Will I Miss The Ship?

[bigred4770]

Hi all.

 

I have cruised a few times (9 in total) but this is my first cruise on carnival. I went with carnival air add-on because I did not like the distance of port Canaveral to Orlando airport. However, now I am a little nervous. They have me flying in at 1:20 when the ship leaves at 4 pm. Normally I book my own air and fly in the day before. Am I being paranoid? Is that enough time? Does carnival do this routinely? Let me know please about your experience.

[kjunea]

If carnival booked your air, you will not miss the boat. I've been on cruises where they held the boat for a late plane.

[wrp96]

If carnival booked your air, you will not miss the boat. I've been on cruises where they held the boat for a late plane.

 

 

I just have to remark that this is a common myth and is false. They will wait if they can, but they are not always able to wait (based on itinerary, tide schedule, departure port, etc) and if you read the cruise contract they are not required to - nor are they responsible for catching you up to the ship, unless you've purchased travel insurance directly with the cruiseline.

[Wennfred]

Since you are flying in from Canada, I highly recommend you go to plan B and start looking for something the day before and then cancel with Carnival. You are way too far to be dealing with a 1:20pm arrival.

 

 

Fred

[Wennfred]

If carnival booked your air, you will not miss the boat. I've been on cruises where they held the boat for a late plane.

 

There was a family that posted here last year, that got on a transfer bus at the airport and waited there for other Pax, when they got to the terminal they saw their ship sail away.

 

Fred

[bigred4770]

I did purchase the travel insurance with carnival. Has anyone had to "catch the ship" at another port and how was that accomodated?

[montekat]

That seems awfully tight to me. Did you check into booking your own air? You should be able to find a flight that gets in earlier than that. The transportation to the port is easy to do on your own as there are shuttles and rental cars. Otherwise I would contact Carnival or your TA and request an earlier flight. Good luck and have a great cruise!

[KroozNut]

I don't think you're being paranoid at all, and that's way too close for our comfort level. This is exactly why we always book our own air. I agree with Fred 100% on this; Plan B is definitely in order here!

[Wennfred]

By the way what part of the year are you flying?

 

 

Fred

[bigred4770]

I am leaving on July 5th. After reading all the suggestions, I phoned my PVP and found out that the arrival time has been changed to 12:39 pm. I still am worried. Should I be?

[Papasaurus]

Hi all.

 

I have cruised a few times (9 in total) but this is my first cruise on carnival. I went with carnival air add-on because I did not like the distance of port Canaveral to Orlando airport. However, now I am a little nervous. They have me flying in at 1:20 when the ship leaves at 4 pm. Normally I book my own air and fly in the day before. Am I being paranoid? Is that enough time? Does carnival do this routinely? Let me know please about your experience.

We have not cruised yet but last fall we flew to Orlando and were about five hours late due to plane problems and storms. We could have flown in the day of our cruise and arrived at 8:00 Am for a 4:00 PM cruise but due to the last time I flew to Fl. I chose to fly in the day before and not take a chance of delays. It's your choice however.:confused:

[sjcruiser]

Still too close, book your own! The cruiselines rates are high. I don't know what their markup is, but they are no where near the lowest price around.

[Wennfred]

I am leaving on July 5th. After reading all the suggestions, I phoned my PVP and found out that the arrival time has been changed to 12:39 pm. I still am worried. Should I be?

 

Yes, I would still be worried, thats only like a 41 minute difference, some one dropped the ball over there. First of all, not sure if you know this but the 4th of July here in the U.S.A is a major holiday. So, I'm not sure if the airlines will be fully staff or there will be lots of people flying during this time. Currently according to the news today, the Airline is reducing its work force by 3000 workers and companies like United Airlines are removing over 90 Planes from their active list.

 

If you have a plane change like we had in Dallas and then that plane was down and out of commission, they placed us back on the same plane we just go off and they didn't transfer our luggage back to our original plane. This happened to me this past April.

