What happens if you miss the boat at Port Canaveral?

[Ofinn]

Yeah...I don't think flights are late most of the time. I fly US Air...and it is extremely rare that they have been late for me (usually early or on time)....with the exception of late day flights out of Dallas to Philly ...those seem to be consistently late for some reason.

Now, slight tangent I just feel compelled to insert here (sorry..can't help myself...LOL).... US Air is in process of merging flights/schedules with American Airlines. In a previous steady (can't remember what it was off the top my head)...US Air was in the top five for being on time (which I believe based on personal experience).....American Airlines was in the bottom five for being on time. Sooooo...should prove interesting. LOL

It really depends on where your flying from, and what city your connecting through. Flights our of Dallas are delayed a lot in the Summer. I fly out of a city with great weather year round, and I would still never fly in the day of cruise.

 

[barbja99]

We planned a 1 day buffer so that we could go shopping for stuff and relax before the cruise. I'm so glad we did that because my sister's Thursday flight was canceled and she won't get here until 10pm tonight (Friday). If we hadn't planned for that extra day, she'd be WAY more unhappy than she is now.

 

[SillyInventor]

What documents do you need?

The real NEED is: Birth certificate and government issued photo-id on closed loop cruises from a US-port. However it is recommended to have a passport. A passport is required for repositioning cruises (debark in any other port than embark). All non-US residents always need a pasport to cruise from a US-port (and to enter the USA before cruising).

All other paperwork can be printed and signed at check in, although it speeds up the process if you print and sign your cruise contract and minor debarkation forms at home, you will cruise if you forget them. The check-in counter will just reprint and have you sign on the spot.

So don't forget to bring your proper id. You will not be allowed on the Ship without it.

 

[Treeday555]

I learned the hard way to NEVER leave the day of a cruise. We were having a family reunion of our first cruise. We had 10 people going so we ended up taking 2 vans. I wanted to drive down the night before, but one of my cousins didn't want to spend the extra money for a hotel room. So we left at 2 am for our 7 hour drive. My daughter passed me on the road (speed demon), but I stayed at my speed. We were about an hour from the port, when my daughter called to say she was broke down on the side of the highway. I called AAA, and they sent a wrecker and towed her to an auto shop. The shop was open but the mechanic was not there yet. So we sat and waited. He arrived around 11 am. He had just went and dropped his son's family off at the same cruise ship we were trying to get to. I called, and was told that if we weren't there by 3:30, we would not be able to board and it would be up to us to make it to the next port or just cancel altogether! We had started trying to separate luggage and get as many as we could in my van in case we wouldn't make it. The mechanic was done around 1:45. so we made a mad dash for the port. We arrived around 3pm, just in time! After that, we always stay the night before. The added stress was not worth it. Anyone who doesn't want to pay for a hotel room can either drive themselves or sleep in the van!

 

[AU Dre]

Late to the party on this one, but we cruised RCCL years ago and went on a snorkeling/rum cruise excursion in Curacao. The excursion was great until we got almost all the way back to the ship. The boat we were on got beached at the dock and we got stuck just a short distance from the ship (pretty rough seas). It took them at least an hour to get us un-beached and then they had to tow us half way across the island to another dock. Needless to say we were probably at least an hour late getting back to the ship. Luckily for us it was an excursion we booked through RCCL and so the ship waited for us. had we not booked it through them I am not even sure we would have had the opportunity to see the ship sail away from us.
Luckily it was a rum cruise back from the snorkeling trip so the extra hour we had to sip on free liquor made the whole experience of being late for the ship more bearable! In the end it all worked out as it was a great snorkeling trip that we ended up getting for free after RCCL refunded us the expense for the excursion. Apparently they were a new company they were using and were not planning to use them anymore after this! We were with family and needless to say my Mom was fuming when we got back on the ship, because she had just thought it was our fault we were so late.
Things I learned from this was that it is good to book through the cruise line for excursions and that I will always be a day early to the port!
Funniest thing I heard our cruise director say on our recent Disney cruise was something to the effect of "what is the one thing you should have with you if you are late getting back to the ship from port..your camera because the Disney Dream looks really great as it is sailing away". HaHa!

