Missing Your Flight Home

[gooch47]

I frequently see posts asking if they will be able to make a flight after a cruise at a certain time fairly early in the day. They almost always get responses that range anywhere from "no way" to "no problem."

 

What is your actual experience on this matter?

 

We have missed flights three times, always because the ship got in late. We had booked our flights through Princess and they made other arrangements for us including a hotel stay once. The third time we had made our own arrangements but when we arrived at the airport the airline, Delta if I remember correctly was extremely accomodating and just put us on the next available flight. But we had been in a suite and were among the first people to get to the airport. I wonder if people arriving later were as lucky.

 

These days we always stay an extra day after cruises as well as before. It sure saves a lot of anxiety.

[cb at sea]

We have been booked for 2 pm flights..and have (thankfully) been able to get on EARLIER flights....I don't want to sit and wait for 4-5 hours for a flight home. You will be OFF the ship by 10am, barring anything weird ......earlier is totally doable!

 

I will never book anything after 1pm....usually, 11am is fine, for most ports...MOST...pay attention to your distance from port to airport!!!!

[Nebr.cruiser]

We always fly home the day of disembarking and have always been fine. Our earliest flight was 10:30 from Ft. Lauderdale, which we made with no problem. Usually our flights are around noon or so.

 

Of course, things happen, and it would be better to stay an extra day, but this usually doesn't work with our schedule and, frankly, we're just ready to get home after a cruise (we usually take 14-18 day cruises).

 

Flying to Nebraska, it's hard to get to Omaha before 11 PM, due to flight schedules--and then we have a 2.5 hour drive home.

 

We do fly in a day ahead, mostly because we can't usually even get flights that get to Florida (or other ports) in time to catch the ship.

[sail7seas]

I frequently see posts asking if they will be able to make a flight after a cruise at a certain time fairly early in the day. They almost always get responses that range anywhere from "no way" to "no problem."

 

What is your actual experience on this matter?

 

We have missed flights three times, always because the ship got in late. We had booked our flights through Princess and they made other arrangements for us including a hotel stay once. The third time we had made our own arrangements but when we arrived at the airport the airline, Delta if I remember correctly was extremely accomodating and just put us on the next available flight. But we had been in a suite and were among the first people to get to the airport. I wonder if people arriving later were as lucky.

 

These days we always stay an extra day after cruises as well as before. It sure saves a lot of anxiety.

 

 

Flights go out so full these days, even if the airline is willing to be cooperative, they simply don't have empty seats to offer. In the 'old' days, one could usually have a good chance of getting a later flight if they miss the one they booked. Cannot count on that now.

 

We never plan to fly home day we disembark. There have been at least 6 times when we were very happy we had a hotel booked and flight the next day or so.

 

 

 

 

[Treven]

As I live on the Left Coast, there's no way I can get home at a decent hour if I get a flight that day after I get off the ship. I automatically book a hotel room for that night and get up at 4:00 to catch a 6 a.m. flight home. This gets me in about 11:00 or so.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have never missed a flight home.

We always fly to the embarkation port 2 or 3 days early. At the end of the cruise we stay over a day or two.

There are very few flights to and from our airport so we know that if we missed a flight, chances are we would have to wait a couple of days for another flight.

[FlyerTalker]

We have been booked for 2 pm flights..and have (thankfully) been able to get on EARLIER flights....I don't want to sit and wait for 4-5 hours for a flight home. You will be OFF the ship by 10am, barring anything weird ......earlier is totally doable!

 

I will never book anything after 1pm....usually, 11am is fine, for most ports...MOST...pay attention to your distance from port to airport!!!!

Note that this comment makes NO distinction about cruiseline, ship, port or time of year.

 

Ergo, a grand generalization worth.....zilch.

 

Some ports are known to have seasonal issues with fog. Other ports may have immigration and customs issues. The itinerary you are on may affect disembarkation processes. Airport congestion can be an issue if a number of ships are all sending off passengers at the same time.

