First Time Passenger Stuck With Late Flight Cruise Line Booked
There is nothing better than finally booking a cruise — especially your first one!
When planning everything out, cruise lines often offer to help with transportation — including providing shuttles to ports and even helping with booking airfare.
This typically gives passengers peace of mind as they are working directly with the companies to ensure they get to the ship in a timely manner. Well, that is not always the case.
Unfortunately, for one first-time cruiser, booking airfare through the cruise line has become a major source of anxiety — and the cruise has not even happened yet!
This soon-to-be Norwegian Cruise Line passenger shared their experience on Reddit, venting about the terrible timing of the flight chosen by the company.
The poster explained that they had booked the cruise, along with some friends, with a departure from Seoul, South Korea, and would visit Japan.
Then, they quickly found out that the flights NCL chose arrives just 90 minutes before boarding closes on the ship — a very small time frame that would make any cruiser anxious.
“So, we would have to be right on time, go through customs, take a cab to the port, etc. We called NCL and they told us it’s our responsibility to arrive before the last call to board. This doesn’t seem right,” complained the poster.
Fellow cruisers took to the comments to share their frustration and chimed in on why they hardly book flights directly through the cruise lines due to similar experiences.
“Trick with ncl is set you fly deviation date the day before and get a hotel. They’ll usually accommodate the day before flight if cost is cheaper. NCL isn’t looking at the time, they’re looking at the price,” added one person.
“I’ll never understand why people book their flights thru NCL.. it’s not free and it’s ALWAYS costs more than booking your own flight,” another added.
The poster replied to some comments, adding that their family friends who were going with them had been on many cruises — and offered to handle everything, leading to the stressful flight booking.
Unfortunately, the cruise line has informed the passenger that they are fully responsible for getting to the ship on time, and that cancelling and rebooking the flights would cost an additional $4k — which the poster noted was not worth it.
Cruise Line Airfare & Missing Ships
Many cruise lines give the option to add “free” flights when booking a cruise — and for some, it might be a no-brainer.
Well, free should actually say “fee,” as cruise companies will often overcharge for the cost of the flight while simultaneously booking the cheapest one.
NCL’s website outlines the booking rules, stating “Customization is only available up to 110 days prior to sailing and is not combinable with any air promotion offered. Once tickets are issued, flights cannot be customized.”
This time frame does not allow for the flexibility that booking your own airfare would — and is why situations like flights being booked extremely close to the ship embarking on its voyage may happen more often than most passengers would like.
Read Also: What Happens If You Miss Your Cruise Ship?
The cruiser community at large agrees that booking your own flights is also a better way to avoid missing the ship — with best practices suggesting arriving at least one day prior to departure, allowing for enough time if there are delays or cancellations.
Take it from someone who has missed a cruise ship — you do not want it to happen to you.
Missing the ship at the original departure point in most cases leads to being unable to join the cruise. In my situation, my family and I missed the ship while we were about four ports in — and three days and two countries later we made it back on.
If you are anxious about being late, try to plan to be early so you have extra time — you never know when you might need it.
Whether the passenger, and their friends will make it to their ship on time is yet to be seen — but rest assured they will never book flights through a cruise line again given a choice.
First Time Passenger Stuck With Late Flight Cruise Line Booked