Princess Transfers Confusion

[Nodales]

I am hoping someone can help me with this because there is nothing on Princess' website to clarify and apparently no way to ask them this question without phoning them...

 

My cruise departs San Fran April 28th and my husband and I will be flying in. Checking with Princess' eZAir it appeared the latest flight arrival time we could book was at 1:15pm. Using this information I booked independently (cheaper) for a flight landing at 12:50pm. Afterwards I booked Princess Transfers for convenience.

 

On Princess' website I submitted my flight information. Everything looks okay (though they seem to think my departing flight on disembarkation day doesn't exist but whatever).

 

But now I'm looking at my cruise confirmation paperwork and in the fine print it says my Princess Transfer is between 11-12pm on embarkation day. Obviously I can't teleport to the airport by then so I don't know if I just paid for a service I can't use. (But it also states my flight should arrive 2.5 hours prior to sail time, which my flight does. So it's even contradicting itself.)

 

Does anyone know if I should actually be concerned about this?

[caribill]

Does anyone know if I should actually be concerned about this?

 

I would not be concerned. You could call and ask Princess why it says that, but they will be doing Xfers past the time you are scheduled to arrive.

[RDC1]

Usually Princess gives one time for those with their own travel arrangements to meet. Go into cruise personalizer and provide your flight info in the Flights and Transfer section.

[Nodales]

Usually Princess gives one time for those with their own travel arrangements to meet. Go into cruise personalizer and provide your flight info in the Flights and Transfer section.

 

As I said originally... I already did this.

 

That's why I am concerned about the time they gave me to meet with the transfer...

[granny49]

I would give Princess a call and see if this can be done. I just came off the Coral. I had an 11:00 flight and they wouldn't allow me to purchase transfers. The cut off time was 11:30. We just disembarked as an independent traveler and got a cab to the airport. This was in Ft Lauderdale.

Hope this helps

[caribill]

I would give Princess a call and see if this can be done. I just came off the Coral. I had an 11:00 flight and they wouldn't allow me to purchase transfers. The cut off time was 11:30. We just disembarked as an independent traveler and got a cab to the airport. This was in Ft Lauderdale.

Hope this helps

 

You were going to the airport from the ship. Op is coming from the airport to the ship.

[M4dC0w]

I purchased transfers on my embarkation day (April 6), as we arrive in MIA at 11:18.

 

I talked to a princess rep, this was what I was told; if you arrive in MIA you need to be at least 2.5 hours before the ships departure (which is at 4:00pm), if you are arriving at FLL, you need to be at least 1.5 early.

 

I would call them personally and confirm your transfer times

[UPGrandma]

Try re entering your departing flight. For our Aug cruise with transfers before we cruise, incoming and departing flights had to be all correct before it would accept. I had to enter each leg separately for both of us (6 different legs). Hope you get it figured out or Princess can help you.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Have you thought of booking an earlier flight? Or better yet, flying in the day before?

 

I think the reason you are having a problem with the transfers is that Princess thinks you are flying in too late and that there is a chance you may miss the ship and since it is that late Princess will have already provided transportation to most, if not all, passengers.

 

If it were me, I would never book a flight landing that late. Too many things can go wrong.

 

I hope you have insurance!

[Nodales]

Thank you to those who provided productive feedback on this.

 

Reading over the fine print again, it appears the 11-12pm pick-up time to applicable to people landing a day early only. The way it is phrased is very unusual but it looks like we're good to go.

[caribill]

I purchased transfers on my embarkation day (April 6), as we arrive in MIA at 11:18.

 

I talked to a princess rep, this was what I was told; if you arrive in MIA you need to be at least 2.5 hours before the ships departure (which is at 4:00pm), if you are arriving at FLL, you need to be at least 1.5 early.

 

 

OP is sailing out of San Francisco.

[rdsqrl]

You're arriving into SFO at 12.50pm for a cruise that departs from downtown San Francisco at 4pm?? I do not think "good to go" is the phrase I'd use to describe your situation. What happens if your flight is delayed? If there's traffic heading into downtown? And 4pm is sailing time, not "all aboard" time . . . You're cutting this way too close.

[Colo Cruiser]

You're arriving into SFO at 12.50pm for a cruise that departs from downtown San Francisco at 4pm?? I do not think "good to go" is the phrase I'd use to describe your situation. What happens if your flight is delayed? If there's traffic heading into downtown? And 4pm is sailing time, not "all aboard" time . . . You're cutting this way too close.

 

I agree...:eek:

[UPGrandma]

With clearing customs, I would also say you are cutting it too close.

[Nomsayin]

IMHO, you should check with Princess for your own peace of mind. Notwithstanding all the expert advice here, it's their opinion that rules.

[toberman]

With clearing customs, I would also say you are cutting it too close.

 

Customs should be pre cleared in Canada.

[MauiLvrs]

Does anyone know if I should actually be concerned about this?

YES. I would never book a flight for a cruise that arrives 1:45 minuted before all aboard at 3pm.

 

A 30 minute flight delay and an accident between the airport and ship and it wouldn't be unreasonable to find yourself on shore watching you ship sail away without you.

 

It would likely ease you mind (mine would be going nuts) if you could move to an early morning flight or even better arrive the night before if possible.

 

Baring any of those changes ... I would book a private car to be waiting upon arrival and cancel the princess transfers.

[Hlitner]

We think the OP is worrying about the wrong issue. Assuming the OP has no problem in trying to catch up to the cruise ship the following day (if it is in a port) we would not even consider a same day flight to a cruise and especially one that arrives so close to the embarkation time (you must generally be checked-in 90 minutes before scheduled departure). We live in an era when it is not advisable to depend on any airline to get you to your destination on time...if at all. In the past 3 months there have been more then 78,000 (yes, that is 78 thousand) airline flights cancelled within the US and many more suffered significant delays. This is not as likely to occur in the spring, but all it takes is some severe T-storms to disrupt lots of flights. And there are some new airline related rules in the USA that might result in many more delays and cancellations. When flight are delayed (almost anywhere) there can be a kind of chain reaction that results in many cancelled flights (or major delays). This is partially because of new US regulations for pilot rest periods that went into effect a few months ago. Essentially it means that there will be more delayed or cancelled flights because of crew scheduling issues enhanced by flight delays.

 

Hank