Best time to travel?

We are traveling to Cape Canaveral for our next cruise from the Charlotte area of NC, and were wondering what the best time would be to depart our house. Would late at night or early morning be best?

Thanks!!

Are you planning on arriving the day of your cruise or spending the night before at the port?

Are you planning on arriving the day of your cruise or spending the night before at the port?

We are spending a few days in Florida before our cruise-- we just wanted to know when traffic would potentially be lower.

To comment on traffic we really need to know days of week and time of year.

I would normally suggest making the drive overnight. But not in the middle of winter.

Best general plan is trying to time it to cross the Florida border either three hours before, or a good hour after, morning rush hour. If you hit Jacksonville approx 6 to 7 AM on a weekday you will be stop and go almost the entire rest of the drive.

Leaving NC at the crack of dawn would put you past Savannah at lunchtime, and through Jacksonville/Daytona well before afternoon rush hour. But potentially see traffic in the Columbia and Charleston areas, maybe moreso during the summer.

(I am assuming you would take 77/26 S-SE to join I-95 north of Charleston. If you are starting somewhere west of Charlotte and contemplating driving via Atlanta--just don't. Please.)

Do not go thru Atlanta from 3-6 Pm, its brutal.

We do a south Florida to western Virginia round trip drive I-95 to I-26 to I-77 to I-81 at least twice a year. Don't hit Charlotte or Jacksonville at rush hour. Charlotte traffic and the never ending I-77 road work north of Charlotte is always the biggest headache for us followed by Jacksonville. We prefer the Jacksonville Route 295 bypass (construction still going on for a small section on the south end). I-95 in Daytona Beach has construction which will slow you down no matter what the time of day. We've never had a problem around Columbia or Charleston.

Thank you all so much! Very helpful info :)

We make this trip often from your area. We’ve left at midnight and 5am. As long as you get through Jacksonville before lunchtime, you’re fine.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

What is Jacksonville like in the late afternoon, early evening? We will probably hit there around 4pm. We are staying SW of the city.

I didn’t seem to have any issues if I went around Jacksonville instead of through the middle. Once we went through the middle and hit some traffic but nothing terrible. We weren’t just sitting there not moving. Was just slow.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums