Missing the boat?? Board in Key West?

[HollyBud]

We are going on our first Disney cruise in April 2005 and we have already booked our flight for the morning of. We are on the western sailing which first stop is Key West. If by some strange chance we miss the boat, can we board in Key West? I'm starting to get a little nervous about my choice to fly out the morning of.
Thanks!
I'm new to the boards and have discovered so much great information about the cruise.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I believe the rule is you cannot board the ship in another US port--so you'd have to wait and board at the Cayman Islands.
Robin M.

 

[DrCavin]

I have read on here in the past that you can not board in Key West, you would have to board in the next foriegn port which is Grand Cayman...

 

[natdencro]

Congrats on booking your Disney cruise! You will have a simply fantastic time. We always arrive the day before, as there have been several "horror stories" posted about people arriving too late for their vacation. In fact, we witnessed people in the arrival hall at 3.30pm in March, and cant think how they would have arrived on the ship in time to sail at 5pm.

I believe if you have booked through Disney, and you arrive too late for your cruise, then they will get you on board as soon as possible. However, if you have booked independently, then Im afraid it is up to you to make alternative arrangements.
Personally, I would seriously consider flying down the day before, just to be on the safe side. It could mean all the difference to your vacation. Just my opinion, but after all that happened recently, it is a safer option. Have fun time preparing for your cruise. Nat

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

I think that in order of a cruise line to do this, they have to get special permission from US Customs or some other agency. Some combination of the Passenger Services Act or the Jones Act prohibits foreign-flagged vessels from transporting passengers between two US ports, or some such nonsense. There are exceptions, though, such as with trans-canal cruises, etc., but I think I once read that you couldn't do this in the situation you've described.

I wouldn't worry too much about this. If you're flying in from CT, you should be arriving sometime around mid-morning. The ship doesn't leave until 5:00pm (they want you on board by 4:00pm). You've got plenty of time to allow for something unforeseen. They recommend allowing four hours for transport between the airport and the ship. Many, many people fly in on the morning of the cruise. I would venture to guess that more people arrive in the morning than then night before, including most all of the people for whom DCL books air travel.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by HollyBud
If by some strange chance we miss the boat, can we board in Key West? I'm starting to get a little nervous about my choice to fly out the morning of.

When the recent hurricane messed up Orlando Airport and caused massive flight cancellations and delays, the story on this board was that many passengers had to board the next day in Key West.

That surprised me.

It had been my understanding that the major cruises line are legally prevented from boarding any passengers at Key West -- including passengers who had intended to board at Port Canaveral, but whose flights (whether booked throuigh DCL or independently) were delayed. That's because the Passenger Services Act of 1886 prohibits foreign-flagged ships from transporting passengers between two U.S. ports, unless certain conditions are met (which are not met on the Western Caribbean itinerary).

So, on the Western Caribbean itinerary, the delayed passenger would need to board the ship on Tuesday in Grand Cayman. (Please correct me if I am mistaken.)

I fly a lot. Most flights arrive within an hour of the scheduled arrival time. But I've also had flights delayed for many hours. If you're going some place like WDW, a 6-hour flight delay just means you lose some vacation time on the first day. But, when cruising, such a delay is likely to mean you won't join the cruise until several days later.

I don't know if there are exceptions for an Act of God, such as the hurricane, or why passengers could board in Key West.

 

[mickeyboat]

Horace - I remember hearing there was a special exception made for cruisers to board in Key West when traffic was interrupted by Hurricane Charley.

Please come down the day before. We were coming from Manchester, NH in March. Our flight was due to arrive the day of the crusie at 1:30 PM. When we got to the airport at 6AM, our flight had been delayed due to fog until 11:30AM. That delay caused us to miss our connection in Atlanta and would not put us into Orlando until 6:30 PM.

I cried at the ticket counter, and found a supervisor at Delta willing to put us on an earlier stand-by flight from Atlanta. We had to bolt to the gate in Atlanta and barely made it. We arrived at MCO at 4PM, ran to and boarded the Disney bus and made it to the ship at 5PM. We missed the sail away party (bummer).

Even more of a bummer is that there was no time to wait for our luggage. DCL flew it to St. Maarten, but we were three days without our stuff (none of the special stuff we were advised to pack, no underwear, no sandals).

Good luck to you!

Denae

 

[tecdavidt]

According to our TA the law is suppose to be no boarding because of the Jones Act or what ever the name is but people usually have no problem getting the clear from the Feds to board. I guess it happens alot on western routes. I know our TA had a huge group that came from Des Moines and one of the planes broke down so one third of the group had to board in Key West. They had to get the OK from Feds and they were allowed to board (she did tell me they could of told the group no boarding but that didn't happen.) I wouldn't worry about it. Kathy