Cancelled Flights due to weather

[kajohn]

Does anyone know what the policy is, if weather cancels your flights, and you miss your ship?

I'm planning a trip on the Magic for next February, and am worried if, like today, the airport cancels flights, and we don't get to Florida before it sails, what happens.

Has this happened to anyone? We are booking our flights ourselves, not through DCL. We are planning on flying in on Friday night, to give us a little cushion, but with cancelled flights, you can't always get another one right away.

Any imput would be appreciated!

 

[wovenwonder]

Maybe you could plan on flying in on friday morning --- this will give you a 24 hour coushion.

 

[Firefighter Mickey]

I can only think of 3 options:

1) catch the ship at the next port of call
2) this is why people purchase vacation insurance
3) fly in a day early

We pick option #3; it's a lot less to stress about by just flying in a day early, that way if something does happen to delay our flight, we've still got some time to get there.

Maybe others can think of other options.

 

[Pluto4President]

I have to tell you that that was my worst fear. We had tix to fly in on the 19th, the morning of. Now I have taken that flight many times and never been delayed, but it's winter. On the 17th came a winter storm advisory for the 19th. Ouch! Luckily the little bit of snow that we had, came after I took off.
I cut it so close because I have pulled the kids out of school often for our Disney trips and didn't want to take out another day.
Will I do it again?? Probably not, at least not in the winter

 

[TnRobin]

As the others have indicated, if you book your own airfare, you are responsible for making it to port. If you miss a flight or your flight is cancelled, you will have to make arrangements to either arrange another flight to get there on time or to take you to the first port of call. Some trip insurances cover this potential problem.

I am not recommending that you always buy your airfare through DCL, just that you may want to take the others recommendations and fly down the night before. In addition to the security of being able to alter you plans, my family does this because I hate spending my first day of vacation rushing around. Last two cruises we have flown down the night before and it made the next morning much more relaxing for all.

 

[IrishCowboy]

We always fly in a day early. Like wovenwonder said, it gives you a 24 hour cushion. My biggest fear is something happening causing us to miss our flight.

 

[kajohn]

Thanks for your input!

I did buy the trip insurance, and just talked to the insurance company and DCL to get the hopefully straight story.

The insurance said they do cover weather, if you absolutely can't get out, but you must notify disney so they can help you get a flight (even if you didn't book the flights through them). They then said it was up to Disney if they flew you to the first port, or rescheduled the entire week.

I then called Disney reservations and asked them. They said that it was up to us if we wanted to catch the cruise at a later port, or reschedule the week with only a $25 fee per person for reissuing of documents. I definitly didn't want to catch the ship at St. Marten, I would lose 2 days at sea! I was happy to hear they would let us completely reschedule.

Does this sould right to anyone? I have heard people getting different answers to questions when they call DCL, and would hate for this to be wrong info.

I am planning on flying in the night before, but am already taking the kids out of school for a week and do not want to take them out another day to leave in the morning. Too bad disney doesn't sail on Sunday instead!

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

We just booked a Cruise on the Magic for Feb 2003 and we will be flying out of St.louis and that can be very scary. We never now what our weather is going to do. So we are planning on arranging our own air and flying in on Thursday Evening. This give as a good cushion and also gives us a good excuse to go to the Magic Kingdom atleast one day before we head for the port. I did not want to book Disneys Air because they charge so much more that if I just set it up my self. I am buying travel insurance though my travel agent. I just feel better having it. We are already excited. This will be our first Cruise ever!!!!

CRB Nov 28-Dec 3,2001

 

[glindamood]

I booked Disney's air for our cruise this December. At this point they gave me a better price than what I was able to book our flights for this past December. I can always cancel them if I find a better airfare.

 

[atigeg]

We tend to live dangerously (considering that we are in Chicago) and book our own air/decline the trip insurance. So far, in 18 cruises, we have been VERY lucky. Number 19 is next Thursday, but we would have been in big trouble if it was this week, as our usual flight was cancelled due to the major snowstorm.
But since 9/11, we have started booking the night before whenever possible. We get a cheap hotel room near the Orlando airport via Hotwire or Priceline ($33 for the Amerisuites, $28 for the Renaissance) and take the shuttle over. Then we have Happy Limo pick us up in the morning and take us to the port. I know it isn't foolproof, but at least it gives us a cushion. Right now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we are all "snowed out."
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Chattyaholic]

and we, too, flew down to Florida from Michigan....last January. I was a bit concerned about weather as you never know about snow accumulation, or an ice storm, here in the north. But since we were staying at Disney before the cruise, I wasn't as concerned as I would have been had we not done it that way. I would much rather miss a day at Disney, if our flights were cancelled due to weather, than miss the ship!! We are booked on the Magic again next January, but this time we're driving rather than flying. Flying was fun, we love doing it, but we just want to drive this time that way we can do more sightseeing after the cruise is over, and not have to pay for a rental car to do it. We plan to leave about a week before the cruise, do some sightseeing on the way down, and get near the port two days before sailing. We'll probably stay at the Radisson right there at the port and leave our vehicle there.

 

[Scarlet]

Hi...

We just went through the same thing. Sailed on the Wonder on
1/20/02 and we were booked (ourselves) to fly down the morning that the ship sailed. We had declined the insurance as we were told it would NOT cover the flights if we booked them
ourselves.

We did have a storm on 1/19, but thankfully we got out okay on
Sunday morning 1/20.

One other thought.....maybe take the kids out Friday afternoon and fly down then, get a cheap room somewhere. In all honesty, our family was exhausted the first day on the cruise. We had to get up at 3:15 am to get to the airport at 5:00 a.m. for our 7:00 a.m. flight. By the time we picked up the rental car, drove to the port, picked up beverages and boarded the ship we were already tired. Add in the kid's club registration and the sail-away party.
We were all falling asleep in our dinner (late seating).

I would have much preferred to fly in the day before and start the cruise more rested......Oh well, live and learn

Scarlet.