flying in on cruise day

[beache5182]

Our cruise leaves at 4pm and Our flight arrives at 9am will that be enough time to get there? Its a 40 minute shuttle from airport to the ship.. I am a little worried

[ncovert]

Our cruise leaves at 4pm and Our flight arrives at 9am will that be enough time to get there? Its a 40 minute shuttle from airport to the ship.. I am a little worried

 

Sounds like there would be enough time.

 

Which port are you flying into?

[beache5182]

from St Louis to Orlando. ( Port Canaveral)

[skrufy]

You should be at PC no later than noon as long as all goes smoothly. You cruise departs at 4pm but you must be on board by 2:30pm. Customs rules.

[GUT2407]

Sounds OK.

 

But what happens if your flight is delayed.

 

I generally drive to my port about 2 hours, but still prefer to go the night before because I know that things don't always go according to plan.

 

That 2 hour trip has taken me 6 hours with a bad collision and days with a bush fire. So I prefer to give myself a wide margin to get alternatives in place.

 

But that may just be me.

[GradUT]

We did a similar thing a few years ago and had no problem getting to the ship on time. Our flight arrived in Orlando around 9:30 am and we were on the shuttle (Travel Lynx) within 10 minutes of getting off the plane with our bags. We got to the Carnival Cruise Terminal about 45 - 50 minutes later. Don't worry--you'll be fine.

Edited June 16, 2015 by GradUT

[singbluesilver1]

I would worry if the flight was delayed or cancelled. I always go in the day before just in case

[RaiderFaninNM]

I would worry if the flight was delayed or cancelled. I always go in the day before just in case

 

Yupers!

 

Our first cruise was out of Long Beach and we were scheduled to be in @8AM but alas, FOG out of LA delayed out flight from NM to LA.........:eek:

 

By 3 hours, we just made it to the port with about 30 mins to go, wow that was close, we will NEVER fly in the day of the cruise again! ;)

[busymom45]

Our flight arrives at Orlando at 8:40 am. Our shuttle transportation will pick us up at 10 am. We will get there way before time.

[Kverlinger]

My in laws came to visit us a couple weeks ago. Plane kept getting delayed. 11am arrival turned into 9pm arrival. Thank goodness it wasn't a huge deal for them but it could of been for some of the other people. I don't fly enough to know better but their excessive delay made me think I would never fly in on the day I have to be somewhere.

[6fan]

I have flown in day of cruise a couple of times no issue. But anymore I do not chance it. Aftyer this years cruis I went to Indy 500. back to LA at Due to delay got to la at 9 hours late.

[BcIcemen]

I always fly in a day early.You never know what could happen. My next cruise I am flying in day of but we are leaving from San Juan at 10 PM and my flight is scheduled to arrive at noon

[love my grandkids]

When we first started cruising we would fly in the day of the cruise and it worked out.

 

These days too many flights get cancelled for convenience of airline so we always plan to get in a day early.

[lido deck larry]

In theory, yes, but consider how bad flight delays can be, you're taking a risk. Is it a direct flight from STL?

 

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

[dmdiver]

We've always flown the day of when we've had to fly. No problems on American. Our friends usually fly a different airline & I know they've had issues with flight changes in the past. I completely understand flying in a day ahead of time, though. I am always on edge until we are in the air. Also, flying in a day early allows you to be more relaxed on embarkation day. We are usually up catching a 7am flight. Ugh.

 

Driving can be problematic as well. Last drive to Galveston we had to make a big detour, as the highway was shut down in Houston due to a wreck. We made it in plenty of time, but again, up before dawn to leave the house.

[Wheels87]

I would never fly in the day of the cruise, especially to San Juan. Case in point...a few years ago, my wife and I were going on the Adventure of the Seas out of San Juan. We were flying in a day early and had an expensive room booked at Los Conchas resort. We were supposed to arrive in the early afternoon. Unfortunately, our flight from Gulfport was delayed by about 2 hours and we missed our connection in Charlotte. Once that happened, we were booked on a flight that was leaving 8 hours later. I went round and round with the airline and there was nothing else available. Eventually, we caught a break and hopped on a flight to St. Thomas on a different airline and then caught a flight to San Juan. We arrived at the airport at 8:15 pm, however, our luggage was lost. We spent almost two hours trying to find it and we didn't make it to Los Conchas until 11:00 pm.

