Why not to fly in the morning of a cruise

I flew into MIA the morning of my Transatlantic last month... but only because I was flying from MCO with lots of other direct options plus the last resort of hiring a car in the event that things went wrong. I wouldn't risk it if it were a longer flight.

Same trip, traveling from LAX-MCO a few days earlier, JetBlue cancelled our flight at 2am after having already delayed it several times. Due to the unusual time of day that this all went down, there were NO other flights, even on other airlines, that would get to MCO before 3 or 4PM. I made a comment to my travel companion that it would suck if anyone was flying into MCO to join a cruise... making conversation with the people ahead of us in line, turned out they were supposed to be boarding the Disney Dream that afternoon AND that they were part of a bridal party. Eek.
 
If I'm flying down to Florida I'd be comfortable coming in day of the cruise in the summer. But since I fly out of Toronto I at least have options. In the winter I'd give myself at least a day to account for delays.

Haven't done a cruise overseas but when I did a European bus tour years ago I did make sure to arrive the day before.
 
Concerning lost luggage meeting up with you at a later port. Airlines will do their best to forward your luggage to try and meet up with you. Keep in mind though that most Caribbean flights are smaller aircraft and if there’s no extra room in the cargo hold for your luggage, your luggage will not go. Especially with airlines that are not in the same airline group. For example a United airlines lost to bag getting on an American Airlines flight has lower priority than an American pax lost bag.

Follow up on our missed luggage from SAT (#3), The funny thing (now it's funny) is that everyone on the ship knew about our lost luggage, port to port to port. In the spa, "Oh you're the ones with the lost luggage !" in the gym, "Heard about your luggage, you can borrow a dress if you need one". My DH was a captain for that airlines. Cruisers were surprised this airlines treated everyone equal.
 


Even when traveling domestically we try to arrive a day or 2 before. Lesson learned when traveling Internationally we will fly out3 days before. We were on the May 26 Mediterranean Magic and had scheduled via Disney to fly May 24, arriving May 25 in Barcelona. Due to a medical emergency, we did not board and Airline could not get us on flight until May 25, which would have us arriving at 7:30am on the embarkation day, we tried every option. (we were biting our nails the whole trip) Luckily we arrived on time, DCL was there to greet us and gave us a quickie bus tour of Barcelona before getting us to the port at 10am as one of the first groups to check in for the ship. We were exhausted! Missed having a bed to sleep in the night before a cruise.
 
I’m curious to know how the travel expenses are incurred when this situation occurs. Is the traveler responsible for all fees out of pocket, or do they bill you? This can become really expensive flying internationally. I’m assuming some of the cost is covered by travel insurance or the airline. Airlines typically only take responsibilty if it’s mechanical. They usually don’t compensate travelers for weather and air traffic delays/cancellations.

What happens when it’s the travelers fault like getting a flat on the way to the airport, or getting stuck in traffic? This can also occur in port if you are on a self booked excursion.

I have three kids, and would not be able to enjoy the remaining days of my cruise knowing I just got dinged for another huge bill, having to pay to get us all back to another port.

I imagine that this is where travel insurance comes into play to reimburse them for certain, covered expenses.
 
Annnd, this is why I will probably only ever do land and sea vacations. I just wouldn't trust getting there morning of or even one night before, and as long as we are staying at least two days ahead of the cruise somewhere I would rather it be Disney world. And we are still paying less for a 4-day Beach club package with deluxe dining plan followed by 3-day Dream than it would have cost us to do the 7-day fantasy the same week.
 


We owe you nothing regardless if our fault or not


Thanks for all the inside scoop, mousefan73! :cutie:

My reading of travel rights states that if an airline cannot get you to your ticketed destination within 4 hours of the originally scheduled time, that a passenger does have rights of compensation. From what I read, this of course is ONLY true if it is due to mechanical, scheduling, etc., fault of the airline. All bets are off for weather related delays, strikes, disasters, etc. I have never known of an airline to offer this compensation but a passenger can ask for it if the delay is the fault of the airline. Both DH, who flies constantly, and myself have been compensated for non-weather delays for flights that could not get us to our destination within 4 hours of original schedule. But we had to ask for that help.

The bottom line is this: even if the airline is at fault (just had this happen 4 days ago in CLT. Inbound connecting flight had maintenance issues. After a short time they announced that plane was being pulled for maintenance and they would have to find us another one. Fortunately CLT is a very busy airport and they got another plane fairly quickly so I got home just an hour late.), it may be that there are no other options to get a passenger to their destination in a timely fashion. Many, many factors can play into this, as YawningDodo's post above outlines.

