Just wanted to vent and maybe save someone else the pain. I was supposed to go on a 5 day cruise with my family for a friend’s birthday. First cruise ever. I was really excited.
Winter storms hit my home state about a week before. Roads were still icy in spots, but flights were moving, so I wasn’t too worried. We were heading to Florida, so I figured weather would only get better.
At our connection, snow started way earlier than forecast. Plane landed and then sat on the tarmac for 2.5 hours. Southern airport, totally unprepared. After a bunch of rebooks and cancellations, we finally got put on a flight to a nearby city to the port the next morning and slept in the airport.
That flight never happened. All morning flights canceled. After even more reshuffling, there was one flight that might have gotten me to the port, but it would arrive 30 minutes after the absolute latest check in time the cruise line allowed. Called them and that sealed it. I was done. Sent home.
Here’s the real kicker. The rest of my family managed to fly to the first stop of the cruise and join there. I couldn’t. My passport is expired.
I had started the renewal process earlier but didn’t pay for expedited shipping. I was planning to sail with my birth certificate and driver’s license, which would’ve been fine if I boarded at the original port. But once flights blew up and the only option was joining internationally, no passport meant no chance.
So yeah. GET THE PASSPORT. None of this was really anyone’s fault. Just a perfect storm of bad timing, weather, assumptions, and me trying to cut corners. I didn’t even know our exact flight routing until I was handed my ticket at the airport. I should’ve looked sooner and asked more questions.
I did have insurance, so I’m not out a ton of money. Still hurts missing the experience though.
Learn from my mistake.
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