 

We had to wait 2.5 hours for the next plane to arrive with our luggage and prayed that it was on there. Thats why we fly in at least 1 or 2 days before hand.

 

Its still too close for comfort. I would try to rebook and get on a Red Eye flight or book something the day before.

 

 

 

Fred

[Rockee4055]

Hi all.

 

I have cruised a few times (9 in total) but this is my first cruise on carnival. I went with carnival air add-on because I did not like the distance of port Canaveral to Orlando airport. However, now I am a little nervous. They have me flying in at 1:20 when the ship leaves at 4 pm. Normally I book my own air and fly in the day before. Am I being paranoid? Is that enough time? Does carnival do this routinely? Let me know please about your experience.

 

They will wait if you book the air through them. The airport is only about 45 minutes from the port so you should be fine.

[mom2girls]

I personally would book my own flight. If you're cruising on July 5th there will be a lot of traffic due to the 4th of July. A lot of traffic sometimes equals accidents. I've had friends almost miss their ship due to an accident on the Beeline. (Basically, the only road from OIA to Port Canaveral.) I'd rather be safe then sorry.

[busdriver161]

In April we arrived at MIA at 2:15 and we had a transfer with Carnival which was a disaster. We arrived at the port at 3:45 and they held the ship for us. It is cutting it close but you should be ok.

[steveaaaaa]

They will wait if you book the air through them. The airport is only about 45 minutes from the port so you should be fine.

 

Where are you getting that completely wrong info?

 

Can you post where in the contract,website,brochure,ect where it states that?

Thats just like stating if you book a tour thru them they will wait.Also untrue!

 

They make every accomidation but they have left people stranded in the past.

 

So let me give you a scenario here...Your plane is 8 hours late and arrives 5 hours after scheduled departure time,are they waiting?:rolleyes:

Steve

[Sea Turtle]

Rockee4055--I am so glad a cruise line (CCL or any other) waited for you. However, to all other readers, this is NOT the norm. I have firsthand experience with air delays and missing a ship. I won’t go into details here because just look above to the post from wrp96 who sums it all up.

 

Bigred4770--I personally would fly in the night before from Toronto. But I realize that is not a luxury for all (time constraints, and such). 12:30 is better than 1:30. ;)

 

If it helps any, bigred4770, when I lived in the Tampa Bay area, I thought cruise departure for the Glory was at 5pm. So I took my own sweet time driving over, stopping for stuff along the way, parked in the port lot, and wound up at the embarkation desk at 3:30. HELLO, the ship was scheduled to sail at 4. I got on the ship and next thing I know I’m strapping a life vest on for the muster drill!!!! I trust it won’t be this frantic for you, and that your sail away will be more than worth all your very valid concerns. :)

 

All the best :cool: ,

[KroozNut]

Where are you getting that completely wrong info?

 

Can you post where in the contract,website,brochure,ect where it states that?

Thats just like stating if you book a tour thru them they will wait.Also untrue!

 

They make every accomidation but they have left people stranded in the past.

 

So let me give you a scenario here...Your plane is 8 hours late and arrives 5 hours after scheduled departure time,are they waiting?:rolleyes:

Steve

 

Refer to post #3 for the CORRECT information on the ship waiting or not..

[big_duck]

Still too close, book your own! The cruiselines rates are high. I don't know what their markup is, but they are no where near the lowest price around.

 

Not from Canada, generally Carnivals rates are 1/2 what you can book yourself. That being said, OP look at booking a flight from Buffalo the day before - huge savings over flying out of T.O.

[Muumuu]

Listen to Fred and the others. Cancel with Carnival and book it yourself.

Daughter is stranded in Ft Lauderdale airport due to mechanical problems.

Her flight was due to take off at 5pm. It is now 830pm and they told her they may be able to get them on a 10pm flight.

As far as catching up if you do miss the ship that may cost you 1 or 2 sea days. Who wants to start out a vacation with that kind of stress.

