We have cruised many, many times but for our first 2 cruises we flew down same day. Our flights were fine but our luggage never made it onto the plane. Apparently most of our flight had no luggage. They made up some story about the xray machine being down & having to hand check all luggage. (Back around 2005 when USAirways was having LOTS of labor/luggage issues.)
So we all trek to the luggage office to give descriptions. My kids were little & needed a bathroom & we ended up being last in line. It was announced that everyone should go ahead to their ship/hotel and luggage would be delivered there. Since I was last, I could hear the employees trying to figure out how to accomplish this. "Should we call in so n so? No, he already worked OT this week." etc. Clearly they had no plan. No way was I leaving that airport without my luggage. While they may be trying to manage hundreds of bags, I knew I'd be able to spot ours in no time.
So the next flight was due to arrive 2 hours later.
We hung around the airport, got some lunch and when the next flight arrived, the US Airways (& airport porters) were trying to intercept the bags with the old flight # before they could get out to the public. We stood next to them, told them we were on that previous flight, and that we'd be getting ours. They were fine with that.
In the end it was a big fat hassle.
The next time, everything worked out fine.
The third time, being a Feb cruise & worrying about possible snow, we flew down the day before. This time 2 of my parents' bags didn't arrive. We went to the hotel & they were given a contact ph # and was told their bags would be delivered. They called several times that day, the voice mailbox was always full. My mother barely slept that night. By morning they took a cab back to the airport & finally got their bags. Coincidentally, it did start snowing shortly after we left Philly at 10am & by 6pm the airport was closed.
So besides weather & mechanical issues, luggage delays are possible too. Even if you don't like to spend more on a hotel, I look at it as extra insurance. You can always Hotwire a room near the airport for less than $100. Lesson learned but hopefully not the hard way.
