Miss Ship

[nycruiser1975]

I just spoke to a Carnival rep who scared the B-Jesus out of me. Being a newbie, this is not something you want to hear. She was telling me that people miss the boat due to the airline. Then she told me it is $97 per person (3 for me) to stay in a hotel the night before. I don't have any extra money to spend. What are the chances of missing the boat coming in on the same day? Help:(

[momofzeke]

That's why you should fly in the day before. I flew in once on the same day, airplane was delayed, but we did make it to the ship. But, I learned a valuable lesson. I will NEVER fly in the same day as the cruise again. :)

 

Find your own hotel accomodations for less than what the cruiseline will charge you. Do a little research and you will be able to find one. Good luck, and Happy Cruising!

 

There is a section of the boards called "North American Home Ports", with East Coast Departures, West Coast Departures and Gulf Coast Departures. Those boards have hotel information on them. So, if you are sailing out of Florida, go to East Coast departures and look for hotel information for the city you are sailing out of.

[firefly333]

I dont know which port you are going out of, but you can book a hotel on your own or thru Priceline to save $.

[txracefan]

Just happened to us Wednesday .Setting at the DFW airport as our ship was on its way to Alaska.Could not find a flight that would get us there in time.

[AllyGirl13]

If you booked air & transport with the cruise line they WILL wait for you if something happens. Hopefully you bought the travel Ins. & that would payoff if you were delayed for a number of reasons. I highly recommend the Ins.

[Illinoisgal]

If you booked air & transport with the cruise line they WILL wait for you if something happens. Hopefully you bought the travel Ins. & that would payoff if you were delayed for a number of reasons. I highly recommend the Ins.

 

Not true just a few months back someone booked CCl air and transfers. well the transfers took too long ship left w/o them

[txracefan]

That is true they will not wait for you .There where at least 50 people that they left.

[PINEVIEW01]

If you booked air & transport with the cruise line they WILL wait for you if something happens.

Not always so, if you do wome research you will find the storys of those that missed the ship with Carnival air/transfers.

OP what port. You are from NYC, right? Depending on the port, you can get a room for the $97 they want for one person. Going in the night before is the best Insurance. Carnival charges you more for air that what you can yourself. Than they charge you more to come in the day before and charge you pp for a hotel can do better on.

 

Hope this helps some let us know what else you'd like to know

[SandyW]

You should be able to find a hotel much cheaper than $97/pp (even without priceline). Try to fly in the day before. If you've signed up for the transfers then you should probably stay near the airport so you can shuttle to and from the hotel without further costs.

 

There are thousands of people who fly the same day and make it.

 

You also don't mention the time of year....and whether there would be any weather concerns. (We were not told about a hail storm at DFW and flew down there to find out a good majority of flights had been cancelled because of hail damage to the planes. We were in line behind a couple who had just gotten married and were on there way to their honeymoon cruise...they didn't make it. We did not get out until the last flight that night and we had been there since 7AM.)

 

If you haven't already and you buy travel insurance do not go through Carnival..you can get it much cheaper elsewhere.

[caribbean dreams]

If you booked air & transport with the cruise line they WILL wait for you if something happens .

 

They will not wait for you, but i believe they will give you the option of meeting the ship at the first port, but if you don't have a PassPort and the ship is docking someplace other then Puerto Rico or US virgin Islands, ect.., you can not fly to meet the ship.

[nofishforme]

on my first cruise out of miami i almost missed it got to the airport 2hrs befor my 630am nashville to miami the line was long and the ticket agents were slow and the line for skycaps at curb side was even longer i got to the ticket agent at 615 am... for her to tell me i was to late i should have checked in 1/2 hr befor take off ..well i was not a happy camper after waiting in line for 1hr 45min and told i wasnt going on my cruise .Well after a few long min of her clacking on the keybaord she came with an alt.route . Nashville to chicago o'hare and then to miami all on stand by i got to chicago no problem it was there ware it almost ended it was down to the last second the doors had closed to the jetway i thought that was it i was heading back to Nashville when all of a sudden the gate agent waved me on to get on the plane we left on time wich was good cause i had 1 hr from the time the plane landed and the ship was to leave 1hr to get my luggage get a cab and get to port some how i got there with 10min to spare i get in side the terminal and to my surprise there was about 400 people in front of me there was a large group on the ship it was at that point i new i was safe and would get on the ship ... Never again i fly in the day befor and always have back up plans incase there is a problem with my booked flight .My last cruise i flew in three days befor my cruise and stayed on the beach

