Ecstasy has had a medical emergency onboard and had to return to Cancun. This has obviously delayed the sailing for tomorrow. If you're traveling on her tomorrow you'll want to contact your T/A or Carnival for details on when to arrive at the pier.

Another good reason to have insurance. The only reason for most ships to have to re-route for medical emergency is a passenger with no insurance or ability to pay for the evac flight. They are most often handled by an outside party that requires payment before dispatch.

Neil

Thanks Neil for passing that along.

The current ETA is 11:30 AM to arrive in Galveston.

This is also an example of a recent post I made about booking early flights and ships arriving late. If you booked through CCL they will make the arrangements.

If someone booked their own they are SOL unless they have insurance for this.

I am going on this ship June 30. Does anyone have current pictures or info they want to share on this ship?

quote:

Originally posted by IslandCruz:
Thanks Neil for passing that along.

The current ETA is 11:30 AM to arrive in Galveston.

This is also an example of a recent post I made about booking early flights and ships arriving late. If you booked through CCL they will make the arrangements.

If someone booked their own they are SOL unless they have insurance for this.

The only good thing about booking with the cruiseline is that someone else handle the arrangements.

Booking through the cruiseline is expensive and for what you save, you can book yourself, get the most direct route and have enough money left over for travel insurance and lunch at the airport in case your ship is delayed by a few hours. Carnival books flights that are best for them, not necessarily best for the passengers.

IBCRUZIN',

I couldn't agree more. They pay me to sell their air and I still advise everyone who asks they should really make their own arrangements. Not only is it a better value to find your own air all the myths about the security of booking with the cruiselines is just that a myth. Insurance is your only protection. I have people call me all the time who say I want to add cruise air because if the flight is delayed I want them to have to be responsible for getting me to the ship.

In the late winter storms I had dozens if not hundreds of clients affected in Denver, NYC and other airports. The folks stuck sitting on the floor of the Denver airport for 2-3 days didn't much care whether they booked air through the cruiseline or on their own. There was no way out and they weren't getting to the ship.

Read all that fine print on your ticket pack or eDocs sometime. It lets the cruise line off the hook completely for any air issues and places the responsibility back on the airlines even if you book air with the cruiseline. You pay more, get whatever flight they want to provide (perhaps multiple stops and transfers) and if you don't like what they provide you can pay an air deviation fee to get it changed. Well... you can if there are any other flight available when they actually book your flight 3 weeks before your sailing. The airlines block space for the cruiselines for air through contract. What flights and routes do you think they block? They hold the number of flights left after everyone else has booked the desirable air. What didn't sell they give to the cruiseline to pass on to you at an incredibly marked up price.

Make your own air arrangements and follow the advice I've seen provided by Dave here a number of times and come in the day before if possible. If not at least give yourself 5 hours or more between arrival and ship departure. Same on the return flight, give it at least 5 hours. If you cruise enough, at some point you be very happy you didn't try to cut things too close.

Cheers, Neil

I agree about the pricing. I usually book my own early and then late as well. My thinking is if you are going to fly and cut it close let them be responsible.

I am always in learning mode. Believe me, Dave and I are on the same page with this. I even drive down a day early! I am not as concerned with getting back

Thanks Neil! I knew I encouraged you to hang around here for a reason..just to pick your brain..j/k

We have a cruise out of Miami booked in Jan /08.
I have booked the Air/ Cruise package directly from Carnival at what seems to me as a pretty good deal. (Not sure on this though) I have been researching online flight costs through airlines available from Canadian cities and as far as I can tell I have pretty good deal. ( Almost as much to fly as to cruise) They will be flying us in the night before and putting us up in a Hotel.

Do you think as we get closer to January there will still be a chance I can get a better deal on flights? I like the idea of coming in a day early to see Miami and have less chance of missing the boat. But I am a little worried about what time we be flying, how many lay overs etc.

mgades, I'd keep an eye on flight costs. There are a number of internet sites that do a search for lowest fares for you in minutes. I use one called sidestep.com ther's also one called kayak.com and probable dozens of others. They search the airline rates and some of the discount sites for you and pull up all the pricing, lowest to highest. If you're finding rate competitive with the cruise line rates, search again a little closer to your sailing date. I'm normally able to cut the cruiseline rate by somewhere between 30% and 50% in most cases. Same with hotels, you'll wnat to do it with another search instead of with the flight or it will price you a hotel for the entire time between your flight dates. The cruiselines are simply a middle man on these items. They make money, they pay me and others in the industry commissions and you pay for that and the cruiseline rep who meets you in the lobby and more. If it truns out the rate you have through the cruiseline really is a good price don't go to the trouble of changing your reservation. Then you'd have to also work on ground transportation, air, hotel, etc. I find it worth the time for the savings. If no savings let them do all that for you.

Cheers, Neil

IslandCruz, thanks for the confidence. I've enjoyed my short time here at Cruise-Chat. We've really slowed down here at work, the phone is unusually quiet for a weekend. I play here online inbetween calls and emails. Makes my day go so much quicker.

Your welcome, was sincere. I really enjoy and learn from your posts. I know how sales can be, feast or famine at least in real estate. I bet you were not bored during wave season

Salutations,
Dwayne