Late arrival for checking-in
 

Anyone arrived past the check-in time on Norwegian Cruise Line? If so, did they let you on?

I will be on the Getaway soon and my flight is scheduled to arrive at Fort Lauderdale at 12h30 p.m., the ship is leaving Miami at 4h00 p.m. but they say you have to be onboard two hours before departure time and that they will not let you on after that. I have a transfer voucher with NCL. I wouldn't be worried if it wasn't the fact that you have to be onboard two hours before leaving time.

NCL states all passengers must be onboard 2 hours prior to sailing for security reasons. I don't believe they will bend the rules...otherwise others would mosey on the ship anytime they pleased! I hope you have a plan B! You could call NCL and ask how your transfer voucher would work in your situation.

There is no way you will make it. Change your flight (preferably into Miami).

No -- you <u>definitely</u> need to change your flight. No question. Even landing in Miami that is cutting it too close -- what if your flight were to be delayed?

I see a lot of advice to cruisers to arrive the day before in case something goes wrong with the flight...

Why would you think they would break a rule for you?

It's about an hr. FLL to Miami. Clearly that's cutting it too close. That leaves no room for error.

If they sell you a transfer and the pick up time is your arrival time, you maybe okay if your flight is not delayed.

For me, that's too many if's. I like to arrive at least 1 day ahead, relax and get on the boat.

To everyone - I didn't change my flight, arrived at 12h05 met the Norwegian agent and THEY made us wait for a bus for over half hour. We boarded the ship at 2h15 so I guess rules could be broken after all.

As posted on your other thread -- great that it worked out, and you had a nice cruise. But you were very VERY lucky that your flight wasn't late.

I agree with Janis. Glad it worked out but with such a narrow margin you got lucky this time. In the future I hope you will allow much more time.

I usually take the flight arriving at 9h30am in Miami and returning at 2h30pm but my travel agent told me that the airline wouldn't sell this flight to cruisers if they thought they couldn't board on time and it was $400 cheaper. And, so I didn't worry, my agent had also reserved for a private driver just in case the flight were to be late. I'm glad I didn't have to use him.

A flight being 3-4 hrs. late would be the issue.

You arrived 25 minutes early?

mlgb

Yes I was really going on a cruise and not staying a week in Miami and yes I arrived 25 minutes early. To be exact my flight was scheduled to arrive at 12h27 and we arrived at 12h01.

mlgb

This is an example. Plane left 5 minutes late but still managed to arrive 16 minutes early.


Departure Arrival

Scheduled Time: 4:50 PM, Jun 27 Scheduled Time:8:22 PM,
Actual Time: 4:55 PM, Jun 27 Actual Time: 8:06 PM

They broke the rule only because it was their agent and their bus, so they were responsible. I think if you are an individual, late on your own, if they were not running late, you would be out of luck.

That is certainly true on excursions. If something sponsored by the shop runs late, they are responsible. They say if you are on a ship's excursion, they will wait or make sure you can join the ship, but if you take an excursion on your own and are late, you really are on your own. There are plenty of videos of people running late and being left behind.

Well OP if you want to chance it again because you got lucky this time then good luck. You may want to look into trip insurance but that would cost money. Its up to you.

Glad it worked out - you were very lucky. If you try something like this again, please do not post a rant about how you arrived 5 minutes late, but the gangway was still down and how unfair it was that they would not let you on, and you want compensation.