I still say, fly in at least 1 day prior on a domestic flight for a domestic cruise, and try to schedule a flight that will arrive in the first 1/2 of the day to give you some room for error. If it is an international flight and/or cruise, I would fly in 2 days prior. I know that the odds are one will be fine, but stuff happens. Heck, we were driving from my home here in central FL several years ago, just to Port Canaveral, which is a bit over an hour away, and we got a flat tire only 15 minutes down the road. It was a super hot June day in FL, and when I called AAA, they were slammed and it was going to be at least an hour before they could get there. My sweet SIL and DS just got out in their nice summer clothes and changed the tire on my big truck. Bless them! Point? Stuff happens. And going on a much planned and pricey vacation should not be stressful. JMHO. :sunny: Happy cruising everyone! :flower3:
 
Before I left on my June 2 Mediterranean cruise I had seen posts on here about whether it was ok to fly in the morning of a cruise. I just wanted to give a PSA that there were actually a couple of families on my cruise that tried to do this for our cruise leaving from Barcelona. However, their flight was delayed and they actually did miss the ship. Then our next day was a sea day so they missed that as well. They ended up catching up with the ship on the second day of the cruise, the port day in Naples, dropping off their luggage with the ship and going directly on their excursion. (I actually saw them handing the luggage over as I got off for my excursion). So, just know missing the boat has happened to people very recently.

Slightly off topic - will you be posting a trip report? I ask as we're scheduled to be on the 5/25/19 Barcelona round-trip and are looking for whatever insights we can find!
 
Several years ago we went on a DCL cruise to Alaska. We were flying the day before taking the first flight out in the morning. 20 mins before we were to board, our flight gets cancelled. We weren't able to get on another flight until 6 hrs later, we then missed our connecting flight. Had to wait another 7 hrs to get on another flight. So instead of arriving at 11:30 am Vancouver time, we arrived well after midnight, so much for exploring the city. Thankfully we are able to take a 2 hr direct flight when we sail from PC. If we ever do another Alaskan cruise we will leave at least 2 days before the cruise.
 
I will say that in the situation I outlined in page one, the airline (United in this case) did make a solid effort to make things right. When they initially proposed sending me to Florida the next morning, it came with the offer of a hotel voucher to use in Denver, so if delaying to the next morning had been a less nerve-wracking option I might have done it. And, too, they did at least try to get me on a flight with American, though it was an American Airlines agent who eventually saved the day after United's computer (or agent...?) messed up the original transfer (and the United representative I talked to in Denver did her best to make sure everything was right so American could take the ticket over). She also was able to allow me to keep things flexible; the plan was for me to come back and get that ticket through Houston if waiting standby for the midnight flight didn't pan out.

But still. Even though I encountered very helpful people all along the way, it was still a lot more stressful than the start of a cruise should be.
 
Already thankful for the additional days since the airline moved our connecting flight up several hours and it is highly unlikely we will connect.

Call them! Well, first look at the website to see what other flights they have that might work, choose one or two, and then call them. For changes of an hour or more (or so) they should change you without fees.

Is the traveler responsible for all fees out of pocket, or do they bill you?

If you're traveling to another port, that cost is on you unless you booked air with that cruiseline as a package.

If you got trip insurance, you'll file a claim and be reimbursed. And while you CAN do it in Europe, there are many cruise itineraries where it's simply impossible to catch up to the ship due to the laws. If you have a 3 or 4 night Bahamas, well there's no airline that goes to Castaway, and I am not sure if you CAN board at Nassau due to...PVSA? Jones Act? One of them is passengers and one of them is cargo and I can never remember which one. Or if your itinerary includes a stop at Key West, whether or not you can board later depends on if you have already stopped at Key West or not. Or something like that.

Anyway, it gets complicated.

What happens when it’s the travelers fault like getting a flat on the way to the airport, or getting stuck in traffic?

Getting a flat tire on the way to the airport is generally something they'll accommodate when you do get to the airport. It's those cases where you want to be on an airline that HAS more flights that day, and perhaps has many flights all around, so you're not stuck just looking at one set of flights. If you're on Spirit or Allegiance you're likely not leaving until the next day. If you're on Delta, you have a lot more chances that they can get you on something quickly.

My STBX once missed a flight out of south america by 24 hours (details are lost to time, but the travel agent messed up BIG time with a middle of the night flight, and we didn't catch it). The airline was happy to help and didn't charge more. They ended up routing him through a city in Texas where he had to stay the night, and we had friends there so he just stayed with them rather than charging his company for a hotel night (though the TA should have booked a night *somewhere* to begin with, which is one of the messups on her end).

We're from Texas, so winter weather isn't an issue with flights from our airport.

