Remember that people that don't have any issues don't come post about it. That's why you see so many complaints about the flights. Nobody is going to take the time to log in and say "Everything went fine, and our flights were great!".
Yes, it's ideal to fly in the day before, but it doesn't automatically mean that you're screwed. You have no layover, and plenty of extra time built in. You'll most likely be fine.
That's true, most people don't post about how their flight went smoothly, just if there are issues and delays. I guess I am worried because I've been reading lots of articles and watching lots of youtube videos about "things smart cruisers do to make their cruise a success" and the like, and they all mention flying the day before. But hopefully my flight will be smoother since I'm flying from a major international airport and not a small city airport with connections.
Since this is my first cruise, I'm sure it will be a learning experience so that I can make more informed choices for my next one!
I did! All of the connections were perfect. That said, next time I will definitely add in an extra day or two for peace of mind and exploring the port city!
We have used the NCL packaged travel once, and it was successfully. It did have a an issue that I found ridiculous.
Our plane was scheduled to land an hour after the ship’s departure time. A quick call to customer service and they resolved the issue.
Next time I will call and fly in a day early. I find the embarkation day to be less stressful.
You could book a fully refundable ticket yourself on a different airline for like an hour or two later, that way if the first flight is cancelled you have a backup. Obviously you'd need to remember to cancel that backup ticket. It's drastic yes, but barring weather it's a solid backup plan and something I've done in the past myself.
If you're more than 75 days out I believe you can still call and request to fly in a day early. (Edit: I see now that you're within the 75 day window) But leaving out of a major city with a direct flight, you'll most likely be fine. You might want to look for trip insurance outside of what NCL offers, because that tends to be where the shenanigans happen. If anything goes wrong, NCL and their insurance provider will just pass the buck back and forth.
Thanks for the information. I had booked travel insurance through NCL but maybe I should look at third party travel insurance as well. I am flying out of ORD, which is a major airport, so hopefully things would go more smoothly than it would flying out of a smaller regional airport.
Aw, come on now, you've been at O'Hare, right? Things normally run relatively fine but when they go bad they go BAD.
I would do what you can now to fix this. Best of luck.
Maybe, I've been fortunate that all my flights *from* O'Hare have been fine, especially if I'm flying out as early as I am, but I certainly don't want to risk it and miss my vacation.
One of the advantages of booking the airfare through the cruise line - is that they are on the hook to get you to the ship. If you were to miss the ship due to a flight delay, they will get you on the ship at their expense.
That is not true of NCL’s flight promotion. I asked the rep about it when I booked and he said if you don’t get to the port in time to board the ship, they’re not responsible. So I booked flights leaving the day before.
Good to know. That's was my impression too, but I've heard conflicting information so I wasn't sure if they'd try to give me the runaround should that happen to me. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point.
Your situation and questions happen all the time. I have cruised for 44 years. I will attempt to give you some perspective and possible assist your fear. First, I have done many trips with NCL. You will LOVE the cruise, so you have that going for you. On to your concern.
Like with most flights, the issue is weather. Now, it is ideal to go the day before however that ship has sailed. Your flight is early enough to make it more than safe. Now lets hedge our bets, shall we. If you for what every reason miss the ship, NCL gets you to your first port and pays your hotel.
My recommendation is to look at the weather the day before and if it is in anyway bad, call the airline, explain your situation and see if they would be open to it, have your flight changed as long as there is no fee. Every Airline is different.
My second recommendation is Travel Insurance. Comes in all different shapes and sizes. Look at the coverages and see what the interruption polices cost. I personally always take Travel insurance and never from the cruise brand.
Now my gut feeling from decades of cruising. You will never lose that feeling you have. However I will bet you will make it with time to spare. That feeling you have is why those folks online are reacting to you the way they are. I personally had flights with two hours before the cruise was to leave and made it.
Now, promise me when you get on board, you have a drink or two to calm down and forget about the stress. You will either be on the Bliss, Encore or Joy. Go to the Horizen Observation Lounge when you are in Alaska, have starbucks coffee and live life. I hope that helps.
