Anyone have success flying the same day as sailing?

[CruisingAmazona]

Relax! You're flying from NY to FTL! I flew Miami-Rome, and took a bus to the port. Our original flight in Miami was delay almost 3 hours because jet had a flat tire and no replacement could be found ASAP, had to wait. Obvsiously, missed our connection at Frankfurt. Got on the next one out - got to Rome at 12pm instead of 9am - lost my luggage, to make matters worse, but it was on the next plane after mine out of Frankfurt and at my cabin door minutes before we sailed! Alls well that ends well.

 

p.s. Miami-Honolulu we didn't chance it. We flew day before and stayed one night at hotel. It's a long flight, but NY-FTL you will be fine.

[Karysa]

The odds are very much in your favor. If you call the cruiseline you are probably well within their window of when you should be landing. There will probably be people on cruiseship booked flights on your flight.

Once we had booked to fly in around that time in FLL which is very near the port and the flight got canceled and the only thing that worked was a flight getting in at 1:50 for a 5:00 sailing. We purchased insurance and took are chances. We arrived on time and everything worked like a charm and we boarded in 5 minutes. We were on the ship before 3 and at the time the cut off was 4. The taxi driver told us that we had planned perfectly as he was stuck in terrible traffic until 2 pm that day.

Best of Luck

Karysa

[glrounds]

For my upcoming cruise on November 1st, I'll be taking the red-eye from California to Miami, which is scheduled to arrive at 10:30am. The ship leaves at 4pm, so I'm cutting it close, I know. I'll have my fingers crossed that should any problems arise with getting to MIA on time, the fact that this is the day the U.S. sets the clocks an hour back will buy me extra time, lol. ;)

 

I always take a RED EYE when leaving the West Coast to the east coast. Perfect for me . . . leave around 10:00 or 11:00 pm . . . sleep like a baby all the way . . . wake up (or awakened by the stewards) to Orlando, Miami or New York around 5:30-6:00 am . . . catch a shuttle or bus to the ship . . . board early. Weather is never an issue and always get a DIRECT flight so don't have to worry about luggage as much. Never ever had a problem. :)

There are so many flights (competitors) out of LAX or Long Beach, the rates are dirt cheap IMHO, also. Last time LAX to Orlando, $207 R/T ! !

[Browngirl-1]

I've always flown in on the same day. Always have landed Port Canaveral or Miami no later than 11:30 a.m. there has never been a problem on any of my 9 cruises. But I always purchase the transfers. That way when we step off the flight that cruise line person is there and the bus is ready as well to take us to the port on time. Hope this helps.

[Nicole721]

Typically, we leave a few days early just in case.

 

We've lived in Chicago all our lives so we know the weather patterns (expect snow November-April, etc), but we usually cruise in May. A few years ago, I had a charity function I had to attend the day before our cruise so we flew in the morning of. I think our flight to LAX was around 6:30 or 7:00am...we took the first flight out that morning. We were lucky that we gained two hours back. The flight was just over four hours and we landed a bit after 9:00am. We took a Carnival transport to the port and were there by 10:30am. We had VIP embarkation (we were in a suite), but it didn't matter, as we were amongst the first people there.

 

You should be fine with NYC weather and getting out of NY in August, but you should track the weather a few days before you leave because August is hurricane season and your flight may not be able to land or may be delayed. Is it possible to fly in on an earlier flight, or a day before? We've changed our flights before and American charged us a $50 fee, I believe.

[lgerrish]

Our ship sails at 4pm too but the gal on the phone warned us that the ships have to close the boarding gates at 2:30. Something to do with port authority? Anyway we decided to change flights and come in the day before. My sister was stranded in Des Moines in a blizzard a few years back and missed her cruise. :eek: She said thank God for insurance!

 

I understand that if your FunPass has been filled out online, prior to cruising, you can board up to 10 min. before the ship's departing time.

 

We are flying the day of and do not arrive in FLL until 2:24 pm for a 4 pm departure. As long as our flights are on time we'll be ok...but...crossing our fingers that flights are all on time! (We will not book the Fly Aweigh program again though - 2:24 is cutting it WAY too close).

 

Your flight times should get you there with no problem. We have flown the day of two other times with no troubles, and flown the day before twice (which is really, really stress free!)

[groverrh]

I have flown in the day of the cruise on 3 of the 11 cruises I have taken. 1 of the 3 had a delay, but we were scheduled to arrive 9 hours before the cruise departed and the 2 hour delay only made us a little nervous. One time we flew in on standby passes. No problems that time, but we had about 15 flight options going into 5 different airports that would get us to the ship in time.

