Fly in day of, or day before?

[fendersrule]

Do you mean layover to mean connecting flight?

 

I would never fly the same day in a cruise in which I had a connecting flight (implies a long flight).

[Warm Breezes]

We always fly in the day before.  We have had too many instances where if we had been flying in the day of, we would have missed our ship.  In one case we had a direct flight from Michigan to Orlando in June-weather was great.  We ended up making an emergency landing in Tennessee due to mechanical issues and were on the ground for 5+ hours.  Another case in April flying from Michigan to Miami on another direct flight.  We were delayed in Michigan over 6 hours waiting for a replacement plane to show up from Pennsylvania because ours had mechanical issues.  Many people on that flight were supposed to sail that day and were in a panic trying to make other arrangements to get to Miami.  We had no issues in either case because we didn't sail until the next day.  Those were just 2 examples and I know there were a few more.  I am always thankful when I arrive at my destination without any flight problems.

[Zach1213]

On 2/9/2020 at 10:53 AM, fendersrule said:

Do you mean layover to mean connecting flight?

 

I would never fly the same day in a cruise in which I had a connecting flight (implies a long flight).

 

To me, it's not so much that it it's a long flight (because it's entirely possible to fly, say, Asheville - Atlanta - Ft. Lauderdale, which isn't that long) but that having two flights means double the chances of delays or issues. Doesn't matter if each flight is 40 minutes or 12 hours, it's still double that risk...and I certainly wouldn't do it. 

[Cruisingformetime]

On 2/9/2020 at 7:09 AM, Jeter02 said:

my theory is if you can find a flight that will land exceptionally early in the morning I see no problem flying day of. I've done it in Seattle la and now I'm looking at doing the same for when I go to Barcelona.

 

Even this can go wrong. though it's true that red-eye flights land early. The problem with that is, what happens if the toddler in the row behind you is wailing their poor little head off the whole flight and you don't get a lick of sleep on the plane? Now you're trying to navigate an unfamiliar city, on a time crunch and possibly in a foreign language, to start your vacation, on no sleep. Speaking from experience, guess how much fun that is?

 

It's worth the money to fly in the day before. If you've never seen the city, take two days.

[Jeter02]

15 minutes ago, Cruisingformetime said:

 

Even this can go wrong. though it's true that red-eye flights land early. The problem with that is, what happens if the toddler in the row behind you is wailing their poor little head off the whole flight and you don't get a lick of sleep on the plane? Now you're trying to navigate an unfamiliar city, on a time crunch and possibly in a foreign language, to start your vacation, on no sleep. Speaking from experience, guess how much fun that is?

 

It's worth the money to fly in the day before. If you've never seen the city, take two days.

True. Luckily I'm always full of energy even with no sleep. And I've been to Barcelona a few times already so I kind of know the city on the back of my hand.

[fendersrule]

27 minutes ago, Cruisingformetime said:

 

Even this can go wrong. though it's true that red-eye flights land early. The problem with that is, what happens if the toddler in the row behind you is wailing their poor little head off the whole flight and you don't get a lick of sleep on the plane? Now you're trying to navigate an unfamiliar city, on a time crunch and possibly in a foreign language, to start your vacation, on no sleep. Speaking from experience, guess how much fun that is?

 

It's worth the money to fly in the day before. If you've never seen the city, take two days.

 

Walking outside can go wrong, you can trip and break your wrists.

 

I mean, you're getting into that level of territory. For many of us, the "port city" is familiar. My SO is from LA, so she knows all about Long Beach, the traffic, and realistically how long exactly it gets to port in the worst possible case. She also takes that flight all the time (Boise to LA) and it's never, ever been delayed. Not to say that it won't "ever, ever" be delayed, but it's very low risk. Let's say it's delayed? You still have a half day to get there....there's flights from BIO to LA that are 30 minutes apart.

 

I think people make blanket statements to "ALWAYS" fly in the day before. In most cases, you should. Connecting flights are a good example. That's double the failure points, and connecting flights "usually" imply a flight time that's well over 4 hours, and it "usually" implies getting less sleep.

 

But a 3 hour direct flight (2 hour flight with time zone difference) and getting to an airport 7.5 hours before your sail off while being 2 hours away from port in an acquainted city, with plenty of sleep (getting up at 6 AM is not hard), in a month where the weather is quite nice, then I don't really see a lot of risk.

 

We land in LA at 9:00am. If we give ourselves 2 hours to get to port (realistically) from the moment we land, we'll arrive at 11:00am. 11:00am is our target, although it's a 3-4 hours earlier than when Carnival expects us to show. And we all know how this works--being early means you're still going to have to wait quite awhile to board.

