In My opinion this is quite risky, especially with a change of planes. I just missed a connection on a recent flight, resulting in a five hour delay. It happens all the time.
SD Cruiser has a valid point, the majority of flights do arrive either on-time or close enough that you wouldn't miss a ship but there are some rare exceptions. Things can go awry on any trip no matter how you plan to travel. I wouldn't live based on fears of the exception but planning well is always a good idea.
On the transfers vs taxi, it's no secret on here that I'm not a big fan of transfers. Cab fare is usually equal or lower cost than the transfers and gets you to the ship faster without having to worry about waiting on that last lost bag or passenger that leave you sitting on the van or bus for long periods of time. Also, the more hands your bags go through before arriving outside your cabin door, the more likely a tag will disappear or your bag will end up at the wrong ship or heading back to the airport in the van with you on the ship. It doesn't happen often but I can't remember the last case of lost or delayed luggage I had associated with a cruise (not counting the airlines losing them) that did not involve a transfer. If you sail from a port a long way from the airport like Rome, Galveston or Port Canaveral the transfers are sometimes the only good option but for most ports a cab is a better option in my opinion.
We haven't done a transfer in years. It is either a taxi, a limo, or shuttle van for us.
I have to admit that although I advise people to get to the port a day early if possible, I don't do it all the time. For example, with the cruises we take out of Mobile on the Holiday we drive down on embarkation day. But for us it is less than 6 hours away by car. Even if something happened with our vehicle I could still rent a car and still get to the ship. Of course, we DO get insurance every time we cruise - even out of Mobile.
Originally posted by macmom111:
on our Sept cruise we are flying and sailing on the same day.
We have always flown in a day early but this yr it just was not possible.
I got us the earliest flight out at 6 am arriving at 10 am.
Has anyone ever done this and had a problem?
I am a bit concerned now.
If flying in a day ahead simply isn't possible, then you obviously have no other choice.
In the good ole days, everyone flew in the day of the cruise. But was when there were about 6 cruise ships to choose from and 9,000 airlines to choose from. LOL
Unfortunately, available planes are so limited now that when one does go out for a mechnical failure...there simply are not enough "seats" to pick up the slack.
Weather, maintenance issues, a "sick out", pilots that run out of hours...not to mention just a "threat" of terrorism (one bag unattended) that can close down an entire airport and now the added Homeland Security rule that you must be on board the ship one hour prior to sailing..... are the reasons that most cruisers elect to go in a day ahead.
The TA I use out of Minnesota always has us flying out the same day as the ship leaves...we leave at 7 am and fly to Miami...NEVER had a problem....once the plane is in the air...Since I fly during the winter months, I NOW buy travel insurance....almost didn't get off the ground a few years back....it was a close call...
I have only done it once after my flight fiasco. I have cruise friends that do it all the time without any problems. They live in ATL though and have a direct flight. I have only had one close call with a delayed flight from RDU. Fortuneatly, I was flying AA and staying over with my sister, who happened to work for AA at the time. She called them that morning and had us re-ticketed somehow. We were flying to SJU that day, and was already nervous enough because it was only a few weeks after Sept. 11th. We made it just fine, I was sure glad to see the Holiday that day.
I think it will be fine, people do it everyday without any problems. Get the insurance though.
thanks everyone, we do have a layover in Atlanta, and i have already checked, there are bunches of other planes headed to tampa out of altanta if our flight has problems. gonna get this ins. never have before but that is good advice.
We finally wised up and arrange our own air and fly in the day before. We have more control over the flight times and get direct flights. It is also cheaper. The money we save usually pays for the lodging. It also allows us to be well rested the day we get on board and can enjoy the first day without being dead tired at sail away time.
We just returned from the Legend. We flew down the day before. We were to arrive in Tampa at 1:20pm. Well the plane was delayed 1 1/2 hrs. Then we get on the plane and start to taxi and the pilot returns to the gate and says there is a mechanical problem. We sit there for another 30 min. We finally touched down in Tampa at 3:55pm. Had that been the day of the cruise we would have missed the ship. It is very risky flying the day of the cruise. All you can do is keep your fingers crossed that nothing delays the flight.
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