cruising4u Posted September 14, 2007 #1 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I am still deciding when I should book my flight?? We are flying out of Chicago into Orlando in mid. December and the cruise leaves on Sunday. Am i safer flying in late Friday night or do you think Sat. morning will be alright? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arizona Cruz Chic Posted September 14, 2007 #2 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Your headed in the right direction....the day before at minimum for Chicago winters!!! ;) Friday night would best, giving you a full day of fun and relaxation. Have lived in Chicago area until 1993 we know first hand about those winters. We've always travel the day before even from AZ.....you never know....its not always weather related. :eek: Have a great cruise. *** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Cruizers Posted September 14, 2007 #3 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Charlotte, your not as far as we are being in Calif, but one can never know regarding weather, etc, and I would recommend coming in day before. that way you know your there and can relax. Have a leisure breakfast and take a shuttle or cab to the Terminal. Happy Sailing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbee524 Posted September 14, 2007 #4 Share Posted September 14, 2007 As a fellow Chicagoian I recommend you fly out at least one day ahead of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulders Posted September 14, 2007 #5 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I fly from Minneapolis, so I take weather into account too! Cruises usually leave around 5 p.m., so even if are scheduled Saturday and are delayed one day, you should make it. I would get an early, direct flight on Saturday. Exactly when in December will make a difference too. If it's the first week, you're less likely to have snowstorms or travel delays than if it's the last week of December. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChattieKathy Posted September 14, 2007 #6 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I live in the Chicago suburbs. I would worry more if traveling in January or February, BUT...give yourself at least a day. If you are delayed, it could be for awhile. We traveled this past February for our cruise. Just missed the storm. The airport was closed a few hours after we left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethCarp Posted September 14, 2007 #7 Share Posted September 14, 2007 We're sailing the Monarch in January and a lot of flights that we could take go through ORD. I was at first just going to fly in one day prior, but I think now we are going to try for 2 days. That way too we get a bit more time in LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruising4u Posted September 14, 2007 Author #8 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Thank you all for your recommendations.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyIL Posted September 14, 2007 #9 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I'm on a Disney cruise in January out of Port Canaveral, and I'm flying in 2 days before from central IL. If there were flight cancellations on Friday, I could DRIVE there if necessary in 2 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRadle Posted September 14, 2007 #10 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I live in the Chicago suburbs and always fly out of O’Hare. Mid December should not pose a weather problem with a snow event. However, sleet could be a problem. I would recommend either the very first flight out the day of the cruise, which means getting to the airport at 4:30 AM, or a late morning flight the day before. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willbcruisin Posted September 14, 2007 #11 Share Posted September 14, 2007 We flew 1 day prior in December of 05 from RI. Of course a storm hit...we were the last plane in the early morning to take-off before they shut the airport down. We flew into Tampa in route to FLL.....We were delayed in Tampa as our connecting plane had not arrived in TPA, it was coming from PHL. It never crossed my mind we would take such a delay in Florida ....Lesson learned and we always fly in 1 day before...If we had flown the day of..we would have missed our cruise:eek: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo70 Posted September 14, 2007 #12 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I would recommend either the very first flight out the day of the cruise, which means getting to the airport at 4:30 AM, or a late morning flight the day before. :) Even in summer I wouldn't recommend a same day flight; too much can go wrong (i.e. mecahnical failure, air traffic control problem, severe thunderstorms in either city or city the plane is arriving to your home airport from, etc.). I too live in Chicago and I generally fly in the morning of the day before the cruise. If an extra night in a hotel is not a big problem with your budget, flying in Friday night would give you a little more safety-net, but with Saturday morning you are fairly safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmom Posted September 14, 2007 #13 Share Posted September 14, 2007 We flying out from Chicago also for a Dec. cruise. I always try to get an early morning flight the day before since at least if there is a problem there are flights all day to hopefully catch. Also seems like if there is a weather problem, then the weather tends to get worse by evening. hard to say whether you should fly out 1 day or 2 days before. If there is something you'd enjoy doing on Sat, then flying our Friday would give you more time. Last year we flew out O'hare the day before, on Sat., without any problem in Dec., however there was a big storm the end of Nov/first of Dec. last year on Friday and the flights were cancelled. We were okay because by Sat. they had plowed and the winds were down. Weather in Chicago is just so hard to predict. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenner9 Posted September 14, 2007 #14 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Sailing on Mariner on Dec 16th with you!! We live in Wisconsin and are flying into Orlando on Saturday morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruising4u Posted September 17, 2007 Author #15 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Sailing on Mariner on Dec 16th with you!! We live in Wisconsin and are flying into Orlando on Saturday morning. Are you guys renting a car or using the shuttle service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted September 17, 2007 #16 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Believe me, coming from the North and flying in for cruises, you REALLY should fly in the day before. Our last 3 cruises had delays. And they were delays that were long enough to put us past the ship's sailing time, had we gone the day of the cruise. And I am talking SUMMER cruises too. You just can't predict what the airline will do and they seem to be getting worse and worse. I would have missed all 3 cruises if I would have relied on a morning flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark_K Posted September 17, 2007 #17 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Believe me, coming from the North and flying in for cruises, you REALLY should fly in the day before. Our last 3 cruises had delays. And they were delays that were long enough to put us past the ship's sailing time, had we gone the day of the cruise. And I am talking SUMMER cruises too. You just can't predict what the airline will do and they seem to be getting worse and worse. I would have missed all 3 cruises if I would have relied on a morning flight. Thunderstorms cause more delays than snow storms, they just don't get as much publicity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariTenor1 Posted September 17, 2007 #18 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Another Chicago area cruiser here! OP..lots of good advice given for you here: Flying in early December is usually fairly safe as most of our snow tends to come later (of course, never say never!) Usually, flying early the morning before will be fine. Also, I'm not sure wear you live, but delays out of Midway tend to be much less than delays out of O'hare. We try to fly out of MDW if we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaerobear Posted September 17, 2007 #19 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Always fly in AT LEAST a day early, but you may also get a better fare on Saturday than on a Friday, not always, but sometimes. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenner9 Posted September 17, 2007 #20 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Are you guys renting a car or using the shuttle service? We are renting a car and we are staying in Orlando. We plan to go to Universal Studios. Then on the 23rd we have a car rented for the day as our flight doesn't leave until 7PM so we plan to go to the Kennedy Space Center before heading back to the airport. What about you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted September 17, 2007 #21 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Thunderstorms cause more delays than snow storms, they just don't get as much publicity. Out of our 3 delays, 2 were fog and one was "technical issues with the plane" :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruising4u Posted September 19, 2007 Author #22 Share Posted September 19, 2007 We are renting a car and we are staying in Orlando. We plan to go to Universal Studios. Then on the 23rd we have a car rented for the day as our flight doesn't leave until 7PM so we plan to go to the Kennedy Space Center before heading back to the airport. What about you? I think we plan on renting a car. I just reserved our flight last night, we are flying in Sat. morning and flying out Sunday mid afternoon. I am still debating if we should rent a car to go back to the airport and take a shuttle?? Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruising4u Posted September 19, 2007 Author #23 Share Posted September 19, 2007 I think we plan on renting a car. I just reserved our flight last night, we are flying in Sat. morning and flying out Sunday mid afternoon. I am still debating if we should rent a car to go back to the airport and take a shuttle?? Any suggestions? I meant to say (or take a shuttle)!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumkinsmom Posted September 19, 2007 #24 Share Posted September 19, 2007 We had friends last year that had a flight on Friday morning to MCO to meet us, as we live in FL, 2 days before the cruise. Remember the snowstorm in Chicago in early Dec last yr.(around the 7th or 8th.) they did not get in to MCO until 3 AM sunday morning. Good thing we were leaving on Sunday. you never know what will happen. Good luck and a very nice cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onessa Posted September 19, 2007 #25 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Flying into or out-of OHare isn't where most of the problems lay -- NEVER do a connecting flight with ORD as your hub -- Cincinnati, Detriot, Milwaukee or MPS-STP. I've flown several times a month for work for years now, and have never "successfully" flown through with a connection in OHare. Either on the way out or back I've always (at least 100 times) have had at minimum a major (2+ hour delay). My company has a travel policy that we do not book with a connection through OHare unless no other options are available. After 3.5 years of avoiding OHare, my family's flight back from Honolulu was changed at the VERY last moment to connect at OHare. -- Beautiful November day, 60 degrees, no wind, no major weather ANYwhere else in the US and we had a 3.5 hour delay on our flight from OHare to Milwaukee!!! Combined with the four hour layover, we could have walked there faster! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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