Driving from Ontario to Galveston

Have any Canadian cruisers made the drive from Ontario to Galveston, TX? I'm looking to hear your experience with this.

For Oasis, I made the drive from Ontario to Ft. Lauderdale. Two days of driving, arriving the night prior to embarkation (so we stayed in a nearby hotel -- on embarkation morning, we made the short drive to the cruise terminal after breakfast and parked there).

On the way home, we also took two days to drive, stopping roughly half-way in NC for a night in a hotel. So, while I wouldn't say I'm accustomed to a long drive, I have done it before. (I have also made the shorter drives to Bayonne and Baltimore -- these are absolutely no problem for me and I'd do them again every time.)

For me, Galveston is about 2 hours further than Ft. Lauderdale in terms of driving time. I'll also want to split the entire drive over 2 days. My employer's annual vacation allowance is generous enough that I am willing to drive for 4 days to avoid incurring the cost of airfare. But with Liberty's itineraries being "only" 7 nights, it kind of sucks to drive for 4 days (yes, I did the same for Oasis, but ideally I'd like a longer itinerary if I'm going to drive that far).

So why am I asking about Galveston if I'm not sure I want to drive so far for a 7-night cruise? Because those itineraries are often a fair bit less expensive (I assume not quite as popular/people not as willing to go to Galveston as compared with Florida), and I'd like to try out a Freedom-class ship. I'd also like to sail on Oasis (again), Allure, or Anthem, but the pricing right now is higher than what I'm willing to pay (so I'm waiting for the new itineraries beyond April 2017 to release). But I think I will need a cruise fix later this year, though :)

Thanks in advance!

So what exactly is your question? :confused:

Yes, it's a long drive.

Haven't driven from Ontario to Galveston, but have driven from Idaho to Florida. Will NEVER do that again, especially right before/ after a cruise.

If you want a longer cruise, you can do a B2B. Normally the ports change ever cruise, so it would be Bleize, Roatan, Cozumel first leg - then Jamaiac, Grand Cayman and Cozumel the second leg.

So what exactly is your question? :confused:

Yes, it's a long drive.

 

Haven't driven from Ontario to Galveston, but have driven from Idaho to Florida. Will NEVER do that again, especially right before/ after a cruise.

Idaho to Florida is a much longer drive (more than 50% longer) than I'd be making to either TX or FL. It would realistically be 3 days one-way for my family. So I can completely understand your perspective and I'd probably be right there with you -- just wouldn't do it.

I am looking for any feedback that people would like to share...y'know, to get a discussion going :) I've now had the experience of driving down I-79 to I-77 to I-95. Just wondering what it's like to drive through all the states between Ontario and TX since I've never done it before. Suggestions on routes, places to avoid, anything of the sort. There's a lot of information online about the route between ON and FL because many people do it regularly. ON to TX, I think not so much :)

If you want a longer cruise, you can do a B2B. Normally the ports change ever cruise, so it would be Bleize, Roatan, Cozumel first leg - then Jamaiac, Grand Cayman and Cozumel the second leg.

Hmm, a good suggestion. Have never done a B2B before, maybe this is an opportunity for the first time :) Good to know that the itineraries alternate; I hadn't looked into that detail about Liberty yet. Would the MDR menus also alternate?

Two tricky things about a B2B for me, I think -- I'd obviously have to budget more money for such a trip (14 days cruising + 4 days driving :eek:) to begin with, but I'd also want a good price for both sailings...not sure how likely that is. I wouldn't go for it if one week was significantly more expensive than the other week.

But still, something worth considering. Thanks :)

Is there a particular reason you aren't flying? Once you factor in the opportunity cost, is it really worth it?

4 days driving time

hotels

fuel

misery

being exhausted when you get to port

fly, or if you have a fear of flying, consider a train

Is there a particular reason you aren't flying? Once you factor in the opportunity cost, is it really worth it?

 

4 days driving time

hotels

fuel

misery

being exhausted when you get to port

 

fly, or if you have a fear of flying, consider a train

It's the cost of flying that puts me off -- same reason I drove down to FL. Airfare for 3 people, even out of BUF if I decide to hop across the border before getting onto a plane, is very expensive. Too bad we aren't seeing any of the savings from the price of oil dropping like a stone.

