How far to drive before it's not worth it...

We live in NW Oklahoma, so our closest port is Galveston. According to Google maps, it's +/- 600 miles (11 hours straight through), which is probably more than we'd want to drive in a day.

I realize everyone's tolerance for flying (or driving!) is different. And this isn't anything we're considering until after our December cruise on the Legend. :D So I'm just asking out of curiosity---how many miles/hours would you have to drive before you decide it's not worth it and just book a flight instead?

To me it's more than just the dollars and cents.

It's more based on time. 11 hours drive is a lot, and I'd want to break that down into a couple of days to enjoy the drive and get rest. If I have the time, I'll drive.

If I dont' have the time, I'll fly instead.

I fly regularly for work so I despise flying. All the security / luggage hassles make flying almost not worth it. So I try to drive for vacations if possible.

Never mattered for my dad, if he COULD drive, he would, because he hates not being able to smoke on a plane when he could very well smoke in his truck. :rolleyes: Work also reimbursed a lot of his mileage. The rest of the family wasn't so closed-minded though! :D

We just got back this week from the Legend. We're from St.Louis and it took us about 16 hours straight thru. Poured down rain on us both ways. Thats about my limit on driving. We only drove because the airfares was so high due to spring break. You'll have a great time on the Legend!!

Paul

We drove to Port Canaveral from Dallas TX and decided its not worth it, could have flown just as cheap. If I can fly as cheap or cheaper ... thats where I draw the line. I like to drive, but like flying too.

Whichever is cheaper. Hotels and gas all cost more than I expected when I drove to Florida (when gas was high). That was the last time. I plan on flying when I do Oasis.

3 hours is my limit in any car driving anywhere:D

The drive to your destination is never the problem. Its the drive back home. I think I would cap it at 8 hours. We're doing 6 hours two days before the cruise to a friends house and an hour or two on the morning of the cruise.

We live in NW Oklahoma, so our closest port is Galveston. According to Google maps, it's +/- 600 miles (11 hours straight through), which is probably more than we'd want to drive in a day.

 

I realize everyone's tolerance for flying (or driving!) is different. And this isn't anything we're considering until after our December cruise on the Legend. :D So I'm just asking out of curiosity---how many miles/hours would you have to drive before you decide it's not worth it and just book a flight instead?

Im sure as you said it varies from person to person..but if we have to drive more than about 4-5 hours, then we fly. Of course living in ne indiana, that means we always fly for cruises, we even have a daughter you plays soccer all over the country, so we get lots of chances to be on planes...:) I guess in the end, it depends on how long you want to take to get to a port

3 hours is my limit in any car driving anywhere:D

Wow that's a pretty short distance / time limit!

Living in AZ, we're 6 hours from the beach in LA, 6 hours from Vegas, 5 hours from Rocky Point, 5 hours from San Diego. So I don't mind driving up to 8 hours in a day to go somewhere fun. :)

WOW! Everyone else has driven so far! I feel like such a wimp. :rolleyes:

We drove from Oklahoma to Maine :eek: on a 2-week vacation a few years ago, and it was fun but just sooooo many miles!

I haven't figured all of the costs, but I have priced cruises out of Galveston and they're (overall) higher than from Florida. For me, I'm just afraid the drive home afterward would wear us out and take away from all the fun and relaxation.

Still, something to consider for a future cruise. ;) I suppose I would do it if I had to. LOL!

Paul, thanks for your comments about the Legend. It will only be my 2nd cruise and the first for DH. He hates to fly, but we are both stoked!

Well we live 7-8 hrs from Mobile, New Orleans and Galveston so we have always driven to those ports. However, last week we drove to Jacksonville which is 15 hours (with 2 small kids) and on the way we broke it up and stopped over night, but on the way home we drove straight through and it was rough. Not sure how worth it it was, but we did get to experience a different port of call!

If airfare werent so high, we would fly.

this can be a tricky thing actually. look at it this way, time=money.

just think, how much work are you missing? how much will a stayover at a hotel cost? how much is gas? all this. then look up the price of the flight for one day (no gas, no food costs really, no hotel, etc.....) a short flight and you might come out ahead.

Luckily 20 minutes to the closest port but the furthest we have driven is Miami which was 9 hours.

Where in NW Oklahoma do you live? We're just outside of Tulsa and even though Mapquest showed a 12 hour drive for us, we made it in 9, even with a couple of stops along the way.....

We don't mind the drive in our family, we're used to 12-15 hour one way trips crammed in a van with 11 of our nearest and dearest relatives...lol.....so 9 hours is a piece of cake....

And the drive back is really not that bad, we're tired, but we always plan to take off the day after a cruise, so we have time to recuperate....and I'm always ready to get home and see my grandbabies

3 - 5 hours is my time limit for driving.

