It was Christmas 2021, I spontaneously booked a last-minute cruise on Carnival, and in short, I missed it. The long version is much more entertaining.
I arrived at my small regional airport with my luggage and a backpack. I always travel with a backpack or small carry-on bag. As I checked in, the guy tells me that I can’t check my suitcase. I stood there staring at him like “What? Why not?” He looks at his watch and says I’m a minute too late and I’d need to travel with just my backpack. I laughed as I thought he was joking. He didn’t laugh. I stood there dumbfounded. The items I would need wouldn’t fit in my carry-on, and not only that, I’d taken a car service to the airport so it wasn’t like I could leave my luggage in the trunk and go.
I shook my head and said well, can I carry it out and load it up myself? Afterall, it was a small plane and we always have to put our carry-on sized suitcases on a cart for them to load. What would be the difference, besides TSA flagging any liquids larger than 3.5 ounces. He said no again. At this point I’m confused, but it’s the holidays so I take a seat and call the airlines to see what my options are for rebooking since it didn’t seem I’d be leaving out of my regional airport that morning. I checked the closest international airports. For me, that’s BWI and PHL. There was a flight that left PHL around 11:30 am and I had enough time to get there by car… But I didn’t drive and the car rental office wouldn’t be open for 2 more hours. I hired a car to PHL. Arrived in perfect timing to check my bag, go through the security line, and slowly walk to the gate. I thought I was on my way to warm sunny days, no chores and no cooking aboard my cruise. I was still in good spirits despite the morning. And then, I heard “Flight xxx to Miami is delayed, please stay near the gate as we’ll board as soon as we can.”
Another obstacle, and yet I stayed positive and optimistic.
I found a seat nearby and waited. It wasn’t long before they called us to board. Once on the plane, they asked everyone to get seated quickly as there was a small window of time in which the Air Traffic Control was allowing us to take off. Everyone amazingly got settled quickly. Yet we were still not moving from the gate. About 20 minutes in we learned that we were delayed once again. The pilot stated “there is a piece of equipment that has broken down behind the plane preventing us from moving. Sorry, I can’t make this stuff up.” At that point I laughed, because it had been one heck of a morning and I knew we wouldn’t land in time for me to grab my luggage and make it to the cruise port in time. However, I couldn’t get off the plane and stay in Philadelphia. I had to fly all the way to Miami, get a hotel room, and then fly back home the next day. Yes, I even tried to call Carnival to see if they had a cruise I could join the next day but there wasn’t.
What I hope you learned from my unfortunate experience is that it’s important to have travel insurance and that you should always, always plan to arrive at least one day before your cruise!
I promise I now practice what I preach. Worst case scenario I’ll take a red-eye flight so that I’m scheduled to arrive very early in the morning the day of the cruise. By the way, Carnival was nice enough to get me on another cruise a week later but I think that was a rare circumstance and I doubt others would be as lucky, especially since cruises are now at full capacity and selling out well in advance! If you are planning to go on a cruise, feel free to reach out to us to plan your pre- and/or post-cruise hotel stays. You can also get a free quote for travel insurance here.
