Flawless day of cruise flight, would still never do it again...

[20165]

We booked a last minute cruise on Silhouette earlier this month after our VRBO got unexpectedly cancelled in Miami so we already had flights booked.  However, it was departing the day of the cruise which we have never done before, but given in was a 7am flight, we decided to give it a try.  We live in NC and were flying out of Raleigh which we are about 1.5 hours away from so our day started at 2:30am to get on the road by 3:30.  After a very restless night, we were on the road and keeping our fingers crossed we didn't have any car trouble. ie, hitting a deer at that early time...  We arrived at the airport to find a huge security line which took about 30-40 min to get through.  Stressful to say the least.  Plane departed on time and we were relieved.  We arrived in Miami around 9 and were at the pier around 11 after getting our luggage and uber.  There was a delay getting on the ship because it came from europe so i guess there were other customs steps they had to go through.  Boarded around 12:45.  Success!  However, by about 4pm, we both  hit a wall and pretty much just wanted to go back to the room and sleep, but we knew we wouldn't get up so we trudged through dinner and were back in the room by around 8.  

So moral of the story is even with a pretty flawless flight, its still extremely stressful.  Im a worrier, and our afternoon and night on the first day was pretty much shot because of fatigue form the early morning, stress, etc.  I know im stating the obvious here, but we always asked ourselves when we book a cruise if we should consider flying in the day of departure because of kids school, work etc, but now that we have tried it,  we will never do it again.  Painful...

 

[lola2013]

Travel stress is real.  No matter how much planning you do, you (at least me) always worry that something can throw your plan out of whack!  Until recently, it was the dreaded pre-cruise covid test.  Two of the three tests I needed to take could be completed before flying to Ft. Lauderdale, but when the timeframe changed and I needed to do it once I got to Cape Canaveral, I was a WRECK.  And that test was done with a proctor service rather than face to face at CVS.  So happy that requirement is off the table.

You can now sit back, relax and enjoy.  I'd love to hear about Silhouette...have never travelled on that ship but have a B2B booked for April, 2024.

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

[20165]

9 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

Travel stress is real.  No matter how much planning you do, you (at least me) always worry that something can throw your plan out of whack!  Until recently, it was the dreaded pre-cruise covid test.  Two of the three tests I needed to take could be completed before flying to Ft. Lauderdale, but when the timeframe changed and I needed to do it once I got to Cape Canaveral, I was a WRECK.  And that test was done with a proctor service rather than face to face at CVS.  So happy that requirement is off the table.

You can now sit back, relax and enjoy.  I'd love to hear about Silhouette...have never travelled on that ship but have a B2B booked for April, 2024.

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

Silhouette was our first Celebrity cruise and we are hooked.  We booked Apex next month for a holiday cruise.  Normally we go on RCL or NCL, but the 'smaller' ship was great because it was easier for us to navigate and the service was outstanding.  I will say its definitely one of the more relaxing cruises we have been on is a while.  The ship also seemed to be in really good shape, think new looking and very clean.  We have cruised newer NCL and RCL ships that weren't in that good of shape.  Guess the larger ships are beat up more the all of the additional passengers?  The food also seems better than the other lines.  The restaurants were smaller and i think had better service because of it, but the buffet also seemed a bit more upscale. 

Overall, wonderful ship, would definitely sail her again.

 

[lola2013]

1 minute ago, 20165 said:

Silhouette was our first Celebrity cruise and we are hooked.  We booked Apex next month for a holiday cruise.  Normally we go on RCL or NCL, but the 'smaller' ship was great because it was easier for us to navigate and the service was outstanding.  I will say its definitely one of the more relaxing cruises we have been on is a while.  The ship also seemed to be in really good shape, think new looking and very clean.  We have cruised newer NCL and RCL ships that weren't in that good of shape.  Guess the larger ships are beat up more the all of the additional passengers?  The food also seems better than the other lines.  The restaurants were smaller and i think had better service because of it, but the buffet also seemed a bit more upscale. 

Overall, wonderful ship, would definitely sail her again.

 

Sounds wonderful.  I have Apex booked for December, 2023...will look forward to ready your review (if you do one) on that ship.  Till then, it's Equinox in February.  Just can't get enough cruising!!!

BTW, I misread your first post...I see that you've already sailed on Silhouette.  Glad you had a great time after the initial stress.  

