Almost A Nightmare

[oldguysandgalls]

After one and very close call of missing the ship, we now fly in the day before and/or sometimes, two days before. It gives us peace of mind and extra pre-cruise vacation time. Priceless!

[RTour]

Flying for Toronto to US destinations are often delayed usually not a long time but enough to make it a close call on cruise day - we alternate between flying in early the day before to make a day of it and taking a late in the day when heading to nyc to avoid the need to take the extra vacation day from work. The day ahead avoids stress for sure but big win in my mind is starting vacation a day earlier which means hitting the ship already starting to feel in vacation mode

 

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[Terre]

I guess we've been lucky. We have always flown in the day of the cruise, even for our Hawaii and Mexican Riviera cruises (we're on the east coast). We do take the first flight, though. Unless we drive, we always do this. For our Alaska cruise we did go in the night before, however, but that was because flights didn't work with the cruise schedule for us.

[Silent Penguin]

I just booked the new Horizon for July and it was $1,800 pp! Granted it's a brand new ship but I still thought that was steep!

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What? Do we have crossover from another thread going on here or am I missing something? This remind me of the days when you would be having a conversation on the phone and suddenly you would start hearing some other party's conversation from another phone line?

[lizardhowson]

i would be flying in the day before and they could meet me at the ship the next day. I don't let other people dictate my travel plans.

 

exactly !!

[Woodfaerie]

This will be our first b2b and will be my first ever 3 week vacation.

 

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Good for you! A B2B is on my bucket list, hope to within a few years. Have a great looooong cruise!

[TMUSCRUISER]

The flight was super cheap with SWA and we live in Nashville but it was the same Friday evening but my Friend could not get off work in time to make it but next cruise we already agreed to fly in the day before no questions this being my 30th Carnival the stress I felt those 30 minutes had me sweating I was already looking at flights to book just in case he came on the intercom to say we would not be leaving..

 

 

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[Micahs Grandad]

The flight was super cheap with SWA and we live in Nashville but it was the same Friday evening but my Friend could not get off work in time to make it but next cruise we already agreed to fly in the day before no questions this being my 30th Carnival the stress I felt those 30 minutes had me sweating I was already looking at flights to book just in case he came on the intercom to say we would not be leaving..

 

 

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Agreed. Life is too short to worry about things that we could easily take precautions for.

 

Besides very often airlines find reasons to cancel flights that have nothing to do with safety but just for their convenience.

[tiger belle]

I like flying in the day before because you can get up and have a leisurely morning before boarding the ship...I agree with others about airlines nowadays being too risky about overbooking flights, mechanical delays, etc...for me to fly in the day of embarkation, there would have to be some extenuating circumstances

[Doggielover68]

I can't believe so many people are afraid to fly in the morning of the cruise. I guess it depends on distance and flight duration.

 

 

I have had so many flight delays for no apparent reason that has destroyed my trust in airlines. For example, once I was flying from Buffalo to Virginia. Was on the plane, everything was fine, and then we sat on the Tarmac for 2 hours. They deplaned and said their were maintenance issues. Long story short, it took me about 12 hours to end up in a different city two hours from home, AND they lost my luggage. I would never take that risk on a cruise.

 

 

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[Star Travler]

I always fly in the day before, but this October I'm cruising with my oldest daughter and she wants to fly in 2 days before...so she has a day to rest up from the flight day before getting on the ship. Ah the younger generation[emoji38]

 

 

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[mek]

I like flying in the day before because you can get up and have a leisurely morning before boarding the ship...I agree with others about airlines nowadays being too risky about overbooking flights, mechanical delays, etc...for me to fly in the day of embarkation, there would have to be some extenuating circumstances

 

I agree, it's wonderful to have a nice relaxing evening before the cruise and to be able to get a good nights sleep before boarding. It's great not having to get up at 4 am to catch a 7am flight and then be exhausted for the rest of the day.

 

In addition to missing flights, there is always the chance of lost bags, which has happened to us 2X. Just two weeks ago we flew into MIA and one of our bags was left in Atlanta and didn't make it to our hotel until 11PM that night. To me it's not even worth thinking about flying in the day of.

[Toofarfromthesea]

I can't believe so many people are afraid to fly in the morning of the cruise. I guess it depends on distance and flight duration.

 

Nothing is ever a problem.

 

Until it IS a problem. A big, expensive, inconvenient, intensely disappointing, problem.

 

May the good luck you've had continue.

[Luvtoeat]

When we lived in Tampa and cruised from Pt Canaveral, Ft Lauderdale or Miami, we always went the day before and stayed at a hotel that had a cruise package. Even being that close to those ports, you never know what you might encounter on the roads and we never wanted to take a chance of missing the ship with some unexpected issue.

[Micahs Grandad]

Nothing is ever a problem.

 

Until it IS a problem. A big, expensive, inconvenient, intensely disappointing, problem.

 

May the good luck you've had continue.

 

Well put

[peajay84]

I seriously considered flying in the day of our next cruise on Feb 2018. Flight was due to get in to NOLA at 11AM. Then got to looking and saw that there would be no other flights from the airport that would get in before 330pm. Decided my stress level couldn't chance it since we'd be flying in from the midwest. It can be really gorgeous weather here, or it can be a blizzard - it's a crap shoot. Instead we'll be flying in the afternoon before. We will be flying back home the afternoon we get back in to port. We'll have a 5 hour drive once we get back to the airport so it will be a looong day!

[micheecruise]

On every cruise, we have flown in the day of embarkation. Once had an issue where one of our suitcases was on a different flight, but it arrived in Fort Lauderdale on time, and a porter from the airport brought it to the cruise port.

 

With that being said, I decided this time around to cancel my air transportation with the cruise line and book directly myself arriving in FL the evening before. We'll spend a little over $100 for a hotel at the airport, but it will be peace of mind.

[Shaded Lady]

I will always fly in the day before, for all the reasons mentioned in this thread.

 

But even when I drive to the port, I prefer the de-stresser of getting there the day before. My last cruise I was reading about all the issues people had driving to the port- flat tire, car issues, an accident shutting down the highway!!! So we decided to drive to Galveston the night before, spend the night and start fresh the next morning...

 

Well, we ran into HUGE traffic problems in Houston, caused us to be delayed by a significant amount. Had I been driving in the day of the cruise, I'd have been in a wild-eyed panic til we boarded! Instead I took it in stride.

 

I know that I'm very risk-averse when it comes to travel issues, so I prefer to deal with it by planning an extra vacation day. I'm actually a bit envious of my hubby who takes this stuff in stride. For those of you who can, God bless you! For me, a night's stay is the answer!