Missing Riverboat Embarkation

One big question -- Are you flying independently? You arranged your own flights. Or did the tour company arrange your flights? If it is the tour company, they will get you to the next port. We have never missed an embankation because we always go a couple days earlier but have met others who have. The tour companies were always very good about meeting at the airport, arranging a hotel if needed, and transport to the next port. River ports are not very far apart so my guess would be a short train ride to the next port. Delta is a current preferred airline for internal travel.

I’ve made that trip and 1 1/2 hours is fine. Detroit’s airport is efficient. After disembarking, take the interior tram to your gate. Shouldn’t be a problem especially since you’re flying Delta all the way. I didn’t have to go through TSA again in Detroit. I would rather fly there than ATL, JFK or EWR to make a connection.

You may use FlightAware to check the on-time record for your flight.
If the airlines change your flight times again, try negotiating with them for the day before flight. Good luck!

When is your trip? It might be worth changing your flights to come in a day or two earlier. Delta no longer charges for flight changes (although if there is a difference in the cost of the flights you will either have to pay the higher cost, or you will get the lower price and have a flight credit to be used later).

when Delta changed the time of my flight from Berlin to CDG for a US connection and I discovered that that flight was late half the time or so thus I would likely miss the connection, I was allowed to change the connection to a flight through Amsterdam with more time for the connection and it was fine.

Since Delta changed your flight to increase the odds it will be missed AND you have a time sensitive arrival issue, I would push hard to change the initial leg to give yourself more time -- an earlier flight? a different city for connecting? a flight the night before?

And next time, never book a cruise where you don't arrive the day before.

DTW is our preferred airport for flying to Europe. It’s been updated and is very efficient. In many cases, our incoming and connecting flights are just across the aisle from one another. If not, there’s a tram that takes you from one gate area to another. I think 90 minutes is plenty of time for your connection. Is your ship overnight in Paris? If so, I think you will be fine.

What is your next port? If your cruise is Paris-Normandy, none of the ports is that far from Paris. (Haven't missed embarkation, but my luggage has! Bro's family missed embarkation for ocean cruise (airline's fault, but air not thru cruise line so they coughed up extra fee to embark at first port which wasn't typical dis/embark port; I presume the fee is for the port to do check in security etc which they're not usually set up to do.) Maybe ask on Cruise Critic river cruise forum?
I fly mostly AA, so stoopid question: Doesn't Delta have your hometown-ATL-CDG?
Good Luck!

Stuff happens and we had allowed 3 days before our cruise and still missed embarkation. We had booked the pre-cruise travel ourselves. The phone number for the ship was in our final cruise documents and that was the best thing we had. We called to let them know of the issue and talked to the cruise manager; he asked us to keep him informed. In our case, they had changed the itinerary, so we were able to get to the ship before it left its first port. My impression was they would have helped us get to the ship, whether it was walk us through how to do that or sent someone to fetch us. It was a river cruise, so the ports weren’t too far apart. I had, in the meantime, researched what we would need to get to the next port, so I had a plan B.

So, my advice is to have the phone number for the ship and know how to get to the next port if needed.

Please know the boat does not have to wait for you if you maee your own arrangements. The OP was indeed lucky but I err on the side of caution and will let the riverboat company book my airfare or arrive early and leave late. Honestly it's incumbent on the OP to check flight connecting times before and to allow enough time. I for one am willing to fork over extra $$$$ for a nonstop or better flight if I have an important cruise.

Also Travel Insurance is important as well.

I would change my flight, get there a day early and save myself some stress if at all possible. We missed our embarkation to a Galapagos cruise due to a flight cancellation in Miami which stranded about half the passengers on that particular cruise. This was a flight booked by the cruise company (Lindblad). Things can happen that are beyond our control. The cruise line and the airline did their best to get us there albeit a day late and comped us as well. But I would rather have not missed that first day in the Galapagos.

I will add to the chorus that says you will be fine. Delta uses the McNamara Terminal, which has the main concourse A, and then another B/C concourse connected by an underground walkway. International flights are mixed in with domestic flights in concourse A, so no separate area. The longest change would be if you flew into one of the far flung gates in concourse B/C and needed to go to one of the far ends of A, but 90 minutes would still be OK, but tight, and B/C is used mainly for Regional flights. It could be you arrive in A, and simply need to walk a few feet to an adjacent gate. There is a map here https://www.pinterest.com/pin/514465957413897809/ As others mentioned, there is a skytrain, but I rarely ever had to use it, really only good if you come in on one end of A and fly out of the other end, or your gate is way out on the end.

When Delta airlines has made changes to my original itinerary it has provided options for me to accept the new itinerary or to change to a more suitable one including changing the dates of travel impacted. This has been dependent on the significance of the itinerary change that they’ve made. Options and exceptions may also be dictated by the original type of ticket booked. Sometimes there has been no additional charge. A phone call to their customer service line may be helpful. I would certainly try to arrive the day before.

Thanks to all of you for the helpful information!

I’m just curious how long you all think a reasonable connection in an airport is?

As someone who travels a lot 90 minutes wouldn’t even phase me. My goal is not to spend a lot of time hanging around in Airport unless it’s saving me a lot of money.

"I’m just curious how long you all think a reasonable connection in an airport is?"

For me, I try to go with 2 hours for a domestic transfer just in case my inbound is delayed. On the way back home in August I made a transit thru Seattle from International to Domestic in less than 30 minutes including clearing Immigration, customs, security and making a pit stop. I was in Delta One so got off the plane first and have GE, plus that is the airport I transit thru the most so know it pretty well for the Delta connections.

Carol, I know ATL is your home airport but I would not want less than 2-2.5 hours there. I'm sure others can get thru there in much less time! I've not ever transited thru DTW but I'd trust the advice from the forum folks that this is plenty of time.

I’ve changed planes in Dallas, Detroit, Minneapolis, JFK and Salt Lake City recently all with connections around 60-90 minutes So I’m not sure why living in Atlanta is relevant

The only one that was a problem was Salt Lake (whomever designed that new airport should be banned from future projects)

Uh, didn't mean to upset/insult you, Carol. Sorry if what I said offended you in some way. What I meant was that you know ATL like the back of your hand although you are not likely to be having to change there. Each airport has it's own issues.

Pam and Carol: Outbound flight requires less time than an inbound flight. No luggage claim and recheck, no passport control. After that, it all depends on how cautious one tends to be. Are you building in time for bad weather flight delays or going with the flow? At Atlanta, I'd be fine with a short window outbound 1-1.5 but inbound, I'd add an hour. Luggage could take time showing up.
Outbound Detroit and you have plenty of time to twiddle your thumbs with one hour if you land in that one long terminal. When that was our transfer airport, we even had gates next to each other while other times we needed the monorail to get from end to end. Easy-peasy airport.