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Booking Flight the day of Cruise departure

Booking Flight the day of Cruise departure

Old Jul 9, 2014, 10:37 pm
  #16  
 
Join Date: May 2014
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Originally Posted by LadyPhoenix
We are considering taking either a 3 or 4 day cruise in June 2015 to the Bahamas. We live in Toledo, Ohio and our Floridian departure port would either be Miami or Port Canaveral. A non-stop flight from DTW to either of those ports is 3 hours long, one-way. What are your thoughts/feedback on:

1. Booking the roundtrip flight on our own versus the cruise line doing it for us?

2. If we booked on our own, flying down the morning of cruise departure as long as we caught the 1st flight of the day before 9am EST?
I have been on several cruises to Europe and the Caribbean and I always booked my own flight except once and due to Hurricane Sandy the flight was canceled-therefore I was unable to make the cruise that was leaving out of Long Beach CA. The airfare was refunded to Carnival and they combined it with the cabin fare and held it to be used for my next cruise which i used in the following June. That being said, I usually fly out the morning of the cruise but on the first flight out. 25 of us recently went on a southern caribbean cruisee and we flew into PR. The cruise ship left at 10pm and we had to be on board by 8:30pm. Luckily, we all made it to the ship ontime with most people flying out between 5:45am-8:55am but there was a couple that got into PR at 5:30pm. That was cutting it close especially if there was a delay.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 8:51 pm
  #17  
 
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LadyPhoenix,
Airfare booked via any cruise line comes with potential complications. In essence you do not have full control of your ticket particularly in the case of schedule changes or a mechanical or weather related issue for the airline. For domestic flights book your own air. For complicated foreign travel, which you did not ask about it's another story.
You do have to be onboard 90 minutes before the ship sails under the current Homeland Security policy.
MIA is about 20-30 minutes from the POM. MCO is over an hour from Port Canaveral. Both ships would probably embark between 4 and 5. If you fly into MIA you need to arrive by 11 to compensate for the mess that is MIA. If you are flying into Orlando you need to land by 10:30 at the latest.
Please also give consideration to enhanced security both at the airports and the ship.
For more information and advice log on to Cruise Critic. There is a Cruise Air forum with a Sticky about cruise air programs.
As a frequent cruiser, I no longer fly into any embarkation city the day of the cruise.
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Old Jul 14, 2014, 9:02 am
  #18  
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Thank you all for your suggestions! We agree: flying the day before is better. Peace of mind is priceless!
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Old Jul 15, 2014, 8:27 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by LadyPhoenix
I would VERY much like all 3 us to bring carry-on luggage only, no check-ins. Problem is my husband has sleep apnea and his BiPAP machine would be his carry-on...or could it be his personal item?
CPAPs and BIPAPs are medical equipment and do not count towards the 2 personal items limit. I have never had a problem with my CPAP, small suitcase and tote bag as carry-ons.
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Old Jul 15, 2014, 10:05 pm
  #20  
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It's all up to your own risk tolerance. We've frequently flown in the day of the cruise and have never had a problem. Just go with whatever you feel comfortable with. If you're particularly worried, you may want to look into travel insurance.

We have never booked air through the cruise line. I just can't justify spending 50% more for a third-party ticket with less convenient flights on airlines I would never pick myself.

(And as someone who detests Florida, I view any extra time spent there as lost time I'll never get back.)
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Old Jul 16, 2014, 6:19 am
  #21  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Trip insurance for short cruise is likely really minimal and always worth it for peace of mind: http://www.cruisedeals.com/clients/travel_insurance.asp

Another type of bag insurance that our TA (Jennifer at All Aboard Travel) recommended is ony $5 per checked bag and guarantees a check for the full bag replacement value within 48hrs of luggage missing is something called blue ribbon bag insurance.

It was well worth it for a recent Europe flight where 1 of our luggage pieces did not make it to our river cruise departure same day, so we had a check in 48hrs via express mail and were able to buy clothing for the bad weather.
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 11:19 am
  #22  
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The only way I would consider flying in the day of the cruise would be in a situation where you could catch up to the ship on land.

We saw this happen on a Windstar that sort of worked its way down the French coast on the way to Lisbon. The ship went out to sea each night and then back into the next port which was probably a 15 minute drive on shore (we joked that we had the same tour guide three days in a row, she just drove up in her van.)