 

So, in the end, we didn't get to enjoy the $400 resort at all and if our cruise was leaving that day, we definitely would have missed it.

 

I was also on another cruise out of San Juan where there were 18 people who thought that it was a good idea to fly in from Detroit on the day of their cruise in December. Bad move. One of the ladies in the group was steaming mad because she thought the ship should have waited 4 hours for her party. Not gonna happen.

 

The moral of the story is...if you ever fly in the day of your cruise, be prepared to miss it and don't blame anyone but yourself.

 

Take care,

 

Brad

[springs741]

I am going to go with the masses that say it not the best of plans to fly in the day of your cruise. My husband has been blessed/cursed to travel the world for business. I can not begin to list here the number of flight delays he has endured. I know sometimes it is a situation of having to work the day before and that can't be changed. But if it to save money then be sure you have insurance to cover a missed cruise. Otherwise saving that $200 on a hotel/ flight the day before just cost the price of the cruise plus the emotional toll of missing a vacation.

[valerievol]

Another reason flights get delayed is due to late arrivals the night before. We decided to fly into Orlando the day of our cruise because our flight was the first one scheduled out of Memphis and would get us to Orlando around 9:30-10:00. We received a text message at 5:00am that it was delayed by two hours because the crew got in late and has a mandatory rest time so they could not leave as scheduled. The crew never showed and thankfully Delta scrambled another flight to us. We were 2 out of the last 7 to board the ship. If we had not been on the Carnival shuttle I do not think we would have made it because they did delay departure for us. Never again will we fly in the day of...too stressful!

[RaMar]

I always like to go the day before just in case. I would be in a complete panic if there is a delay or cancellation.

[Warm Breezes]

The last time we flew into Orlando for a cruise out of Port Canaveral was for our Disney Magic cruise. It was a direct flight from Michigan in June. All was fine until we were in the air and all of a sudden the plan started to make a sharp descent. There was a mechanical issue that caused us to lose pressure. We ended up making an emergency landing in Tennessee. We were on the ground for about 5 hours. Luckily we were flying in the day before our cruise. We would have missed it had we not been. I would never fly in the day of.

[nunuc2000]

I agree with those who advise flying in the day before... there are many nightmare stories on here of people who waited to fly in day of, and never made it on time. The stress of worrying about whether or not we'd make it would kill me!

 

But from up here in Western Canada, it's not even possible to fly to Florida in one day (and arrive before 4pm), so we always fly in day before, and occasionally 2 days before. Our next cruise is in October, which is occasionally full blown winter up here, so we're going down to Miami 2 days early just in case. :)

[Havingfun2010]

Our cruise leaves at 4pm and Our flight arrives at 9am will that be enough time to get there? Its a 40 minute shuttle from airport to the ship.. I am a little worried

 

If you ask this question, and then post that you are worried, you will get plenty of people telling you that it is a mistake. However, I personally see no issue with arriving on the same day, or driving on the same day. It doesn't even cross my mind that an issue "might" happen.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

To answer the OPs question...yes a 9am arrival should get you into Port Canaveral with plenty of time to get onboard. You don't say what your ground transportation is scheduled to be....but in the worst scenerio you can always take a cab, expensive but efficient.

 

Thousands of cruisers fly in the day of their cruise...during the summer months flight delays are less of an issue then they are in the winter when bad weather may be an issue, so I don't think there is much to worry about.

 

Have a great cruise and a fun time.

[elliair]

Our cruise leaves at 4pm and Our flight arrives at 9am will that be enough time to get there? Its a 40 minute shuttle from airport to the ship.. I am a little worried

 

You'll probably get to the ship just when it's boarding time. You'll be fine. Some will say "oh never fly in the same day, blah, blah." While in some cases I think it's crazy to fly in the same day, but if you're leaving from an international airport and the flight is around an hour, I would do it and have done it. You'll save on hotel and food costs flying in the same day.

Edited June 16, 2015 by elliair

[elliair]

If you ask this question, and then post that you are worried, you will get plenty of people telling you that it is a mistake. However, I personally see no issue with arriving on the same day, or driving on the same day. It doesn't even cross my mind that an issue "might" happen.

 

You are spot on! If I knew I was going to be delayed by 9 hours to go home, I'd rent a car and drive home. I'd make another vacation out of it. I'd hit all the coastal towns here in California and call it good.