[CruisinShips]

The travel stress is very real.

 

So a few years back, we were booked on an RCL cruise out of Barcelona.  We flew in the day before.  Well, the first leg of flight (Delta) was OK, but when we arrived in NY for the connection, we learned our connection to Barcelona was canceled.  We scrambled to get a connection, and got one on KLR airlines  (first time I had heard of them).  At this point, we had the sinking understanding that our luggage might not make it to Barcelona with us, which it did not.  The person at the KLR luggage counter spoke very poor English, and we got little info.  We were trying with Delta as well, and got nothing.

 

So here we were in Barcelona, the night before we were getting on a ship that had different ports every day, with nothing except the clothes on our backs.  We scrambled and bought toothbrushes, underwear, a few tshirts, my DW bought some makeup...that kind of stuff.

 

I laid in bed in our hotel room unable to sleep, kept checking the Delta app (this was about 5 years ago) and saw nothing.  We had to board the ship the following day.

 

On a random hunch, we decided to go to the airport and wait for the next Delta flight out of LaGuardia to land.  We stood in baggage claim waiting while all of the luggage came off that plane. Lo and behold the actual last two suitcases to come off the plane were our two bags!  I have a picture of my wife hugging her suitcase lol.

 

We went from there directly to the port and boarded the ship.

 

Moral of the story...we now ship our luggage whenever we have a connecting flight, we have air tags as well, and we bring a carryon with essentials.

 

 

[20165]

10 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

The travel stress is very real.

 

So a few years back, we were booked on an RCL cruise out of Barcelona.  We flew in the day before.  Well, the first leg of flight (Delta) was OK, but when we arrived in NY for the connection, we learned our connection to Barcelona was canceled.  We scrambled to get a connection, and got one on KLR airlines  (first time I had heard of them).  At this point, we had the sinking understanding that our luggage might not make it to Barcelona with us, which it did not.  The person at the KLR luggage counter spoke very poor English, and we got little info.  We were trying with Delta as well, and got nothing.

 

So here we were in Barcelona, the night before we were getting on a ship that had different ports every day, with nothing except the clothes on our backs.  We scrambled and bought toothbrushes, underwear, a few tshirts, my DW bought some makeup...that kind of stuff.

 

I laid in bed in our hotel room unable to sleep, kept checking the Delta app (this was about 5 years ago) and saw nothing.  We had to board the ship the following day.

 

On a random hunch, we decided to go to the airport and wait for the next Delta flight out of LaGuardia to land.  We stood in baggage claim waiting while all of the luggage came off that plane. Lo and behold the actual last two suitcases to come off the plane were our two bags!  I have a picture of my wife hugging her suitcase lol.

 

We went from there directly to the port and boarded the ship.

 

Moral of the story...we now ship our luggage whenever we have a connecting flight, we have air tags as well, and we bring a carryon with essentials.

 

 

Very good point on connections.  We actually live in Greensboro, NC about 10 miles from the airport, would have to connect so we usually drive to Charlotte or Raleigh to avoid the connections.  

Curious what company you use to ship your luggage?  thx

[CruisinShips]

10 minutes ago, 20165 said:

Curious what company you use to ship your luggage?  thx

Obviously we try to avoid connections whenever possible, but that isn't always an option.

 

We use Luggage Forward with really flawless results.  It's not cheap, and they may even be a little more expensive than some others, but their communication and customer service has been great, you can track your bags, and they will pickup and deliver from pretty much anywhere or from/to any kind of location.  Hotels will store them, and cruise lines are set up to receive your luggage as well.  The peace of mind is worth it for me after that experience.

Edited November 23, 2022 by CruisinShips

[NutsAboutGolf]

20 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

So a few years back, we were booked on an RCL cruise out of Barcelona.  We flew in the day before.  Well, the first leg of flight (Delta) was OK, but when we arrived in NY for the connection, we learned our connection to Barcelona was canceled.  We scrambled to get a connection, and got one on KLR airlines  (first time I had heard of them).  At this point, we had the sinking understanding that our luggage might not make it to Barcelona with us, which it did not.  The person at the KLR luggage counter spoke very poor English, and we got little info.  We were trying with Delta as well, and got nothing.

 

A travel quite a lot and when a connection is cancelled, they'll generally rebook you and you can go online and change to another flight without paying a fare difference.

