Flights cancelled? Ever happened?

[Debde]

Here's my dilema. Need CC input please!

 

When we cruise we have always gone down the night befor. Every [all 3 lol] sailing have left on Sunday so flew down Saturday. Next cruise is a toss up between AOS or Serenade. Both have great ports so either is fine. Have sailed AOS-loved it but family would possibly like to try Serenade.

 

Here's the dilema. Serenade leaves on Saturday. We always vacation when kids are in school so take them out for a week. I don't want to take my son out on friday to fly down. I know it's only one day extra but rather not have to.

If I fly day of, coming from NY in the winter, how many folks from up north have actually had a flight cancelled and not made the ship?? Being Serenade leaves San Juan at 8:30 PM am I correct in thinking even if it gets delayed, my odds are in the favor of making it??? I'm not sure how often bad weather can actually force a flight to leave the next day?

[anaslile]

Honestly, I wouldn't risk it in the winter. Weather, especially in the Northeast but all over the country can change at the drop of a pin. Even if there isn't any weather issues in the Northeast a storm in Colorado can cancel numerous flights, because many times the flight has to come in from somewhere else.

 

If you end up taking the Serenade, plan to fly in a day early.

[cb at sea]

If there's no bad weather, you should make it. But, Mother Nature has a way of throwing a wrench into the best-laid plans!

[Pomperaugrr]

You can get an afternoon flight out of JFK to San Juan on a Friday. We do the same with our kids. We pull them out a little early (around 12:00 or 1:00) and head straight to JFK, about an hour and a half away. We always go down the night or day before our cruise. We were on the AOS out of San Juan in 2003. We went down a day early and were happy we did. There was storm along the east coast that was stronger than originally predicted. Although the AOS waited until 1:00 am for sail away, we left without over 250 passengers that had delayed and cancelled flights. Many of them met us in Cozumel two days later.

 

Always leave a day early during winter months. There could be mechanical problems any time of the year too. Try the Serenade, you will love it!

 

Eric

[luvscruising2007]

On our return from our Alaska cruise we had to change planes in Minneapolis. We were delayed 24 hours because there was a huge weather system in the Northeast and planes could not land at BWI. You just never know when your plane can be delayed. Go down the day before. It's alot less stress.

[negc]

Here's my dilema. Need CC input please!

I don't want to take my son out on friday to fly down. I know it's only one day extra but rather not have to.

If I fly day of, coming from NY in the winter, how many folks from up north have actually had a flight cancelled and not made the ship?? Being Serenade leaves San Juan at 8:30 PM am I correct in thinking even if it gets delayed, my odds are in the favor of making it??? I'm not sure how often bad weather can actually force a flight to leave the next day?

The real problem isn't the odds that your flight might be cancelled. In the Northeast especially in the wintertime, you pretty much have to accept the fact that you run the risk of weather affecting your flight plans. At the very least you need to check the airline schedules to see what alternative flights are scheduled should your flight be canceled. However, you need to understand that subsequent flights might also be involved in weather-related cancellations, or may not be able to accommodate passengers from your canceled flight because they are already filled with ticketed passengers. Even flying down the day before is not a guarantee. Storms don't operate on a schedule and I have seen Friday flights canceled because of weather while the flights on the following day departed on time.

It's pretty much a "you pays you money, and you takes you choice" situation.

One thing I would recommend, however, is that you take travel insurance that includes trip interruption and trip cancellation coverage. Other than that do what you think is best and hope for the best.:)

[Soccer Mom 96]

Not that it will make a huge difference, but are you sure about the departure time of the Serenade? I have a confirmation for the 2/7/09 sailing that says it departs at 10:00pm. I am still a fan of going the day before but just wanted to check.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Soccer Mom

[barbie5401]

pick an airline that frequents FLL. If you select something like ie: Jet Blue, they don't have a lot of flights and you might run into the problem where another airline won't accept a Jet Blue ticket. (former AA employee)

[Maya57]

Not that it will make a huge difference, but are you sure about the departure time of the Serenade? I have a confirmation for the 2/7/09 sailing that says it departs at 10:00pm. I am still a fan of going the day before but just wanted to check.