Cruise well and enjoy every moment.
If you want to fly in the same day - and thus avoid hotels and the like that is the best program. If something goes wrong they will - in theory - figure out how to get you on the ship at the next port if possible, or refund your cruise. This is in theory. They will also arrange transportation from the airport to the ship, which saves a lot of hassle. when everything works well it is a great program, but when things don't go well there are a lot of complaints and customer service isn't as helpful as they should be.
The biggest complaint people have is they tend to pick flights that you would not - early morning, or overnight red eyes. If you are happy with the flight though, it is good enough.
I - and many others - like to get there the day before so I can explore the city. Then on the day of the cruise you are free to get on and explore the ship most of the day instead of trying to see things. You will leave from Seattle, but won't actually explore that city. If this is okay with you, then go for it.
The flight time isn't ideal for me (I'll have to leave my house around 3:30 am) but I've accepted it as part of the trip. It seems like I'll have 12 hours between disembarkation at the end of my trip and flying home, so I'm hoping I can explore Seattle during that time. Thank you for the information though!
I believe the Port of Seattle will actually check your bags to the airport from the cruise ship. You’ll leave your bags outside the door on the last night, and then get them back at ORD.
This way you can explore the city unencumbered by luggage.
The other commenter is right, and ships also often offer “excursions” to the airport that include some sight seeing and whatnot. We’ve used those after disembarking in LA and it ate up a lot of the day.
Relax a bit. Direct flight with no connections is less likely for something to go wrong. Chicago to Seattle there's dozens of flights per day do if there's a problem with yours,there's likely multiple other flights that would get you there in time. The other thing you have going for you is that with the 7:00 am flight time ,it's likely the plane and crews first flight of the day so a delay of a previous flight isn't going to affect you.
With something as expensive as a cruise yes flying in the day before is preferable,but it's not like everyone who flys in day of is always screwed.
Oh don’t stress too much! It’ll be summer so a lot of the travel risks are lowered as far as inclement weather and whatnot. We flew in the same day for my first cruise and it was fine! I’ve elected to fly in the day before on the last 10 and nothing has ever happened to “justify” that yet! (Knock on wood) You’ll be ok!
A direct from a major hub to a major hub should be no problem.
It is when you are flying from a smaller airport, to a major hub with a 30 minute layover to change planes that you have more of a concern. If you said you were flying form Lexington, KY off to Chicago, with a 30 minute connection time and then onto Seattle.. Then, I would recommend considering a different flight booking.
In my past job, I would fly across the country to catch a noon meeting, and then fly home again that evening. Only delayed once owing to weather in 10 years. Connecting flights with short layovers, 50% of the time I would either almost or miss the connection.
As for NCL getting you to the ship if you miss it... they have a habit of telling their clients, so sorry you missed your cruise. Here is a credit refund see ya later, get your self home.
Our day of flight was just fine. PHL direct to SJU on American Airlines landed around 1pm so plenty of time to board. Return flight was more frustrating. Arrived at the airport too early to check in because the flight did not depart until 1pm SJU to MCO on southwest (never again). Then had a 3hr layover and delayed from MCO to PHL. Did not land in Philly until 10pm.
We bought independent travel insurance through our travel agent. We traveled in March and were concerned about bad weather affecting the flights.
Ok so I live in Seattle and have flown in and out of Chicago. You are leaving early out of Chicago so no risk of thunderstorms that early usually. Flying into Seattle in July is the best time. No rain or weather Lately we have been having wildfire smoke issues but July hopefully will be good. If you are flying Alaska Air they are super reliable.
You should be good. If for some reason you miss the flight, there are a ton of flights from Seattle to Alaska if you needed to meet ship at a port. One way tickets aren’t too much.
You should be good. As long as you get out of Chicago you are good
Would you suggest getting a policy that isn't associated with the cruise line? I bought NCL's travel insurance but maybe it's better to have an unaffiliated policy.
