Flying in day of

[JTBCruiser]

OK, I know this will open a can of worms. We've always flown in the day before. Anyone ever flown in the day off? Might I add out of Indiana on a cold wintery morning! Argh. Airfare is outrageous! Flying day of is way cheaper but not sure my nerves could handle it!!!

 

My wife and I flew out from St Louis to Honolulu 2 years ago to take a 7 day cruise on NCL Pride of America. We flew in the day before and am glad we did because we ended up with a 10 hour delay in LA. This past Feb, we booked the RCI Jewel of the Seas out of San Juan. Rolled the dice, left STL same day, connected in Orlando then off to SJ. We made it with 2 hours to spare. Booked Serenade of the Seas for this Feb, flying non-stop from STL to NOLA same day. I've booked yet another on Adventure of the Seas a year out to SJ, I'm going to leave a day early.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

If those reading this thread are new to cruising they must think practically everyone flies in early. Not true. The airport is loaded with cruises flying in the same day with lots of cruise personnel holding up paddles for those who have booked ground transportation. Tapi, you're a peach and deserve to be recognized for your compassion. AND they will hold the ship as long as they can if they know you're delayed. If it's weather, you'll have plenty of company. I always take the insurance.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We have in the past flown in the day of with no problems, but not for many years. Actually, it's not really an option for us anymore as it is almost impossible, now, to find flights from Omaha to Florida that get there in time--or they get there so close (say, 2:00) that we'd never chance it.

 

Flying in the day of, in winter, even if schedules allowed, is just not worth it to us in terms of stress and chances of weather delays.

 

Airfare has gotten really pricey, especially if you are not near a big hub. We are cancelling a Thanksgiving cruise because airfare is so high. Thank goodness for FF miles! That's how we usually fly.

[Hlitner]

Flying out of Indy into ft. Lauderdale. We haven't booked yet as the rates are crazy outrageous. Just curious if I'm a crazy woman for even considering flying out the day of our cruise.

 

Yes, you would be a crazy women, man or otherwise (DW actually has a funny "crazy woman pin"). You want to put your cruise into the hands of the airlines? Even the day before is not without risks, but it is always a better option.

 

Hank

[BeagleOne]

Tapi, what a kind thing you did for those cruisers! I bet they will never forget you.

 

I always fly in the night before, and I would even if I didn't live in the upper Midwest and didn't cruise in the winter. You just never know what might happen to delay your flight...weather, mechanical issues, late incoming flight, crew issues...I had a long delay once because the scheduled first officer didn't show for some reason and they had to find someone who was not only near the airport but had enough hours available to do the flight. There were some dead-heading pilots on board, who were taking the plane out the next morning, and I kiddingly asked if one of them could do it! Fortunately it was the last flight into my small regional airport so no one had any connections to miss, and when the substitute pilot showed up he got a big round of applause and blushed bright red. :D

 

Anyway, fly in the night before, get a decent hotel, and enjoy a relaxing evening. Your peace of mind is worth something.

[Shmoo here]

Of the 4 cruises that we've taken that required flying, we've flown in the day of the cruise 3 times.

 

Our flights were all non stops, red-eye flights (in September mostly). While we were technically flying in the day of the cruise we were arriving anywhere from 5 to 8 hours before the all aboard for the cruise with (at the most) 1 hour travel time from airport to cruise.

 

Maybe we've been extremely lucky, but we've had no problems with any of our same day flights.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Maybe we've been extremely lucky, but we've had no problems with any of our same day flights.

 

Four flights or forty flights, whether or not you'll arrive on time and/or with luggage is 50/50 at best.

 

 

 

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[josumello]

It depends. If we're flying to LA, we fly in the day of the cruise. If it's Seattle, we fly in the same day. If it's clear across the country to Florida, we fly in the day before. I have a friend who is flying the red eye to Florida to do a Panama Canal cruise. There's no way I would do that, but she feels comfortable in doing it. We always get trip insurance, so either way we are covered.

