Booking Flight the day of Cruise departure
 

My advice, book your own flight and go the day before, enjoy Miami or PC area, then make your way to the cruise ship in the morning. You can board early and lounge around while waiting for the others to board. Cruise ships usually serve food prior to departure, so go and relax.

Too many horror stories of people trying to arrive the morning of, only to have their flights delayed/cancelled or diverted.

You may want to look over these links:
http://www.cruisecritic.com/ftc/tier2.cfm?ID=6

Not recommended - unless you like to gamble with your flights and missing the short duration cruise by missing the embarkation. Hurricane season & summer storms are unpredictable & known to disrupt flights, even if aircraft doesn't go MX.

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) Use points if you have them or else hotwire/priceline for a hotel deal, especially if there's only 2 of you - a clean bed, shower & good night sleep for a busy vacation ahead ;)

Cross pack your items in case clothing items get lost if checking luggage but many good FT's that cruise travel light with carry-ons only.

As for PC, one-way taxi fare from MCO is $100+ and tips, just FYI. Better and more deals out of MIA - we are platinum cruisers & we know.

If you are on your own ticket and "misconnect", you either miss your cruise or buy seats to the cruise's first stop out of your own pocket and at walk-up prices.

If money is tight, there are some suggestions above. If you can splurge a bit, stay somewhere really nice at whichever Florida port you choose and have a car service drop you.

I cannot stress enough flying in day ahead and NOT using the cruise air.

An example from a previous cruise, group of people going from ATL to TPA day of cruise. 1 hour non-stop flight, arriving in TPA by 10am. Should be fine right? Airline had a computer issue, no flights going anywhere. They made the cruise only because sailing was delayed due to an issue. Unlike airplanes, cruise sailings are rarely delayed so they got very lucky.

I agree with everybody who says to fly in the day before; that's the same advice that I give to my clients.

However, if you absolutely have to fly in the day of sailing, book the first flight of the day, even if it is at 500AM, AND make sure there is a back up flight that still gets in well before sailing. A non-stop is best, so if you can drive to DTW, great. Since we are talking June, snow won't be an issue, but thunderstorms sure can put a crimp into your plans.

US carriers, especially flying domestic, generally exempt and do not count medical equipment as your carry-on. Check with your airline/carrier and their online sites for specific rules, always helpful to print & take a copy along as gate/ground agents are often clueless :rolleyes:

Flying to/from/thru London & Canada could be issues but you should be fine - portable Cpap and BiPap machines should be exempt, make it your personal item. Ask for ground supervisor if necessary. Depending on the type of aircraft or equipment being flown, storage space could be challenged on a ERJ or CRJ and forcing it to be gate-checked.

On cruisecritic forum, almost all reported no problems flying with CPAP as extra carry-on since it's a piece of medical equipment.

I will echo that.
Re arrival day, there are a lot of Choice Hotels etc around. Try to find one that has a shuttle service to and fro from the airport and to the cruise port. If you want to rent a car seeif you can find an Enterprise that will pick up and drop off. Ideal would be rent at place X and return to port.

it depends on how many airports/flights are available as 'backups'

from - DTW / TOL / CLE / CMH / DAY / FWA / IND / MBS / PIT
there are nonstop flights available
then there could flights with stop(s) as backups

Go the day before. You will find it more relaxing, and there is always a chance the flight will have problems. Get a hotel near the port.

I would have missed a cruise out of St. Maarten had I not planned to come in a day early. UselesS Air had their inevitable connection problems, I missed the only flight of the day out of CLT and had to spend the day there.

I have met too many people who missed the cruise if they were flying in the morning of departure! We always fly in one day early for this reason.

Good idea - you get an extra day of vacation.