 

Who wants to make a bet that I'll have time to check out Queen Mary before sail off?

 

Calculated risks can sometimes make sense. 

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by fendersrule

[Cruisingformetime]

16 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

True. Luckily I'm always full of energy even with no sleep. And I've been to Barcelona a few times already so I kind of know the city on the back of my hand.

 

I got stuck doing this in Copenhagen, first time out. Solution: hail a taxi. 🙂 I could have gotten myself there on public transport, but metro directions in Danish on no sleep was a non-starter. 🙂

[Cruisingformetime]

13 minutes ago, fendersrule said:

 

Walking outside can go wrong, you can trip and break your wrists.

 

I mean, you're getting into that level of territory. For many of us, the "port city" is familiar. My SO is from LA, so she knows all about Long Beach, the traffic, and realistically how long exactly it gets to port in the worst possible case. She also takes that flight all the time (Boise to LA) and it's never, ever been delayed. Not to say that it won't "ever, ever" be delayed, but it's very low risk. Let's say it's delayed? You still have a half day to get there....there's flights from BIO to LA that are 30 minutes apart.

 

I think people make blanket statements to "ALWAYS" fly in the day before. In most cases, you should. Connecting flights are a good example. That's double the failure points, and connecting flights "usually" imply a flight time that's well over 4 hours, and it "usually" implies getting less sleep.

 

But a 3 hour direct flight (2 hour flight with time zone difference) and getting to an airport 7.5 hours before your sail off while being 2 hours away from port in an acquainted city, with plenty of sleep (getting up at 6 AM is not hard), in a month where the weather is quite nice, then I don't really see a lot of risk.

 

We land in LA at 9:00am. If we give ourselves 2 hours to get to port (realistically) from the moment we land, we'll arrive at 11:00am. 11:00am is our target, although it's a 3-4 hours earlier than when Carnival expects us to show. And we all know how this works--being early means you're still going to have to wait quite awhile to board.

 

Who wants to make a bet that I'll have time to check out Queen Mary before sail off?

 

Calculated risks can sometimes make sense.

 

 

If it's familiar, the risk is much less than if it's new. Also, if your embarkation port is not in the United States (the case I was talking about), absolutely fly in the day before, because you have to add customs and passport control to all the other hassles that can happen.

 

In the end, it's your vacation, not mine. You have my opinion on the matter. (I'm also one of those people who likes to watch pier-runners with a drink in hand.)

[Zach1213]

3 hours ago, Cruisingformetime said:

 

If it's familiar, the risk is much less than if it's new. Also, if your embarkation port is not in the United States (the case I was talking about), absolutely fly in the day before, because you have to add customs and passport control to all the other hassles that can happen.

 

If you're a US citizen, there's almost no such thing as a "hassle" at immigration or customs when you're going to most countries (and by most, I mean the places most Americans go...such as Europe). You may or may not encounter a slow-ish line (which is fairly rare, most Schengen airport have very streamlined immigration checkpoints) but that's about it. 

[Cruisingformetime]

15 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

If you're a US citizen, there's almost no such thing as a "hassle" at immigration or customs when you're going to most countries (and by most, I mean the places most Americans go...such as Europe). You may or may not encounter a slow-ish line (which is fairly rare, most Schengen airport have very streamlined immigration checkpoints) but that's about it. 

 

It can be if you or someone in your party requires prescription or OTC medication to function, particularly if those medications are narcotic or psychoactive in nature. (Think: medications for depression, ADHD, autism, and a few other things.) These medications can be troublesome in customs if you don't have your paperwork in order. Or if you get caught behind someone who does have a problem, you can have unexpected delays even at the Schengen borders. 🙂 It's better to plan for it and not have it happen.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Cruisingformetime

[Zach1213]

3 minutes ago, Cruisingformetime said:

 

It can be if you or someone in your party requires prescription or OTC medication to function, particularly if those medications are narcotic or psychoactive in nature. (Think: medications for depression, ADHD, autism, and a few other things.) These medications can be troublesome in customs if you don't have your paperwork in order. Or if you get caught behind someone who does have a problem, you can have unexpected delays even at the Schengen borders. 🙂 It's better to plan for it and not have it happen.

 

Perhaps it's my ignorance since I'm not someone who uses medications, but other than having your papers in order just in case, is this something that requires a declaration and visit to the red channel versus the green channel? 