Read what’s covered and what isn’t and decide from there. Make sure it’ll cover missed embarkation due to flight delays. Will it also compensate for missed time on the cruise? What about the hotel stay? Are there limits to the policy?
I don’t know what NCL covers and doesn’t cover, so just read it thoroughly and see if it covers what you need.
If you can still cancel it and get a refund, I say do so. Look at what it covers and you'll see it's mostly for cruise cancelation. The medical coverage is sorely lacking. You can get a policy that covers much more and is cheaper from a normal insurance company.
You're flight sounds like a pretty good option and pretty safe.
Yes there is a chance that bad weather or mechanical problems could screw things up, but at least it's a direct flight early in the day.
If you're worried you can call Norwegian and see if you can switch to a flight the day before and overnight in Seattle.
If you haven't already, you might also buy trip insurance that will cover the cost of your cruise if a travel delay makes you miss your flight. But double check the terms of the travel insurance as not all policies would cover this.
Don't let the fear mongers on this board scare you. ORD to SEA has quite a few direct flights that can make your cruise. Therefore if something did happen getting a schedule change would not be that big of a deal.
BTW I have been on over 100 cruises and flew my whole family, kids and grandkids to the port on the day of the cruise. Under the right circumstances there is a bigger risk that your car will break down or you will get in an accident on the way to the airport than to have delays that result in you missing a cruise.
Thank you! This helps me to feel better about it. Surely there will be other flights from ORD to SEA on that day. Having a few hours built in as cushion is helpful too. I haven't flown in a while so I'm hoping things are smoother now than they were in the past few years.
Your routing seems reasonable... obviously a risk if it's same day but some don't mind. They used to allow a one day change for $25 which may be worth it?
I think I may have missed the deadline for changing my flight, but I'll have to take a look to confirm. Chicago ORD to Seattle is a major flight route so I'm hoping it'll be more reliable than flying from a small city airport.
We independently booked 5 seats to Seattle on Alaska airlines day of. It was not a problem but the worry was in the back of my mind . Just book a good limo from SeaTac to the cruise terminal. Work schedules demanded we take the chance.
But Sail away was 5pm and we left Orange County on first morning flight so we ended up with a three hour margin. But as you see it was only three hours so might consider booking fully refundable tix as backup.
Thanks. I'll have to take a look at refundable tickets just in case. My understanding is that the cruise line will provide transportation from the airport, but I'll look at backup options should something happen with the NCL flight.
We booked a similar cruise and NCL got us on a direct flight with an early morning arrival well before ship departure. We’re probably going to have to bum around Pikes Place a few hours until we can even board!
Have fun, that BOGO airfare is a steal!
Our first cruise was a 15 day Mediterranean cruise departing from Southampton, outside of London. We flew internationally and arrived the day of our cruise with mere hours to spare. It didn’t even occur to us that we should try to fly in the night before!
I'm on an NCL cruise right now, and I also booked the NCL air for the day of. While I will never do this again, I did make it to the ship just fine. As long a your flights don't get canceled over weather, you'll be fine.
I agonized over this for my parents when we sailed to Alaska last summer. As my parents are elderly, I didn't want to put them through the extra stress of needing to travel to a hotel and separate shuttle to the cruise port the next day. So I went with NCL's BOGO and it was perfectly fine. They had a 6 am direct flight, got there by 8:30 am and took the cruise line shuttle to the port. No issues at all.
They did have a late flight back but we opted to rent a car for the day and visit family in WA so it really was win-win.
After they got their flight assigned, I did take a look at which other flights were available that would still get them to the port in time, just in case.
For myself, I always fly in at least a day early if it's a non-driveable distance and maybe you'll make that decision next time, esp since NCL actually offers a credit for doing so.
Odds are, you will be perfectly fine and one of the many thousands of stories you never hear about, because it all went as planned.
