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Mitch

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I have been watching many cruise videos on do's and don'ts for first time cruisers. One thing I see is always arrive the day before the ship is to depart. My first cruise is coming up in 134 days (I think).

Not coming in the day before. Flying in on the day of the cruise via Air2Sea flight with American Airlines. The flight lands at 2:00 and the terminal is 6 miles from airport. Is there a chance  I could miss the cruise ship. The ship pulls out at 4:00. 

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That is not a good idea!  There is a huge chance you will miss your cruise.

Flight landing at 2pm and ship departs at 4pm?  Assuming the flight lands on time, it still takes at least (probably more) 30min to get off the plane and collect your luggage. I would think that by the time you make it to the port, it would be close to 3pm, likely later. And that is assuming there is not much traffic. 

Most sailings close off embarkation an hour and a half prior to departure.

It’s a bad idea all around. I would recommend rescheduling that flight ASAP. 

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Landing at 2pm you are almost assured to miss the cruise.

Assuming your flight is on time,  after you deplane, walk through the airport, wait for luggage and find a taxi you will likely arrive at the terminal between 2:45pm and 3pm.  Depending where you sit on the plane it can take 10-15 minutes just to get off the plane.  Walking the airport and other 10 minutes.  Baggage claim another 5-10 minutes after that.  Taxi ride 15 minutes.  Read you SetSail pass... "Due to government regulations, all guests are required to be at the pier and checked in no later than 90 minutes prior to sailing"

The ship pulls out at 4pm but seals the passenger manifest and submits it to the government up to 90 minutes prior to sailing.  That is 2:30pm.  You can not arrive at 3:59pm and expect to board the ship.  Arriving at 3pm and you'll likely find security closed and dock workers such as baggage handlers leaving for home.  

Air2Sea has no power to hold ships, that lies in the hand of the Master of the vessel exclusively and Air2Sea has no voice with them.  

By Air2Sea's owns words they offer "Assured Arrival"...at the next port of call.  

  • When your vacation comes around, you don't want to miss the ship because of flight delays or cancellations. Book airfare through us and we guarantee, should an issue arise, our Emergency Travel Team will work with our airline partners to get you to the first available port of call.

While there is some comfort knowing that Air2Sea will get you to the next port of call, what have you missed?  Staying in hotels with more flights and taxis and none of the things offered on board the ship days after it departed?  It's not as glamorous as it sounds. 

If you really want to sail on the cruise from the start of the cruise, don't fly in the day of the cruise.

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I would have to agree with @Lovetocruise2002 and @twangster, unless you like living on the edge ?  For us, we ALWAYS fly in the day before.  There's so many things that could go weird (lost luggage, delayed flight, forgot to pack undies - yes, that happened on a cruise in San Juan).  Recommendation - come in the day before and have a nice chill night at a hotel in the port town.

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On 4/20/2019 at 12:30 AM, twangster said:

By Air2Sea's owns words they offer "Assured Arrival"...at the next port of call.  

  • When your vacation comes around, you don't want to miss the ship because of flight delays or cancellations. Book airfare through us and we guarantee, should an issue arise, our Emergency Travel Team will work with our airline partners to get you to the first available port of call.

 

Also important to note the word order in that they don't even guarantee to get you to the first available port, but they guarantee they will work with their airline partners...if they can't get you there, they can't get you there, and they offer absolutely no guarantees that they will. Many, many people mistakenly think there are guarantees when there aren't.

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On 4/20/2019 at 12:30 AM, twangster said:

By Air2Sea's owns words they offer "Assured Arrival"...at the next port of call.

This is important because depending on the itinerary you could have a sea day or 2 right up front before ever getting to the first actual port, so by that time you have already missed a large portion of the cruise.

Fly in the day before, sometime this can really be trouble some, if the cruise leaves on a Saturday you have to take a Friday off work, not always easy for everyone, cost of a hotel night, etc.. But in the long run it is worth it.

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13 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

This is important because depending on the itinerary you could have a sea day or 2 right up front before ever getting to the first actual port, so by that time you have already missed a large portion of the cruise.

Fly in the day before, sometime this can really be trouble some, if the cruise leaves on a Saturday you have to take a Friday off work, not always easy for everyone, cost of a hotel night, etc.. But in the long run it is worth it.

Also worth pointing out that they're not going to push anyone off of a flight to get you on, so if you're going to a popular location during a popular time (let's say, for example, Caribbean during spring or winter break), there may not be the right number of open seats to get you there on that specific date. This of course becomes more difficult as your group becomes larger (requiring more seats), and your destination becomes smaller (thus having fewer flights or smaller aircraft).

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I'm amazed that Air2Sea would schedule this late flight. Makes no sense to me. Even if they do honor the Air2Sea and fly you to the next port, the per day cost of your cruise just went up because you missed out on one day and one night of cruise fun. In other words, you're now on a 6 night cruise, but paid for 7 nights.

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I spoke with Air2Sea just to make sure I understand the benefits.

The priority is to find an alternate that gets you to the ship on boarding day.  If that simply can't happen they will NOT hold the ship.  When it comes to joining the ship mid-cruise at a port of call, they will cover airfare, hotel and transfers to reach the ship.  They do not cover meals.

In addition they can't always forward you to the next port to board the ship mid-cruise.  This is particularly tricky on Cuba itineraries where the next port of call is Key West - you can't board in Key West.   So it seems in some cases Assured Arrival is limited in scope to finding an alternate airline to make the ship on boarding day.  

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3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yes there is! We just had one on our cruise last July. Missed the ship in Miami due to flight delays. He posted photos to the FB roll call of him watching the ship sail away. ?

I wish there was an emoticon of sad and laughing at the same time. :46_confounded:

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Mitch, I know that I am not in your shoes but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE listen to the advice given here and if you are unable to get off an extra day then PLEASE get a flight that arrives MUCH earlier in the day.  What happens if the airline looses your luggage? Or it is on the flight that arrives a few hours behind yours?  You are definitely playing a dangerous game my friend! I can tell you that in order for me not to loose my mind, on that day I would need some mega doses of Xanax, I would be completely stressed out!  Not sure why they let you cut it that close to your departure time but if I were a betting man I would definitely bet that chances are slim that you are going to be able to make it off the plane and terminal to terminal in the appropriate time.  There are FAR too many things that have to work in your favor in order for you to make it on time.  Once auto accident or backup and you instantly miss your ship, not the way I care to start my vacation! 

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12 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yes there is! We just had one on our cruise last July. Missed the ship in Miami due to flight delays. He posted photos to the FB roll call of him watching the ship sail away. ?

I was part of a group of friends in NYC who decided to meet up for a booze cruise at sunset, and one guy accidentally took a cab to the secondary departure port of the cruise company and then tried to rush over to the primary departure port but literally got there as we were pulling away. We have great video from us on the boat looking back at him, but also him looking at us churning away. A year later and we still give him a hard time about it constantly.

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