A train ride is even longer than driving, and while it wouldn't require my attention the whole time as driving would, there are several transfers (luggage and younger one in tow, not fun).

Hotels, fuel, and food along the way aren't too bad. We usually stay at a Best Western or Best Western Plus (after checking their reviews on TripAdvisor, of course!) and that's inexpensive. We have a fuel-efficient vehicle and when we're on the road, we actually don't eat very much (light meals and snacks only).

Don't get me wrong, I totally hear what you're saying about the trade-off. I appreciate your input. I thought of all these things before deciding to drive to FL, and much of this would still apply in deciding to drive to TX. But as I suggested in an earlier post, this would be close to my limit for distance. I wouldn't drive for more than 2 days to get to anywhere unless we actually planned to take more time and stop along the way for attractions.

So it's the drive that I'm most interested in hearing about (even if it's only part of the route, e.g. somebody from IL or IN driving to TX).

Have you tried other airports other than Buffalo? I once got 3 seats out of Detroit for the 1 seat I would have paid out of Buffalo.

It was further to drive to Detroit, but still not as far as driving myself to Florida/cruise destination.

Have you tried other airports other than Buffalo? I once got 3 seats out of Detroit for the 1 seat I would have paid out of Buffalo.

 

It was further to drive to Detroit, but still not as far as driving myself to Florida/cruise destination.

Admittedly, I have not -- which makes your input helpful :) Specifically which airport in Detroit did you fly out of? And was your flight to FLL, MCO, HOU, etc.? For a quick ballpark price check, I usually look at Google Flights and Skyscanner.

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) was what I used and I went to Miami, but it had a stop in Atlanta. It worked out cheaper because it was a Delta hub to hub. (Detroit-Atlanta flight) then connect to Miami.

If your heart is set on driving used mapquest to check out your planned route. It will give you a route but you can click and move your route to see if travel time changes to be shorter or longer. Trip advisor will give you good places to stay or eat. Try to plan route so if you happen to be near a big city that you miss morning or afternoon high traffic periods. For example I always plan on hitting large cities, such as Atlanta, at 7am or 9:30am but not the time in between.

I would still check out flights from Detroit, and maybe there is another city between that has better prices. Just recently a CCer did a review, to which they did that. The live in San Diego but drove to Dallas and flew to Fort Lauderdale. They said they saved a bunch of money. This might work for you as well.

If your heart is set on driving used mapquest to check out your planned route. It will give you a route but you can click and move your route to see if travel time changes to be shorter or longer. Trip advisor will give you good places to stay or eat. Try to plan route so if you happen to be near a big city that you miss morning or afternoon high traffic periods. For example I always plan on hitting large cities, such as Atlanta, at 7am or 9:30am but not the time in between.

 

I would still check out flights from Detroit, and maybe there is another city between that has better prices. Just recently a CCer did a review, to which they did that. The live in San Diego but drove to Dallas and flew to Fort Lauderdale. They said they saved a bunch of money. This might work for you as well.

Thanks :) I am hoping that somebody has actually made the drive and has a recommended route. With airfare prices fluctuating all the time, I know I'll have to choose specific dates to know whether flying from BUF, DTW, etc. might be sufficiently cost-effective for me to fly at least part-way rather than driving the whole way. Even San Diego to Dallas is quite the drive, almost the same as my drive to Ft. Lauderdale! I can definitely see why they wanted to fly the rest of the way.

I guess the part Ontario you are referring to is in the Toronto-Windsor area and not the Hudson Bay part of Ontario:D? With that in mind I would think your choices of interstate roads can offer a little mix in coming and returning. The one area I would avoid is the I 69, 94, 57 that takes you through Gary and the south side of Chicago.

I can't imagine the "cost of flying" being worth 4-6 days in a car. Not to mention if you go out of Galveston you're limiting your cruise options much more than from Florida. DTW to Florida airfare can be affordable, especially once you factor in motel and food costs for a driving trip. And gasoline does cost money even at 1.80 per gallon. We just bought DTW-FLL tickets for next winter for 270.00. NO WAY I'd drive from Ontario to Texas and spend money/wear and tear on the vehicle/meals/motels to "avoid" that....... Driving Ontario to Texas for a cruise even IF it did save a few hundred bucks????:eek: I don't see it as a reasonable option.