[GrJ Berkshire]

46 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

 

If you're a US citizen, there's almost no such thing as a "hassle" at immigration or customs when you're going to most countries (and by most, I mean the places most Americans go...such as Europe). You may or may not encounter a slow-ish line (which is fairly rare, most Schengen airport have very streamlined immigration checkpoints) but that's about it. 

Shame it's not the same for Brits into the US, we often get hassle  at immigration into the states.

[Firepath]

On 2/7/2020 at 11:24 AM, fendersrule said:

I made the decision to fly the day of. Actually, a bunch of us made that decision last night.

 

Boise in April has very good weather, much like everywhere on the west coast. I can't see weather making any impact.

 

Usually when stuff is delayed, it's only delayed for a short period of time. Being that we've booked a flight that arrives at 9:02AM, we have lots of buffer room if we allow 2 hours to get to Long Beach port. So that serves as a semi-decent backup plan. Funny we talk about this, as my girlfriend's flight that she's on RIGHT NOW just got delayed.....for 30 minutes. That would be nothing based on the amount of buffer time we have for cruise day.

 

It's a calculated risk that has an extremely high probability to succeed. The whole point of this cruise was to "go for cheap". So that's what we're doing.

 

I managed to get 2 other groups, all first time cruisers, to go as well. Two of them are flying from Seattle, and Two of them are flying from PDX.

Fendersrule, we are flying from BOI next August to Seattle same day, leaving around 7:30am for a 4pm cruise. I think we'll both be fine. Even if your flight is delayed or cancelled, you have other options to get there. I usually have my options written down and with me just in case.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Firepath

[Zach1213]

36 minutes ago, GrJ Berkshire said:

Shame it's not the same for Brits into the US, we often get hassle  at immigration into the states.

 

I also carry a Namibian passport and use that to enter some countries. You think a UK passport gets tough questioning, try rolling in to a country with a Republic of Namibia passport 😉

[chipmaster]

On 2/6/2020 at 5:18 PM, fendersrule said:

Super generic question. I've cruised before. The first cruise was a 7-8 hour flight, plus a 1 hour drive to port. The answer is easy - you should absolutely get a hotel.

 

Curious about my second cruise. My second cruise in April as a 1.5 hour flight time including time zone differences. I can get into LAX at 9:02am. Cruise won't leave until 4-5PM. Am I correct that in this case that flying in the night before is unnecessary?

Not enough information, an 1.5 hour suggests you are on the west coast doing N/S of course that is low risk, but flights have been known to be held at some places, direct low risk.

 

Anyone flying during winter or summer where there is ice/thunderstorms/show and connections are simply crazy to not fly in a day earlier, everyone takes precautions differently.

 

Do you carry clean wipes, wash vigorously with soap and water,  and wear masks, use toilet seat covers, if none of those go for fly in on the day, LOL

[navybankerteacher]

On 2/9/2020 at 7:09 AM, Jeter02 said:

my theory is if you can find a flight that will land exceptionally early in the morning I see no problem flying day of. I've done it in Seattle la and now I'm looking at doing the same for when I go to Barcelona. My flights always come in no later than 10 ish I think I might have had one that arrived at 11 in the morning. anything to help cut costs of having to spend money on a hotel is the way I try to go

How many times do you think you might have an opportunity to see Barcelona?  

 

Forget the (admittedly very slim) risk of missing sailing - or the ruining of your first day on board by having just gotten off an overnight flight several hours out of synch — I guess it all makes sense - since you will only have a few hours in each of the several cities you visit on the cruise — why give yourself a decent chance to actually experience just one?

[DirtyDawg]

I think the great cruise commentator, Harold F. Callahan said it the best about flying in on the same day as your cruise.

 

😉

[Jeter02]

7 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

How many times do you think you might have an opportunity to see Barcelona?  

 

Forget the (admittedly very slim) risk of missing sailing - or the ruining of your first day on board by having just gotten off an overnight flight several hours out of synch — I guess it all makes sense - since you will only have a few hours in each of the several cities you visit on the cruise — why give yourself a decent chance to actually experience just one?

This true. I've actually been to Barcelona three times. Great city.  I checked my flight. I actually arrive at 8am. So, for me...speaking solely for me.... I'm ok with using it strictly as a boarding day as I fly in day of. 

[isladonna]

our flight leaves 5am, indy to ft. lauderdale, arrive FLL 10am. change planes in orlando. i feel comfortable with that.  we have flown to jacksonville same day also.  It's also in March.  If it was the dead of winter I might think twice.  and yes, counting on all going as planned lol...i know stuff can go wrong but chances are we'll be ok.  