Anyway, the morning after our first night on board we watched a cab pull up and a rather harried couple get out and come on board. We later chatted and found out that they'd had travel woes and had missed embarkation, but all they had to do was get a hotel overnight and then catch a cab to our first port the next morning. No biggie, and the only thing they missed was the welcome reception, but I wouldn't want to deal with rounding up transportation to another island at the last moment.
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Old Jul 21, 2014, 8:08 pm
  #23  
 
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Fly day before. My partner and I went to bermuda last month on celebrity and booked our flight to ewr the day of thinking "it's June, no snow, what else could go wrong?" Well Porter decided to have a network outage that grounded their entire fleet. After twenty minutes of waiting in the lounge at YTZ, we decided that we didn't want to risk missing the cruise so we got two tickets on AC flight to LGA.

Thankfully the fare wasn't too disgusting (~$400 each), though I think we were fleeced slightly on the taxi ride from LGA to port liberty.

Even though it all worked out, I personally didn't feel relaxed till the following day.

The absolutely worst part was the taxi ride from YTZ to YYZ. We got the one Toronto cab driver who believed that the posted speed limits were gospel and that he wouldn't dare coming within 10 km/h of it, for fear of some form of Devine retribution.

In short, my partner and I will always fly the day before from now on, as we were quite fortunate that we had the means to afford the last minute fare, and that we live in a hub like Toronto where there were other direct flight options.

And as aside, PD refunded the fare for the missed flight and offered a $50 credit. Not enough for me to fly them again, unfortunately.
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Old Jul 22, 2014, 9:28 am
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by Letitride3c
If you don't care to sightsee, book a flight into MIA the day before and stay near the airport hotel with free shuttle, then checkout the next morning & board the ship early (often as early as 11 or 11:30 AM - lunch is included & part of your cruise package, and start the pampering early instead of biting nails)
Some lines don't let you board earlier than the stated boarding time, and if you try, so do a hundred others. You're there, but waiting in a long slow moving line. We've tried this many times in the past, we now try to get to check-in about 3 hours after boarding starts. Still a line, but goes more quickly.
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Old Jul 22, 2014, 9:40 am
  #25  
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Originally Posted by milepig
The only way I would consider flying in the day of the cruise would be in a situation where you could catch up to the ship on land.
One caution about this, especially if cruising out of the US, cabotage laws can sometimes make boarding at the next port impossible even if you can drive there easily. The example most US based cruisers will encounter is a roundtrip cruise out of South Florida with the first stop in Key West. Great, people think, if I miss sailing I can just drive down and catch up to the ship the next day, in Key West. Problem is that due to US law, you can't board in Key West because of different rules for one-ways versus roundtrip cruises - you have to board at a foreign port.
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 11:00 am
  #26  
 
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Many cruise under belt

If time and money allows go day before. That being said anything that is a long distance from your home airport and only has one airline departing again leave day before. Overseas cruise if time permits two days before so your jet lag is gone when you board and you can enjoy ship life. When we lost all our luggage departing on a Miami cruise many years ago, had we arrived the day before we would have known it right away and had stores to at least get some shoes and clothes and bathing suits. If doing a day of take th earliest flight so if delays or cancelled flight you can try allernate companies, if in winter weather always day before.
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Old Jul 27, 2014, 7:31 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by iMedic
FPorter decided to have a network outage that grounded their entire fleet.
yeah, really depends on number of flights and nearby airports (near home and destination)
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Old Jul 30, 2014, 1:19 am
  #28  
 
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Fly in the night before. This is one of the times a Priceline bid works great. You can save big. Book a 3*-4* hotel near the port. No need to stress out before the cruise.
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Old Aug 2, 2014, 4:08 pm
  #29  
 
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Shuttles

We always book hotels that have a shuttle to the port. They get through the line up faster than a private cab.
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Old Aug 2, 2014, 11:29 pm
  #30  
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A cautionary tale about buying air travel through Choice Air or the cruise line.

Took a HAL cruise 2 years ago which started just about the time that hurricane hit the eastern U.S. coast. Some people on the cruise knew it was coming and tried to get to Italy earlier (airlines were generally being flexible in allowing people to standby for earlier flights, as in days earlier). As their tickets were totally-inflexible cruise tickets, they weren't allowed to fly earlier though seats were available if they had bought published fares. As a result, there were stranded in NY and could only catch up with the cruise 2-4 days later having to fly via RAK.
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