Just book a flight in a day ahead, it is GOOD advice!

[cruisersunsetbrat]

I personally would book my own flight. If you're cruising on July 5th there will be a lot of traffic due to the 4th of July. A lot of traffic sometimes equals accidents. I've had friends almost miss their ship due to an accident on the Beeline. (Basically, the only road from OIA to Port Canaveral.) I'd rather be safe then sorry.

 

I agree 100% with this post.

 

We live just West of Orlando. We sailed out of Port Canaveral on the Glory last month and left our house at 11:00 a.m. By the time we got to the ship (with no traffic issues whatsoever), unloaded, checked in, etc. it was well after 2:00. Since you have to be on the ship by 3:00, we thought we cut it kind of close.

 

Bottom line, I think you are cutting it too close. For the peace of mind alone, I would arrive the night before or at the very least, early Saturday morning.

 

The Glory is a great ship. You will have a great time!

[bigred4770]

Thanks a lot to all your advice. The reason why I am a bit frantic is that one time I had a connection in Newark which was missed. Luckily I had taken the flight the day before and so it was simply a matter of getting a very early flight to San Juan the next day. The airline had not been sympathetic and carnival has booked me on the same one for this cruise.

 

The question that I have is, can I cancel and get a refund for the flights when the cruise is only 30 days out? Or will carnival do a switch for me to an earlier flight. According to the airline, there is a flight that gets in at 10 AM that is also direct from Toronto. I am pressuming though that there must be others booked on this cruise on this flight as well and so did carnival book all of us like this.

 

Otherwise, so far I am EXTREMELY impressed with carnival and the professionalism they exhibit.

[misguidedangel]

Don't wait--Plan B mode now!!!!!!

 

My mom, me, and my niece were going on a cruise on the Conquest and we should have been overnighted in Galveston. We weren't, which was probably because it was Mardi Gras week and hotel costs were more. They expected us to catch a flight at 12:20am (11, 38, and 68 ages) and take a flight that sent us off to Toronto first and then to Houston. The flight they booked us on would have us at the pier just barely in time for last check in, that is, if there was no weather delay in Toronto. Toronto (and Ontario) was hit with anything and everything this winter. I checked the flight arrival times and more often than not, the flight was late arriving in Houston. We figured if the flight was as much as 30 minutes late we would miss check in and the ship would leave without it. We booked a Cat 11 suite cabin, we did NOT pay that kind of money to get to the port minutes before boarding closed only to collapose in the cabin because we were so exhausted from almost 24 hours with no sleep. That is not the way to start a vacation.

 

We opted to cancel the air portion and book out own flight. Yes, it did end up costing around $300 more, but peace of mind and being one of the first people on the ship was more than worth the additional cost.

 

I would check the options for flights and see if Carnival can switch it, but it will cost you $50 a person......

[zqvol]

Thanks a lot to all your advice. The reason why I am a bit frantic is that one time I had a connection in Newark which was missed. Luckily I had taken the flight the day before and so it was simply a matter of getting a very early flight to San Juan the next day. The airline had not been sympathetic and carnival has booked me on the same one for this cruise.

 

The question that I have is, can I cancel and get a refund for the flights when the cruise is only 30 days out? Or will carnival do a switch for me to an earlier flight. According to the airline, there is a flight that gets in at 10 AM that is also direct from Toronto. I am pressuming though that there must be others booked on this cruise on this flight as well and so did carnival book all of us like this.

 

Otherwise, so far I am EXTREMELY impressed with carnival and the professionalism they exhibit.

 

At this time you are probably stuck with what you have. It is too late to cancel your Carnival air. They may allow you to pay for a deviation but at this late date that is not guaranteed. Traveling on that Saturday (in the middle of the holiday weekend) should be light, but there is always the potential for flight problems. If your flight is on time you should be fine especially if you are on a carnival transfer from the airport. If your plane is late you may miss the ship.