Getting to the Cruise Port: Flying Same-Day versus Early

If you’re taking a cruise and live close to your departure port, you may drive there, in which case you’ll need to determine where to park. Most cruise ports offer on-site options, although some may require an advance reservation, so consider this before departue day.

If you fly into your cruise departure port, one of the considerations about getting to port is when to plan to arrive. This includes the debatable question of whether you can fly into your departure port the day of your cruise or if it’s best to fly in a day, or even more, prior. We’ll cover the pros and cons (and risks) of attempting a same-day flight below.

If you follow conventional wisdom and arrive a day early, you’ll also need to decide where to stay. I have a series of hotel recommendations by departure port location and those that are ideal specifically for cruisers, that can help in this decision.

Pre-Cruise Flight Options

If you’re a cruiser flying into your departure port, you must decide when you plan to arrive as part of your planning process, whether it’s same-day, the night before, or even more than one night before. Here are some things to consider as you make this decision.

Flying in on the Day of Departure

Flying into your cruise departure port the same day your cruise embarks is a risky venture, but it is doable. In fact, I personally do it often, although I am fully aware of the risks of doing so. The obvious benefit is that you don’t have to spend an extra day or more traveling, which is an important consideration for cruisers with limited PTO at work, childcare needs, or other factors. You also don’t incur the expense of an additional hotel stay. The risk is that a canceled flight or even a lengthy delay can result in missing your cruise. Here are the factors that must be in place for me to risk flying on the day of my cruise:

• I can find a direct flight from my home city to the cruise port. Layovers significantly increase my risk of missing the cruise. And remember, the cruise ship will not wait for you!
• Flights are available early in the morning. I only fly on the same day if I can get an early morning flight, preferably the first one that a particular airline offers, as this minimizes the risk of delays. If I can’t find a flight that gets me there by noon, I won’t risk it.
• It’s a domestic cruise. I would never take this risk for an international cruise.

Another important factor is travel insurance, which I strongly recommend for all travelers, but note that some policies won’t cover a missed cruise if the policyholder booked a same-day flight. Some cruise lines offer flight bookings along with your cruise booking, such as Carnival’s Fly2Fun, which includes some protections against flight delays and cancelations, so this may be a good option as well, although you’ll likely pay more for your flight compared to booking it on your own. While I admittedly fly in on the same day myself, under the above conditions, it can create additional stress and is definitely not advisable for first-timers.

Flying in Early

To reduce your risk of missing a cruise and minimize the stress of the fear of doing so, most cruisers choose to fly in at least one day early before their cruise. This, of course, then requires that travelers find a hotel option close to the cruise port. Selecting the right pre-cruise hotel is such an important topic that I have an entire section of my blog dedicated to the topic here. When looking for a pre-cruise hotel, here’s my advice:

• Decide what you want. Do you just want a place to sleep before your cruise, or are you considering this an extension of your cruise vacation?
• If you’re seeking an extension of your vacation, you might – for instance – search for beachfront hotels at Cocoa Beach rather than hotels in Cape Canaveral when porting out of Port Canaveral.
• Don’t get hung up on cruise shuttle service! Every single day, I see cruisers posting on various cruise message boards asking about “hotels with shuttles to the cruise port,” but the sad reality is that free shuttle-to-port options are few and far between. Many hotels near cruise ports offer shuttle service, but it almost always becomes significantly more expensive (and inconvenient) than using a rideshare service like Uber. You can also comparison shop independent transfer service pricing through an aggregator like this one.
• To save money, I generally try to use points earned from my hotel credit cards, as hotels near cruise ports are generally more expensive than those that are not, or I use a discounted third-party vendor such as Expedia.

Getting to Port

If you choose to stay at a hotel in your port city before your cruise, you’ll need to get to the port the next day. Most cruise lines offer transfer services, but in my experience, it’s almost always more expensive and less convenient than other options such as rideshare services like Uber. For transfer service, I always recommend pricing it out with many third-party providers all at once through an aggregator such as this one, and comparing pricing for all of your options.

Flying Home From a Cruise

Not knowing any better, when I planned my first cruise, I thought I needed to stay in my port city an extra night on the back end of the cruise, but now I know better. As long as you can find a flight that’s reasonably later in the day, in most cases, flying back on the day of disembarkation is the best bet. Most cruise ships return to port early in the morning of the last day, and disembarkation is usually a fast and efficient process, with cruise lines aspiring to get passengers off as soon as possible in order to prepare the ship for the next shipful of passengers embarking later that same day. As such, most cruisers can be off their ship as early as 8 am, although conditions may vary.

A cruise ship cannot disembark until it has been cleared by the local coastal authorities, and for domestic cruises this means the US Coast Guard. This is generally a quick process, although delays can happen. Another exception is medical delays. On a recent sailing on Carnival Mardi Gras, a passenger medical emergency diverted our ship back to Nassau, and as a result, our ship was several hours delayed back to our return to Port Canaveral, and I nearly missed my 11:20 am flight out of the Orlando airport.

Personally, I aim to book return flights home after a cruise around noon. Any sooner and you increase the risk of missing your flight if your ship return is delayed, and you increase the chance of stressing yourself out and being rushed. Anything later in the day, however, creates the problem of figuring out what to do to kill a day in your port city, and here are my suggestions for what to do in that situation.