Ah! Someone else who appreciates driving!! (I think?)

We LOVE to drive - for us, it's part of the vacation. Edit: We have flown to Florida for cruises before - and to be honest, the build up for the cruise was not there as much as driving down. Again, for us, we love to see the state signs as we get closer... Welcome to West Virgina, North Carolina, Georgia.. etc etc. But, I totally understand someone wanting to just go to an airport, fly in, and step onto the ship.

I've never driven to Texas, but we did drive to Mobile Alabama once for a 5 day cruise - crazy, right? Not if you enjoy the drive! :)

Ok, to answer some of your questions.. You didn't say where in Ontario you are from, which greatly affects the route you take. But since you mentioned Buffalo, I'll assume you would cross the border at Buffalo/Niagara Falls. When we drive for our Alabama cruise, we didn't turn south at Erie, Pa - we kept going, and turned south at Cleveland instead - taking the I-71/I-65 to Nashville. It's a pretty drive. You will drive right past the Corvette plant in Bowling Green Ky (Stop in for a visit if you have time - I think there is a museum of some sort - we didn't stop).

At Nashville, you will head southwest.. this is where my experience ends.. I've never driven that route. However, as you point out - it's only 3 hours more driving that going to Ft. Lauderdale.

Some tips (I've driven to Florida over 20 times) that work for US (your mileage may vary)...

We like to break the driving into smaller chunks - 8-10 hours per day at most, unless we are on a time constraint. When you only drive 8-10 hours, you can stop for a nice lunch (Cracker Barrel is our favorite stop), or spend 20 minutes at the rest stops right at the state borders - those are awesome! They are clean, and have a reception area where you can pick up brochures of sites to visit, or simply read about some of the state history. Plus, driving that amount usually gets you to your next hotel at about dinner time- enough to relax with a nice dinner, and unwind from the drive.

I would highly suggest planning your route on googlemaps or mapquest (hint - you can download Points of Interest (POI) from mapquest onto most GPS's when you connect your GPS to your computer (we have a Garmin). Note - Google discontinued that function a few years back when they were pushing googlemaps. Our cars now both have built in GPS - but I always bring my Garmin too - I have downloaded all Cracker Barrel locations, as well as all "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" locations, as well as a few other points that interest us.

hope this helps! Enjoy the drive!

I guess the part Ontario you are referring to is in the Toronto-Windsor area and not the Hudson Bay part of Ontario:D? With that in mind I would think your choices of interstate roads can offer a little mix in coming and returning. The one area I would avoid is the I 69, 94, 57 that takes you through Gary and the south side of Chicago.

Yes, southern Ontario :) Thanks for the tip on avoiding the "northern" route that Google Maps presents as an option.

I can't imagine the "cost of flying" being worth 4-6 days in a car. Not to mention if you go out of Galveston you're limiting your cruise options much more than from Florida. DTW to Florida can be affordable, especially once you factor in motel and food costs for a driving trip. Driving Ontario to Texas for a cruise even if it saved a few hundred bucks????:eek: I don't see it as a reasonable option.

I mentioned why I was asking about Galveston; I know about the limited cruise options :)

When I calculated the cost of flying to Florida back in 2014 for my Oasis sailing, it was always at least twice the cost of driving. I suppose it's a matter of personal opinion as to the threshold of when it's "worth it" to fly vs. drive, but the difference in cost was north of $700, not just a "few hundred". For a difference of $300 CAD or less, I'd definitely fly vs. drive for 4 days in total. Saving more than twice that? It's why I decided to drive.

I you decide on Galveston I would agree with Bevv..do a b2b.

Yes, southern Ontario :) Thanks for the tip on avoiding the "northern" route that Google Maps presents as an option.

