<p class="p1">By CruiseRadio</p><p class="p1">The other day I got a listener email asking if they should arrive a day early before taking their cruise vacation?</p><p class="p1">My response was YES, and followed by three reasons:</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>1. Airline delay</b></span>s. Winter storms, tornadoes, lost baggage and airline mechanical issues&nbsp;are all&nbsp;excellent&nbsp;reason to fly out a day early.&nbsp;Getting travel insurance&nbsp;especially if flying, is a smart move.</p><p class="p1">Living in Florida, I tend to leave the morning of and take the first flight out, but the longest flight for me is 55-minute from Jacksonville to Miami, so&nbsp;I can always drive five-hours south in&nbsp;plenty of time. However, if I’m cruising out of NYC, New Orleans, Galveston, Seattle or Boston, I <i>always</i> leave a day early.</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>2. Last minute shopping</b></span>. More times than not I’ve always forgotten something on my cruise. A good example is my last cruise I left my sports jacket in the rental car. Arriving a day early allows you to make sure you have everything in order to make your trip smooth as possible.</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>3. Experience the city</b></span>.&nbsp;Typically when we cruise in and out of a port, we don’t get to experience what it has to offer. I’ve cruised out of Fort Lauderdale&nbsp;dozens of times before I actually spent time pre-cruise to experience biking the Florida Everglades and taking a day trip down to the Florida Keys to eat some amazing seafood. There are plenty of pre-and post-cruise hotels.&nbsp;<br></p><p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 12px;">These are just three of many reasons why you should arrive to your cruise port a day early.</span></p><p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 12px;"></span><br></p>