Missed the Millennium today - Reminder to NEVER fly on the day of the cruise!

[Safety Squirrel]

I always fly in at least three days prior to my cruise if flying from U.S.A. - more if cruising from Europe or U.K.  Great to sight see and not be stressed in case of unforeseen difficulties.

 

Remember the 2017 shooting at Fort Lauderdale airport???  I flew out three days before my cruise on Westjet.  Winnipeg, Manitoba --> Calgary, Alberta --> Fort Lauderdale.  When we were within an hour or two of Fort Lauderdale, the pilot came on saying  that there was a shooting and there was no room even on the tarmac to land a plane.  We were re-routed to Montreal, Quebec and arrived at approximately 11:00 p.m.  (The flight was full)

 

The West Jet attendants were great.  They had to billet a full plane plus get hotel reservations.  Some passengers were put on a flight from Montreal the next morning.  However, I was flown to Toronto, Ontario where I got to the hotel approximately 2:00 a.m.  Had to be at the Toronto airport by 7:00 a.m., so only time for a quick nap & shower.  The Toronto airport was crazy as so many flights had been cancelled.   I had reservations at the Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale and had phoned them when I got to my hotel in Toronto. and they kept my reservation (I have Hilton points).

 

Arrived safely in Fort Lauderdale the next morning and again, the airport was just bedlam and you could hardly get through the people whose flights had been delayed or cancelled.  The nice thing was I could immediately check into my room as I had paid for the night before.  I then had two days to relax instead of three.  Having been to Fort Lauderdale several times, I was just able to enjoy my time before the cruise.  My insurance covered the one night in the hotel, I just had to provide the receipts from the hotel and proof my flight was re-routed.

 

Another time, son, DIL, granddaughter and myself were watching very carefully when the volcano in Iceland erupted in 2010 as we were boarding the Equinox to cruise the Mediterranean.  Again - several days before.  We were fortunate and able to go on the cruise.  We did have insurance which covered it.

 

Whether cruising solo or with family or friends, I always have insurance plus go ahead several days ahead of the cruise.

 

I agree with all those who have posted - it is wise to go at least one day before when you are flying (or even driving) as there can be so many unforeseen things that can happen.  Insurance is a must!!!

 

As so many other people, I/we are looking forward to travelling again, including cruising and trips to Europe.

[Bellfree Bat]

20 hours ago, Alsmez said:

 

Not necessarily. Bad weather can just as easily delay or cancel your day-before flight and leave you scrambling for another day-of, when you would have been fine if you had just booked the day-of flight in the first place. We try to fly Southwest as much as possible so that we can change without penalty at the last minute should the weather forecast indicate a big snowstorm or something on our original flight date, but we'll pay a change fee too, if we must. 

That is exactly what happened to us. By the time they cancelled our flight, it was too late to take off our luggage and put it on the new flight. We would make the cruise but not our checked bags or scuba gear. That was a big nope! We told them to not send our luggage anywhere and we would pick it up in the morning. Went home and booked a flight and hotel to Cayman, our first port of call and left DC sunny weather the next morning. We were in Cayman diving when the ship was at sea and we boarded in Cayman. Thank goodness for travel insurance that picked up $1800 of additional out of pocket expenses!

 

[graphicguy]

6 hours ago, helen haywood said:

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/08/23/cruise-passengers-left-at-san-juan-port-due-to-hurricane-irene/

WOW….so, lesson there….no matter how much planning you do, no matter how careful you are, you could actually still “miss the boat”.

[helen haywood]

Travel Insurance!

[SeaHunt]

This article just showed up re AA 😲

 

"Hundreds of American Airlines flights have been canceled this weekend and Monday because of significant staffing and maintenance issues.

 

As of Sunday afternoon, 123 flights were canceled Saturday, 178 on Sunday and 97 were canceled for Monday – largely the result of a high number of sick calls, combined with maintenance and other staffing issues.

 

American told ABC News that most of the cancelations are on A320 and 737 aircraft, but that it may continue to cancel at least 50 to 60 flights per day for the rest of June and 50 to 80 flights per day through July."

