One family from New York was left heartbroken when an unexpectedly delayed flight caused them to miss their much-anticipated cruise vacation. Narrowly missing the ship’s departure time, the devastated family watched their ship sail away without them.
The $8,500 cruise was described as a “dream vacation” by Tisha LaSaine. The mother of three had saved up her hard-earned money over the last year by working long hours at the post office to afford the 7-night sailing. The family vacation was meant to celebrate a major life milestone during the cruise: LaSaine’s 50th birthday.
Speaking to ABC7 in an interview, the family explained in detail how the events unfolded. The segment was included in the network's "7 On Your Side" segment, which allows people to send in their unresolved disputes with companies. When asked why this trip was special for her, LaSaine explained how she would be celebrating her 50th birthday and being able to send her son off to college. Sailing with LaSaine would be her mother and children, including her twins and oldest son.
She told ABC7 in an interview, “I’m about family. I’m just about family.” She also described the trip as “a splurge” before it became a nightmare for the family.
On the day of their cruise, the family was scheduled to arrive in Orlando, Florida on a direct flight with Delta Air Lines from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. The Brooklyn family would need to drive 45 minutes from the airport to Port Canaveral for their cruise departure, a timeframe they believed was doable when booking the cruise.
Delta Air Lines Flight 2019 was originally scheduled to depart at 9:54am when the flight was delayed due to “crew issues,” as stated in a flight cancellation email confirmed by ABC7. Two hours later, the flight eventually departed at 11:40am, en route to Orlando’s MCO airport.
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With a two-hour delay, the flight landed at 3:30pm in Orlando instead of the original scheduled time of 12:51pm. As the family waited to depart for Florida on their delayed flight, LaSaine started to feel anxious about making their cruise. According to ABC7, LaSaine remembers saying to her mom, ”I don't think we're going to make it.”
After landing, the family made their way to Port Canaveral with hopes of boarding their cruise ship as scheduled. Unfortunately, the family arrived too late for the required boarding time. Instead, they watched their cruise ship sail away from Port Canaveral without them. The family was understandably devastated at the turn of events.
Cruise ships have a required “all aboard” time for every port of call, including embarkation day. Typically, guests must be onboard their cruise ship by the late afternoon, around 3:00pm or 4:00pm. Because cruise ships operate on a strict schedule, guests are left behind when they do not board in time.
According to Royal Caribbean’s website, “Due to government regulations requiring cruise lines to submit final departure manifests at least 60 minutes prior to sailing. All guests must be checked-in and onboard the ship no later than 90 minutes prior to the published sailing time or you will not be permitted to sail.”
Brokenhearted by missing their weeklong cruise, the family turned around and flew back to New York. "I think I cried more than the kids and it was for them," said LaSaine in her interview with ABC7.
“We missed the whole trip. That’s a whole week. That’s eight days,” added Kaseem Miller, LaSaine’s oldest son. Miller was scheduled to return to Hampton University in Virginia to start his junior year, with the cruise marking one last summer adventure for the family.
Surprisingly, the cruise line refunded LaSaine and her family their money due to not being able to sail. Considering the cruise line was not at fault for the delay, this was a fortunate turn of events for the family.
However, LaSaine shared with ABC7 that she was seeking further compensation from Delta Air Lines due to the delay, which caused the family to miss their cruise. Instead, LaSaine said the airline offered $250 e-credit per traveler.
La Saine said to ABC7, “That’s a lot of money for me to lose that I put out in a few months.”
Eventually, Delta Air Lines did refund the family the full ticket amount of $2,600 after LaSaine worked with ABC7. "I was happy, I was so happy," LaSaine said. Moreover, the outlet confirmed Delta Air Lines apologized for the delay that led to their circumstance.
For guests who need to fly for their cruise, it’s widely known as best practice to arrive in the port city at least one day before the cruise’s departure. In this way, guests have time to figure out alternative arrangements if they should encounter any unexpected flight delays or cancellations.
Arriving the day before your scheduled cruise departure has other benefits too, such as a more relaxing start to vacation and additional time to explore the departure city. As they say, peace of mind is priceless.
Read more: 10 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid at Cruise Ship Embarkation And Disembarkation
Overwhelmingly, many criticized the family for booking flights too close to their cruise ship’s scheduled departure.
The family’s story, which was shared to r/cruise on Reddit, generated quite a response from other cruisers, garnering 150 comments in total. Most of the commenters were surprised by the family’s lack of planning, along with the cruise line’s and airline’s generous responses.
The top comment reads, “This is the shortest window from wheels down to cruise take off that I have EVER seen anyone book. Even on time, they were asking for trouble. And no, travel insurance (which I am guessing they didn’t buy) would not have helped because they didn’t allow enough time for delays.”
In response, another commenter said, “Even if they land early at 12:30pm in a best case scenario, they don’t have their bags probably until 1:15pm. [They also] have to get transport, which is another 15-20 minutes [and] then an hour to Port Canaveral. Good luck with your sob story, fam!”
“She ruined her family’s vacation due to poor planning. Odd the cruise line and Delta would bend the rules for this scenario” writes one commenter.
Similarly, another person states, “Nah, no sympathy to the family from me. It’s annoying that they got a refund just because they went to the media. It was their own fault.”
Moreover, many commenters agreed that cruisers should plan to arrive the day before their cruise departure to avoid these unfortunate circumstances.
Read more: Should I book my flight through my cruise line?
“Yikes. I booked my cruise with flights landing two days before so this wouldn’t happen. Booking a cruise within a mere hours of landing is 100% irresponsible,” writes another commenter.
One more commenter responds, “We’ve begun scheduling a pre/post trip hotel stay to avoid this issue. Lets us decompress on both ends, especially when traveling with kids. Last thing I want to do is manufacture stress before getting on a boat with 5k+ people for a week.”
“My first and only cruise left Vancouver and we live an hour away… We spent a night downtown just to make sure we were there early. I will never fly in day of. These people ruined their own vacation,” states another cruiser.
One more user echoed this sentiment, stating, “Like others have said… arrive at least one day before your cruise departure and avoid this dumb situation.”
Allie Hubers
Allie Hubers has been cruising since she was a tiny toddler. What started as a yearly vacation with family quickly turned into a passion for travel, cruising and adventure. Allie's been on over 45 cruises all over the world. She even studied abroad on Semester at Sea, sailing the world on a ship while taking courses for college and visiting 4 continents.