 

[poohs4me]

I now try to get in two days in advance. I know it is not always possible but for holiday weekends or high weather times I make it a must. Here's why - First we made the cruise. Our Disney Cruise left on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. We planned to spend a few days in WDW beforehand so we had a 6AM flight out of Arizona on THURSDAY. Yes Thursday!! Normally it would take 30 minutes to get to the airport but we left at 3:30AM to make sure we had enough time. There was a major accident on the freeway and it took us 2 hour and 15 minutes to make the 30 minute trip. Fluke right! We watched our flight take off. Alot of people had this problem that morning. Because it was memorial day weekend, the airlines could not get us on another flight that day or even the next day Friday - even if we were willing to pay and change airlines or drive to another airport a few hours away. All flights were booked. We flew standby but nothing until Saturday afternoon. We finally got to MCO at 1030 at night on Saturday!! So we made the cruise but talk about a bit of stress. I know things are different flying from the east but I do not need the headache.

 

[gotomu212]

Just wanted to share my Naples DCL excursion from 2013. My family was the very first ones to step off the ship that morning......and then we were the very last ones to step back on it. Our excursion ran into delays and traffic from Pompeii but the best part was our bus racing up to the little red carpet right next to the gangway and watching the port workers standing there ready to cast off the lines.

 

[Disneyholic]

I agree. Not a question of massive bad luck or not, but one born from personal experience. We are arriving a few days early, enjoying the parks, then heading over to port early on the morning of our cruise. Here is the story:

My family usually takes the Auto-Train from Virginia to Florida. We used to give ourselves a couple of extra hours "just in case" when we drive from our home in New York. A few years ago, there was a fatal accident on I-95 South in Delaware that closed the highway for over 10 hours. We didn't realize what was happening until we were stuck in the middle of the traffic snarl and beyond an exit point. We ended up making the Auto-Train as a "last call" but just barely. There were people who didn't give themselves the extra time we did who missed the train entirely. The whole way down on the train we heard stories about people missing the train and trying to make alternate arrangements (driving the entire way, taking the train another day, etc.) .

Our stress level was through the roof as we thought we were about to miss our vacation. The kids were crying - they knew we were upset and frantic despite our best efforts to put on a good face for them. Several cocktails were most definitely had once we were safely on board the train. It was not the way we wanted our vacation to start. The next time we took the train, we left several hours early and we checked the traffic religiously on the way down so we had alternate routes ready to go. Of course, there were no problems and we got to Virginia super-early, so we enjoyed a nice, stress-free lunch and did a little exploring near the station.

My wife and I still talk about that incident and how we would rather wait hours than stress ourselves out like that again.

This is why our last trip on the AutoTrain and from now on we are driving down the night before and staying at a hotel in the area. The stress of not getting to the train and maybe missing our cruise or our plans at WDW is not worth it. We went on a cruise in April 2015 and left Thursday night and because of accidents and construction we didn't get to our hotel until 1am. If we had waited til the next day to drive down to the AutoTrain we probably would have missed it. We would have had to drive down because we were scheduled to be at AKLConcierge for Saturday and leaving on the cruise on Sunday. we had a very stressfree trip that time. We also leave early to get to port from WDW even though it would be fun to go to the parks one last time. I don't want to end up backed up on the way down and missing the cruise. I would rather be at the port early and wait than be in traffic pulling up as the ship pulls out.

 

[SuperDry]

our friends missed their RCCL ship. ... I remember the Mom calling my Mom just frantic because she couldn't believe they weren't going to hold the ship for her. ... She said she followed the advice of her travel agent who told her the airlines don't let anyone miss a cruise. Wrong!

That was exceedingly bad advice, especially from a travel agent (I hope your friends fired the TA). But there is partial responsibility on the passenger's part for believing what is on the face of it not possible: how could an airline possibly "not let anyone miss a cruise?" If an airplane has a mechanical issue, the time required to fix it isn't dependent on who's on board and whether they have a cruise to catch. They could easily be at a non-hub airport where spare aircraft, parts, crew, or alternate flights are not readily available. Is the airline supposed to fly a broken plane in that case just because someone has a cruise to catch?

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

fly in the day(night) before.

An Ocean view room on a western Fantasy cruise is at least $4,500.

Do you really want to risk all of that on the extra $150 for a room? There might be a vacation/work day in there for Friday as well.

• Take a night flight - out by 9pm arrive before mid night at MCO,
• spend the night at an hotel near the airport,
• take the hotel shuttle back to MCO,
• catch the DCL bus to the port,
• board the Fantasy by 1pm,
• enjoy the experience , not the stress of flying in the morning of!!!!

Couldn't agree more. I look at the cost of the hotel the night prior to the cruise as part of the cruise cost, like trip insurance. But for us, it's WDW prior to the cruise. Really gets you into the "Disney feeling."

 

[mommakacie]

Thanks for the sage advice. I'm definitely NOT planning to cut things close, but we don't want to come from NYC to Florida the night before. Right now, we're booked on a flight that gets to MCO at 10 am, so it would take some massive bad luck to keep us from getting on the boat by 3:30. But it sounds like the smart cruisers agree that coming in the night before is the only way to go.