Hope this helps. Soccer Mom

 

As far as I know all the ships leaving from San Juan leave around 10:00pm give or take 30minutes

[Ocean Boy]

As far as I know all the ships leaving from San Juan leave around 10:00pm give or take 30minutes

 

Adventure now departs at 8:30PM.

[Ocean Boy]

pick an airline that frequents FLL. If you select something like ie: Jet Blue, they don't have a lot of flights and you might run into the problem where another airline won't accept a Jet Blue ticket. (former AA employee)

 

What does an airline flying into FLL have to do with cruises out of San Juan?:confused:

[barbie5401]

an airline that has regular flights to San Juan not just two or three.

[ken_nyc]

I know for our August cruise on the Adventure, Delta only has ONE NON-STOP flight from JFK to San Juan and from San Juan back to JFK .

[Pomperaugrr]

JetBlue has many regularly scheduled flights to between San Juan and JFK.

 

Eric

[ERICV82GO]

I cruised on the Serenade back in March of 07. My connecting flight to Philadelphia was canceled Friday night (I had a CLE to SJU with a layover in Philly). After spending 4 hours on the phone with the airline, they agreed to switch to a flight departing Pittsburgh with a layover in Charlotte. So I rented a car and drove to Pittsburgh; that flight was delayed due to a lack of a flight attendant for over 3 hours, I missed my connection in Charlotte and they were unable find me another flight to San Juan before the ship left. I paid $1100 for two one way tickets to St Maarten to meet up with the ship on day 3 of the cruise.

 

It's worth mentioning that this was during the famous 3/17/07 snow storm; but the hard lesson I learned was to never, EVER fly in the same day when a cruise is originating in San Juan.

 

Also during my cruise last year on the AOS, the couple at our dinner table were from Newark. They had a same day direct flight on Continental; but barely made the ship by 30 minutes when their flight was delayed for countless hours due to mechanical problems. But again, the lesson here is to fly in the day before.

[TifTif]

This happened to us 1 time and 1 time only. The airline cancelled our flight out of phila. The big problem came when they will not let you use your return flight. After going crazy looking for tickets we ended up taking a limo to Ronald Reagan air port, and had to return to Baltimore. It was impossible to drive ourselves.We also used RCI transfers, so they new to wait for us.We even missed the muster. After our group boarded we sailed. It was by far the most sressful time. It's not worth the stress or the added costs to scramble for a last minute flight. Especially to PR. Take an afternoon flight or suck up the 1 extra day of missed school. Just make sure your kids don't take off any uneeded days of school.Most schools allow 12 unexcused days per year.We use every one of them to.

[Motorman23]

This happened to us 1 time and 1 time only. The airline cancelled our flight out of phila. The big problem came when they will not let you use your return flight. After going crazy looking for tickets we ended up taking a limo to Ronald Reagan air port, and had to return to Baltimore. It was impossible to drive ourselves.We also used RCI transfers, so they new to wait for us.We even missed the muster. After our group boarded we sailed. It was by far the most sressful time. It's not worth the stress or the added costs to scramble for a last minute flight. Especially to PR. Take an afternoon flight or suck up the 1 extra day of missed school. Just make sure your kids don't take off any uneeded days of school.Most schools allow 12 unexcused days per year.We use every one of them to.

 

"12 unexcused days a year!" :rolleyes:

 

We never missed a cruise due to a weather canceled flight but that is because we never sacrificed our Kids Education for a vacation during the school year. All our cruises with the kids were during the summer. We always had a great time and both kids graduated with honors.

 

Just something to think about.

 

Now that my DW and I travel just as a couple, we always fly in a day early when traveling in the winter.

 

Mike

[MiniMom57]

On our last cruise, we had our original flight canceled at the last minute because the flight attendant never showed up! We had planned to fly to San Juan a day early, but ended up getting to the ship about 20 minutes before dinner on Sunday. There were several couples and families who were on our original flight who had Saturday departures who ended up missing their cruises because there were no other flights that day.

[TifTif]

"12 unexcused days a year!" :rolleyes:

 

We never missed a cruise due to a weather canceled flight but that is because we never sacrificed our Kids Education for a vacation during the school year. All our cruises with the kids were during the summer. We always had a great time and both kids graduated with honors.