[Pugs]

Not true just a few months back someone booked CCl air and transfers. well the transfers took too long ship left w/o them

 

 

If that is the case, they Carnival has to fly them to the next port and put them up in a hotel with food.. That is if air and tran. were thru Carnival. That is why they wait for you, it will cost them to leave without you..

[Illinoisgal]

If that is the case, they Carnival has to fly them to the next port and put them up in a hotel with food.. That is if air and tran. were thru Carnival. That is why they wait for you, it will cost them to leave without you..

 

Tell that to Carnival. They did not fly the people to the next port.. They were stuck in Florida. this has happened several times over the years I have been on CC It was a 4 day cruise I believe they saw the ship sail off without them . They missed it be only 10 min I think. If you do a search you will find it has happened more than once. Too many for my taste :)

[CorbinCatFan]

We missed the ship from San Juan in 2000. Our original flight was cancelled, we drove to a near by airport to take an alternate flight connecting through Dallas and missed the connection. We flew back to Atlanta, booked flights to catch the ship in St. Thomas, spent the night, and made it on board with 30 minutes to spare.

 

I'm reading now that we would not be able to make such arrangements to catch the ship in St. Thomas again so now we are flying in the day before.

 

We learned our lesson after that and will never fly the same day of the cruise again.

[kiffrig]

I have never missed a ship and I have flown in on the day of, several times. I just take into account what time of year (potential weather delays---especially if it's winter) and I try to get the earliest flight into the port city on the day of the cruise. Most cruises don't pull out until at least 4pm, so if you get in early (9-10am), you would most likely have plenty of extra time if you had a slight delay in your flights.

 

I am not suggesting that this is "ideal"....just stating what I have done in the past. It's always worked for us, but it's definitely a risk to fly in on the same day the cruise leaves. You just have to weigh your options and decide for yourself. Lots of people fly in on the day of.....it's not completely unheard of.

 

That's just my opinion and what works for me. Happy Cruising!

[momofzeke]

Tell that to Carnival. They did not fly the people to the next port.. They were stuck in Florida. this has happened several times over the years I have been on CC It was a 4 day cruise I believe they saw the ship sail off without them . They missed it be only 10 min I think. If you do a search you will find it has happened more than once. Too many for my taste :)

 

Yep, what Illinoisgal is saying is true.

 

OP, I would definitely invest in travel insurance and try, try, try to fly in the day before. Airfare is usually cheaper on your own than through Carnival, too. Good luck! :)

[Karysa]

On our last cruise I found out 6 weeks before that my early flight was cancelled and that I was changed to a new carrier and I was set to arrive in FLL at 2:00 I was nervous but we bought insurance and it worked out just perfectly. This was in December from Toronto so it could have been a nightmare but we were on time and the taxi driver told us that the line up to get into Port Everglades in the morning was awful. We were on the ship at 2:59. We have an extra day next cruise so we are flying in the day before but we have never done that before.

[sea_u_onboard]

"Never" say ALWAYS or NEVER :D .

 

While Carnival offers SOME protection that doesn't always work in the favor of the passengers.

 

While it is true that if you buy your air through them and miss the ship they CAN fly you to the next port but in some cases this is not possible - like the case of the people at DFW on their way to their Alaskan cruise. They could not be flown into the next port and board because it was a US port. Someone did say (on another thread) that if the ship was going out of Whittier instead of Vancouver that they could have boarded at the next port (something to do with foreign ports or ships or something).

 

Anyhow - even buying Carnival transfers is not a guarantee.