 

AA Cancels Flights (ABC News)

[Book bug]

We and others were very close to missing our rci cruise from Quebec city in October 2019. We flew from Heathrow via Chicago O'hare to Quebec city with only an hour and a half in between. That fortunately went okay, then the flight to Quebec was overbooked and the last people checked in to the flight didn't get on. What didn't help was everyone was flying in for cruises including NCL plus there was only one flight a day. We did have an overnight on the ship in Quebec , joining the next day, but the people for the ncl ship were joining the ship that day and leaving Quebec the next day. Next availability for flights was 2 days later🙄

[Fouremco]

2 minutes ago, Book bug said:

We and others were very close to missing our rci cruise from Quebec city in October 2019. We flew from Heathrow via Chicago O'hare to Quebec city with only an hour and a half in between. That fortunately went okay, then the flight to Quebec was overbooked and the last people checked in to the flight didn't get on. What didn't help was everyone was flying in for cruises including NCL plus there was only one flight a day. We did have an overnight on the ship in Quebec , joining the next day, but the people for the ncl ship were joining the ship that day and leaving Quebec the next day. Next availability for flights was 2 days later🙄

I'm sure that there must have been a reason for you to pick that routing, but for anyone flying from the UK to Quebec City, I'd strongly recommend flying via Montreal, not Chicago. Not only is that a more direct and quicker routing, if something does go wrong, there are multiple daily flights between the two cities or, in a worst case scenario, it's a quick bus or train ride from Montreal to Quebec City. 

[Book bug]

We booked it through rci and that's what was arranged for us , but if we did it again would push to go via Montreal.  

[pumpkin 11]

This has happened a few times with those cruises. I think the problem is the airports are a mess with everyone traveling in such high volumes so suddenly. CLT was an absolute mess June 5 when we went to St. Martin to join the Millennium. We arrived 3 hours early and got to the gate right when boarding began. Someone else got there at the same time and missed it completely - the lines were indistinguishable as the check-in was just wall-to-wall people.

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, Book bug said:

We booked it through rci and that's what was arranged for us , but if we did it again would push to go via Montreal.  

Strange that RCI would choose that routing. Good thing you made the cruise!

[graphicguy]

19 hours ago, SeaHunt said:

This article just showed up re AA 😲

 

"Hundreds of American Airlines flights have been canceled this weekend and Monday because of significant staffing and maintenance issues.

 

As of Sunday afternoon, 123 flights were canceled Saturday, 178 on Sunday and 97 were canceled for Monday – largely the result of a high number of sick calls, combined with maintenance and other staffing issues.

 

American told ABC News that most of the cancelations are on A320 and 737 aircraft, but that it may continue to cancel at least 50 to 60 flights per day for the rest of June and 50 to 80 flights per day through July."

 

AA Cancels Flights (ABC News)

The airlines have been skating on thin ice with staffing for years.  I can’t even count how many time my flights have been late/cancelled because of no or late fight crews over the past 6-7 years.  Yeah, these are extraordinary times.  But, the cutbacks that caused AA’s woes started many years ago.  

No one to blame but themselves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by graphicguy

[Book bug]

6 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Strange that RCI would choose that routing. Good thing you made the cruise!

Yes it got a bit stressful when we didn't have an allocated seat, but thankfully we weren't on the list to not make the flight - checking in all the way back in Heathrow hours before definitely helped us. Excellent cruise too- snowbird migration to fort Lauderdale 

[FlyerTalker]

7 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Strange that RCI would choose that routing. Good thing you made the cruise!

 

Not strange at all.  Cruiseline air routings are dictated by the bulk ticket contracts that the cruiselines negotiate with the airlines, not by any rational or practical routing considerations.

 

Would wager that the passengers bought it on price.

[Fouremco]

5 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Not strange at all.  Cruiseline air routings are dictated by the bulk ticket contracts that the cruiselines negotiate with the airlines, not by any rational or practical routing considerations.

 

Would wager that the passengers bought it on price.

LOL. I hear you. How silly of me to think that they would use rational or practical routing considerations.

[Prometheus1]

I once flew  from Jacksonville Florida (first flight of the day)  to LAX on day of cruise. There were no delays and made the ship on time but my stress level was through the roof, even after I boarded the ship I decided "never again would I take that chance"  After reading some of the posts I may even fly in two days early for my British Isles cruise just to be safe.

 

[NMTraveller]

The airports are a hot mess right now.  I just got back from a weekend trip.  Delays, delays, and delays.  Good luck catching your connecting flight!  It has been many years since I have had to speed through an airport.  One of the earlier flights was a medical turnaround and another an unruly passenger turnaround.  Many of the restaurants in the airports are closed because they cannot hire the people.

