What Time Should You Fly In for Your Cruise?

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