Eek. Early December Dallas Ice Storm... You do get winter weather sometimes! And it messes EVERYTHING up when it does. Ex was trying to get out of then back to Dallas inside of 24 hours (for our son's first dance company performance) and it was a nail-biter! Only reason he got back to Seattle was b/c his cab driver was brave and safe at the same time, and they just barely missed a jackknifed truck on the exit ramp getting HOURS early to the airport to his much-changed flight. Then from the moment he landed until when the performance started we were on hold with American, securing his flight back. He missed the 24 hour mark by a few hours but it worked out. And were on the phone for nearly 2 days making it happen. Every time the airline automatically booked him into something it was DAYS later. At one point we were both on the phone and on laptops, finding flights that even the phone agents weren't refreshing fast enough to see.

Anyway, you can end up with issues. It's just rare.

I had to deal with the kerfuffle of the potential WestJet pilot strike right before we were leaving for our Alaskan cruise a few weeks ago, over Memorial Day weekend.

I think you posted here, too? I just looked it up and was glad to see that what most people were telling you was correct; the threat worked (as it almost always does) and the actual strike was avoided.

Airlines will do their best to forward your luggage to try and meet up with you.

Yes. We were on Royal December 2016 and a family was waiting for their bags. We were at St Kitts, everyone was boarded, and we got word that the next plane landing had their bags. We were on an aft balcony and the ship was positioned so we could watch the island, and we watched the plane come in, then not too long later saw the van careening towards the port. It was kinda neat. We'd embarked on the 16th and this was late afternoon of the 18th by the time they got their bags.

The funny thing (now it's funny) is that everyone on the ship knew about our lost luggage, port to port to port. In the spa, "Oh you're the ones with the lost luggage !" in the gym, "Heard about your luggage, you can borrow a dress if you need one".

Oh definitely. I don't even know HOW that news travels on a ship, but it does. Though of course if you see people sweltering in Northern winter clothing, it's not THAT hard to work out. But the nice thing is that everyone is pulling for those families, and they are happy to celebrate with and for them when the bags arrive!!!
 
Annnd, this is why I will probably only ever do land and sea vacations. I just wouldn't trust getting there morning of or even one night before, and as long as we are staying at least two days ahead of the cruise somewhere I would rather it be Disney world. And we are still paying less for a 4-day Beach club package with deluxe dining plan followed by 3-day Dream than it would have cost us to do the 7-day fantasy the same week.
That sounds like our trip this year! Well actually 4 nights POP FD and then 3 nights BC. and then the Dream 4 night ... But we are internationsl so we said at least 4 days arrival before cruise as we fly out as it seems each year we just narrowly missed flights being cancelled by strikes or hurricane. So we added a WDW before... you are right... the cost is about the same as a 7 day cruise.
 
My STBX once missed a flight out of south america by 24 hours (details are lost to time, but the travel agent messed up BIG time with a middle of the night flight, and we didn't catch it). The airline was happy to help and didn't charge more. They ended up routing him through a city in Texas where he had to stay the night, and we had friends there so he just stayed with them rather than charging his company for a hotel night (though the TA should have booked a night *somewhere* to begin with, which is one of the messups on her end).



Eek. Early December Dallas Ice Storm... You do get winter weather sometimes! And it messes EVERYTHING up when it does. Ex was trying to get out of then back to Dallas inside of 24 hours (for our son's first dance company performance) and it was a nail-biter! Only reason he got back to Seattle was b/c his cab driver was brave and safe at the same time, and they just barely missed a jackknifed truck on the exit ramp getting HOURS early to the airport to his much-changed flight. Then from the moment he landed until when the performance started we were on hold with American, securing his flight back. He missed the 24 hour mark by a few hours but it worked out. And were on the phone for nearly 2 days making it happen. Every time the airline automatically booked him into something it was DAYS later. At one point we were both on the phone and on laptops, finding flights that even the phone agents weren't refreshing fast enough to see.

Anyway, you can end up with issues. It's just rare.

1 - STBX? I can usually figure them out, but that's a new one to me... :)

2 - Yes. And it's not just weather that can cause delays. Even on a first flight out, if the scheduled crew was late getting in and another one cannot be put together, there will be a delay for them to get their mandated rest period. If someone calls out last minute or oversleeps and just doesn't show, they have to scramble to get a new person in. Yes, there are *usually* some that they could call - but not always, and it's not like a stand-by in a theatrical show where they're sitting there backstage in case of an emergency. Or if your plane didn't get in from its destination the night before and there isn't another one available... I know most people think weather when they think delays, but there are quite a few other reasons flights can be delayed. (And that's not even taking into account when there is a ground stop to Florida airports because someone is flying from DC to Florida. I just got slightly rerouted in the air with that one once. A friend was stuck on the ground for an hour until he cleared the airspace.)
 
I imagine that this is where travel insurance comes into play to reimburse them for certain, covered expenses.