 

 

Had flight scheduled Jan 03. Cruise left Jan 04. Got to airport in Hartford 2 hrs before on a beautiful day. There had been a hughe storm 2 days before in Midwest. Air traffic affected in all the Eastern US. The line at the airport was out the doors to check in Hartford is usually so easy but not this time. Our flight was delayed about 45 mins which saved us. We literally were running on to the plane as the doors were closing. If we had not been TSP pre heck would not have made it. I won't go into the horror story of our luggage. It was a Panama Canal cruise and many people didn't catch up to the cruise for a week. We have decided in winter we will always fly in 2 days ahead. Not worth the stress.

 

 

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[cbr663]

We've flown in the day of - no problems. It was January and from Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale. IIRC, we walked on the ship around 1:30.

[Hlitner]

Flying in the day of a cruise is like rolling the dice. And many Trip Cancellation polices will not give you refunds if your flight is scheduled to arrive within a certain time of a cruise (often 6 hours). So we see on this board that one poster flies from Southern CA to Florida (warm weather to warm weather) which does improve the odds (although your luggage could well end up in Alaska).

 

But for those willing to Roll the dice perhaps some facts might make them realize just how lucky they have been:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/03/news/companies/canceled-flights/

 

We actually know some folks that missed their cruises last winter even thought they did intend to fly in one day early! So it call comes down to how comfortable you are taking risks. Personally, we like to arrive within driving distance of our port at least 1 day early (several days early for European or Asian cruises). Spending the night before a cruise at a nearby hotel, enjoying a nice dinner at a good local restaurant, going to sleep with the knowledge that you are only a few minutes from the port and have your luggage, and waking the day of the cruise refreshed, relaxed, in no hurry, are all reasons to support being at a port city in advance.

 

Hank

[Cruisin' Chick]

Flying in the day of a cruise is like rolling the dice. And many Trip Cancellation polices will not give you refunds if your flight is scheduled to arrive within a certain time of a cruise (often 6 hours). So we see on this board that one poster flies from Southern CA to Florida (warm weather to warm weather) which does improve the odds (although your luggage could well end up in Alaska).

 

But for those willing to Roll the dice perhaps some facts might make them realize just how lucky they have been:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/03/news/companies/canceled-flights/

 

We actually know some folks that missed their cruises last winter even thought they did intend to fly in one day early! So it call comes down to how comfortable you are taking risks. Personally, we like to arrive within driving distance of our port at least 1 day early (several days early for European or Asian cruises). Spending the night before a cruise at a nearby hotel, enjoying a nice dinner at a good local restaurant, going to sleep with the knowledge that you are only a few minutes from the port and have your luggage, and waking the day of the cruise refreshed, relaxed, in no hurry, are all reasons to support being at a port city in advance.

 

Hank

 

The last cruise out of Miami, we flew in the day before from LAX. (Even though warm weather to warm weather, what's happening elsewhere can still affect your flight.) We caught a taxi to Bayside Marketpace, walked around and then had dinner there. Nice and relaxed for the first day of the cruise.

[Algebralovr]

Another option is airfare is really high is to check secondary airports or secondary airlines. For example, instead of flying out of STL, we might fly out of Belleville, IL on Allegiant and fly into Sanford/Orlando. We also check flying out of MCI (Kansas City) and Springfield/Branson. All are within not too awful a drive, and all offer different price points and schedules. The other thing to do is to just keep checking.

 

When I started looking at airfare in July/August for our February cruise, it was looking like $600 per person round trip for the tickets. Once Southwest released their schedule. It came down a little bit, but not much, still $450 per person. I started considering Allegiant out of Belleville, particularly since my Mom would keep our car so I didn't have to pay to park. It would have meant flying Thursday instead of Friday, and home on Sunday instead of Saturday. It would have also meant flying into Sanford instead of FLL, meaning a car rental both ways. Plus, two additional nights in hotels, although I probably have enough points to cover those for free.

 

I finally caught Southwest at just the right time, and was able to get DH'S ticket with points, mine with cash since if the prices dropped I would use the credit and he would be unlikely to do so.

 

We were tempted to spend an extra day in FL, though!