 

Airline load factors are now averaging over 83% - and that's the average including less popular routes. Flights on travel days to/from cruise ports are running close to 100%, so there isn't a lot of "give" in the system.

 

My advice as a multi-year frequent flyer is to build in a good degree of "cushion" whenever possible. In addition to making your flights and connections, it lessens the stress level. Now, sometimes there is no amount of cushion that would have worked, but you want to give yourself as much chance of success as you can.

 

Final thought. It's amazing to me how people are "unprepared" for time at the airport. Folks who will sit and laze around a pool for hours are now bored when sitting indoors. Bring a book, magazine, iPod, tablet or something to do. A deck of cards. Buy the Sunday paper and read up on what happened the week you were gone. And if you have a five hour wait, see what there is in the airport. For example, there are museums in a number of airports, art collections, displays, observation decks and more. Or you can get a head start on War and Peace in the original Russian. :D

 

Just one man's opinion...backed by over 2 million miles in the air (and airports).

[gooch47]

The number of cruiseships in port that day is an important consideration.

 

How much luggage you have is also a factor. Since we get free laundry on both NCL and Princess I can get by with only carry-ons and can skip check-in.

[griffy116]

We've flown a couple of times from Europe and because of the limited number of flights, we always stay in a hotel and take the first (and sometimes only) flight the following morning. If in the U.S., we look at what time the cruise line recommends and we don't book anything earlier. We used to think about booking earlier, but on one cruise a couple of years ago, ONE piece of luggage got lost. We had to wait over an hour for them to finally locate it. Had we had a plane to catch, we would have missed it. Since then, we were on a cruise that docked later than expected. We apply the "what if" rule when booking our flights. If you are flying solo, you might be able to get on a flight, but there are usually five of us and we know the chances of us getting five people on another flight are slim to none.

[Hlitner]

I frequently see posts asking if they will be able to make a flight after a cruise at a certain time fairly early in the day. They almost always get responses that range anywhere from "no way" to "no problem."

 

What is your actual experience on this matter?

 

We have missed flights three times, always because the ship got in late. We had booked our flights through Princess and they made other arrangements for us including a hotel stay once. The third time we had made our own arrangements but when we arrived at the airport the airline, Delta if I remember correctly was extremely accomodating and just put us on the next available flight. But we had been in a suite and were among the first people to get to the airport. I wonder if people arriving later were as lucky.

 

These days we always stay an extra day after cruises as well as before. It sure saves a lot of anxiety.

 

Your post is interesting. Some have said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. You mention having missed your flight "3 Times" which should give you a hint that you are booking flights too early. Personally, we seldom use cruise line arranged air since we can usually do better on our own, but even if using cruise line air we would do custom air and specify a flight late enough to generally ensure making it. If in Port Everglades or Miami we seldom book a flight departure before noon. European ports are a bit different and we would actually cut it a bit closer in a place like Civitavecchia since there are seldom delays caused by the authorities like in the US.

 

I should add that we also live in the Northeast, have taken over 70 cruises and have never missed a post cruise flight. And we are not aware of any of our friends having missed a post cruise flight. Staying an extra day (or several days) after a cruise is always a great idea if one can spare the time (and money).

 

Hank

Edited February 17, 2015 by Hlitner

[geoherb]

We've been fortunate to have never missed our flight home. My brother and his wife missed theirs in October after their trans-Atlantic cruise. They did not realize how long it would take to get through Customs and Immigration. Their flight was at 1:30 from FLL. They did not get off the ship until after 1.

[trev71]

Ive never missed my flight. *knock on wood*

[gooch47]

Tomorrow we leave on our 70th cruise. Perhaps you missed my comment that we now always come to the port two days early and leave the day after. We have learned that you can't control either the ship or the airlines. Twice now we have used the padded day because we missed a connection and still ended up arriving the day the cruise began.

 

On the two Princess cruises we booked our flights through them and both times there would have been plenty of time to catch our flight had the ship not arrived many hours late due to bad weather. One was so late that hundreds of passengers had to be put up in hotels. The third one was an NCL cruise that again was severely delayed by weather. So no, we weren't booking flights too early.

