Fly on day of cruise, or travel early?

November 4, 8:01 AMBaltimore Cruise Travel ExaminerStephen Mencik

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Don't miss your flight, or worse, miss your cruise.

So you've decided to take a cruise, but you're not sailing from your home port of Baltimore. Instead you are sailing from Port Canaveral, Tampa, or maybe even Long Beach, California. When do you plan to fly or drive to the port you are cruising from?

If you are flying to South Florida, many people choose to fly the morning of the cruise. You pack the night before, get up early and catch your flight down to Florida. If all goes according to plan you arrive about 11AM and catch your transfer to the port and get onboard by 1PM in time for lunch. Now, what happens if the weather is bad in Baltimore or there is a mechanical problem and your plane is delayed? You sit in the airport and fret and hope that you'll make it to the ship on time. Hopefully you have travel insurance that covers trip delay, but that's a topic for another article.

Why put yourself through all that? There are a number of hotels that now offer Stay, Park, and Cruise deals. You fly or drive there the day before. Spend a night in the hotel relaxing. Sleep late if you want. Then, the hotel shuttle takes you to the port. If you drove, your car stays safely parked at the hotel. When your ship returns, they take you back to the hotel to get your car, or back to the airport to catch your flight home. About a year ago I had a client that planned to drive from Baltimore to Port Canaveral and arrive just in time to board the ship. He planned to park at the pier. I was able to convince them to leave a bit earlier and spend the night at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Cocoa Beach. For a price that was less than the cost of parking at the pier they were able to get a good night's rest and transportation to and from the ship, while leaving their car parked safely. They were very thankful for the suggestion when they returned.

My family cruised this past summer on the Carnival Legend out of Tampa. We stayed at the Chase Suites hotel using their Snooze and Cruise package. We were satisfied with the room and the service. It was much better than trying to drive to Tampa just in time to board. This weekend, I will be flying with my wife to Long Beach, California to board the Carnival Splendour on Sunday. We are staying at the Quality Inn in Long Beach, as they have free shuttle service to and from Long Beach airport and to and from the Long Beach pier. It will allow us to fly the day before, get a good night's sleep, and get to the pier at boarding time.

Next time you cruise, please consider arriving the day before so you don't have any worries of getting to the cruise ship on time. Ask your travel agent for recommendations of where to stay so you can get a good deal like these.

Since I will be on the cruise next week, you will not see any articles. I look forward to providing you reviews of the Carnival Splendour and the Mexican Riviera ports when I get back.