Go a day early or take a chance with the flight

[lovemummyfairy]

We've booked a family cruise for next year, one week Mediterranean. Cruise leaves from Barcelona so obviously we have to get flights there. Usually book holidays independently but have decided to use travel agent for this as it's a significant cost so wanted added protection/insurance from agent. At time of booking we couldn't book flights as it was too far ahead of time so TA would inform us of those details later. In the meantime DH and I decided it might be better to fly out the day before so no worries about potential flight delays or cancellations stopping us getting to the cruise on time. Also gives us a day to spend in Barcelona which we wouldn't otherwise have. Spoke to TA about it but unfortunately they had just booked our flights with the original date so to change it will incur an admin fee of £350.
DH isn't keen to add to the already large cost of the holiday so thinks we should leave it as is, get the early morning flight and not stress about it.
I'm on the other side of the fence, likely to stress and panic about it until we're safely on the cruise and drive DH mad in the process....which actually might make him pay the extra for the sake of his sanity! 😂
WWYD?

As long as there are a good few hours between your flight's scheduled arrival and the cruise departing then I would chance

£350 (+ hotel etc) is an awful lot to spend as an insurance policy in case the flights is delayed (most flights aren't delayed)

Finances not too much of an issue.. a family cruise for 5 including flights isn't cheap but we can afford it but just trying to justify another £350. DH is very laid back, doesn't get stressed about things like this so if it was just him we'd get the early flight no problem. It's me that's making an issue of it.

Already factoring hotel cost because if we get the early flight we'll stay at the airport hotel anyway.

What time is your flight scheduled to arrive and what time does your cruise depart?

There is plenty of time between flight arrival and cruise departure and apparently Barcelona Airport is only 20mins transfer to the port. I wasn't worried about this until a few weeks ago when I saw all the Easyjet fiasco at the start of the holidays....got me thinking if the same happened to us....and our flights are with Easyjet!!

So what happens if there is a problem with your flights that day? What's the back-up plan?

What's the time difference between your flight arrival time and cruise departure time?

Cross post - if there's plenty of time I'd leave it and make sure you have good travel insurance.

If it's part of a package and the flight is included they'll get you on the cruise even with an issue - I would be reluctant to pay 350 for admin.

If you have booked it as a package is the travel agent responsible for refund or flying you to next destination if you do miss your cruise?

How much is “plenty of time” between flight arrival and cruise departure - 2hours, 5 hours etc?

Sorry I don't know how to do the individual reply thing so will answer generally...

Not going in August, May half term. But yes, family of 5 is never cheap...wherever we go! Usually have to call hotels direct to make a booking so we can get family rooms etc.

Apparently if there is any problem it's the travel company's responsibility to get us on to the cruise at some point,or we get refund, whatever depending on the circumstances. I'm not worried about not being compensated in the event of that happening but just don't want any hassle or stress messing it up.
There is plenty of time from flight to cruise, I think we arrive about 10/11am and need to be at the port by 4ish.

There is no way I would arrive on the day the cruise leaves - but I am one of those who gets the airport 3 hours early too!!
If affordable and will give you peace of mind definitely go the day before, it will be a nicer start to the holiday than stressing at the airport

How long exactly have you got between the plane landing and needing to be at the ship?

Have you factored in passport control once you get to Barcelona? If your children are too young to be able to scan their passports it can easily take an hour if not longer to clear passport control.

I am wondering about the TA booking the flights without consulting you- you said they said they would “inform you of ten details later”. Should they not have got in touch and explained the flight options and given you the opportunity to confirm they were suitable before committing you? what standing instructions did you give them?

I’d be going back and questioning this.

Apparently if there is any problem it's the travel company's responsibility to get us on to the cruise at some point,or we get refund, whatever depending on the circumstances. I'm not worried about not being compensated in the event of that happening but just don't want any hassle or stress messing it up

I'd just leave it all as it is, no need to stress about it. If your flight to Barcelona is delayed or cancelled, and you miss the cruise departure, your tour operator is responsible for the cost of getting to the next stop, and you just amuse yourself in Barcelona for a few hours until that happens. Not the end of the world. If it's somewhere else in Spain or France, you might get a nice trip on a high speed train thrown in.