Risk taking in my 40s

[AndrewPunch]

In my 20s I have jumped out of planes, drag raced and done survival camping for 5 days as my risk taking.  Today, I am booking a flight the day of the cruise. Prayers requested.

[wordell1]

Make sure you have insurance!

[ChessE4]

We have cruised twice to Europe arriving day of departure, but last was 10 years ago before politics changed stuff. With travel insurance you are covered. The one time we lost luggage we had arrived NZ two days early. So early arrival can have problems, too. Always travel insurance, as posted above!

[smokeybandit]

Travel insurance doesn't necessarily cover you for simply missing a flight or even being delayed getting to your final destination.  Certain criteria have to be met on why you missed, why you were delayed, or even how long you were delayed.

[Mike n Ky]

1 hour ago, AndrewPunch said:

In my 20s I have jumped out of planes, drag raced and done survival camping for 5 days as my risk taking.  Today, I am booking a flight the day of the cruise. Prayers requested.

Did you book it through RC? Should I book my flight through my cruise line? | Royal Caribbean Blog

[FOB]

Not something I would ever do myself. 
not sure where you are cruising from but the number of people who were having multiple kittens flying in to EWR the day before the odyssey TA in April (5 hour+ delays were not uncommon due to issues at EWR not due to weather) was ridiculous 

I am one of those people who likes to be there early and board early so my vacation starts as soon as I am on the ship

but that is just me 

[J3N]

I have booked flights as early in the am on day of cruise and I was fine but these are direct flights either flying into FLL or Miami never had an issue 

 

It depends on where you are flying from and to which port you are flying into

 

[PhantomWolf]

I choose skydiving every single time over flying in day of the cruise!

1.  It is a lot of fun

2.  I want to be relaxed upon arriving to my floating city of paradise.

 

Good luck!

[Curt From Canada]

The first cruise we ever booked was on Radiance out of Miami. The Travel Agent recommended we take the RCL transfer from the airport, but never recommended to fly in the day before. 

Flying from Canada in January should have been the red flag warning. Our 6:30 flight did not leave until 11:00 (and we touched down at 2:30).  The RCL transfer was critical, as they waited for us (and a few others). We were on the ship just before the Muster Drill (early 2000’s style muster drill).

We had not had Breakfast or Lunch. However, there is always food on a cruise ship … right?  NOT just before a muster drill. The entire crew was gathering up food, the WJ was closed, and I think we grabbed an orange from a table selling Specialty Dining Packages. We were wild animals hunting for food. 

First and ONLY time we were hungry on a cruise ship. 35 cruises later we always fly in the day before. 

Our advice to your cavalier and courageous attempt:  Pack lots of power bars, attend your religious service(s) the weekend before, and bring a bucketful of four leaf clovers. 

Best of luck …

Curt from Canada

[AndrewPunch]

Will let you all know how it goes on 9/5

[Ampurp85]

Just now, AndrewPunch said:

Will let you all know how it goes on 9/5

What cruise are you on and where are you flying from? I cruise Oasis on 9/5, I will be doing ORD to FLL the day of as well, the first flight out. 

[Zacharius]

On 8/10/2025 at 10:10 AM, ChessE4 said:

We have cruised twice to Europe arriving day of departure, but last was 10 years ago before politics changed stuff. With travel insurance you are covered. 

While I agree that travel insurance is a must, as mentioned, it's not a "solves every problem" thing. There are criteria, and it doesn't automatically fix every problem. Still best to arrive early in my book. 

Regarding the politics, if you're carrying a powerful passport like a US passport, nothing has really changed to delay you entering the "country" (whether it be UK or Schengen). If anything, it's quicker these days because of technology, kiosks, etc. I cleared Schengen immigration in seconds the other day with my US passport when I arrived in to Hamburg. 

[ChessE4]

3 hours ago, Zacharius said:

While I agree that travel insurance is a must, as mentioned, it's not a "solves every problem" thing. There are criteria, and it doesn't automatically fix every problem. Still best to arrive early in my book. 

Regarding the politics, if you're carrying a powerful passport like a US passport, nothing has really changed to delay you entering the "country" (whether it be UK or Schengen). If anything, it's quicker these days because of technology, kiosks, etc. I cleared Schengen immigration in seconds the other day with my US passport when I arrived in to Hamburg. 

Our travel insurance covers everything door to door. So no worries if flights are cancelled or delayed. It is still possible to miss a cruise, but $$ are covered. You do need proper documents, of course. By politics I mean airlines have changed flight schedules, typically reducing availability as we observed in our May trip to Vancouver. Overall, it's tougher to fly today, but you are right that technology has speeded some immigration processing. I love facial rec.

[twangster]

And I thought I was being reckless back in my 40s when I booked a Carnival cruise.  

You've got me beat.

[smokeybandit]

34 minutes ago, twangster said:

And I thought I was being reckless back in my 40s when I booked a Carnival cruise.  

 

[AndrewPunch]

On 8/13/2025 at 9:02 AM, Ampurp85 said:

What cruise are you on and where are you flying from? I cruise Oasis on 9/5, I will be doing ORD to FLL the day of as well, the first flight out. 

Utopia and MSP

[KLA]

On 8/10/2025 at 10:33 AM, AndrewPunch said:

In my 20s I have jumped out of planes, drag raced and done survival camping for 5 days as my risk taking.  Today, I am booking a flight the day of the cruise. Prayers requested.

 

[WAYNO]

I think folks' minds are already made up, rationalizing flying the day of the cruise, or not.  It's your gamble.

