Help, they rebooked our flight for today's sailing on Regal

[Colo Cruiser]

I would agree with pp that you should call princess immediately upon landing and tell them you are on your way. If they have any leeway they will try to help you catch the ship. Best of luck to you

 

 

Best to let Princess know as soon as the flights were changed and when you land.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[capriccio]

I hope you make the ship.

 

For others reading this thread I'd offer the following advice. It's probably too late for you, but I would consider just flying with a carry on in this situation. Before kids, I did a 10 day med cruise with just a carry on. I brought clothes that could be washed with shampoo in the bathtub and line dried without a problem.

 

My DB and SIL routinely only travel with carry ons. They've done 7 day Alaska and 12 day Quebec to FLL cruises with us. I couldn't do it but they said that having the self serve laundry makes it very easy. We also don't do formal night so that helps:D.

[zoncom]

Cab only. MIA is like NYC. Cabs all over. Might ask cabbie for flat rate, offering extra tip if he gets there before certain time. Tell him to use pay lane on 95. Allow 45 min. on Sunday.

[samchatmon]

we had no choice as the next flight to Fort Lauderdale was landing at 230

 

 

You can land at 14:30 in fll and still make the ship. If you used ezair that is the latest your flight can arrive. Good luck. You should make it from Miami

[billco]

There is always the chance that someone who booked eZAir is coming in late also, so you might benefit from Princess waiting for them.

[caribill]

I thought TSA required checkin 90 minutes or 2 hours before sailing? TSA needs the passenger info by that time. If you have completed the personalizer information, then Princess can give the info to TSA.

 

Personally, I would not have switched to the later flight. It is too close for me. The flight does not have to be too delayed for you to miss the ship. OP did not make the switch, the airline did. OP had no control over what the airline did.

 

 

3. If this is a Princess EZ Air flight princess should wait for you. EZair just guarantees if you miss the ship, Princess will pay to get to the next possible port. It is no guarantee that the ship will wait for you anymore than if you were running late without having used EZAir.

 

Hopefully the OP will soon land at MIA and make the cruise.

 

My first choice of what to do in this case would be, while waiting for the luggage, to look for a Princess rep and see if a Princess Xfer is still possible from MIA to the ship. If so, then there would be no doubt about making the ship.

 

If that was not an option, then a cab is best.

[compozer]

Hope you are in a taxi now and on your way. Good luck

[azbirdmom]

Hopefully the OP will soon land at MIA and make the cruise.

 

My first choice of what to do in this case would be, while waiting for the luggage, to look for a Princess rep and see if a Princess Xfer is still possible from MIA to the ship. If so, then there would be no doubt about making the ship.

 

If that was not an option, then a cab is best.

 

 

 

Great advice. In addition to calling Princess upon landing, I would look for a Princess rep immediately upon arriving at the baggage area. Good luck OP, hope you make it!

[myjillian]

Last Jan, we were putzing around on the way to the FLL port and something made me reread the boarding time and it was a 4pm boarding:rolleyes: we weren't even to Vero Beach yet and the time was 2:30...and...it was pouring down rain...we got to our parking garage and they shuttled us to the ship....we made the ship with 10 minutes to spare...everyone behind the counters were teasing us and welcoming us at the same time. That was the first and last time we will not go the night before:cool: I'm sure you'll do well.....

[4cats4me]

Good luck. Op please post and let us know if it all worked out :)

[NANCYR2]

Google shuttle services. There are many out there. We used MJS from Fll airport to the Miami cruise port. Cost was $15pp.We did this in Jan of this year. They met us as soon as we called that we had our luggage. We walked out of airport , and they were there. We were at the Miami cruise port in 35 minutes.

Good Luck!

[jagsfan]

I hope I hear that OP made it before my ship sails(Royal). High stress levels are a hard way to start s cruise!

[Pam in CA]

I thought TSA required checkin 90 minutes or 2 hours before sailing?

I thought so, too, but I've taken several BVEs and been astonished by the number of people arriving as I'm leaving just before Muster. Happens all the time.

 

To the OP, when you book your own flights, hotel, etc., you assume all responsibility for getting to the ship on time. You took a gamble arriving embarkation day and unfortunately, what you're experiencing isn't unique. Flights are canceled or delayed all the time so you need to take that into account. No, the ship won't wait for you although if a flight with a number of Princess passengers who booked using Princess Air is delayed, the ship may wait for it.

