Have never thought about it before -- but

[bazzaw]

It has become fairly obvious to me (now) that these cruiseliners are different to any other holidays I have been on, in this aspect. I have flown a LOT all over the world - and mostly had no problems with sticking to schedule. Aircraft can be delayed for a few hours - and in some places (like North America in the winter), weather conditions can cause chaos. But I have always been fortunate in that all my plans have gone as planned. -- except once on an AMTRAK train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, we were 12 hours late getting in to LA. As it turned out, our flight home from LA had previously been put back 24 hours from the original plan - which we allowed for by booking aother room near Disneyland for the extra night!! :D But if that flight hadn't been put back ( and notified in sufficient time) we would have missed the flight home because of the train delay. So that experience taught me a lesson - never plan connecting trips with inadequate time in between (taking into account the unexpected)

 

Now where I am slowly getting to is that, in spite of the fact that my two recent cruises went perfectly as scheduled - it has now struck me that these cruises are very prone to either delays or not actually going to where they are supposed to go.

 

I guess we alll need to be aware of this - perhaps even more so than for other forms of travel

 

Barry

[Bribie Cruisers]

Bazzaw,

You raise a good point, last July we sailed Pacific Sun from Sydney and was delayed a couple of hours due to heavy seas. P&0 (which we purchased pick up & return from airport)did not cater for this and caused major chaos for return flights home, lack of buses to transfer passengers, friends from WA missed their flight, we made it by the skin of our teeth. From now on we make our own independent travel arrangements allowing a day either of arrival & departure.

 

Bribie Cruisers

[Sunshine1220]

We're due back in Sydney on the Pacific Dawn on 19 August 2008. I've allowed six hours from docking to get to the airport to catch our flight back to the Sunshine Coast at 2pm.....It's already booked and paid for, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. :eek:

 

Christine and David

[sarah_in_townsville]

We're due back in Sydney on the Pacific Dawn on 19 August 2008. I've allowed six hours from docking to get to the airport to catch our flight back to the Sunshine Coast at 2pm.....It's already booked and paid for, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. :eek:

 

Christine and David

 

 

We have done the same thing, mine leaves from brisbane at 2:30pm... worst case senario i just pay the extra to get a different flight. Not the end of the world!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Thats a very good point you make Barry.

It is not quite so bad with cruises that leave locally but when planning an overseas cruise it is a good idea to allow extra time.

It is rather fun doing a pre and a post cruise stay anyway.Also, with all the "hassle' of disembarking it is rather pleasant knowing that you dont have to rush to get off the ship and speed off to an airport.

You can then ease yourself back into the real world.

David.

[Riffraff]

I agree this is a good point. I think that's why there's sometimes a lot of complaints - people tend to think of ships the same way as trains or buses - that they should leave within one of two minutes of their scheduled departure.

I remember being on Pacific Star in Vila up on the top deck at 5.00pm, which was when we were due to leave. By 5.02 everyone seemed convinced that something had gone horribly wrong because we hadn't let go the ropes yet! We sailed at about 5.15..

People need to realise that ships aren't like trains, just waiting for the doors to close and then they can blow their whistle and go. There's a lot of people involved in getting the ship ready for departure, and the scheduled times are really just an estimate.

[AuzzieCruiser]

Not everything goes to plan...as I found out last week.:rolleyes:

Timing wise, always best to arrive the day before a cruise if travelling domestically and 2-3 days beforehand internationally.

We arrived the day before our cruise to Alaska. If anything had happened to our flight, we certainly would have been cutting it very fine to arrive at the port in time.

We also have a holiday at the end of the cruise, if overseas. No point getting off the ship and heading home. When we do another overseas cruise, we will anchor the cruise in the middle. Works well. You're over the flights and you have aclimatised (is that a word??:confused: ) to the new settings.

[Sunshine1220]

Yep I agree. We're flying into Sydney the day before we sail. My other half said if we had of flown in on the Sunday morning I'd just be in stress central if the plane even left a minute late lol

 

Christine

[Cinnabel]

Yep I agree. We're flying into Sydney the day before we sail. My other half said if we had of flown in on the Sunday morning I'd just be in stress central if the plane even left a minute late lol

 

Christine

I agree with your thinking! We are doing similarly to you - flying in the evening before and hope to stay somewhere close in Darling Harbour for our pre-cruise night. That gets us in the holiday mood.

We supposedly dock at 7am on return and have booked a 1220 flight home.

I am trusting that 5 hours will be sufficient for debarkation and trip to Sydney airport. Our only other alternative was a 1925 flight which means lugging our bags with us all day. Not a pleasant thought.