Leave the day before or Early morning?

When I put in the direction to leave from our house to get to the Port of New Orleans, it's only a 4 hour drive at the most. We plan on parking at the terminal.

I have us booked at a hotel @ a cost of $156 (one night) with check in time after 3 p.m.

When asked for check in time via Carnival, I selected 11 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Would it be worth it leaving the day before (to be on safe side) or leave early on Saturday morning? We plan on spending 2 days in New Orleans after the cruise.

Hi,

It is all up to you.

"Check in time at 3PM" only means that they guarantee the room to be ready by that time. We often check in much earlier than listed "check in " times!

IF the room is not ready then you leave your bags but usually a room is read some time after 12noon -1PM.

It is up to you if you want to drive 4hrs on the day of the cruise.

We like to start our vacations early. When we cruise out of Long Beach,California, which is only 2hrs. from our home we often go up the day before.

How you spend your time and money is really up to you.

Our drive to New Orleans is 2-1/2 hours. On our four cruises from there we left home the morning of the cruise. No problems, usually get there between 10:30 and 11. Save the $156 for other things, like dinner at a great restaurant during your post-cruise stay!

I think if you're driving, and you're not up north where snow and ice could be a problem it's probably not that bad to go the day of. If you think you'll be too tired to enjoy your first night though, then go the day before. When we cruise out of NYC (a close 'homeport') we usually go the day of and take the train, but when we had an impending snowstorm, we went the night before and it really alleviated a lot of my day-of stress.

We are in Florida and within 3 hours of 4 ports. We still go the day before. With my luck i would have a car breakdown or something and miss the cruise. If i go the day before no matter what happens i know i will be there in time. It is totally a personal decision.

We live 3 1/2 hours from the port and we leave the day before and stay in a hotel. We left the morning of the cruise for our first cruise and I was very stressed when we came to a wreck that had the road shut down and traffic backed up for miles. It was stop and go and I grew more and more stressed by the minute worrying that we might miss the ship.

We got through that then a while later we encountered another shut down on the road with flashing red and blue lights as far as the eye could see, turns out someone had escaped from prison and there was a manhunt in progress.

We made it to the ship in plenty of time but admittedly I am a worrier and after that morning I decided that it's best for us all if we just leave the day before and stay in a hotel so that we take our time getting there. We've left the day before every since and it does wonders for my peace of mind. I just consider that hotel cost and dinner the night before as part of the cost of the cruise, much like port fees, taxes, and gratuities.

Go the day before. To have peace of mind for $156 would be worth it to me. If you left the day of, and something delayed you, you'd be kicking yourself for not going early.

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We live in Colorado and always arrive a day early. Most of the time to relieve the stress we leave a day after.

We have a 7 hour drive and leave the day before. We try to see something different on the way down each time.

I have traveled the day of and the day before.

Arriving the day before allows you to start the vacation decompression earlier. The one time I traveled the day of by the time I got on the ship I was pretty exhausted.

I vote arrive the day before.

We're 1.5 hours from the Port of Long Beach and stayed the night prior for our cruise. I've seen that drive take upwards of three hours before, and that was just from commuter traffic. Not worth the he stress for me.

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Definitely a personal decision......based on weather, your personality and $$. We have to fly in for any cruise, so we always fly in the day before. Especially in winter (which is when we mostly cruise) due to living in the Winter Wonderland....LOL!! I wish we lived within a reasonable drive, I would definitely be cruising more often!! :D:D

I wanted to also mention that you should consider the cost of parking as well. It was almost the same cost for us to do a 'park and cruise' package at a nearby hotel as it was to park directly at the terminal.

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I'm sitting here going over all the details which is why I asked. I have sticky notes all over my planner. LOL!!

We left the day before when we cruised out of Port Canaveral but with this being a closer port for us, I thought we'd attempt to leave early morning. We live in the panhandle of Florida.

Any trip we've gone on, we never make it on the road until well after noon, so that was another reason for possibly leaving early morning. But yeah, it'll be just our luck that we run into some type of delays.

Thank you everyone!! :)

I'd be a mess going the day of if it was more than an hour drive. I'd also check around to see if your hotel or another offers a discount for port parking. That way you could save a little money there as well :)

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I wanted to also mention that you should consider the cost of parking as well. It was almost the same cost for us to do a 'park and cruise' package at a nearby hotel as it was to park directly at the terminal.

