flight is late..miss the ship!

[grest]

What happens if your flight is late coming in and you miss the ship's departure?

[Krazy Kruizers]

If you bought your own air - you have the responsibilty to get to the first port of call on your own. If you have bought 3rd party insurance, keep records and bills for re-embursement.

 

If you did your air through HAL - they will assist you into getting to the first port of call.

[Onbec]

It's never happened to us - one of the reasons we fly down a day early is to avoid the stress of it all.

However, I believe if you have made your travel arrangements through HAL as part of your fare, it is their responsibility to get you to the next port of call, plus accomodations until you board.

If you made your own flight arrangements, then its on your dime.

We have been on board a couple of times, where they held the departure because of a late flight with passengers on board.

[Randyk47]

For us it only took one near miss and we've been going in the day before ever since. Luckily it was HAL air and they kept track of our travel adventures. Made it to the ship with 45 minutes to spare and that was way too close for our comfort. Getting loaded with a pallet of fruit in the bowels of the ship is not very romantic.....it was our honeymoon. Last year we even drove to port a day early and we were only 4 hours away. If you're going the day of the cruise and you don't live "next door" then cruise line provided air or good travel insurance is wise.

[yiddishkopf]

On long trips, we have always tried to use mileage to get there. We've used it to get to South America (Lima was first stop), Sydney and on a a separate cruise, just recently, to Auckland. When you use mileage, you go when you can get seats, so usually we go several days ahead. We sailed from Auckland, 1-21 but arrived it Auckland on 1-18. It was wonderful -- we had a day to sleep and two days to explore Auckland.

 

My SO comes from a family that is always early--we've been to weddings where we arrived long before the wedding party and bar mitzvahs where we arrived before the celebrant, but we never miss a plane or a ship!

[mildavis]

I totally agree with the others. Get there at least the day before the ship leaves port. 2 years ago we sailed with Princess out of San Juan with 2 other couples. My husband and I left at the crack of dawn the day we sailed and, fortunately, had no problems, but the other 2 couples left later in the day and had flight delays and missed connections, etc., etc., etc. Needless to say they missed the ship and our first day out was a day at sea so they missed 2 nights on a 7 night cruise. Believe it or not, without a word from them, Princess gave them a very fair on board credit that they didn't even have to give them because they booked their own airfare. This is why I will always arrive the day before.

[djallar]

OMG :eek: I could NEVER travel the day I was supposed to sail. I would be a wreck! As a matter of fact, I didn't like being on the third transfer from the hotel last year...and we were only a couple of miles from the port.

[Randyk47]

Should add we'll be up at 3 AM tomorrow and leave the house at 4 AM for a 6:30 AM flight. Wierd flight connections and if we waited until a decent departure hour here we'd not get into Ft Lauderdale until early evening. We'd rather be sipping drinks by the beach than waiting around the house. :)

[Joanne G.]

If you did your air through HAL - they will assist you into getting to the first port of call.

 

By "assist", do you mean they will pay for the flight to get you to the next port to meet the ship? Or do you mean they will help you make arrangements, but it's at your cost?

 

We always get to the port a day or two early and we always buy travel insurance, so I don't have any personal reason for asking. But I'm curious. I see disclaimers - "we assume no liability for the acts or omissions of any airline, etc. etc." and I don't see any promises to get you to the ship whatever it takes - so I wonder what really happens if a HAL-arranged flight gets you there too late for boarding.

[Pyrate13]

I don't have a true answer, however, we sailed on the Zaandam in 2002 and were 2 hours late leaving the port. We were told the ship was waiting for passengers from a flight that was late. Don't know if that was actually the case but that's what they told us.

[1cruiselvr]

I highly suggest flying the day before. You can't count on HAL to assist you. We have friends that sailed HAL last year to Alaska. 28 pax on their ship were late due to air problems and although they booked their air thru HAL, the ship took off without them and they missed the first few days of the cruise. They had to book and pay for their own airfare to the first port of call. HAL only offered shipboard credits to compensate. We felt bad as we highly recommended HAL to our friends who were first time cruisers. Although they enjoyed their cruise experience once onboard, they felt abandoned and short changed. We learned a valuable lesson - ALWAYS fly into the departing port a day early. It doesn't matter who you booked your air thru, when the ship leaves, it's gone. Happy Sailing!

[kryos]

What happens if your flight is late coming in and you miss the ship's departure?

You have to get yourself to the ship's first port of call and board there.

 

Make sure you have travel insurance or this added travel/hotel stay will cost you ... possibly bigtime.

 

I missed the ship on my very first cruise ... airline troubles ... emergency landing ... delay in taking off again. Unfortunately for me, the ship was spending two days at sea before arriving in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. You guessed it. I had to fly to San Jose, Costa Rica ... spend two days in a hotel (not to mention one night in Atlanta before boarding the plane to Costa Rica. I had the expense of the added flights, and the hotel stays. I also had to pay for a private driver to take me to Puerto Limon from San Jose ... about a three-hour drive.

 

Altogether that little "diversion" wound up costing me about $1,500. With the travel insurance "trip interruption" coverage, I got back about $700 of it. The rest was at my own expense.

 

An added note ... people say that if you use the cruiseline's air program, they will usually hold the ship for you (for a reasonable time) if there are flight delays. The cruiseline will also pay the expense of getting you to the first port of call if the airline they book you on causes you to miss your cruise. I don't know if this is all true, though, because the cruiseline's contract does state that they are NOT responsible for flight delays caused by the airlines. If they do pick up these expenses when passengers use the cruiseline's own air programs, they probably do so as a matter of good public relations ... not any actual obligation on their part.

 

Guess the best strategy is a proactive one. Fly to the pier at least a day ahead of embarkation. That ... or take your chances.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[ocngypz]

It is the responsibility of the AIRLINE to get you to the ship. If your flight is late and you miss embarkation, the airline will have to get you to the next port.

 

Cruiselines provide air ticketing as a convenience for their cruise passengers.

 

Also, if you use HAL air, you can be stuck into forced overnights (either pre or post) requiring you to pay for unanticipated hotel expenses.

 

If you are going to use cruiseline air, pay the deviation fees, book the flights you want so there are no surprises 30 days prior to departure.

 

You can always book your own air and then add cruiseline transfers.