 

I will never fly in the day of if I can help it. The last time I had a really early flight, the plane had dead batteries and we couldn't take off. It was finally canceled an hours after we were supposed to have left, but I couldn't find another flight out. If I had not rented a car and driven to my next leg, I would have been stuck there over night.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Algebralovr

[Hlitner]

In our forty years of cruising we have flown in on the day of a cruise on numerous occasions (but not in recent years). We still remember the anxiety of wondering if our flight would be on time, be cancelled, would our luggage get diverted, etc. It also meant we had to get up real early, get to the airport, sit around, wait and worry. When we go our destination and our luggage showed-up it was a huge relief. The first night of the cruise we were usually worn out and also happy that we MADE IT! Now, for use it is about trying to make the entire trip as much fun as possible, and reducing anxiety. Going a day (or 2) early makes all the difference. We know that even if our luggage is delayed, it will probably catch-up before we board the ship. Heading to the port by 11 am means we are often onboard by 11:30 (we get priority boarding on most cruise lines) and can turn that first day into something akin to a sea day.

 

We also try to handle the debarkation in a similar manner. If we are flying home we normally book an early afternoon flight. While hoards of passengers are standing around anxiously trying to get off the ship, we usually head up to the pool deck and relax in a lounge chair with our books and some coffee. And then, about 9:30-9:45 when just about everyone is off the ship we take an elevator (no wait at this point) down to the appropriate deck, walk off the ship (no lines), grab our luggage (easy to find since very little is remaining), walk out of the terminal, and grab at taxi to the airport (or a hotel if we are staying in town). No sweat, no hassles, no anxiety.

 

Hank

[LynnTTT]

We had an early flight from Baltimore (maybe 9:00am?). But the taxi we reserved din't show up and we missed the flight. The airline got us on another flight, but that went to West Palm Beach and we had to get a hired car to drive us down to Ft Lauderdale. We made it in plenty of time, but never again.

And in winter, from the mid-west I would never try it.

[BenjiRodney]

Last year on the way to San Juan, we had to make a connection in Charlotte. We circled Charlotte but could not land because of fog. We diverted to Tennessee to refuel and await Charlotte re opening. We missed the flight to San Juan, had to take a later flight, but our luggage would not catch us until the next morning. So glad we went 1 day early. Several people that left out on the Saturday Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruises did so without luggage.

 

 

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[oldtimecruisers]

I feel the same way about flying in the same day as our cruise. The only suggestion I have is fly with Princess, this way you're protected.

[Sunbubble]

We used to fly in the day of, but had such a horrible experience flying from Dayton, OH to Atlanta to Paris to Lisbon (delays, delays, delays), that we will fly in at least 2 days early from now on. I was a nervous wreck during the entire trip, didn't sleep a wink on the plane and ended up using the first 2 days of the cruise to sleep -- missing dinners, shows, etc. Never again. Now, we drive to the closest major airport we can get to -- last year we drove to Atlanta, spent a night at the airport and flew nonstop to Buenos Aires 3 days before; next year we're driving to Chicago, not spending the night (the plane leaves at 3:30 pm) and flying nonstop to Hong Kong 2 days before. But we're going directly from the ship to the airport after the cruise. I don't think the season matters -- every season has problems: snow, ice, hail, thunderstorms, tornadoes, wind, etc., etc. It's absolutely worth the money -- I lost 2 days of a 14 day cruise recovering from the flights!

[PhillyBoy]

We usually fly in a day ahead however; last summer we were going on a Mediterranean cruise with my family leaving from the port of Rome. Our family left 3 days before us because we previously spent a number of days in Rome. Since this cruise left in July we felt that there was little chance of a flight delay. That our city had the heaviest rain in history and our airport lost power. Our flight took off 14 hours late and we arrived in Rome after our cruise left. We booked our flight through choice air. They met us at the airport, took us to a hotel, paid for our rooms for 2 days, and flew us to Santorini.

[TedC]

:cool: BIG MISTAKE! Better to arrive one or two days prior of sailing! TOO MANY things can go WRONG: Weather, mechanical, world events, even volcano eruptions!

 

You can be LUCKY BUT you can also BE NOT LUCKY! WAY TOO MUCH STRESS when you roll the dice and LOSE!

 

Take advantage of exploring port city, many are VERY interesting! Another advantage is to rest up so you're not dog-tired when you board!

 

You can also buy expensive insurance that could cover any loss. (READ the small print!)

