Should you still arrive a day or two early?

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

I agree with most of you, it's always better to arrive a couple of days early.   But is it worth the risk?   Is it more of a risk to miss the ship or to contract the virus in one of the departure cities.

Assuming that if you are worried about pre-cruise infection risk in your scenario: 1) you would be cruising without a vaccine, and 2) you would be embarking from a port with active cases of COVID-19 in the area, 3) the chance of contacting the virus is also present on your flight and airports, 4) the chance of being exposed to the virus on board is far greater than your pre-cruise hotel.   The pre-cruise stay of one night in a hotel room is the least of your concerns I think.  I personally would just not cruise.

[sanger727]

2 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

I agree with most of you, it's always better to arrive a couple of days early.   But is it worth the risk?   Is it more of a risk to miss the ship or to contract the virus in one of the departure cities.

 

I don't see why arriving in the port city a day ahead is any more risky than boarding a cruise from that city. You will have a good number of local cruisers on the ship, plus most will have arrived a day early and faced the same exposure risk. Any one of those people could be pre-symptomatic on embarkation and spreading it on the cruise as easily as people in the port city. Think risk in the port city is actually lower since it's easier to social distance. 

[m8zenblue]

Odd ???

I see a few posts from "Europeans" saying that they think its an "American Thing" arriving at port a day or two before the cruise.

Last year we met a family from the UK that arrived at FLL the day of the cruise only to discover the port had changed to Miami, it was widely announced of the port change in advance.

Anyway, they missed the shuttle, had to arrange their own transportation, this was their first time in our country, they nearly missed the cruise.

Bottom line is if they had arrived the day prior some of the mess could have been avoided.

So, keep thinking that arriving the day of, especially if you are flying in and most important from another country that all will be well, NO !!!

I live 10 hours from Florida and will never arrive the day of.

[yorky]

Still remember cruising out of New York on QM2 on our Honeymoon. We actually did book a package with Cunard flying in the same day. This was April 6th and you would think weather would not be a problem and we stayed at Glasgow airport overnight for an early morning flight. Well we woke up to snow and were sitting on the plane while they de-iced the wings. We got into New York slightly late to be met by a Cunard rep but the snow had been worse down south and at least one plane load of passengers never made the cruise, think they tried to get them on days later in the Caribbean. That was a lesson learned but plenty from the UK still take an early morning flight out for cruises on the same day.  I think they  just see spending extra money on hotels as a waste of money.

[downsmead]

We are from the UK and always fly in early. Love to explore the area if we have not been before, or avoid last minutes dramas of arriving on the day of sailing - especially important if connecting flights are involved. 

[4774Papa]

22 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Seems like it's more of an American thing though. I had this whole debate last year on this board regarding flying into Rome for our Suez Canal cruise and other European passengers on our cruise though it very odd that we would fly in a day or more earlier. European cruisers thought it was odd even if they were coming to Florida for a cruise. It seems for them they always fly in the same day as embarkation. I even had indignant responses when I explained that it's nice to tour what the embarkation city has to offer. I had more than one reply they have no interest in sightseeing at the embarkation point and other responses that American based airlines must not be very good if we can't trust the flight scheduling. I gave up on explaining the benefits.

I know people that missed a cruise because their flight was to arrive the day of the cruise.  Their flight transfer was late and they missed the cruise, but made it to the first port.

[phoenix_dream]

I also don't see that arriving a day or two earlier makes you any less at risk than boarding the ship with dozens (and probably hundreds) of other people who either live in the area or have spent a day or two there.  For that reason I would always continue to fly in at least one day early when cruising can safely resume.

[TeaBag]

Another benefit of arriving early is, you're not sleeping off the effects of jet lag on the first day of the cruise.  Our next cruise, if it sails, is departing from Singapore.  

[mom says]

5 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

I agree with most of you, it's always better to arrive a couple of days early.   But is it worth the risk?   Is it more of a risk to miss the ship or to contract the virus in one of the departure cities.

If the risk is that great, then the risk on board is likely just as great. In which case, we would simply not sail at all from that port.

