Cruising, fly the same day you depart or a day or two early.?

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Ed S

If you can fly in a day or two early.
#1 you start your vacation early.
#2 you are all rested up when you get on your cruise.

If it is not going to effect your trip financially go early.

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runlikethewind38

i would fly a day or two early... gives you time to relax. plus what if there is a problem and the flight is delayed and you miss your cruise? go a day early

daredevil

arrive a day early because you're safe if your flight is delayed or canceled and your not rushing to get to the ship

tbugs

The smart idea is to arrive a day before you are going to sail and stay at a local hotel.

There are too many instances of some sort of airline delay if you fly the same day as you are sailing. If the cruiseline did not make the air arrangements, you will be out of luck completely and have to either cancel the cruise (with no refund) or get to the first port on your own. If the cruiseline made the arrangements, they will get you to the first port but you still would have lost at least one day of your cruise.

saintsfan

A day before because what happens if you depart on the same day and your flight gets cancelled.

Ayelle

Early is always better, unless you are really trying to save money & don't want to buy a hotel for a night or two.
We usually go a day early if the cruise leaves from Florida or Puerto Rico, etc. It takes about 4-5 hours to get over there from AZ. But when we did Mexican Riviera from L.A. we went the same day because the flight was only an hour and there are many going to L.A. so if there were to be a delay or something we would've been fine.
So early is always better. Only go same day if you are close :)

myraxellenxamos

A day or 2 early. You never know what is going to happen with planes. Something happens and all the flights are held you will need time to hop in a car and drive.
Peronsally I dont fly so I always give myself plenty of time to get there in case the car breaks down or anything else happens.

#1fan

Go a day earlier, you won't regret it

As a friend likes to say: "Flying in a day early lowers your stress level. Flying in the same day lowers your expense level."
=)

Personally, I fly in the same day if I'm confident the flights won't be delayed enough to make me to miss the ship.

Early-morning flights are less often delayed (no back-ups yet, plus there are later flights just in case), non-stop flights, and flights to/from cities with good weather. I also like at least a 5 hour buffer between landing and ship departure.

The closest I'll cut it is flying west coast to Miami, flying in the same day but taking a nonstop overnight flight. That way I don't lose a whole day, don't have to book a hotel, but there's lots of buffer time just in case.

An article with some more tips for deciding when to fly, and how to minimize your risks if you do fly the same day...
http://www.cruisesavvy.com/savvyguide/know_before_you_go/should_i_fly_in_a_day_before

Time travler

I've done it both ways, but would recommend to go a day early. If your flight to the port is a short one like I had one from San Francisco to San Diego, we did it the same day because we knew that they have many flights a day and it was just an hour flight. But when we had to fly to Florida, we went the day before to be sure of not missing our ship. I remember one of the cruises we took, there was a Hugh storm in Denver. Things were closed down there. Some did make the ship, but some did not and had to catch the ship the next day. So for piece of mind, do it the day before.

MCLS

FLY IN A DAY EARLY. THAT WAY YOUR FLIGHT WILL NOT BE LATE AND YOU ARE SURE TO GET YOUR LUGGAGE. STAY SOMEWHERE CLOSE TO THE PORT. HAVE FUN

ctelly22

I like to go a day or two early. Mainly because I don't want to take the chance of missing the ship due to a delay. Also I like to spend some time in the area I'm leaving from to help me relax for the cruise.

Wings

We cruised out of Jamaica one year and spent two days on the island before the cruise.
If you get an early flight to the city you are cruising from there shouldn't be a problem as the ships don't leave port until around 4:00. Also a good idea to get trip insurance. It covers many things, including a delayed flight.
Most of our cruises are out of Florida where we live so arrivals are no problem for us. Have a good time.

TINKERTOY ..... the 1 & only

Whether to fly a day early or the same day of your cruise depends on several factors. If your cruise is leaving from a US port it will probably depart between 5:00 PM and 6:00PM and you need to be on board at least 30 minutes before departure (that's their rules) and you must have completed the pre-registration or you will need to be there 2 hours before departure (that's their rules too). Most cruise lines will let you start boarding the ship between noon.

So if you are flying on a DIRECT FLIGHT to the departure city you have less of a chance of having a problem such as a missed connection. If your flight is only a COUPLE HOURS OR LESS, like from Seattle to LA or San Diego, you should not have a problem with the same day AND you also have an opportunity to catch another later flight.

If your flight is from a large city that has multiple flights per day that get to the port city before noon, you will probably be OK same day. But if you have to FLY THROUGH problem US airports like New York, Chicago, Atlanta where flights are regularly delayed or canceled, you almost certainly should fly a day early. If you are flying to the port in winter or through an airport that typically has bad weather in winter, like Chicago or St Louis, then go a day early.

In addition, if you have a cross country flight, which will likely be about 5 hours, AND have a connecting flight, you should fly in a day early. Also, if you are flying to a port in Europe, or South America, or even Hawaii you should fly a day early. I have flown to Europe for three cruises and ALWAYS fly a day early to prevent a flight delay mix up and also to allow time to rest up and adjust to the time change.

Most travel agents these days ALSO recommend that cruisers travel to the port city a day early. That $100 or so that you spend for a hotel night (and you can usually just stay at an airport one) is well worth getting past the headache and stress of making sure that you get to the port on time.

I generally always just plan to go a day early regardless of any of the situations I mentioned, and even when I am driving, because it just makes for a more relaxed vacation.

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