 

That said, I am both a TA and an airline employee and I always recommend flying in the day prior. I understand that sometimes you can't because of other considerations, and I have been there as well. So, if you can, fly in the day before and enjoy an early start to your vacation. If not, take the earliest flight available, keep an eye on the weather (August is hurricane season) and have options ready. Get insurance that covers you if your flight cancels. Look at flights from the other area airports and into nearby airports such as Tampa and even as far away as Fort Lauderdale in case your flight gets cancelled. Sometimes it is faster to drive to or from somewhere else when things really fall apart. Then, when you have made all the preparations possible, try to relax and hope for the best. By far, most flights arrive on time. And those that are delayed are seldom delayed enough that you wouldn't make your ship.

 

And enjoy the cruise.

[bplazo]

We have flown a couple times the day of the cruise with no problem, however, I enjoy adding an extra vacation day and fly in the day before.

[dan40]

Let me just preface this by saying that I thoroughly researched our cruise before choosing. I even had an Excel spreadsheet! I read cruise critic reviews, but I did not visit the boards.

 

Since booking the cruise and reading the boards, I have realized that maybe we shouldn't have planned on flying down to Pt. Canaveral the same day as our sailing. Our flight is scheduled to land at 11:15 and the ship sails at 4:00 pm. I've gotten really nervous after reading so many posts about not sailing the same day, and DH just keeps telling me that we'll be fine. I'm the realist; he's the eternal optimist.

 

Someone please reassure me that you've had success flying down the same day! Thanks! :)

 

We live within 3 hours of all the Florida ports and we usually DRIVE the day BEFORE.. That said, tens of thousands of cruisers fly in the day of without a problem. But some do have problems. The question is, how much of a hardship is it for YOUR party to fly in the day before? If you CAN do it, WHY not do it? Your arrival time is 11:15, unlikely you will get out of the airport before Noon. More like 12:30. An hour to Pt. Canaveral and 30 minutes to get boarded, puts you on the ship at 2PM at the earliest. WITHOUT a problem. Get held up ONE HOUR and its 3PM!! Ship sails at 4PM, you are still OK. But you are into the afternoon of your first cruise day. Traveling and worried until you are on the ship, instead of relaxing and enjoying your first cruise day. If you arrived the day before, you are all mellow on first cruise day.

IF you can fly the day before, do it. If you can't, you can't.

 

Dan

[newtocruising]

Won't do again. Seemed rushed, no time to get adjusted before muster/mustard drill. Am going in the day before this time

[kimspony]

I think you will be fine. Last 5 cruises we flew in the same day. I think alot flights to FFL come thru Atlanta, so if weather is the problem then alot of flights will be delayed including some with Carnival Air passengers.

[WishIwasOutThereNOW]

we flew delta from atlanta to san juan and cruising the same day. were supposed to leave atl at 9 something and get into SJ around 1. first the plane was late leaving the gate. thats expected in atl, all planes are late leaving the gate in atl. we taxied out too the runway and were in position for take off. the 1st announcement said there was something wrong with the fuel guage on the plane and they didnt know how much fuel they had. they could have asked me because i'd just watched them fueling the plane an hour or so before. said we had to go back too the terminal for repairs. on the taxi back in, the second announcement said that the pilot was sick and that we all had to deboard the plane and wait on delta to find another pilot to sub. so finally around 1 oclock, they reboarded us and we sat for another half hour or so and the pilot got on the plane too a standing ovation. we left atlanta about an hour after we were originally scheduled to land in SJ and still had a ( almost ) 4 hr flight to make. it was probably 5 or 6 oclock when we got thru boarding and customs. none of this is carnival's fault, but you can never tell what schenanagans the airlines will pull. good thing the cruise leaves SJ so late or we would've been SOL.

 

on the other hand i flew from atl to ft liqourdale same day and had no problem. just a luck of the draw thing i think.

 

if i ever cruise from san juan again, and i hope too some day, i'm definetly flying in the day before. my dad was with me and he was 75 and i'm no spring chicken anymore myself. we were 2 worn out old dogs that day in SJ. and a lot of the next day too.

[cookc61462]

I flew in the day of on my first cruise. Only problem I had was not getting on the ship until RIGHT before it sailed!

 

DS and DDIL flew in the day of two years ago. They had no problems either.

 

That said, I would NEVER do it unless I had insurance.

[DKane]

Let me just preface this by saying that I thoroughly researched our cruise before choosing. I even had an Excel spreadsheet! I read cruise critic reviews, but I did not visit the boards.

 

Since booking the cruise and reading the boards, I have realized that maybe we shouldn't have planned on flying down to Pt. Canaveral the same day as our sailing. Our flight is scheduled to land at 11:15 and the ship sails at 4:00 pm. I've gotten really nervous after reading so many posts about not sailing the same day, and DH just keeps telling me that we'll be fine. I'm the realist; he's the eternal optimist.

