Is FlightEase Late Arrival Protection only for arrival on day of embarkation?

[AbsolutSki]

I’m booked on a May, 2024 cruise to the British Isles and it will be my first European cruise.  I’ve used FlightEase for domestic cruises before for its Late Arrival Protection.  However, I’ve been told I should arrive at least a day before embarkation.  I’m actually thinking of arriving 2 days ahead to do some sightseeing in Amsterdam.  Does the Late Arrival Protection not apply if you are not arriving the day of embarkation?  I suppose I’d still use FlightEase for the no-fee change and cancellation before final cruise payment.

 

Any thoughts or real-life experience?

[terrydtx]

We fly tomorrow to Amsterdam 3 days early. My understanding is the late arrival protection is for the cruise departure date. It will not cover you if you only end up coming in a day later. This why you should also have trip insurance which would cover you for missing a day because of a flight change or missing a connection. Lasy year on our Oosterdam cruise we had to spend 3 extra days in Venice due to a covid quarantine. We used flight ease for that trip with BC seats and FE was able to change our booking by 2 days to fly home in BC at no cost to us. Those of us in quarantine who booked air on their own were on their own to change flights to get home. One couple had to wait an extra 4 days to get on a flight to get home.

[AbsolutSki]

@terrydtx Thanks for the quick reply and specific information.  That is what I hoped to hear.  And yes, we will be getting trip insurance.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, AbsolutSki said:

@terrydtx Thanks for the quick reply and specific information.  That is what I hoped to hear.  And yes, we will be getting trip insurance.

BTW, when we used FE last year, we booked BC seats for about $1000pp less than we could do on our own with 2 airlines. We flew to Rome on United and the home from Venice on Delta, this is another huge advantage of using FE.

[dawnvip]

Just so I understand this correctly, you are saying that FE does not cover flights that arrive at cruise departure city earlier than actual day of cruise departure? We have booked FE to MIA three days ahead of cruise departure.

[AbsolutSki]

In my mind there are several scenarios:

 

1.  Fly into the day of departure and use HAL airport transfer.  Late Arrival Protection should apply fully.  That is, if the flight is delayed and you risk missing or actually missed the ship, HAL will do what it can to get you boarded on time or meet the ship in the next available port.  This is how I understand FlightEase’s Late Arrival Protection works.

 

2.  Fly into some days before the day of departure but still use HAL airport transfer on the day of embarkation.  That is, you return to the airport on the day of embarkation to meet HAL transfer.  Specifically, I’d return to the Amsterdam airport.  If there is a flight delay:

 

2a. If the flight is delayed but you still get to the departure city before the departure date, Late Arrival Protection doesn’t apply because you aren’t late.

 

2b. If the flight is delayed to such an extent that you DO miss the departure, would Late Arrival Protection work in this case?  I think it should but don’t know.

 

3.  Same as 2, but you use private transfer to the port and not use HAL’s transfer.  Then, I don’t know how Late Arrival Protection works under scenario 2b.

 

By flying into the departure city 2 days ahead, I hope the chances of 2b happening is minimized.

Edited September 10, 2023 by AbsolutSki

[Mary229]

Flight Ease is NOT insurance and is not even a guarantee.  They only promise to assist you if you do not get in town soon enough to catch the ship and as Terry said they will assist you if there is cruise caused diversion from schedule.  This would not cover a personal reason. Terry was covered because 1. He sailed during the Covid guarantee and 2. He booked through flight ease.
 

 if however the cruise ends early due to weather or other reason they will assist you with ticketing of a new flight at the best possible rate possible. 
 

they are supposed to assist you if there is a flight change but you may do better working with the airline. You may have to pay the difference 

 

that said, why use them.  Lots of people used them during Covid as so many cruises were cancelled and they would buy back the airline ticket if the cruise was cancelled.  The other current reason is access to consolidator rates - some of their international rates are excellent