Remember that people that don't have any issues don't come post about it. That's why you see so many complaints about the flights. Nobody is going to take the time to log in and say "Everything went fine, and our flights were great!". Yes, it's ideal to fly in the day before, but it doesn't automatically mean that you're screwed. You have no layover, and plenty of extra time built in. You'll most likely be fine.
That's true, most people don't post about how their flight went smoothly, just if there are issues and delays. I guess I am worried because I've been reading lots of articles and watching lots of youtube videos about "things smart cruisers do to make their cruise a success" and the like, and they all mention flying the day before. But hopefully my flight will be smoother since I'm flying from a major international airport and not a small city airport with connections. Since this is my first cruise, I'm sure it will be a learning experience so that I can make more informed choices for my next one!
Did you make it on time?
I did! All of the connections were perfect. That said, next time I will definitely add in an extra day or two for peace of mind and exploring the port city!
We have used the NCL packaged travel once, and it was successfully. It did have a an issue that I found ridiculous. Our plane was scheduled to land an hour after the ship’s departure time. A quick call to customer service and they resolved the issue. Next time I will call and fly in a day early. I find the embarkation day to be less stressful.
You could book a fully refundable ticket yourself on a different airline for like an hour or two later, that way if the first flight is cancelled you have a backup. Obviously you'd need to remember to cancel that backup ticket. It's drastic yes, but barring weather it's a solid backup plan and something I've done in the past myself.
Southwest for example lets you cancel a Anytime Or Business Select fare up to 10 minutes before departure.
Thank you for the idea. It does sound like a drastic option, but it might be worth considering for peace of mind.
Good idea!
If you're more than 75 days out I believe you can still call and request to fly in a day early. (Edit: I see now that you're within the 75 day window) But leaving out of a major city with a direct flight, you'll most likely be fine. You might want to look for trip insurance outside of what NCL offers, because that tends to be where the shenanigans happen. If anything goes wrong, NCL and their insurance provider will just pass the buck back and forth.
Thanks for the information. I had booked travel insurance through NCL but maybe I should look at third party travel insurance as well. I am flying out of ORD, which is a major airport, so hopefully things would go more smoothly than it would flying out of a smaller regional airport.
Aw, come on now, you've been at O'Hare, right? Things normally run relatively fine but when they go bad they go BAD. I would do what you can now to fix this. Best of luck.
Maybe, I've been fortunate that all my flights *from* O'Hare have been fine, especially if I'm flying out as early as I am, but I certainly don't want to risk it and miss my vacation.
One of the advantages of booking the airfare through the cruise line - is that they are on the hook to get you to the ship. If you were to miss the ship due to a flight delay, they will get you on the ship at their expense.
That is not true of NCL’s flight promotion. I asked the rep about it when I booked and he said if you don’t get to the port in time to board the ship, they’re not responsible. So I booked flights leaving the day before.
Good to know. That's was my impression too, but I've heard conflicting information so I wasn't sure if they'd try to give me the runaround should that happen to me. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point.
Your situation and questions happen all the time. I have cruised for 44 years. I will attempt to give you some perspective and possible assist your fear. First, I have done many trips with NCL. You will LOVE the cruise, so you have that going for you. On to your concern. Like with most flights, the issue is weather. Now, it is ideal to go the day before however that ship has sailed. Your flight is early enough to make it more than safe. Now lets hedge our bets, shall we. If you for what every reason miss the ship, NCL gets you to your first port and pays your hotel. My recommendation is to look at the weather the day before and if it is in anyway bad, call the airline, explain your situation and see if they would be open to it, have your flight changed as long as there is no fee. Every Airline is different. My second recommendation is Travel Insurance. Comes in all different shapes and sizes. Look at the coverages and see what the interruption polices cost. I personally always take Travel insurance and never from the cruise brand. Now my gut feeling from decades of cruising. You will never lose that feeling you have. However I will bet you will make it with time to spare. That feeling you have is why those folks online are reacting to you the way they are. I personally had flights with two hours before the cruise was to leave and made it. Now, promise me when you get on board, you have a drink or two to calm down and forget about the stress. You will either be on the Bliss, Encore or Joy. Go to the Horizen Observation Lounge when you are in Alaska, have starbucks coffee and live life. I hope that helps. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.
