Celebrity Air

[MichLeBlanc]

Wondering how many people fly in the same day of their cruise?

We really wanted to fly into San Juan, PR the day prior to our cruise but the flight schedules are CRAP the day before the cruise!!!! The best flight schedule so far is the same day of cruise with 1 stop and arriving in San Juan at 1h; cruise ship leaves at 8h30 pm. If we do decide to go this route we will definitely book with CelebrityAir.

 

Thoughts? We are thinking to still wait it out a bit....our cruise is in April 2019.

[Alakegirl]

You know you take a huge chance flying the day of the cruise

 

What would be the downside? What is the next port?

 

How much stress are you comfortable with?

[MichLeBlanc]

Yes I know!!

 

This is also our FIRST cruise ever....so I really don't want to be stressed out about things I don't have to be. I would MUST more prefer arriving the day prior, but the connecting flights the day prior are either 2 stops or close to 24 hour layovers...Would love thoughts from experienced cruisers!! TIA :):)

[Ontario Cruiser]

We have done it twice in January from Toronto to San Juan it was 14 days on the Summit and a direct flight so could fly to next port. OntarioCruiser

[Cirdan]

Yes I know!!

 

This is also our FIRST cruise ever....so I really don't want to be stressed out about things I don't have to be. I would MUST more prefer arriving the day prior, but the connecting flights the day prior are either 2 stops or close to 24 hour layovers...Would love thoughts from experienced cruisers!! TIA :):)

 

This is a reason more to arrive earlier: if one flight is delayed or cancelled, it seems you have very little alternative.

[MichLeBlanc]

Thanks OntarioCruiser. In our case it would be either Moncton, NB or Halifax, NS to Toronto for a quick layover and than directly to San Juan. I am more afraid of missing the connection from Moncton to Toronto since it is such a short layover.

 

We will also be on the Summit....can't wait but this flight issue is starting to make me anxious!! LOL.

[stevea36]

Yes I know!!

 

This is also our FIRST cruise ever....so I really don't want to be stressed out about things I don't have to be. I would MUST more prefer arriving the day prior, but the connecting flights the day prior are either 2 stops or close to 24 hour layovers...Would love thoughts from experienced cruisers!! TIA :):)

 

I'd go 2 days earlier. I really enjoy San Juan and there is quite a lot to see there !!!

 

Steve

[RickT]

MichLeBlanc - I agree with your concern. If the flight from Toronto is direct then you might want to think of flying to Toronto the night before, stay at an Airport Hotel and reduce the risk of a connection problem. We've done that, had a nice meal at The Keg near the airport and slept in a bit before hopping on our direct flight.

 

 

If you choose to use Choice Air they can book that for you. I'd recommend researching your flight options on ITA Matrix or Google Flights so you already know your options before calling.

[K12Guy]

Wondering how many people fly in the same day of their cruise?

We really wanted to fly into San Juan, PR the day prior to our cruise but the flight schedules are CRAP the day before the cruise!!!! The best flight schedule so far is the same day of cruise with 1 stop and arriving in San Juan at 1h; cruise ship leaves at 8h30 pm. If we do decide to go this route we will definitely book with CelebrityAir.

 

Thoughts? We are thinking to still wait it out a bit....our cruise is in April 2019.

 

We are not the adventurous types who want to take the risk of missing embarkation on the first day. Thus, we typically arrive in the port city a couple days before the cruise and we see a bit of that city and enjoy it's sites and sounds. I would encourage you to do the same and not risk having to fly to catch up with the ship, should you get stranded due to weather, mechanical issues, or some dipstick passenger forcing a flight cancellation. No need to induce stress when you're traveling to reduce stress, in my opinion. Happy sailing.

[Mike981]

On the flip side, if you are flying home on Sunday (and Saturday, but not as bad from my experience) SJU can be a test in patience. Also before you check in with your airline you need to have your bags inspected at a USDA checkpoint.

[Bruin Steve]

I've got a lot of stories about flights trying to get to a cruise...Delayed connections, lost luggage, canceled flights...Lots of things can go wrong...Not to mention it's always nice to have some time in port prior to sailing--to enjoy the embarkation city, to catch up with travel fatigue (and often time zone change), etc. And it's really nice not to be stressed the morning of the cruise...to be able to get up, check out of your hotel and make the short trip to the ship...

 

I ALWAYS fly in early (unless a complete impossibility)...often a couple of days early...and often, especially when cruising Europe, as many as 7-10 days early...

 

As to Celebrity Choice Air: Of late, I find myself using them a lot...I have often found great prices and times...I just used them for a non-stop round trip to Amsterdam for next summer at a fare $400 pp cheaper than what I could find using kayak and other flight websites! With Choice Air, you CAN plug in dates other than the day of the cruise...and they will display fares for whatever dates you input...Check those against kayak, priceline, Expedia or any of the airlines' websites...

 

Good luck...

[kathynorth]

We used to take the earliest arrival the morning of a cruise and did this maybe 5x's successfully. Then one time we ran into a mechanical issue, that resulted in missing a connector, that was rebooked, then we had to race through heavy traffic making it to checkin just before closing. It was tight! After that we started flying in at least the night before, but routinely try to stretch our trips so we have a couple of days precruise to experience whatever city we are cruising out of. We've also had very good experiences using Choice Air for out of the country or open jaw trips.

[cmhdoogalsatsea]

Wondering how many people fly in the same day of their cruise?

We really wanted to fly into San Juan, PR the day prior to our cruise but the flight schedules are CRAP the day before the cruise!!!! The best flight schedule so far is the same day of cruise with 1 stop and arriving in San Juan at 1h; cruise ship leaves at 8h30 pm. If we do decide to go this route we will definitely book with CelebrityAir.