Edited June 21, 2021 by NMTraveller

[tljordan444]

Just a follow up to my previous post about missing the June 5th cruise out of St Maarten. After many emails to my TA about the situation. Celebrity DID COME THROUGH with FCC and a refund on the Celebrity Air for the cruise.

I don't know for sure if it was my TA's persistence for the "We are behind you guarantee" but I'm glad to not be out all the money we had spent on this cruise. 

So we are looking forward to our next cruise with Celebrity and we will be going the day before just in case. lol

 

[WonderMan3]

On 6/19/2021 at 11:31 PM, Denny01 said:

Ooooh, I know it’s 19N on the B2B, but Amsterdam is to Die For! We stayed 4Ns in a neat little Euro hotel near the park with the art museums and it was fantastic. One of the friendliest and open cities. we got tram tickets and just road all over and will go back as much as possible. I realize I’m saying what you wish you could do, but if at all possible……

 

den

Amsterdam is cool but I've been there twice before already so don't need to extend time there this time around.

[Algebralovr]

Just another reason we declined to sail from St. Maarten.  I looked, looked again, looked again.

Now, if Celebrity had offered a charter flight from MIA or FLL or CLT to St. Maarten, then we would have considered it.  I'm really surprised they did not do so, but they didn't.  

 

I would have happily flown to the MIA/FLL area the night before, then boarded a charter flight the morning of the cruise.  That would have allowed them a return charter to get the previous cruisers back to the US.  However, they didn't do that.  Kind of silly to me.  They have certainly offered it before in some instances!

[NanaPam00]

20 hours ago, pumpkin 11 said:

This has happened a few times with those cruises. I think the problem is the airports are a mess with everyone traveling in such high volumes so suddenly. CLT was an absolute mess June 5 when we went to St. Martin to join the Millennium. We arrived 3 hours early and got to the gate right when boarding began. Someone else got there at the same time and missed it completely - the lines were indistinguishable as the check-in was just wall-to-wall people.

How was CLT coming back? We are flying to SXM next week via MIA down two days before the cruise, but CLT back the day after....  

[pumpkin 11]

2 minutes ago, NanaPam00 said:

How was CLT coming back? We are flying to SXM next week via MIA down two days before the cruise, but CLT back the day after....  

Immigration wait was about an hour. If you have a close connecting flight... might have some issues. I'd allow at least two hours. Many people missed.

 

The reason people missed was a lot of air traffic around St. Martin so we didn't take off on time.

[FlyerTalker]

4 minutes ago, pumpkin 11 said:

Immigration wait was about an hour. If you have a close connecting flight... might have some issues. I'd allow at least two hours. Many people missed..

 

Two solutions:  Global Entry or Mobile Passport.

[FlyerTalker]

29 minutes ago, Algebralovr said:

Now, if Celebrity had offered a charter flight from MIA or FLL or CLT to St. Maarten, then we would have considered it.  I'm really surprised they did not do so, but they didn't.  

 

I would have happily flown to the MIA/FLL area the night before, then boarded a charter flight the morning of the cruise.  That would have allowed them a return charter to get the previous cruisers back to the US.  However, they didn't do that.  Kind of silly to me.  They have certainly offered it before in some instances!

 

Charters happen when there is insufficient scheduled airline lift in/out of a city.  And that is not the case with SXM and the Millennium sailings.

 

Also, while YOU would not mind buying both a ticket to MIA and a charter ticket and a hotel night, I suspect that most people would not want to take that option.  In addition, passengers would be responsible for two airline checkins in each direction, as well as transferring their own luggage at MIA.

 

Finally, even with a charter, passengers would still have to check in, still have to go through customs and immigration and still go through security screening.  All with a charter operator that doesn't have any established infrastructure at SXM.

 

In other words....a non-starter from the get go.

[pumpkin 11]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Two solutions:  Global Entry or Mobile Passport.

True, but no way @NanaPam00 could get global entry before their cruise next week… lol I think it takes a few months

[FlyerTalker]

17 minutes ago, pumpkin 11 said:

True, but no way @NanaPam00 could get global entry before their cruise next week… lol I think it takes a few months

 

Mobile Passport takes less than five minutes to download.