drive.. we arrive a day early..you never know when you will have car trouble etc. We've been stopped for a couple hours before because of an accident ahead of us. We will be going on the Dawn in June. We live 3 hours from Boston but will spend the the night before hand in a hotel close to the port. So sorry you missed the ship!

 

 

Yes! We are planning to drive to our cruise out of Miami (20 hours) to save some money. I'm trying to convince my husband that we still need to arrive a day in advance just in case of the unknowns.

[khirschman]

It was actually on our way to Miami 3 years ago that we were delayed because of a traffic accident in North Carolina.. we drove from New Hampshire. Not only that after the long drive you want a night to rest up and clean up so you are not dragging the first day/ night of your cruise!

[LrgPizza]

It was actually on our way to Miami 3 years ago that we were delayed because of a traffic accident in North Carolina.. we drove from New Hampshire. Not only that after the long drive you want a night to rest up and clean up so you are not dragging the first day/ night of your cruise!

 

Yes, absolutely agree! It's an issue with how early we want to pull our son out of school, since the school year keeps getting extended further and further to make up snow days. I say pull him! haha

[cynt]

Awww that stinks.

 

Same day flight into port on departure day = summer time only, 1st flight of the day, direct flights only, carry on luggage should have all your important stuff in it and a couple of changes of clothes.

[garycarla]

...A travel agent told me that if you can afford to lose the cost of your vacation don't bother buying trip insurance. If you can't ... buy it.

 

Interesting discussion. Some people say they can not afford to lose the cost of their vacation. Actually, this is not true. They apparently can afford the cost of the vacation. They already paid for for it.

 

What they may not be able to afford is the heartache of not taking the cruise they were planning on. That does suck, for sure.

 

There is of course some additional expense if they flew in and now have to stay in a hotel or pay for a different return flight.

 

But, the cost of the cruise itself is the same either way. Actually, if you are not on the ship, the cost is probably less as many expenses will no longer be incurred.

[arf2005]

Interesting discussion. Some people say they can not afford to lose the cost of their vacation. Actually, this is not true. They apparently can afford the cost of the vacation. They already paid for for it.

 

What they may not be able to afford is the heartache of not taking the cruise they were planning on. That does suck, for sure.

 

There is of course some additional expense if they flew in and now have to stay in a hotel or pay for a different return flight.

 

But, the cost of the cruise itself is the same either way. Actually, if you are not on the ship, the cost is probably less as many expenses will no longer be incurred.

 

More importantly, can you afford the cost of something going wrong while on the cruise - a medical emergency? That's what would wipe out your bank account if you don't purchase insurance. I know many of us don't even realize when someone has been airlifted off a cruise ship that we are on, but it unfortunately happens more than we are aware - 3 times on the last cruise I was on. I realize that's probably on the high side(!), but to me, that's what the insurance is really for more than anything else. I'm sure there are horror stories on here as to what people have been hit with in terms of cost for such an event.

[johnnypiano]

Just read a post that out of the 500 or so people schedule to sail on that cruise, around 100 missed the ship due to flights being delayed or cancelled. So you definitely weren't alone!

[Crusin6]

Even when we drive.. we arrive a day early..you never know when you will have car trouble etc. We've been stopped for a couple hours before because of an accident ahead of us. We will be going on the Dawn in June. We live 3 hours from Boston but will spend the the night before hand in a hotel close to the port. So sorry you missed the ship!

 

On another note..whey is NCL insurance not good?

 

IMHO. And IMHO only. I feel you can get better deals elsewhere.

 

Also and I believe this is fact. If you buy insurance from the cruiseline/airline etc and they perhaps declare bankruptcy etc prior to you vacation your insurance is null.

 

Others may explain it better or more accurately but this is my understanding via my travel research

[QuiGonJohn]

Well I've been on the fence about buying insurance for my Alaska Cruise coming up in Sept. I'm nearly certain we will be able to go, no health issues, work issues, etc. But after reading this, in case of the unexpected, it sure would be peace of mind. From tripinsurancestore I can get one that will cover our cruise, flights and pre/post hotels for about $135 total for both my wife & I. I think I will make this purchase very soon.

[agabbymama]

Well I've been on the fence about buying insurance for my Alaska Cruise coming up in Sept. I'm nearly certain we will be able to go, no health issues, work issues, etc. But after reading this, in case of the unexpected, it sure would be peace of mind. From tripinsurancestore I can get one that will cover our cruise, flights and pre/post hotels for about $135 total for both my wife & I. I think I will make this purchase very soon.

 

Get that insurance bought BEFORE your final payment date. That can change the whole ballgame, if it's after your final payment date.

 

And as Cruisin6 says, when you purchase the cruiseline insurance and they go belly up, the insurance usually isn't any good.

 

There was a story in the news a few years ago, that a family paid something like $100,000 for a World Cruise, but when they reached Singapore (I think, but it could have been Hong Kong) the cruiseline went belly up and they were left high and dry, having to pay exhorbitant for hotel and flight home.

[QuiGonJohn]

I plan to. Getting ready to leave for a camping trip this weekend, but will do this one day next week, for sure.

[garycarla]

More importantly, can you afford the cost of something going wrong while on the cruise - a medical emergency? That's what would wipe out your bank account if you don't purchase insurance. ...

 

Yes, medical emergency can be very expensive. And that sort of insurance does make sense for many.

 

I do think many people buy insurance more concerned with missing cruise, can not go, etc. And, for only that reason is somewhat illogical. As I said, they can afford it because they already paid for it. It does make sense if they think they will miss the sailing away and want somebody else to pay expenses to catch up with the ship.

[Ctrix65513]

Sorry you missed your sailing as well. I know the pain all too well.

 

This is Wed 5th of Feb,I will miss Carnival Splendor sailing at 4pm. The Eastern PA, NY,and NJ are having an ice storm with 1/2" of ice on everything,this is after an 8" Monday snowstorm. The weather service did not say this would be disaster weather,or I would have gone to NYC yesterday. All buses,trains were cancelled this morning. The first bus from E PA today is 1:30, I would get to NYC at 3:45,then take a taxi,get to ship about 4:30,they take up gangplank at 3:30. I talked to Carnival emergency 4x,they can't do anything because the port of NYC makes the decision when the ship leaves.

I feel so bad for you,I did not need to fly,it is so sad to do all you did and still not make the ship.