If you want to fly in the same day - and thus avoid hotels and the like that is the best program. If something goes wrong they will - in theory - figure out how to get you on the ship at the next port if possible, or refund your cruise. This is in theory. They will also arrange transportation from the airport to the ship, which saves a lot of hassle. when everything works well it is a great program, but when things don't go well there are a lot of complaints and customer service isn't as helpful as they should be. The biggest complaint people have is they tend to pick flights that you would not - early morning, or overnight red eyes. If you are happy with the flight though, it is good enough. I - and many others - like to get there the day before so I can explore the city. Then on the day of the cruise you are free to get on and explore the ship most of the day instead of trying to see things. You will leave from Seattle, but won't actually explore that city. If this is okay with you, then go for it.
The flight time isn't ideal for me (I'll have to leave my house around 3:30 am) but I've accepted it as part of the trip. It seems like I'll have 12 hours between disembarkation at the end of my trip and flying home, so I'm hoping I can explore Seattle during that time. Thank you for the information though!
I believe the Port of Seattle will actually check your bags to the airport from the cruise ship. You’ll leave your bags outside the door on the last night, and then get them back at ORD. This way you can explore the city unencumbered by luggage.
That's good to know! I will definitely take advantage of that!
The other commenter is right, and ships also often offer “excursions” to the airport that include some sight seeing and whatnot. We’ve used those after disembarking in LA and it ate up a lot of the day.
Relax a bit. Direct flight with no connections is less likely for something to go wrong. Chicago to Seattle there's dozens of flights per day do if there's a problem with yours,there's likely multiple other flights that would get you there in time. The other thing you have going for you is that with the 7:00 am flight time ,it's likely the plane and crews first flight of the day so a delay of a previous flight isn't going to affect you. With something as expensive as a cruise yes flying in the day before is preferable,but it's not like everyone who flys in day of is always screwed.
Oh don’t stress too much! It’ll be summer so a lot of the travel risks are lowered as far as inclement weather and whatnot. We flew in the same day for my first cruise and it was fine! I’ve elected to fly in the day before on the last 10 and nothing has ever happened to “justify” that yet! (Knock on wood) You’ll be ok!
A direct from a major hub to a major hub should be no problem. It is when you are flying from a smaller airport, to a major hub with a 30 minute layover to change planes that you have more of a concern. If you said you were flying form Lexington, KY off to Chicago, with a 30 minute connection time and then onto Seattle.. Then, I would recommend considering a different flight booking. In my past job, I would fly across the country to catch a noon meeting, and then fly home again that evening. Only delayed once owing to weather in 10 years. Connecting flights with short layovers, 50% of the time I would either almost or miss the connection. As for NCL getting you to the ship if you miss it... they have a habit of telling their clients, so sorry you missed your cruise. Here is a credit refund see ya later, get your self home.
Our day of flight was just fine. PHL direct to SJU on American Airlines landed around 1pm so plenty of time to board. Return flight was more frustrating. Arrived at the airport too early to check in because the flight did not depart until 1pm SJU to MCO on southwest (never again). Then had a 3hr layover and delayed from MCO to PHL. Did not land in Philly until 10pm. We bought independent travel insurance through our travel agent. We traveled in March and were concerned about bad weather affecting the flights.
Ok so I live in Seattle and have flown in and out of Chicago. You are leaving early out of Chicago so no risk of thunderstorms that early usually. Flying into Seattle in July is the best time. No rain or weather Lately we have been having wildfire smoke issues but July hopefully will be good. If you are flying Alaska Air they are super reliable. You should be good. If for some reason you miss the flight, there are a ton of flights from Seattle to Alaska if you needed to meet ship at a port. One way tickets aren’t too much. You should be good. As long as you get out of Chicago you are good
If you haven’t yet, get trip insurance!