 

Flying the same time zone, flying  early morning the day of the cruise has always worked for us.  PDX to LAX, there are so many flights, if we miss one, there will be another.  

Flying against multiple time zones, I can never count on getting to my destination on time, so between the Pacific Northwest and Florida, I must get to Florida at least a day early.  There are precious few direct flights from PDX.  With the late flights and late or missed connecting flights snowballing throughout the day, I cringe with every cross-country flight, even a day early.  

So only my opinion, as others with different opinions will say I'm all wet, I will never again fly to Florida on the same day.  The airlines are so horrendous, my bet would be if I ever tried again, I would very likely miss my cruise.  

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Fuzzywuzzy]

We did that once. Only once. Never again. The stress was unbearable. 

[Zacharius]

1 hour ago, Fuzzywuzzy said:

We did that once. Only once. Never again. The stress was unbearable. 

That's our thought too. If we can afford the cruise, we can afford to fly in the day before. And if we can't, schedule wise, then that cruise isn't right for us, schedule wise. Understand everyone has different risk levels, but I travel for a living and have come across the most bizarre travel hiccups that I am not willing to risk it. 

My flight out of a small town in the DR Congo once got cancelled because the inbound plane hit a goat on the runway. Missed my onward out of Kinshasa and ended up there for an extra two nights because there wasn't a flight the next day. Anything can happen. (Funny side note, I also sat next to a goat on a plane. Also in the DR Congo. Not the same trip). 

[Rackham]

My personal policy, at this point, is that flying same day is okay if the following conditions can be met.

• It's a direct flight.
• The flight arrives early enough to make it to the first boarding time for the sailing.
• There are multiple alternative flights which arrive with enough time to make it to the cruise terminal at least 2 hours before embarkation ends should something happen to the initially booked flight.

Edit: Also consider the airline ticket purchased if planning on flying in the same day. If they need to reassign people due to having a full flight, you're less likely to be chosen if you're not flying on the cheapest fare and have an assigned seat you've picked yourself.

[Ogilthorpe]

2 minutes ago, Rackham said:

My personal policy, at this point, is that flying same day is okay if the following conditions can be met.

• It's a direct flight.
• The flight arrives early enough to make it to the first boarding time for the sailing.
• There are multiple alternative flights which arrive with enough time to make it to the cruise terminal at least 2 hours before embarkation ends should something happen to the initially booked flight.

I have one more requirement to add: only if i can easily drive to the port in time to board if the flights all go sideways. Needless to say, this would be the rarest of occasions for me.

[Zacharius]

16 hours ago, Rackham said:

Also consider the airline ticket purchased if planning on flying in the same day. If they need to reassign people due to having a full flight, you're less likely to be chosen if you're not flying on the cheapest fare and have an assigned seat you've picked yourself.

I assume you mean that you're more likely to be chosen if you're not flying on cheapest fare. That’s mostly true — airlines do have boarding priority policies, and passengers on the cheapest fares or without frequent flyer status are usually last in line to be reassigned if a flight is oversold or disrupted. Having a confirmed seat and paying for a higher fare class can reduce your risk, though it’s not a 100% guarantee, especially during major IRROPS events like weather cancellations.

And note that "confirmed seat" means you're not standby. The act of actually choosing a seat on a flight has no correlation with priority of re-accommodation (i.e. - if you chose 13D (even if you paid for that seat assignment) versus someone who just lets the airline choose their seat at check-in really makes no difference if all other factors are the same). 

[mabarnes81]

I am sailing out next week on my first cruise where i am flying in the day of.  I have done a couple others where I arrived the day/night before and stayed overnight before sail away.  There is plenty written online about when it makes sense to fly in early and spend a night or two in a hotel before sailing and when to fly in day of cruise - and the risks associated with day of cruise fly-in.

[JimnKathy]

We don't risk missing embarkation due to possible weather delays (first flight out doesn't help you), thus we always fly in a day or two before.

[AndrewPunch]

Flights worked as design landed at 10:25 AM in Orlando on the Ship at 12:40.

[Mike n Ky]

I just heard that relatives of our office manager flew across country with a connection in Denver the same day as their Alaska cruise was departing. Now they are working on alternatives for their vacation because a flight delay caused them to miss the ship. On top of that, one of their bags is still in Colorado. And if the info is correct, there was 2 dozen+ other people on that flight that also didn't get on the ship. Not sure about the others but they didn't book the flight through the cruise line.

[bcarney]

On 8/14/2025 at 5:16 PM, Zacharius said:

My flight out of a small town in the DR Congo once got cancelled because the inbound plane hit a goat on the runway. Missed my onward out of Kinshasa and ended up there for an extra two nights because there wasn't a flight the next day. Anything can happen. (Funny side note, I also sat next to a goat on a plane. Also in the DR Congo. Not the same trip). 

I'm going to assume this was a Spirit or Southwest Airlines flight... the only airlines I've ever had any issues with. And this sounds precicely like something that would happen to them. 

[Zacharius]

12 hours ago, bcarney said:

I'm going to assume this was a Spirit or Southwest Airlines flight... the only airlines I've ever had any issues with. And this sounds precicely like something that would happen to them. 

It's with an airline that no longer exists because they crashed too many planes. For real. Plus they were banned in the EU. No biggie.

For real though - flown Spirit a couple times with absolutely no problem. Flown Southwest tons of times with some, but not a ton, of problems, as recently as two days ago. 

Much, much worse airlines in the world that Spirit or Southwest. Pretty low chance of actually dying on either of those airlines.