 

Someone please reassure me that you've had success flying down the same day! Thanks! :)

 

Out of 8 cruises we only had one near miss and that was flying out of Philly two years ago at the end of March. Our 8:05 USair flight was canceled and we never got a call or an e-mail from them. When we got to the airport we did some scrambling and finally got on a 9:40 Delta flight to Atlanta with a 1:20 connection to Miami. We were probably the last people to board the ship at 3:25. After checking in at the desk at the cruise terminal they were in the processing of shutting down. Our ship sailed at 4:00. So now when we fly in the same day we usually get the earliest flight out. Due to our jobs, it's not always easy to fly down the day before.

[back to the islands]

We, too, are flying in the day of, arriving at 12:29 for a 4:00 sailing. Too close for me. I found an insurance company that will cover a missed connection of 3 hours or more (plane to ship connection). My husband thinks I'm a worrywart, but I don't want my aft balcony going to waste. Hopefully everything will be smooth. Sometimes you just have to go with it if it's all you can do!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We, too, are flying in the day of, arriving at 12:29 for a 4:00 sailing. Too close for me. I found an insurance company that will cover a missed connection of 3 hours or more (plane to ship connection). My husband thinks I'm a worrywart, but I don't want my aft balcony going to waste. Hopefully everything will be smooth. Sometimes you just have to go with it if it's all you can do!

 

You have every right to be. I'm landing 1 hour earlier than you are the day of. What insurance company did you find? I haven't bought insurance yet and we leave in 23 days.

 

Bill

[emcolorado]

We flew down for our cruise last year the day of and I would never do that again. It was our honeymoon and we were supposed to take off early, but we had plane problems, like it started on fire when we had just taken off. We were supposed to land at about 11:30 and didn't make it until 3:30. You are supposed to be on the ship by, like 2:30, so it is a risk you take. We are taking a cruise again this summer and are flying in the day before and will probably always do that. Our first experience was so traumatic for me and crying was too big of the picture for me not to fly in the day before from now on. You may end up being fine this time and I hope it goes well, just think twice next time so you won't have to worry.

[poundcake09]

At times a curse at being located in Atlanta. But when its time to take a flight I praise ATL. My flight leaves Atl. at 9:30am get to Mia. @11:30. I always fly the day of cruises. I've never ran across any problems. I booked my flight in Feb. for my 5-30 cruise.$180 rtrp. was good for this ecconomy. I should be on board @12:30 have my DOD.

[Sneezykevina]

It's a gamble. we missed the first day of a cruise because we got fogged in and missed the boat. It cost me $500 extra between a hotel & a flight to the Bahamas to catch the boat. I have also had way to many experiences with flight delays and mechanical problems in the past 4 years to not be comfortable flying in the morning of the cruise.

 

Then there's traffic. I4 and an hour drive to the port.

 

We are cruising out of NYC in June and it's a 4 hour drive. I'm still going down the day before.

 

Chances are you will be ok......if you like taking chances.

[Name Of The Game]

We've taken four cruises and flown in on the same day three times with no problems. The first two times were several years ago before we had internet and it hadn't even occurred to us to fly in the day before. For the third cruise we had been reading this board and all the warnings but figured people were being too pessimistic. Again we had no problems going, but coming home our flight out of Miami was delayed two hours. That kind of scared us so for our last cruise we did fly in the day ahead, and will probably continue to do so.

[2PinaColadas]

We have flown in the day of 3 times--each time from Memphis--twice on a direct flight once stopping over in Charlotte. Made it easily on the direct flights. Had a brief delay in Charlotte, but still made it in time-- got on ship around 2:30.

[summer08bride]

I think you will be fine. Last 5 cruises we flew in the same day. I think alot flights to FFL come thru Atlanta, so if weather is the problem then alot of flights will be delayed including some with Carnival Air passengers.

 

Carnival doesn't hold the ship for Carnival Air passengers.

[reno3]

We usually fly in the day before but our next cruise is out of Galveston.

If we fly the day before we have to find transportation to a hotel and then transportaion to the port and from port back to airport:(

Very expensive.

I think I will book my own air and will fly non-stop on the day we cruise and take the Carnival transfers to the ship. I don't want to use Carnival air because it is never a direct flight and too many problems can happen with lay overs.

[happybooker1]

All I can say is WOW -- I'm glad I only live 90 minutes from Galveston!!

[vacruizer]

Carnival doesn't hold the ship for Carnival Air passengers.

 

You are right - but many think that by booking Carnival air they will hold the ship. If there are a large number of delayed passengers they may try to hold it a little while, but it boils down to whether or not the captain feels there is time to keep on schedule given the distance to the next port and sea conditions, and port traffic and berthing spaces as well. If the harbormaster says it's time to leave because they need the pilots elsewhere or the channel has other traffic, then the ship leaves whether the carnival air people made it or not.