[sanger727]

2 hours ago, m8zenblue said:

Odd ???

I see a few posts from "Europeans" saying that they think its an "American Thing" arriving at port a day or two before the cruise.

Last year we met a family from the UK that arrived at FLL the day of the cruise only to discover the port had changed to Miami, it was widely announced of the port change in advance.

Anyway, they missed the shuttle, had to arrange their own transportation, this was their first time in our country, they nearly missed the cruise.

Bottom line is if they had arrived the day prior some of the mess could have been avoided.

So, keep thinking that arriving the day of, especially if you are flying in and most important from another country that all will be well, NO !!!

I live 10 hours from Florida and will never arrive the day of.

 

This is confusing to me. With the time change, I've always had flights from Europe to the US land in the evening. So arriving the evening before and spending the night would seem logical. Not sure how many flights run from Europe to land in the US in the morning hours. Maybe those are charter flights as part of packages.

[Ravbo]

If we have to fly to the cruise port we ALWAYS arrive:

•  at LEAST 2 days early for US departures and
• at LEAST 3 or more days early for European/Asian/Australian departures.

We want enough time to allow for:

• Flight delays.
• Missed connections.
• Cancelled Flights.
• Broken airplane issues.
• Lost luggage.
• and any other possible travel difficulties we have not thought of yet.

and still be ready to board the ship BEFORE it leaves.

Arriving early just allows us to relax because we have accounted for the possibilities of delays.

If something does happen, we have enough time to recover.

Just call me a pessimist.

It just makes travel less stressful.

Safe Travels,

Bob (and Terry)

Edited July 17, 2020 by Ravbo
I can't spell.

[4774Papa]

3 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

This is confusing to me. With the time change, I've always had flights from Europe to the US land in the evening. So arriving the evening before and spending the night would seem logical. Not sure how many flights run from Europe to land in the US in the morning hours. Maybe those are charter flights as part of packages.

We usually fly into Europe from Atlanta and have flown into many different cities and always arrived in the morning.  

 

Flying Delta, in the past recent years, we have flown into London, Paris (CDG), Copenhagen, Barcelona and Lisbon (arriving initially in Madrid).

 

Not sure what you get flying in from the West coast?

[Fouremco]

14 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

We usually fly into Europe from Atlanta and have flown into many different cities and always arrived in the morning.  

 

Flying Delta, in the past recent years, we have flown into London, Paris (CDG), Copenhagen, Barcelona and Lisbon (arriving initially in Madrid).

 

Not sure what you get flying in from the West coast?

You are talking about flying TO Europe, but @sanger727 was talking about flying FROM Europe. 

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

We usually fly into Europe from Atlanta and have flown into many different cities and always arrived in the morning.  

 

Flying Delta, in the past recent years, we have flown into London, Paris (CDG), Copenhagen, Barcelona and Lisbon (arriving initially in Madrid).

 

Not sure what you get flying in from the West coast?

yes, flying US to Europe takes off in the evening and lands the next morning. But usually taking off in Europe to go to the US leaves mid morning/early afternoon and lands early to late evening the same day.

[cl.klink]

9 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Assuming that if you are worried about pre-cruise infection risk in your scenario: 1) you would be cruising without a vaccine, and 2) you would be embarking from a port with active cases of COVID-19 in the area, 3) the chance of contacting the virus is also present on your flight and airports, 4) the chance of being exposed to the virus on board is far greater than your pre-cruise hotel.   The pre-cruise stay of one night in a hotel room is the least of your concerns I think.  I personally would just not cruise.

 

"Are you crazy?  the FALL will probably kill you."

- Butch Cassidy

 

 

[Denny01]

Just to show I can actually stay on topic!!

 

Two quick examples of why to fly in early (and if that is a ‘concern’ I agree with all the posts that state then getting on a cruise ship is much more risky!):

 

1. Friends taking a TA from Ft Lauderdale to Southampton decided since it was a ‘quick flight’ to FLL, they’d do it that day.....oops. Flight was late, connection left them and fortunately since there were more than a few on their late flight into FLL, the ship waited for them......think about the next port which in this case was the Azores!! 