[michigancruisers2]

We always fly in a day ahead - especially in the winter from a cold weather home base. Too many things can go wrong like delayed flights, missed connections, lost baggage, etc. We may occasionally chance it in warmer weather or when flying into cities with many flights available.

[Hlitner]

We usually fly in a day ahead however; last summer we were going on a Mediterranean cruise with my family leaving from the port of Rome. Our family left 3 days before us because we previously spent a number of days in Rome. Since this cruise left in July we felt that there was little chance of a flight delay. That our city had the heaviest rain in history and our airport lost power. Our flight took off 14 hours late and we arrived in Rome after our cruise left. We booked our flight through choice air. They met us at the airport, took us to a hotel, paid for our rooms for 2 days, and flew us to Santorini.

 

We will not even say how often we have flown to and from Europe as we would be accused of boasting or some other such thing. But we will say that we have had major delays (and even cancellations) in too many flights to and from Europe and those delays have often been significant. When we cruise out of a European, Asian, South America, etc port we now fly-in at least 2 days early. And I would add that we have only used Celebrity's Choice Air for one cruise (which was a 26 day back-to-back) in Europe and those Choice Air folks managed to book our return flights 10 days early which would have had us enjoying a nice day at sea while our flight home was leaving from an airport more then 1000 miles away. Fortunately, we discovered the Choice Air error several months before our trip, and after 3 days of trying to convince them they had made a mistake, they finally agreed to correct their error. They then wanted us to pay for the airline change fees (even though they had booked the wrong flights) and the higher cost of the flights on the correct day (the price had increased soon after our original booking). Eventually, after speaking to several supervisors, we convinced the Choice Air folks that fixing the major error, and all the associated additional costs were their problem. In the end, they did make everything right.

 

This is why we prefer to make our own travel arrangements...and will only use the cruise line's air folks if they can offer us significant savings.

Hank

Edited September 17, 2014 by Hlitner

[ducklite]

We will not even say how often we have flown to and from Europe as we would be accused of boasting or some other such thing. But we will say that we have had major delays (and even cancellations) in too many flights to and from Europe and those delays have often been significant.

 

In the past three years alone we are at about 75% "delayed over two hours" on our overseas flights.

[AZ Ocean Lover]

This all depends on where we are flying to. We live in AZ so flying over to LA is a snap. If we miss one flight there are 17 others that would get us there in time. Flying to the east coast we practically have to fly out the day before because of the time difference.

 

On our first cruise we departed from Galveston. We chose to fly in the day before just because we wanted to see Galveston. The two other couples we were traveling with flew in the day of and there was weather and lots of delays. We were nice and relaxed in our cabin when they arrived at the last minute. They were a bit frazzled.

[mlbcruiser]

While it was nice of you to hold your plane for the late arrivals, Tapi, what about the people on board your plane who may have had to make a tight connection at the next airport? Especially someone who had to make it to a different concourse to connect? Maybe even for an int'l. flight? Sometime airlines don't always book people allowing the true and proper amount of time it normally takes to make their connection. Perhaps you could tell from your manifest that by holding your plane, you weren't risking anyone else's connection. I am only mentioning this because your story might cause a lot of people to think it's always ok to wait for late passengers (esp. if it's them!). There could be ramifications if all pilots did this on a routine basis. I am sure you weighed the situation and made the best choice. Guess I've just heard too many people complaining on Airfarewatchdog and other travel boards because they assume a plane should have been held for them without taking into consideration all the many reasons why sometimes holding a plane causes issues. Issues like creating a domino effect on down the line having to do with other passengers, other planes, air traffic control, etc. etc. etc.

 

RE: the initial question, though, of course it's best to fly a day ahead and I always have - except maybe twice out of many, many times when I couldn't. Some people may not be able go a day early for whatever reason. For those folks, it's best to get travel insurance but make CERTAIN it will cover getting you to your cruise and will reimburse you for time lost if you have to catch your ship at another port - no matter what the reason of your missed or severely delayed flight. There are so many ifs, ands and buts in travel ins. that it would be a whole other topic to mention those! Most people assume things are covered that aren't. So buy wisely!

Edited September 18, 2014 by mlbcruiser