 

Just some questions, did you book your flights yourself or go through a TA?  Was the NY to Barcelona flight booked on Delta?  When you say "Delta as well, and got nothing", sounds like they didn't automatically rebook you, so you informed them your flight got cancelled and they came back with nothing, no offer to put you on the next flight?

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, 20165 said:

We booked a last minute cruise on Silhouette earlier this month after our VRBO got unexpectedly cancelled in Miami so we already had flights booked.  However, it was departing the day of the cruise which we have never done before, but given in was a 7am flight, we decided to give it a try.  We live in NC and were flying out of Raleigh which we are about 1.5 hours away from so our day started at 2:30am to get on the road by 3:30.  After a very restless night, we were on the road and keeping our fingers crossed we didn't have any car trouble. ie, hitting a deer at that early time...  We arrived at the airport to find a huge security line which took about 30-40 min to get through.  Stressful to say the least.  Plane departed on time and we were relieved.  We arrived in Miami around 9 and were at the pier around 11 after getting our luggage and uber.  There was a delay getting on the ship because it came from europe so i guess there were other customs steps they had to go through.  Boarded around 12:45.  Success!  However, by about 4pm, we both  hit a wall and pretty much just wanted to go back to the room and sleep, but we knew we wouldn't get up so we trudged through dinner and were back in the room by around 8.  

So moral of the story is even with a pretty flawless flight, its still extremely stressful.  Im a worrier, and our afternoon and night on the first day was pretty much shot because of fatigue form the early morning, stress, etc.  I know im stating the obvious here, but we always asked ourselves when we book a cruise if we should consider flying in the day of departure because of kids school, work etc, but now that we have tried it,  we will never do it again.  Painful...

 

 

If waiting in line is stressful, you would greatly benefit from getting Global with includes pre-check.  It's only around $100/5 years (only $20/year) and as a bonus you get to keep your shoes on and only go through a metal detector vs a scanner.  Some credit cards with annual fees that you can offset may offer global for free

[CruisinShips]

10 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

A travel quite a lot and when a connection is cancelled, they'll generally rebook you and you can go online and change to another flight without paying a fare difference.

 

Just some questions, did you book your flights yourself or go through a TA?  Was the NY to Barcelona flight booked on Delta?  When you say "Delta as well, and got nothing", sounds like they didn't automatically rebook you, so you informed them your flight got cancelled and they came back with nothing, no offer to put you on the next flight?

So the flights (from MIA to LGA, and LGA to Barcelona, were both originally with Delta. No TA as far as I can recall.  Delta DID rebook us on the connection on KLR to Barcelona.  I believe it was one of those that says KLR "operated by Delta".   So when we landed without our luggage, the KLR rep told us to reach out to Delta, and Delta told us KLR.

[RichYak]

17 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

So the flights (from MIA to LGA, and LGA to Barcelona, were both originally with Delta. No TA as far as I can recall.  Delta DID rebook us on the connection on KLR to Barcelona.  I believe it was one of those that says KLR "operated by Delta".   So when we landed without our luggage, the KLR rep told us to reach out to Delta, and Delta told us KLR.

Not that it's all that pertinent, but I think you mean JFK, not LGA.

[NutsAboutGolf]

12 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

So the flights (from MIA to LGA, and LGA to Barcelona, were both originally with Delta. No TA as far as I can recall.  Delta DID rebook us on the connection on KLR to Barcelona.  I believe it was one of those that says KLR "operated by Delta".   So when we landed without our luggage, the KLR rep told us to reach out to Delta, and Delta told us KLR.

Thanks for following up.  Was a code share therefore Delta is in charge of baggage.  I’m not sure when they started adding barcodes to luggage but I find it helpful 

[CruisinShips]

1 minute ago, RichYak said:

Not that it's all that pertinent, but I think you mean JFK, not LGA.

I assume you're right...couldn't recall exactly.

 

[RichYak]

2 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

I assume you're right...couldn't recall exactly.

 

Yeah, there's no customs/immigration at LGA. Only US domestic (and some Canada) flights.

[NutsAboutGolf]

51 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

Obviously we try to avoid connections whenever possible, but that isn't always an option.