 

Thoughts? We are thinking to still wait it out a bit....our cruise is in April 2019.

I've cruised out of San Juan twice this year, January and April. On both occasions i flew in a day early, but the vast number of others onboard flew in the day of. Because the ship leaves pretty late even later than first thing in the morning arrivals can make it. I agree Celeb Air would be the way to book the tix.

Have a great trip! I'll be "helping" the Summit get down there on the Oct 21 repo.

[msmayor]

On the flip side, if you are flying home on Sunday (and Saturday, but not as bad from my experience) SJU can be a test in patience. Also before you check in with your airline you need to have your bags inspected at a USDA checkpoint.

 

I'm interested to know why SJU is a 'test in patience'. We'll be flying home on Saturday the 27th after getting off the Summit Repo. I booked a non-stop back to PHL that leaves just before 1pm. I was planning on a leisurely morning, being one of the last off the ship to head to the airport by 10am. That should be enough time, no?

[RickT]

To those that are suggesting the OP fly in the day before, while that is a good idea in their case the options to fly in on a Friday (or any other weekday) are difficult not to mention time consuming. Air Canada and WestJet both have direct flights from Montreal and Toronto that arrive 7 hrs prior to sail away giving the OP some extra leaway.

 

If I was in the OP’s shoes I’d prob do the same.

[Cruising Bonnie]

In the old days we would fly the same day without a second thought. But now, it is not worth the stress and worry. Add a few bucks to the budget and enjoy an extra day in San Juan.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Mike981]

I'm interested to know why SJU is a 'test in patience'. We'll be flying home on Saturday the 27th after getting off the Summit Repo. I booked a non-stop back to PHL that leaves just before 1pm. I was planning on a leisurely morning, being one of the last off the ship to head to the airport by 10am. That should be enough time, no?

 

For me ~ The small size of the airport, vs. the larger size of the cruise port and how many ships can disembark.

[SoCalTraveler]

On our first cruise of the "modern era" (see my signature block) we had purchased two first class tickets to wherever American flew in North America at a charity event. (No tax deduction, the value of the tickets exceeded what we paid.) We decided to go on a cruise out of San Juan. American could not/would not put us on the one non-stop per day from LAX so we elected to change at JFK. Our red eye to JFK was on time, and we boarded a morning flight to San Juan and pushed back. We then circled JFK (under construction, which began in 1947 and is expected to be finished in 20-30 years). The pilot determined that the radio did not work, so we went back to the gate and waited for repairs.

The radio was swapped out and, about two hours later, we pushed back again and visited JFK's construction sites. Lined up to take off and stopped. The radio did not work. Back to the gate. Two hours later we pushed back again. Radio replaced again.

 

We pushed back and, for the third time, the radio failed. The pilot cancelled the flight.

 

American had 3 or 4 flights to San Juan yet that day. Full. Standby full, including first class standby.

 

American reservations suggested we fly first class to LAX, and then take two seats which had materialized on the LAX to San Juan flight. We declined to cross the country three times in 24 hours. (I've flown to New York and to Jacksonville from LAX just for the day on business.)

 

American then produced a spare plane and we quickly loaded. We arrived after dark in San Juan.

 

Let's leave out what the hotel mess was. Suffice it to say, the hotel where we had a confirmed reservation did not have a room for us, we were "walked" to an unsatisfactory substitute (no food service-did you think we had a meal all day?) and then moved by central reservations to another hotel, where the only food service available was Chinese fast food in the casino.

 

We had a great two week B2B on the Caribbean Princess.

 

So that's the story, right?

 

Nope.

 

On the way back, we took a Princess tour from the ship, through the rain forest, ending at the airport. (Great tour, well worth it.) That morning, as soon as we had cell service, we checked in with American. Remember that cancelled flight? Well, putting us on the substitute flight, American had cancelled the reservations for everyone on the flight for any future including us. There were no seats available in any class out of San Juan to New York. Except they could fly us to LAX and back to JFK. I spoke with American, who admitted it was their fault and told us there were a bunch of us coming off the CP whose reservations were cancelled. They offered to put us up overnight and have us go standby the next day. (There were no seats available.) I suggested they round up a Gulfstream V. Well, when we got to the airport, American had added a second section of our original flight, and we got to JFK in time to see the construction zones again.

 

So would I fly in the day of the cruise? Nope.

 

Now, on the other hand, we got everywhere we were supposed to be, safely, as did our luggage. American generously and without prompting deposited a bunch of miles to our account. And the first hotel paid for both substitute hotels, food, drinks and gave us 30,000 points. Having been in an emergency landing (wings iced up in a snowstorm) and a helicopter crash, this trip was a great success.

[epixx]

I would go the day prior to cruise embarkation with:

 

United Airlines flight 4137 that leaves YHZ at 1445 and connects at EWR (4 hr, 7 min connection) to UA 1543 departing EWR at 2025 and arriving SJU at 0020 the next am

[in2up2]

I would go the day prior to cruise embarkation with:

 

 

 

United Airlines flight 4137 that leaves YHZ at 1445 and connects at EWR (4 hr, 7 min connection) to UA 1543 departing EWR at 2025 and arriving SJU at 0020 the next am

 

 

 

This! Was wondering why the OP is not considering UA flights from Halifax to Newark. Or are they much more expensive than the Canadian flights?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MichLeBlanc]

We really are looking at all our different options!! Thanks everyone who have replied, we will certainly take your comments into consideration. We do have a great TA working with us and looking at our options.