 

 

 

I mentioned why I was asking about Galveston; I know about the limited cruise options :)

 

When I calculated the cost of flying to Florida back in 2014 for my Oasis sailing, it was always at least twice the cost of driving. I suppose it's a matter of personal opinion as to the threshold of when it's "worth it" to fly vs. drive, but the difference in cost was north of $700, not just a "few hundred". For a difference of $300 CAD or less, I'd definitely fly vs. drive for 4 days in total. Saving more than twice that? It's why I decided to drive.

If you like to drive go for it:)

We have driven from Nashville several times to Galveston. When were you sailing? The southern states are wonderful in the spring/fall. Summer can be humid and winter more ice than snow. We go the southern route through Alabama, Louisiana to Texas. The roads in Arkansas are rough and terrible so we try avoid that state! Enjoy the countryside. It is less stressful driving to Texas. Less congestion of people and traffic. We think parking and embarkation at Galveston is easier too. The port can have fog issues in late winter causing delays. That is when a car is handy. You don't have to worry about catching a flight.

Don't forget to factor in the exchange rate too. Also the cost of parking the car. The list goes on.

Ah! Someone else who appreciates driving!! (I think?)

 

We LOVE to drive - for us, it's part of the vacation. Edit: We have flown to Florida for cruises before - and to be honest, the build up for the cruise was not there as much as driving down. Again, for us, we love to see the state signs as we get closer... Welcome to West Virgina, North Carolina, Georgia.. etc etc. But, I totally understand someone wanting to just go to an airport, fly in, and step onto the ship.

 

I've never driven to Texas, but we did drive to Mobile Alabama once for a 5 day cruise - crazy, right? Not if you enjoy the drive! :)

 

Ok, to answer some of your questions.. You didn't say where in Ontario you are from, which greatly affects the route you take. But since you mentioned Buffalo, I'll assume you would cross the border at Buffalo/Niagara Falls. When we drive for our Alabama cruise, we didn't turn south at Erie, Pa - we kept going, and turned south at Cleveland instead - taking the I-71/I-65 to Nashville. It's a pretty drive. You will drive right past the Corvette plant in Bowling Green Ky (Stop in for a visit if you have time - I think there is a museum of some sort - we didn't stop).

 

At Nashville, you will head southwest.. this is where my experience ends.. I've never driven that route. However, as you point out - it's only 3 hours more driving that going to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Some tips (I've driven to Florida over 20 times) that work for US (your mileage may vary)...

We like to break the driving into smaller chunks - 8-10 hours per day at most, unless we are on a time constraint. When you only drive 8-10 hours, you can stop for a nice lunch (Cracker Barrel is our favorite stop), or spend 20 minutes at the rest stops right at the state borders - those are awesome! They are clean, and have a reception area where you can pick up brochures of sites to visit, or simply read about some of the state history. Plus, driving that amount usually gets you to your next hotel at about dinner time- enough to relax with a nice dinner, and unwind from the drive.

 

I would highly suggest planning your route on googlemaps or mapquest (hint - you can download Points of Interest (POI) from mapquest onto most GPS's when you connect your GPS to your computer (we have a Garmin). Note - Google discontinued that function a few years back when they were pushing googlemaps. Our cars now both have built in GPS - but I always bring my Garmin too - I have downloaded all Cracker Barrel locations, as well as all "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" locations, as well as a few other points that interest us.

 

hope this helps! Enjoy the drive!

Thanks, I appreciate your comments and tips! I have to say that I did enjoy the drive down to Florida back in 2014. The drive was very scenic. In retrospect I wish I had planned more time for the vacation because there were definitely places I would have liked to stop at along the way, even for a quick snap or two with the camera. Maybe next time we drive down, I will take 3 days each way to give us time to see more of what the U.S. has to offer :)

We have driven from Nashville several times to Galveston. When were you sailing? The southern states are wonderful in the spring/fall. Summer can be humid and winter more ice than snow. We go the southern route through Alabama, Louisiana to Texas. The roads in Arkansas are rough and terrible so we try avoid that state! Enjoy the countryside. It is less stressful driving to Texas. Less congestion of people and traffic. We think parking and embarkation at Galveston is easier too. The port can have fog issues in late winter causing delays. That is when a car is handy. You don't have to worry about catching a flight.