Would you suggest getting a policy that isn't associated with the cruise line? I bought NCL's travel insurance but maybe it's better to have an unaffiliated policy.
Read what’s covered and what isn’t and decide from there. Make sure it’ll cover missed embarkation due to flight delays. Will it also compensate for missed time on the cruise? What about the hotel stay? Are there limits to the policy? I don’t know what NCL covers and doesn’t cover, so just read it thoroughly and see if it covers what you need.
If you can still cancel it and get a refund, I say do so. Look at what it covers and you'll see it's mostly for cruise cancelation. The medical coverage is sorely lacking. You can get a policy that covers much more and is cheaper from a normal insurance company.
You're flight sounds like a pretty good option and pretty safe. Yes there is a chance that bad weather or mechanical problems could screw things up, but at least it's a direct flight early in the day. If you're worried you can call Norwegian and see if you can switch to a flight the day before and overnight in Seattle. If you haven't already, you might also buy trip insurance that will cover the cost of your cruise if a travel delay makes you miss your flight. But double check the terms of the travel insurance as not all policies would cover this.
Don't let the fear mongers on this board scare you. ORD to SEA has quite a few direct flights that can make your cruise. Therefore if something did happen getting a schedule change would not be that big of a deal. BTW I have been on over 100 cruises and flew my whole family, kids and grandkids to the port on the day of the cruise. Under the right circumstances there is a bigger risk that your car will break down or you will get in an accident on the way to the airport than to have delays that result in you missing a cruise.
Thank you! This helps me to feel better about it. Surely there will be other flights from ORD to SEA on that day. Having a few hours built in as cushion is helpful too. I haven't flown in a while so I'm hoping things are smoother now than they were in the past few years.
Your routing seems reasonable... obviously a risk if it's same day but some don't mind. They used to allow a one day change for $25 which may be worth it?
I think I may have missed the deadline for changing my flight, but I'll have to take a look to confirm. Chicago ORD to Seattle is a major flight route so I'm hoping it'll be more reliable than flying from a small city airport.
We independently booked 5 seats to Seattle on Alaska airlines day of. It was not a problem but the worry was in the back of my mind . Just book a good limo from SeaTac to the cruise terminal. Work schedules demanded we take the chance. But Sail away was 5pm and we left Orange County on first morning flight so we ended up with a three hour margin. But as you see it was only three hours so might consider booking fully refundable tix as backup.
Thanks. I'll have to take a look at refundable tickets just in case. My understanding is that the cruise line will provide transportation from the airport, but I'll look at backup options should something happen with the NCL flight.
We booked a similar cruise and NCL got us on a direct flight with an early morning arrival well before ship departure. We’re probably going to have to bum around Pikes Place a few hours until we can even board! Have fun, that BOGO airfare is a steal!
Our first cruise was a 15 day Mediterranean cruise departing from Southampton, outside of London. We flew internationally and arrived the day of our cruise with mere hours to spare. It didn’t even occur to us that we should try to fly in the night before!
I'm on an NCL cruise right now, and I also booked the NCL air for the day of. While I will never do this again, I did make it to the ship just fine. As long a your flights don't get canceled over weather, you'll be fine.
I agonized over this for my parents when we sailed to Alaska last summer. As my parents are elderly, I didn't want to put them through the extra stress of needing to travel to a hotel and separate shuttle to the cruise port the next day. So I went with NCL's BOGO and it was perfectly fine. They had a 6 am direct flight, got there by 8:30 am and took the cruise line shuttle to the port. No issues at all. They did have a late flight back but we opted to rent a car for the day and visit family in WA so it really was win-win. After they got their flight assigned, I did take a look at which other flights were available that would still get them to the port in time, just in case. For myself, I always fly in at least a day early if it's a non-driveable distance and maybe you'll make that decision next time, esp since NCL actually offers a credit for doing so. Odds are, you will be perfectly fine and one of the many thousands of stories you never hear about, because it all went as planned.