 

The purpose of this thread was to give those who DO book early flights on debarcation day warning that things happen and to beware.

Edited February 20, 2015 by gooch47

[CowPrincess]

Tomorrow we leave on our 70th cruise. Perhaps you missed my comment that we now always come to the port two days early and leave the day after. We have learned that you can't control either the ship or the airlines. Twice now we have used the padded day because we missed a connection and still ended up arriving the day the cruise began.

 

On the two Princess cruises we booked our flights through them and both times there would have been plenty of time to catch our flight had the ship not arrived many hours late due to bad weather. One was so late that hundreds of passengers had to be put up in hotels. The third one was an NCL cruise that again was severely delayed by weather. So no, we weren't booking flights too early.

 

The purpose of this thread was to give those who DO book early flights on debarcation day warning that things happen and to beware.

 

When we fly in the winter, we leave home 3 days early, and hope to arrive at the embarkation port with two days grace. We simply cannot take additional time to overnight post-cruise. We need to be moving towards home.

 

I worry every time we disembark in San Diego. There is one direct flight every 2nd day. That flight is too early for my comfort level, but we book it anyway. We have to take that chance, and hope that we make the flight. Or we could wait, do a connecting flight, and arrive at our airport around midnight. With a two hour drive along mountain roads in winter.

 

Sometimes people do the best they can with the choices that are available, even when none of the choices are perfect.

[gooch47]

I should note that we used to fly in only one day early thus the comment about losing the padded day. With the horrible weather this winter, I'm thinking three days ahead might be better.

 

But everyone can't afford to do that, money or time wise. You do the best you can and buy travel insurance.

[Lerin]

Never had an issue, in fact not sure I've even disembarked later than 9am.

[CowPrincess]

Never had an issue, in fact not sure I've even disembarked later than 9am.

 

One time our ship had mechanical probs and we disembarked around 12:30 :eek: I was not a happy camper :(

 

A few other times, in San Diego, the pax have not cleared Immigration in a timely fashion. The first time that happened to us in San Diego (we had a 2:30 non-direct flight) the lady in line behind us was in tears, because we were still on the ship, in line to disembark at 10:30. Her flight was leaving at 11 am.

[gooch47]

We were embarking in NOLA once and the ship had beem diverted due to a medical emergency and didn't arrive umtil 5:30 p.m. You can be sure a lot of people missed their flights that day.

[ontheweb]

We were embarking in NOLA once and the ship had beem diverted due to a medical emergency and didn't arrive umtil 5:30 p.m. You can be sure a lot of people missed their flights that day.

 

We were on a cruise once that was supposed to disembark in Fort Lauderdale on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. Due to a hurricane, we did not reach Fort Lauderdale until Labor Day. And disembarkation took forever because there were too many ships coming in for the amount of immigration agents on duty. I bet everybody with a flight missed their flights. (Actually, their

flights were almost definitely cancelled.

 

OTOH, we stayed over a day in Copenhagen because we were told that the 9 AM flight home ( we had a very, very special internet rate) was not possible to catch and we should get it for the next day. When the form for getting luggage tags came, my DW pointed out that one of the categories was for Continental flights at 9 AM. I asked to see the form, and not only was that there, but it was not the earliest category. There was also one for flights prior to that. Both our TA and a representative from Princess had told us that 9 AM was much too early. I forget the exact time they said, but it was much later than that.

[Sam.Seattle]

never mind....

Edited February 22, 2015 by Sam.Seattle
messed up the Quote....

[wishIweretravelling]

Another factor to look for is where the ship's passengers will be clearing Immigration. Let's say you're on a cruise that ends in Ft. Lauderdale. If you are clearing Immigration in FLL, that adds a layer of unpredictability to your timing. If, however, your ship is stopping in Key West before ending in FLL, you'll be clearing Immigration in Key West, and so that factor won't be present in your timing to get off in FLL.