 

Just something to think about.

 

Now that my DW and I travel just as a couple, we always fly in a day early when traveling in the winter.

 

Mike

To each is own. I didn't say they miss 12 days of school work. They take there work on the plane, and when they have any extra time,and always turn in every bit of it. I'm sure I am not the only bad parent to take my kids out of school for vacations! and if you really need to know our summer is spent at the shore at our beach home that we really enjoy. our summer weather is to short in Jersey. 3 good months,So you see if we want to vacation it must be september to April.Sorry, but it just works for our family.Not looking for any approvals here.There are so many families that don't spend quality time together, or vacation with them.My children will always cherish there vacations that were spent with us.

[Debde]

Thanks Guys!!

 

You all confirmed my already thoughts not to chance it.

I do like the poster who said taking the late flight out and only maybe missing that one hour of school. That might work!!

 

As for the child rearing advice::mad:

 

Both my husband and I have a job that is busiest in the summer when children are off from school. A vacation in summer or on weeks off from school is impossible. That's when we really put our time in. Winter is the best because it is our slow time. Unless kids have winter break. We train horses and teach riding lessons so your time off is our busy time.

I always have gotten all the work needed for the week and they have always been fine. Teachers are helpful and understanding as they know well in advance of them not attending classes that week.

Because the summer vacation for kids is our busiest time for work-we always make sure in the winter it is our family time and treat them to a bang-up vacation as we all deserve it by then!

Tiftif-right there with ya girl!! :)

[TifTif]

Thanks Guys!!

 

You all confirmed my already thoughts not to chance it.

I do like the poster who said taking the late flight out and only maybe missing that one hour of school. That might work!!

 

As for the child rearing advice::mad:

 

Both my husband and I have a job that is busiest in the summer when children are off from school. A vacation in summer or on weeks off from school is impossible. That's when we really put our time in. Winter is the best because it is our slow time. Unless kids have winter break. We train horses and teach riding lessons so your time off is our busy time.

I always have gotten all the work needed for the week and they have always been fine. Teachers are helpful and understanding as they know well in advance of them not attending classes that week.

Because the summer vacation for kids is our busiest time for work-we always make sure in the winter it is our family time and treat them to a bang-up vacation as we all deserve it by then!

Tiftif-right there with ya girl!! :)

I will never regret my parenting skills, or the lifestyle we have provided for our children.You only live once so you better make the best for it!

[ncdachsiemom]

My sister and family are flying in to San Juan on Friday, have a late flight that leaves around 6:30 so her kids won't miss school, then the Serenade leaves on Saturday night. Gives her an extra day in case of problems.

[tip]

Just make sure your kids don't take off any uneeded days of school.Most schools allow 12 unexcused days per year.We use every one of them to.

 

Ah yes, values.

 

Maybe this is why some children grow up to be adults who have 12 days of sick leave per year and use every one of them as well. I am glad that my parents taught me about something called "work ethic". For some of us, vacation days and sick days are not the same, but I must have my values confused here.

[HorrorFan]

Ah yes, values.

 

Maybe this is why some children grow up to be adults who have 12 days of sick leave per year and use every one of them as well. I am glad that my parents taught me about something called "work ethic". For some of us, vacation days and sick days are not the same, but I must have my values confused here.

 

Wow, when I booked my cruise this coming March (and decided to take my kids out of school for a few extra days so we could fly in early), I had no idea it would lead to a corrupted work ethic and misuse of future sick days from whatever business they might work for.

Should I just cancel the cruise? :eek:

[Debde]

I find it so amusing at times when a question is asked-pertaining to cruising the topic needs to morph into something that can get people's hair standing on end. Expecially when it has nothing to do with cruising.

 

I don't know Tif. She gave me her opinion and will hear it and be able to relate to her. As parents we all show our children values to the best of our ability. Taking them out of school to cruise is in no way any lack of value as to life if done properly and they understand why and what it is they need to do to be able to have this opportunity.

Work Ethics-trust me, mine have them. Living on a small farm-they know what it is to work!!! :eek: Actually-if you take your children on cruises-it could surely spark the work ethic fire in them because they will most probably love it as much as we all do and want to be able to share those same fond memories with their future family!!