 

 

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I thought about doing that initially but the hubster prefers to park at the terminal. I was happy that he decided to do excursions. He has watched way too many scary movies..lol.

I'd be a mess going the day of if it was more than an hour drive. I'd also check around to see if your hotel or another offers a discount for port parking. That way you could save a little money there as well :)

 

 

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I didnt think about that. Thank you!

Hi,

It is all up to you.

"Check in time at 3PM" only means that they guarantee the room to be ready by that time. We often check in much earlier than listed "check in " times!

IF the room is not ready then you leave your bags but usually a room is read some time after 12noon -1PM.

It is up to you if you want to drive 4hrs on the day of the cruise.

We like to start our vacations early. When we cruise out of Long Beach,California, which is only 2hrs. from our home we often go up the day before.

How you spend your time and money is really up to you.

My only concern would be prying the hubster from his PS4 the day prior so he could sleep. I'd have to unplug it and hide it...lol.

As long before as you can we always go 2 or 3 days before

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I think if you're driving, and you're not up north where snow and ice could be a problem it's probably not that bad to go the day of. If you think you'll be too tired to enjoy your first night though, then go the day before. When we cruise out of NYC (a close 'homeport') we usually go the day of and take the train, but when we had an impending snowstorm, we went the night before and it really alleviated a lot of my day-of stress.

We live in the panhandle of Florida. It's starting to get cool here but nothing major. We've driven up to New York and left late at night.

We normally try to go the day before the cruise. If we take a flight, we leave enough time to drive to most ports just in case we miss a flight or the flight is cancelled. Better safe than sorry...

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When I put in the direction to leave from our house to get to the Port of New Orleans, it's only a 4 hour drive at the most. We plan on parking at the terminal.

 

I have us booked at a hotel @ a cost of $156 (one night) with check in time after 3 p.m.

 

When asked for check in time via Carnival, I selected 11 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

 

Would it be worth it leaving the day before (to be on safe side) or leave early on Saturday morning? We plan on spending 2 days in New Orleans after the cruise.

A cheaper hotel can probably found close but not in New Orleans. We live in Dallas but usually cruise out of Galveston(about 4 hours away). We usually stay in south Houston the night before simply for the peace of mind that being close to the port brings. Plus I'm a lot less stressed when I reach the port when the majority of the trip was done the day before.

For 3 or 4 hours I'd leave the day of but early enough to account for any major delays. Our closest port is about 14 hours, GPS says 11 to NO but actual driving is about 14. That is where next weeks cruise is and I can get there in a day as long as there are no road delays, we had plans to go down on Thursday for a Sat. cruise so we had a day to chill but DS switched shifts at work so he'll have an extra day off, now we'll take 2 days driving down. Get down earlier and have 1.5 days to roam around the town. I've been there before but it's still nice to arrive early and relax.

When I put in the direction to leave from our house to get to the Port of New Orleans, it's only a 4 hour drive at the most. We plan on parking at the terminal.

 

I have us booked at a hotel @ a cost of $156 (one night) with check in time after 3 p.m.

 

When asked for check in time via Carnival, I selected 11 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

 

Would it be worth it leaving the day before (to be on safe side) or leave early on Saturday morning? We plan on spending 2 days in New Orleans after the cruise.

We cruise out of Galveston which is a 4-hour drive. We never leave the day before. In fact, I sleep in and we don't get rolling until 8:00, arriving at the parking lot about 12:15 or so. We even make two stops along the way. That gives us almost 4 hours of cushion. More than enough for a flat tire, traffic jam or road closure. Plus with GPS maps on the phones, you can easily find alternative routes. I know that would probably give most here an anxiety attack. But it is all good for us.

We cruise out of Galveston which is a 4-hour drive. We never leave the day before. In fact, I sleep in and we don't get rolling until 8:00, arriving at the parking lot about 12:15 or so. We even make two stops along the way. That gives us almost 4 hours of cushion. More than enough for a flat tire, traffic jam or road closure. Plus with GPS maps on the phones, you can easily find alternative routes. I know that would probably give most here an anxiety attack. But it is all good for us.

We are cruising out of Galveston (our first cruise) and we are about 3 hours away. We will be driving down on the morning of the cruise as well. :)