What Time Should You Fly In for Your Cruise?
Many people want to fly in the day they board the ship. The thought is the ship leaves at 4 pm so I have plenty of time to get to the port if I arrive at the airport at 8 or 10 am. Nice in theory bad in practice!
It is highly
recommended that you fly in the day before and get a hotel for the night. You Don’t
want to take the extra time off work or from school? Don’t want to waste the
money on a hotel for the night? Here is something to think about. Is that extra
day off or the money spent on a hotel worth missing the cruise? Is it worth
losing the money you spent for the cruise? Consider that earlier flight and the
hotel as insurance for you getting to your ship on time. Scroll to the bottom
of this article for some statistics on flight delays.
About the choice
of hotel! Many hotels near the airport have a free/low cost shuttle to/from the
airport. You can catch the shuttle from the airport to the hotel when you land
at the airport. Then take the Shuttle back to the airport to catch the DCL
shuttle to the port the next morning! Some hotels have shuttles to the port as
well.
With the number of
flight delays going on now a days you never know if your flight will be
canceled or delayed to the point where you’ll miss your ship. You miss the
cruise!! If you do not have travel insurance you lose the money you spent for
the cruise!! Even with Trip Insurance you may only get 70% back! This is not
said to scare you, it is just simply the facts.
When should you
fly? According to people in the airline and travel industry it is suggested you
take a flight early in the morning the day before you board the ship. Get that
hotel for the night and have a relaxing morning before you board the ship!
Booking a flight
for 5-9am that gets you to your destination the evening before allows time for
delays! If your morning flight gets delayed, you still have time to catch a
later flight and get to your destination on time. Those on the morning flights
are the first Canceled/Rescheduled. They will be the first to be rescheduled
for the next flight. Again better chance of getting there on time!
The final decision
is up to you. Just take a moment to consider these words of wisdom I’ve gotten the
following information from Flight Attendants, Pilots, Booking Agents at DCL and
guests who booked flights that got them there “just in time” but missed their
cruise. Book that Hotel!
For flying home
after the cruise, the timing depends on the port you are at. If the airport is
near the port, you should be ok with a 12:30 pm flight if you do a walk off and
do not check your luggage the night before for the crew to carry off the ship.
Later is better if you wish to have them take your bags off and be able to make
sure you get breakfast. 1:30 pm or later is better. If the port is farther away
consider a 2-3 pm flight. You need to make sure you can get to the airport
without undue stress. Orlando Airport (MCO) is over an hour drive from the
port. Also, you must consider going through TSA and customs.
FlightAware.com/live/canceled/today
tracks flight delays at many key airports. Here are some of the numbers for a 3
day span of time. I think it speaks for itself.
02/06-09/23
Orlando
·
Total
flights 4,747
·
Delayed
490
·
Percentage
delayed 10.3%
·
Total
Departure 2,447
·
Total
Delayed 259
·
Percentage
Delayed 10.6%
·
Total
Arrivals 2,300
·
Total
Delayed 231
·
Percentage
10.45
·
Canceled
1
Miami
·
Total
flights 6,398
·
Delayed
576
·
Percentage
delayed 8.9%
·
Total
Departure 3,145
·
Total
Delayed 323
·
Percentage
Delayed 10.2%
·
Total
Arrivals 3,253
·
Total
Delayed 253
·
Percentages
Delayed 7.8
·
Canceled
10
Los Angeles
·
Total
flights 7,041
·
Delayed
556
·
Percentage
delayed 7.8%
·
Total
Departure 3,392
·
Total
Delayed 306
·
Percentage
Delayed 9%
·
Total
Arrivals 3,649
·
Total
Delayed 250
·
Percentage
5.8%
·
Canceled
15
(These number were
calculated from daily data. There is a very small margin of error due to the
methodology. The complete daily accounting is available upon request. Just send
an email to us.)
Carolyn-Tinky@PixieDustedMemoriesTravel.com
Scott-Sparky@PixieDustedMemoriesTravel.com