 

[SmoothFlying]

4 hours ago, isladonna said:

our flight leaves 5am, indy to ft. lauderdale, arrive FLL 10am. change planes in orlando. i feel comfortable with that.  we have flown to jacksonville same day also.  It's also in March.  If it was the dead of winter I might think twice.  and yes, counting on all going as planned lol...i know stuff can go wrong but chances are we'll be ok.  

 

Well, I'd say you ought to be a big time odds bet taker in Lost Wages.😁 Weather between Indy and Fl usuall has to pass through the southeast (either Alabama/Georgia). Our weather here in March (early spring) can ranger almost daily from BEAUTIFUL bright warm to horrible, DARK thunderstorms, filled w rain/possible tornadoes to 3-4 inches of snow covering a film of sleet (black ice). Back fifteen years ago, before I retired from Delta Airlines as a baggage agent I actually saw ALL three happen in March on the SAME day !!🙄 I thought to my self, 'What's next ?! Plagues of locust ??'. We (the airport) were closed for 4 days with flights bound for ATL or points south diverted to other cities east or west of us. But driving to Fl either through Georgia or Alabama was almost impossible (weather-wise) and even in good weather it's close to a parking lot at 5 p.m.rush hour ! Just saying, you never know ! Always expect the unexpected, that way you won't be surprised.

 

Mac

[cruznjan]

On 2/7/2020 at 1:14 PM, pacruise804 said:

 

Every situation is different, but generally I agree flying a day before is better.  That said we will fly day of for our cruise this November because the line is paying air fare and transfers if we do it on their schedule.  We are fine paying $100 extra for a little more choice, but not $500 or more extra to book hotel, transfers, and others fees - on top of already having travel insurance.

 

While I get the wisdom of flying in early, it sounds like if there is a delay it often takes more than 1 day to get a replacement flight.  Has anyone had a delay or cancelation when booking the day before (or day of) that kept them from their cruise?

 

[cruznjan]

We have flown to cruises the day before and day of with no problems. However, with the shortage of planes, we are more likely now to fly in the day before.

[Dolebludger]

Decades ago, we would fly the day of the cruise. But airlines were more dependable back then. My recent experience is that there is a foul-up more often than not. Flights are late or canceled, with no explanation given to the passengers. Flights are overbooked and passengers are bumped. As all flights are at least fully booked (if not over booked) so getting a decent replacement flight might not be possible. Airline service is so pitiful now, we always go the day before the cruise. This adds the hotel cost to the cost of the cruise. In fact, airline service is so bad that we are hesitant to cruise now.

[TNcruising02]

38 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Decades ago, we would fly the day of the cruise. But airlines were more dependable back then. My recent experience is that there is a foul-up more often than not. Flights are late or canceled, with no explanation given to the passengers. Flights are overbooked and passengers are bumped. As all flights are at least fully booked (if not over booked) so getting a decent replacement flight might not be possible. Airline service is so pitiful now, we always go the day before the cruise. This adds the hotel cost to the cost of the cruise. In fact, airline service is so bad that we are hesitant to cruise now.

I agree.  I think many people who fly in the day of the cruise think they have a good enough buffer if their flight is cancelled.  You make an excellent point that flights now are often over booked.  A person may not be able to catch another flight that will arrive in time.  I think anyone who flies frequently knows this.  If I only flew once a year, I might not realize how often delays and cancellations happen.

[isladonna]

17 hours ago, SmoothFlying said:

Well, I'd say you ought to be a big time odds bet taker in Lost Wages.😁 Weather between Indy and Fl usuall has to pass through the southeast (either Alabama/Georgia). Our weather here in March (early spring) can ranger almost daily from BEAUTIFUL bright warm to horrible, DARK thunderstorms, filled w rain/possible tornadoes to 3-4 inches of snow covering a film of sleet (black ice). Back fifteen years ago, before I retired from Delta Airlines as a baggage agent I actually saw ALL three happen in March on the SAME day !!🙄 I thought to my self, 'What's next ?! Plagues of locust ??'. We (the airport) were closed for 4 days with flights bound for ATL or points south diverted to other cities east or west of us. But driving to Fl either through Georgia or Alabama was almost impossible (weather-wise) and even in good weather it's close to a parking lot at 5 p.m.rush hour ! Just saying, you never know ! Always expect the unexpected, that way you won't be surprise

 

Whew!  Maybe the fact that it's early March (7th) will lessen our odds of that scenario.  You do always take that small chance flying in day of, but, still I feel comfortable we'll be ok.  Still better than chancing the middle of winter, I think.