As stated earlier time = money

I liquidate my time at $50 per hour. My wife also. A 10 hour drive = $1000 Plus the return trip would equal $2000 total not including the gas/oil, wear and tear on the vehicle and insurance.

Wife and I could fly that 1200 miles round trip for $400 in 2 hours both ways.

Gives us more time at our destination.

NOW,,, on the other hand,,, if the drive is part of the total vacation package which includes seeing parts of the country never seen and it's also part of "Family" time with the kids,,,,,,that's a whole different story

We live within a 12 hour drive of 9 cruise ports, and on all but one of our cruises, we have driven to the port. The only time we flew was for an Alaska cruise out of Seattle; hated the flight! We are planning to drive 2400 miles to San Francisco in June, but understand, time is not an issue. We work for the public school system and school is out; plan to break it up into four 600 mile increments. Total cost is a wash, whether we fly or drive, but we get lots more flexibility by driving, and no baggage fees or security hassles.

Don't think so much about the drive TO port...think about how you'll feel driving for 2 days AFTER the cruise....

Take a plane!

3 - 5 hours is my time limit for driving.

As stated earlier time = money

I liquidate my time at $50 per hour. My wife also. A 10 hour drive = $1000 Plus the return trip would equal $2000 total not including the gas/oil, wear and tear on the vehicle and insurance.

Wife and I could fly that 1200 miles round trip for $400 in 2 hours both ways.

Gives us more time at our destination.

 

 

NOW,,, on the other hand,,, if the drive is part of the total vacation package which includes seeing parts of the country never seen and it's also part of "Family" time with the kids,,,,,,that's a whole different story

Well, driving sure...but Frodo had no problems trekking across Middle Earth for days on end and no money was needed for gas! In the end he essentially walked all the way from the Shire to the Grey Havens to board his "cruise" to the Undying Lands of Valinor... :D

We fly...with 2 six year olds it is easier...we have lived on 3 continents in 5 years and my boys are great on a plane.. 12 hours from Zurich to L.A. and not a peep..now that we are back in San Diego and we get in the car five minutes after I pull out of the driveway I hear "are we there yet"..!

Well, driving sure...but Frodo had no problems trekking across Middle Earth for days on end and no money was needed for gas! In the end he essentially walked all the way from the Shire to the Grey Havens to board his "cruise" to the Undying Lands of Valinor... :D

Carnival Destiny? :confused::confused:

3 - 5 hours is my time limit for driving.

As stated earlier time = money

I liquidate my time at $50 per hour.

 

NOW,,, on the other hand,,, if the drive is part of the total vacation package which includes seeing parts of the country never seen and it's also part of "Family" time with the kids,,,,,,that's a whole different story

holy carp? 50/hr? that's great but what do you do? i only make a little over 500/week!!!!

I usually figure about .30 per mile cost of ownership, gas, and maint for auto costs (small car), then add in any additional lodging and meals, parking, etc. and any additional days off work that would be needed vs flying plus the ground transport costs. Hard to put a value on convenience, but driving more than 8 hours would definitely be more like work than vacation, so I'd have to consider that as well.

I live in Tulsa so can kind of relate to your location. Not sure how far in NW OK you are but to Galveston I would almost suggest driving. Assuming OKC is closest airport you will end up driving 1 to 2 hours there get to airport about 1 1/2 early then take a flight to houston (if southwest which is not direct you will have another layover--so about 4 hors til you get there, or else another airline charges bagage) then baggage claim and rent a car from there. To me I would would drive the 10-12 hours.

On a side note I am not sure how close you are to Wichita (if closer than OKC) but allegiant air flies from there and the have flights to Orlando which are old worryfreevacations type cheap charters which may be an option if you ever want to cruise out of Florida. Ran across them and found out they fly from Fayetteville arkansas also---I was excited.

holy carp? 50/hr? that's great but what do you do? i only make a little over 500/week!!!!

AGREED!

We pay about 300 round trip in driving gas and food on the road and we'll pay 50 for one night in a motel in Miami (Midtown Inn, not the fanciest, but it felt safe enough). We'll drive straight through from Northern MI to Orlando FL. It's about 20-21 hours. We stay the night with her to see her kids and to save on having to pay for another night at a hotel, so even if you don't have family you could probably find a roadside hotel on one of the major sites for 50 or so bucks. We don't stop at a hotel on the way back. We sleep a couple of hours at a time at truck stops if we REALLY need to. Then add in the 100 for parking at the port it's about 500 to drive.

It would cost over 800 to fly from our local airport. If we drove 3 hours and left our car (and paid 100 for parking) it would be about 700. Why spend an extra 200-300? That's money we could spend while we're on the cruise. Or save to take another cruise later.