I can tell you from experience - we arrived at MCO the day of our cruise in December around 10am. They took us right to a bus and we were at the port around 1130. We had plenty of time. I was so thankful, but a bit nervous - until we made it on the bus So, sometimes, things do work out the way they're supposed to!

 

[disney1990]

What happens if you miss your flight -- same thing, you are out of luck.

 

[Ajojo]

My first Disney Med cruise several years ago I was scheduled to leave Houston at 8:00 am to fly to Atlanta-to-Barcelona the day of the cruise. A tropical storm moved in and my flight was delayed. Airport rep told me that we had to leave by 2:30 to make my Atlanta connection to BCN. Plane started boarding at 2:22. Got to Atlanta and my connection was at the other end of the airport. I tell you, I was running, dragging my wheeled bag and made it to the gate a sweaty mess. I was the last person to board and found someone was in my seat and no room for my bag anywhere. I didnt sleep the whole way, but I made it to BCN. Thought for sure my luggage wouldnt make it but it did. I felt tired and stressed for the first sea day

 

[ScooterPie]

On the September 2013 PC cruise there was a bus load of us on a DCL excursion that was very late coming back. Many officers were waiting on us constantly looking at their watches telling us to please hurry. Had it not been a DCL excursion but a private one I feel assured we would most likely have been left behind. We were over 30 minutes past due.

I felt sorry for our tour guide as he kept saying, "I'm going to be fired." It truly was not his fault. There were two women who continuously took their time, 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there, boarding the bus between stops. I will only do DCL excursions.

 

[bumbershoot]

What happens if you miss your flight -- same thing, you are out of luck.

Well that's not actually true. Airlines will help you out to a great extent. There's generally another flight leaving after yours, and they'll get you on it if there's room, or help you out. They won't let you just change things, but if you miss it through no fault of your own, you don't just say "oh well" and go home.

And in fact that's being discussed; if there's a flight delay, if a flight is missed, etc, they'll get you on another one. The next one just might not get you to the CRUISE ontime.

 

[SuperDry]

Well that's not actually true. Airlines will help you out to a great extent. There's generally another flight leaving after yours, and they'll get you on it if there's room, or help you out. They won't let you just change things, but if you miss it through no fault of your own, you don't just say "oh well" and go home.

And in fact that's being discussed; if there's a flight delay, if a flight is missed, etc, they'll get you on another one. The next one just might not get you to the CRUISE ontime.

Well, of course. But I have to disagree with one of the posters above that said that they had a planned 10am day-of-sailing arrival and that it would take something extraordinary to miss the boat. Yes, if you just miss a flight, they'll generally let you on the next one as a standby passenger, and there generally will be some other option that gets you there within 4 hours. But, what if your original flight gets cancelled, such as for a mechanical or crew issue? Then there are are 100+ passengers in the same position as you - all trying to get to the same place at the same time. And, it's very likely that the airline computer will automatically prioritize their elite passengers ahead of you on any standby list. If you're coming from NYC or Chicago, there may be many other options, but in many cases, it could take the better part of a day (or longer) to accommodate 100+ passengers in the event of a cancellation.

 

[bumbershoot]

But I have to disagree with one of the posters above that said that they had a planned 10am day-of-sailing arrival and that it would take something extraordinary to miss the boat.

OK, so you meant "if you miss your flight and miss the boat, you're out of luck". Now I get it. 100% agree. I was responding to what I read, that if people miss flights they are out of luck...I ended it in my head with "out of luck for the flight".


I sat on a plane for quite awhile as they fixed the DOORS, once. If it had been a flight with only a few hours time between landing and all-aboard I would have been sweating bullets!

 

[MelSpees]

On the September 2013 PC cruise there was a bus load of us on a DCL excursion that was very late coming back. Many officers were waiting on us constantly looking at their watches telling us to please hurry. Had it not been a DCL excursion but a private one I feel assured we would most likely have been left behind. We were over 30 minutes past due.

I felt sorry for our tour guide as he kept saying, "I'm going to be fired." It truly was not his fault. There were two women who continuously took their time, 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there, boarding the bus between stops. I will only do DCL excursions.

We were on that bus too! We tried to let everyone now it wasn't the guide's fault. We were worried for him too. There were also some people who just had to get their tequila too.

 

[ScooterPie]

Well and remember the guy that couldn't find his girlfriend too? Took her awhile to get back on the bus. I believe she was from Columbia. The ship's officers were none too happy.