In 2002, I was meeting my daughter, sister and niece for a short cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. I was flying out of BWI, they were flying out of ORF. I had a 6 am departure, so got a hotel room for the night in BWI. Woke up to find an unpredicted snowstorm had dumped 6 inches of snow at the airport. Finally left BWI, connected in ATL, knowing I would not make the ship--and I bought my ticket on my own, not through the cruise line. On the approach to the west in FLL, we flew right over Port Everglades--and I could see the ship just entering the open waters.

Because it wasn't an American flagged ship, the Jones Act came into play. The Jones Act says a foreign flagged ship cannot pick up passengers in two consecutive American ports. My ship was leaving Fort Lauderdale, going to Key West, then Cozumel. I would not be able to pick up the ship in Key West due to the Jones Act--and it didnt make sense to spend two nights in a hotel, plus 2 days prior airfare to then spend 36-ish hours on the ship. I went home....

Now, I always come in the day prior....