 

It's just to iffy for me to fly in the same day - we have only had to fly to one port and we did 5 days pre-cruise. This next cruise we are doing 4 days pre-cruise - but even if we weren't I would still fly in the day before. I can't take the stress and it's too much money / time off work and scheduling to be blown off track by a delayed / cancelled flight or poor transfers.

 

JMHO

[djacobson]

"Never" say ALWAYS or NEVER :D .

 

While Carnival offers SOME protection that doesn't always work in the favor of the passengers.

 

While it is true that if you buy your air through them and miss the ship they CAN fly you to the next port but in some cases this is not possible - like the case of the people at DFW on their way to their Alaskan cruise. They could not be flown into the next port and board because it was a US port. Someone did say (on another thread) that if the ship was going out of Whittier instead of Vancouver that they could have boarded at the next port (something to do with foreign ports or ships or something).

 

Anyhow - even buying Carnival transfers is not a guarantee.

 

It's just to iffy for me to fly in the same day - we have only had to fly to one port and we did 5 days pre-cruise. This next cruise we are doing 4 days pre-cruise - but even if we weren't I would still fly in the day before. I can't take the stress and it's too much money / time off work and scheduling to be blown off track by a delayed / cancelled flight or poor transfers.

 

JMHO

 

The Jones Act does not allow you to board a foreign registered ship that does not include a foreign stop at the time you board the ship. It would be illegal for the Conquest to sail from Galveston to Tampa without the ship first stopping in a foreign country. The passengers and perhaps the cruise line would be fined.

[sea_u_onboard]

The Jones Act does not allow you to board a foreign registered ship that does not include a foreign stop at the time you board the ship. It would be illegal for the Conquest to sail from Galveston to Tampa without the ship first stopping in a foreign country. The passengers and perhaps the cruise line would be fined.

Do you mean it would be illegal for them to board in Tampa if that was the first stop? The reason I say this is I was on the Rhapsody out of Galveston and our first stop was Key West - a US city.

[djacobson]

Do you mean it would be illegal for them to board in Tampa if that was the first stop? The reason I say this is I was on the Rhapsody out of Galveston and our first stop was Key West - a US city.

 

I may need to clarify- you can't board a ship with a foreign registry at one US port and disembark at another US port without first stopping at a foreign port. You are subject to a $300 fine. Had you decided to leave the ship at Key West, you would have been subject to the fine.

[sea_u_onboard]

I may need to clarify- you can't board a ship with a foreign registry at one US port and disembark at another US port without first stopping at a foreign port. You are subject to a $300 fine. Had you decided to leave the ship at Key West, you would have been subject to the fine.

That makes sense.

[jessemon]

I just have to do this because of the thread name.....

 

"MISS SHIP"

 

On Holland America they have a thing where someone is MR. ship name or Miss, Ms, or Mrs. ship name.

During the week people you meet ask if you are that person...They get some goodies for getting it and you get some for being it.

So if Canival were to do this it would be...

Miss Fantasy

Miss Conquest

Miss Sensation

Miss Imagination

Miss Triumph

And my favorite....

Miss Ecstasy......:D

[ILov2cruise]

The Jones Act does not allow you to board a foreign registered ship that does not include a foreign stop at the time you board the ship. It would be illegal for the Conquest to sail from Galveston to Tampa without the ship first stopping in a foreign country. The passengers and perhaps the cruise line would be fined.

 

The cruise lines can sail from one American port to another, nothing illegal about it. What they can't do is pick up passengers at the the 2nd American port if there is not a foreign port in between.

[jessemon]

The cruise lines can sail from one American port to another, nothing illegal about it. What they can't do is pick up passengers at the the 2nd American port if there is not a foreign port in between.

This is incorrect for some reason (but I am not sure why)...Carnival used to have an itin out of here (Tampa) that went to grand cayman, Cozumel...New Orleans and then back to Tampa. They let off and on pax in both Tampa and NOLA. So Tampa was the first stop out of NOLA. That was only about 3 years ago. They booked that ship out of both ports. I think it was the Celebration if I remember correctly.