Definitely. My father who lives in southern Ontario was flying to Santiago for a cruise a few years ago. He decided to fly out of Buffalo as it's a lot less expensive than out of Toronto. He'd booked two nights in Santiago prior to the cruise. The night before they were scheduled to fly out there was a snow storm warning. So he decided to drive to Buffalo the night before the flight and stay in a hotel. The morning of his flight, the storm started and when he went to the airport the flight was cancelled. They couldn't book him anything for two days which would mean he'd arrive after the ship left. But they were able to get him a flight out of Toronto the next day. So he stayed overnight in Buffalo again. It took him 6 hours to drive to Toronto the next day due to weather, traffic and road conditions. Got to the plane barely in time. So they missed one night in Santiago but made the ship in time. His insurance paid for his extra night in Buffalo, costs for flight changes, and one night in the hotel in Santiago which added up to about $1100.
 
Work for an airline. We owe you nothing regardless if our fault or not. Our contract is to get you from a to b. If you book flight independently. Buying via DCL or a tour operator gives you a claim right. Pure Airfare: You might get compensation related to the flight. No cruise expenses. Actually I have a funny story to tell. We have an employee travel forum. . One Colleague wrote that her luggage did not make the flight And was asking if our airline would pay for her cruise as she refuses to board without her clothes. Was too funny because we all gave her the suggestion to go to a nearby Target. We even googled, gave directions. Her response was too funny like how dare you suggest that I go to target now and within one hour find the appropriate clothes for my cruise. As the saying goes you can lead a horse to water.....

That's funny.

Worst case scenario: Most cruise lines sell clothes and pretty much everything you need to survive to your cruise. Granted, they sell it twice the price but hey, I'd do laundry in the middle of a cruise if I had to! Better than missing a cruise.
 
That's funny.

Worst case scenario: Most cruise lines sell clothes and pretty much everything you need to survive to your cruise. Granted, they sell it twice the price but hey, I'd do laundry in the middle of a cruise if I had to! Better than missing a cruise.

Yeah, I had one full change of clothes and my pajamas in my carry-on just in case...in future I'm going to bring the same, plus at least one pair of sandals, since I would have been stuck in sneakers all week (in beautiful, warm weather) if my luggage hadn't made it to Miami. Figure between the clothes I wear on the plane and one full change, I can always do laundry and/or buy one or two more shirts to see me through. When I do the runDisney event before the cruise all of my running gear is going in the carry-on, even if it means having to take a bigger carry-on than I normally would when checking a bag. The heck with risking it on stuff that you just have to have for the trip to go off right.
 
Another cautionary tale about flying one airline to Europe and connecting to another airline on a separate ticket.

We were flying to Malaga, Spain (on a vacation, not for a cruise) and our flight from Atlanta to Paris was delayed several hours due to weather. We arrived in Paris and had missed our connection to Madrid. We had booked a flight from Madrid to Malaga on a different airline because our US-based carrier didn't fly to Malaga. Well, by the time we got to Madrid on the next available flight, our flight to Malaga was long gone. Because we booked it independently (and on another carrier) from our ticket from the US, we had to purchase, right then and there, a new ticket to Malaga. Luckily it wasn't tons of money and we made it to our destination (albeit about 8 hours later than scheduled), but it was money we didn't plan on spending. And we weren't trying to make a cruise. If we were, we would have missed it.
 
I'll buck the trend and say that we don't mind flying an early-morning nonstop flight the morning of the cruise if it's sailing out of Florida. We're from Texas, so winter weather isn't an issue with flights from our airport. Never had a problem. Morning flights are the least likely to be delayed, and we typically fly SWA or Jet Blue, who rarely change itineraries on you.

But I definitely wouldn't try it on an international flight to a cruise leaving from a foreign port. We are too middle-America to get to any foreign port in a reasonable amount of time.

We fly in a day ahead of time and even then, we almost missed a cruise. It wasn't due to weather, it was mechanical. Flight from Chicago O'Hare to Miami pulls out of the gate, and has engine problems. They try to fix it while out of the gate, but can't so we pull into the gate and deplane. They work on repairing the engine, but it takes a long time. There was also a half hour delay in fixing the plane due to lightning in the area.

Then, we find out that there is a curfew for the pilots due to mandatory rest times. We pull out of the gate with 7 minutes to spare.

If the plane did not go, we would've potentially missed the cruise, as the rest of the flights for the day and even the first few flights the next morning were booked solid. The reason? Another flight, earlier in the day, was canceled due to mechanical problems. Instead of making up the flight, they just dropped the rest of the passengers into the other flights.

Yes, there was a 30 minute delay in fixing the engine due to the weather, but fixing the engine could've easily taken longer than what it took. In addition, based on the delay time to fix the engine, if we were flying in the day of the cruise, we would've been cutting it close.
 

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