I don't have a specific sailing booked yet but I as my signature suggests, I generally cruise during the fall season :)

You mentioned the roads in AR being poor -- does anyone know if that applies to I-55, I-40, and I-30 as well? I would hope/expect the interstates to be better maintained. Reasonable alternatives would be for me to take I-55 south through MS and then I-10 through LA, or I-55 south through half of MS and cut through northern LA on I-20 to get to TX.

Great comment about the possible fog delays. Even if I had a return flight booked many hours after the scheduled disembarkation, I'd be pretty nervous about possibly missing it with the unpredictability of the weather. I'm sure it's fine the vast majority of the time, but I'd hate to run afoul of Murphy's Law.

I'm not sure about you southern folk ;-) but up here on the East coast, any flight that is not a direct flight is pretty much a full day thing anyway. To fly out of our closest airport, you have to be there very very early in the morning and catch a flight to either Montreal or Toronto, then, probably, NY and then connect to FLL, or Galveston. I don't even mind flying, but it is all the hassle with lost baggage, and what can go where, and confiscate this or whatever, not to mention all the stress of flight delays and cancellations. These are not a problem when you drive.

Our last flight to FLL, we arrived at our airport at 4am for a 5:15am flight. So we had to get up at 3:15am. That makes for a very very long day before departure. Upon debarkation, we had to wait at the FLL for an afternoon flight, and only landed at our home airport at 12:30am, and was past 1am before we got home.

Our next cruise is on Anthem out of NJ. We are a group of 8 or 10 families and we are chartering a Motor Coach. Once my baggage is in the cargo hold, my vacation starts :D

dp

Don't forget to factor in the exchange rate too. Also the cost of parking the car. The list goes on.

Yep, thanks -- they are not lost on me, I factored those in when I decided to drive to FL, so TX would be similar in those respects. Same with the wear & tear on my vehicle as others have mentioned.

To give people a small insight into my character -- I keep a notepad in the car and record the date, odometer, trip odometer, volume of gas, total cost of gas, and unit cost of gas with every fill-up. That eventually makes its way onto a spreadsheet on which I also track maintenance costs, insurance, etc. So I know exactly how much it costs to operate my vehicle per unit distance, including rolling 12- and 24-month averages for trending. (Yes, I am crazy.) :D

Our next cruise is on Anthem out of NJ. We are a group of 8 or 10 families and we are chartering a Motor Coach. Once my baggage is in the cargo hold, my vacation starts :D

Wow, that's awesome! We're actively recruiting for one family of friends to come with us on a sailing during fall 2017 (TBD once itineraries are released). We expect they'll be converted to cruising :) But I cannot imagine getting such a large group of people together, 8-10 families? We don't know that many cruisers amongst our families and friends.

Hello,

We are from Montreal and we have lived in Lake Charles, Louisiana ( 30 km from the Texas border), many times we have driven, to visit family and friends.

We were sleeping in Toronto and than were going south sleeping one night between Nashville and the Alabama border.

Of course to go to Galveston, which is pretty nice, you'll have to drive an extra 2 1/2 to 3 hours from Lake Charles.

Sorry for my english, I'm from the french part of Canada

Josée

I will mention that Texas drivers are very aggressive. I had forgotten that in my living overseas for the last 20 years so when I returned I was unpleasantly shocked by the reminder. Texans themselves are very nice and helpful until they get on the road. Once that happens it's as if they were the only one driving regardless of weather conditions or traffic patterns. I recommend avoiding Dallas if possible in fact if you can avoid I-35 all together that would be best. I'm not looking at map to see what route you be on. I would recommend coming down to New Orleans then across as that will take you along the gulf. Also NO is a great place to stop for a night to check out the French quarter[emoji4] . Now as for driving vs flying for such a long trip it should actually be cheaper to fly. Maybe you drive into us then fly to Galveston. Check out Southwest Airline prices from various cities they tend to be some of the cheapest and no baggage fees. Just a thought and you would have to price out the options to see if cost vs benefits works for you. It's hard to say just because I tend to like to fly because of time. Good luck in whatever you do though.