 

We use Luggage Forward with really flawless results.  It's not cheap, and they may even be a little more expensive than some others, but their communication and customer service has been great, you can track your bags, and they will pickup and deliver from pretty much anywhere or from/to any kind of location.  Hotels will store them, and cruise lines are set up to receive your luggage as well.  The peace of mind is worth it for me after that experience.

 

I've wasted money on far wasteful things other than luggage delivery but boy is that service pricey especially considering alternatives exist such as using the airline which is usually $30/bag.  For $144/domestic bag (plus fees/taxes), I could go to Ross/TJ max and buy several days of clothing.  Going from Mia to Barcelona is $399/bag.  You also have to be packed days in advance.  Many travel credit cards cover delayed luggage and you will get paid if your luggage is permanently lost.  Just my (probably UNwanted) two cents...

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by NutsAboutGolf

[CruisinShips]

5 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I've wasted money on far wasteful things other than luggage delivery but boy is that service pricey especially considering alternatives exist such as using the airline which is usually $30/bag.  For $144/domestic bag (plus fees/taxes), I could go to Ross/TJ max and buy several days of clothing.  Going from Mia to Barcelona is $399/bag.  You also have to be packed days in advance.  Many travel credit cards cover delayed luggage and you will get paid if your luggage is permanently lost.  Just my (probably UNwanted) two cents...

 

I don't think I paid that much...last time I used it was a few months ago to Canada and it was like $200each.  It's one thing for domestic travel, but for international,  and before a cruise, is that it's hard to imagine they can get your luggage to whatever port you happen to be at on a given day, there isn't much variety for shopping on the ship, and it's a pain to find stores in foreign countries.  And it's also nice to not have to drag big suitcases around. 

 

I get that it's not for everyone.

[goofysmom99]

I used Luggage Forward when I was traveling around Europe by train before a TA.  No way I could handle a cruise suitcase solo so it made sense for me.  And I believe the airline Delta used was KLM.  They're a Delta codeshare.

[cruisestitch]

There is no KLR airlines.  It must have been KLM, the Dutch line, affiliated with Delta. 

[volk904]

I have taken 17 cruises and only twice flown in day of stressed both times.  On the last one we were cruising out of San Juan in Jan with a later all aboard of 6pm. We had a 6am flight out of Louisville with connection in Orlando.  Snow in Louisville but our plane made it in the night before and we left on time.  Thought I was home Free. Landed at MCO and immediately got a text from SW. 2 hour delay. Then another 1 hour delay. Seems that our connection flight was snowed in at Buffalo.  Finally left 4 hours late. We made it to the ship at 5:15. We were almost the last on the ship. 

 

[cbfb]

6 hours ago, volk904 said:

I have taken 17 cruises and only twice flown in day of stressed both times.  On the last one we were cruising out of San Juan in Jan with a later all aboard of 6pm. We had a 6am flight out of Louisville with connection in Orlando.  Snow in Louisville but our plane made it in the night before and we left on time.  Thought I was home Free. Landed at MCO and immediately got a text from SW. 2 hour delay. Then another 1 hour delay. Seems that our connection flight was snowed in at Buffalo.  Finally left 4 hours late. We made it to the ship at 5:15. We were almost the last on the ship. 

 

Uggh! Talk about stressful! Wow 

[JeanieC,Aston]

How did you manage to get into the baggage reclaim area from landside?

Did you have to go through some kind of security?

[gfkcruiser]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:20 PM, volk904 said:

I have taken 17 cruises and only twice flown in day of stressed both times.  On the last one we were cruising out of San Juan in Jan with a later all aboard of 6pm. We had a 6am flight out of Louisville with connection in Orlando.  Snow in Louisville but our plane made it in the night before and we left on time.  Thought I was home Free. Landed at MCO and immediately got a text from SW. 2 hour delay. Then another 1 hour delay. Seems that our connection flight was snowed in at Buffalo.  Finally left 4 hours late. We made it to the ship at 5:15. We were almost the last on the ship. 

 

interesting that you were able to board.  We arrived with about an hour prior to departing and were denied boarding in San Diego some years ago.  Had to fly down to Cabo to board ship 2 days later.

[CruisinShips]

On 11/24/2022 at 5:15 AM, JeanieC,Aston said:

How did you manage to get into the baggage reclaim area from landside?

Did you have to go through some kind of security?

Great question.  We begged.  We showed all paperwork we had from our ticket from the prior day, to the lost luggage paper.  They let us in.