 

Ships have a schedule of departure and if one ship is delayed, it could delay one or two other ships since often, they have to sail in a specific order.

 

Hope you make the ship. If not, assume you have insurance.

[Cruisin' Chick]

While Princess may not be responsible, I think it is pretty bold to think that "just about everyone" knows to arrive early. I've cruised a lot and only a very small percentage of passengers arrive early. For some it isn't feasible due to cost or vacation/work requirements.

 

 

Here's the thing: with the way that flights are nowadays -- cancellations, rebooking, weather delays, mechanical delays...I can't see not planning to come in a day ahead at the very least when you have a cruise to catch. It's something different if you are getting to a land vacation where you don't have to worry about a hotel (then all you have to do is try to call them as soon as possible to cancel your first night's stay so that you don't get charge).

 

It's way different for a cruise. You're expected to be on board by a specific time (for the Homeland Security manifest). Sometimes if you book your flight through the cruiseline, and you're not there on time, the ship MIGHT wait for you (but otherwise try to get you to the first port that you'll be able to board...which may not always be the first port of the cruise; and in the case of some itineraries such as northbound Alaskan cruises, you won't be able to board at any point if you've missed getting on board in Vancouver). Otherwise you have to hope that the ship is waiting for passengers who have booked cruise air.

 

Personally if there's a possibility that one of us might not be able to go the day before for a cruise (that's not out of our nearby port) because of a work or school situation, we wouldn't book a cruise but plan a land vacation instead. Why stress out over possibly missing the ship and then have to spend more money to play catch up? And we've stopped buying our flights through cruise air ever since they gave us a red-eye flight getting into Miami early the morning of a cruise and I had to insist the flight got changed to an earlier flight to get us in the night before.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Good luck. Op please post and let us know if it all worked out :)

 

I hope the OP made it okay, too. I've had to fly in the same day as embarkation for work reasons in the past, but don't plan to do it again. Too stressful.

[paul929207]

It is after 4 and we have not heard from OP. Not a great sign.

[cougaraz]

430 EST and webcam still shows the ship in port, hoping for the best.

[bhopal21]

The lines have been released and she is underway.

 

Hopefully the OP has just been too busy to respond.

 

Mike:)

Edited March 29, 2015 by bhopal21

[dforeigner]

I thought TSA required checkin 90 minutes or 2 hours before sailing?

 

Personally, I would not have switched to the later flight. It is too close for me. The flight does not have to be too delayed for you to miss the ship.

 

TSA has nothing to do with this. The ship must email the manifest 45 minutes to CBP before the ship departs the port.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Ultra Music Festival is in Miami this weekend, and the aerial view showed completely stopped traffic last night. I hope they didn't hit traffic and that they made it! It was a huge risk!

[Colo Cruiser]

TSA has nothing to do with this. The ship must email the manifest 45 minutes to CBP before the ship departs the port.

 

I agree CBP.

[RickEk]

we had no choice as the next flight to Fort Lauderdale was landing at 230

 

I hope the OP made it too... but they should have taken this flight to FLL...it was completely doable and a lot less stressful than flying into Miami.

[shredie]

Poor OP. If I were them and missed the ship, I don't think I'd come back here to hear about all the mistakes I made booking the wrong flight on the wrong day and how hindsight would have changed everything. I sure do hope they made it.

[tanzer22pilot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cougaraz

While Princess may not be responsible, I think it is pretty bold to think that "just about everyone" knows to arrive early. I've cruised a lot and only a very small percentage of passengers arrive early. For some it isn't feasible due to cost or vacation/work requirements.

 

 

This will work out in one of two ways for the OP:

 

1. A lesson of life.

 

2. A great story at their MDR table tonight at which point the other people will ask what they were thinking by traveling on departure day.

 

 

CougerAZ, the reason you do not hear about those that travel on departure is that often the miss the ship.

[cougaraz]

To be totally clear, my personal policy is never to arrive on embarkation day unless it is with EZAir, but not everyone has the time and/or financial resources to make that a reality. For a big trip, like UK embarkation, prefer to arrive early, plus it helps ease the time adjustment.

 

I do hope we hear from the OP, but if they didn't make it, posting here would be painful.

Edited March 29, 2015 by cougaraz