2. we did a Panama Canal from San Diego to FLL. A whole group out of Chicago planned a flight in the same day....in January!! I know no one would even think there would be issues flying out of Chicago in January, but...... they spent a good deal of time and money catching up with the ship into a Mexico port 4 days into the cruise and they spent the rest of the cruise telling everyone about their ‘adventure’.....such a great idea!!

 

And as to the person posting that US cruisers seem to be the ones who get to ports of call a few days early and not Europeans, my experience on many Roll Calls that unless the departure port is something nearby and they can drive to it or get to it easily by train/bus, they do the same and get in at least the day prior, and many more than a few days and enjoy the departure area, being experienced vacationers they are smart about it.

 

DeN

[K.T.B.]

8 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

I know people that missed a cruise because their flight was to arrive the day of the cruise.  Their flight transfer was late and they missed the cruise, but made it to the first port.

 

On my first Celebrity cruise nearly 100 people missed the ship because their flights were cancelled.  They were flying in from the NY area on the day of the cruise, but bad weather happened.  Only a few of caught up to the ship at the first port of call.

 

IMO, it's a good way to protect your vacation investment. 

[4774Papa]

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

You are talking about flying TO Europe, but @sanger727 was talking about flying FROM Europe. 

Yea, thank, so much for speed reading.

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

Yea, thank, so much for speed reading.

LOL. We've all done that! 😷

[K.T.B.]

32 minutes ago, 4774Papa said:

Yea, thank, so much for speed reading.

 

28 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

LOL. We've all done that! 😷

 

www.rif.org

 

[txtechmk]

In 1988, we missed our ship, as we were flying in the same day of departure.  We will never do that again!  We always arrive anywhere from 1-3 days early now.  If the departure port is a place we have never been, we make sure and spend a few days there.

[cb at sea]

Unless you live within 4 hours of port..you should arrive 1 day prior.  There is NO need to arrive before then.....unless you're coming from half-way across the world.....

And leaving the ship...no need to stay overnight.  Leave the same day.  You'll be off the ship by 10 am latest in 99% of cases.

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

12 hours ago, cb at sea said:

Unless you live within 4 hours of port..you should arrive 1 day prior.  There is NO need to arrive before then.....unless you're coming from half-way across the world.....

And leaving the ship...no need to stay overnight.  Leave the same day.  You'll be off the ship by 10 am latest in 99% of cases.

 

In Nov 2017 in Tampa , we did not get off the ship unit 2 pm , they had to open the buffet for lunch for everyone 

will avoid Tampa  For future cruises 😉

[DreadPirateRobert]

On 7/17/2020 at 7:22 AM, ipeeinthepool said:

I agree with most of you, it's always better to arrive a couple of days early.   But is it worth the risk?   Is it more of a risk to miss the ship or to contract the virus in one of the departure cities.

I do think it’s worth the risk. We can still make smart decisions about what we do and where we go in that day before we cruise. With the explosion of food delivery services we are likely to have food delivered to our hotel vs going to a crowded restaurant. 

[drakes2]

On 7/16/2020 at 4:01 PM, Ravbo said:

We live in Estero (Fort Myers) FLorida.

We can drive to the port in 2 hours.

Even with the above we ALWAYS arrive in Fort Lauderdale or Miami the day before ship sails.

An accident on Alligator Alley could close the highway and result in arriving late to the port if we try to drive and day ship sails.

If fact we usually go 2 days early to help ease into cruise mood.

Drinking can start early!!! This helps me with attitude adjustment.

Isn't cruising wonderful.

Everyone stay safe.

 

Covid or no Covid just makes sense to arrive at the cruise terminal a day early. Issues are not always weather related. Sometimes flights can have mechanical failures or a passenger could be ill which may delay your arrival and result in your missing the ship not to mention the added stress. Not my way of starting a vacation. Just too many things beyond control that can go wrong.