How far are you willing to drive for your departure port?

[momof3cruisers]

We drive 25-28 hours to FL, a bit less to TX or NOLA. There are 5 of us and we enjoy cross country travel. However, we are hesitant to drive all the way to Miami. Tampa and Port Canaveral are about as far as we are willing to drive.

[Izzybeff]

Eastern Iowa to Seattle, by way of New Mexico & Utah... We were gone for 22 days.. It was a great trip.

 

My dh doesn't fly, so driving is part of the trip for us. This coming January were driving from Iowa to Orlando... We leave a week earlier than our friends who are flying in the day before the cruise.

[babywomangirl]

4 of us caught one way flights out of upstate NY to Miami to board our ship and drove back from Miami. We drove straight through without stopping for a hotel overnight. I never want to do that again unless I stop for a hotel in between. It did save us hundreds of dollars for the flights because they were almost $700 pp r/t.

[PenguinLife]

Unless making a side trip I would not drive over about 10 hours, for us the nearest regional airport is about an hour and a half drive away and the nearest major airport is about a 3 hour drive in the other direction. Given the delays with air travel, showing up an hour plus early, time it takes to pick up luggage, get out of the airport etc. anything within a 5 to 6 hour driving time is probably quicker than flying.

[fireofficer5]

I'kk never drive more than 60 minutes.

[DocF]

If I could drive to Barcelona instead of flying, we would be driving. I detest the TSA and airports and airlines. The people at Greyhound should give the airlines some lessons in being polite to the customer.

 

Doc

[MsTabbyKats]

I live right by the pier in NYC.

 

If I had to travel to reach a ship....I'd do a land vacation.

[evandbob]

I drive from upper Westchester Cty NY to LaGuardia airport, about 45 mins the morning of my cruise. The flight to MIA is under 3 hrs. The return drive a week later could take about an hour during the afternoon hours.

That's all folks! It's my vacation and I'm relaxing!

[maxxedout2]

...... Just be warned, Florida is a much longer state than you think.

 

 

True enough.

 

It takes us about a 7 hour drive north....just to get to the 'Deep South'.

 

:cool::cool:

[xbatt8]

Let's see.... South Central California to Port Canaveral in 2007.... That was 2,588 miles each way. Then again this June to Tampa.... And that one was 2,550 miles each way.

 

Yeah, Mexican cruise are MUCH easier for me......

 

Bob

[wife2b]

Hmmm.... decisions, decisions! DH seems to be dreading the idea of driving but a road trip sounds so fun- we'll compromise :D. I think we'll rent a car to drive down & make much needed visits to family & friends along the way then hop on a one way flight back home after the cruise. We have over a year to decide so things may change. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for all the responses- very helpful!!

[cuyahoga11]

The farthest I drive is to the closest airport

[surfer_00]

we have driven from slc, ut to long beach which is about 11 hours. for our upcoming cruise in march we will be driving to san diego which is 12 hours. flying is just way to expensive right now but i always keep my eye on it.

[blondietink]

We drove from 1 hour east of Buffalo, NY to New Orleans in February. :D So much cheaper for the 4 of us to drive than fly. Took us 24 hours split into 2 days each way. Roads were perfect in February which is something we worried about. Not a drop of rain or snow the entire time we were gone from home.

 

We are driving to Tampa next month. We figure it will be about 22-24 hours one way. We drive to Orlando at least twice a year in about 22 hours and since we are going a slightly different way once we hit Jacksonville than when driving to Orlando, we aren't sure how long it will take us.

 

I wish that there were longer cruises out of Baltimore or Charleston. It would save us some driving. We would not drive to any cruise out of NYC because there are cheap flights. We could all fly to NYC for slightly more than parking at the port for 7 days! Baltimore is also a cheap place for us to fly to.

[gadan1]

I live in Chicago, so I'll fly to any port over driving. I'd do Amtrak for New Orleans, and maybe anything out of the Northeast, or Seattle, but I like train travel and have done several thousand miles on Amtrak; any other port requires a change of long distance trains and that either requires a potentially tight connection and/or an overnight stay. The only time I'll drive to port is if I'm traveling with my mom (who lives in Dallas/Fort Worth) and we cruise out of Galveston...then I'll fly to Dallas and drive down to Galveston--about a 5 hour drive.

[larkz]

I live in Chicago, so I'll fly to any port over driving. I'd do Amtrak for New Orleans, and maybe anything out of the Northeast, or Seattle, but I like train travel and have done several thousand miles on Amtrak; any other port requires a change of long distance trains and that either requires a potentially tight connection and/or an overnight stay. The only time I'll drive to port is if I'm traveling with my mom (who lives in Dallas/Fort Worth) and we cruise out of Galveston...then I'll fly to Dallas and drive down to Galveston--about a 5 hour drive.

 

Hmm, that's an interesting option. How long does it take? I have lots winter weather backup plans in case the airlines are bogged down with snow. I love trains, however, and they seem a little more reliable in the winter.

 

Getting to Miami is a good 1400 miles plus, so in the event of a cancellation by the airlines, I've actually considered driving to the airport as far south as Indianapolis, or if the weather has hit there, Nashville. I'll drive through anything. I book flights at least a day ahead, in order to cover for this scenario.

[scgamecock]

8+ hours from Panama City to Miami is as far as I have driven for a cruise. That's pushing it.

[cruzinlisa]

Chicago to NOLA next month.

 

We are tired of flying. (app. 100 total flights of various lengths over the years.

 

Seems like a lot of people going from midwesternish areas to NOLA. We are driving from Mid Missouri to NOLA in April. Its the only port I really would considering driving to, because it seems like a relatively easy drive.

[Pom Lover]

We live in Kansas and so far we have always left out of FL. We typically cruise in the winter months and the thought of driving across country with snow and ice just doesn't appeal to us. We thought about going out of Galveston but the cruises are much more expensive. It's cheaper to fly to FL and cruise from there then to drive to Texas and leave from there.

[thegame1226]

We've driven from the St. Louis area to New Orleans, and it's not so bad. In fact, I prefer driving because then you can enjoy the port city without having to hassle with taxis and such.

[PlanningToCruise]

We live in PA and have never gone out of NY ( don't like the itinerarys) so we have always flown to FL, or when we lived in Titusville FL in 2006 we drove of course. Personally I don't think I would drive more then 6-8 hrs for a port

[Askewview]

Drove from New Brunswick, Canada to Jacksonville, Fl for our wedding cruise to Half Moon Cay. NB shares a border with Maine, if you want a point of reference I always say take the I95 North to the end......and then go 3 more freakin' hours. Was 6 of us and was cheaper to pile in the ol' minivan than to fly.

 

Was two very long 16 hour days on the drive down, our main driver was a smoker and LOTS of smoke breaks along every single rest stop along the highway down.

 

Took 3 days coming back, much more relaxed dividing up that long ass drive into 3 days. And 3 days made it easier to pull off the highway to see this or that.

 

We're roadtrippers on the weekends so we are used to planning out little roadside attractions to drop in to see. Dixie Caverns, Amish Country, Boston, the Carolina's, Blue Ridge Mountains, was a great drive down and back.

[b_bay_girl]

We have driven from Ontario twice for cruises; once to Cape Canaveral; and second to Fort Lauderdale (20 & 24 hours). First time was with three children for Disney cruise so it was much cheaper than flying but tiring for us as parents and my husband did most of the driving. We did stop for the night. Second time was with five adults - we did it again for some savings and we had more drivers and didn't stop during the night. But it is exhausting. Going there you are excited, coming back, not so much fun... and there is ALWAYS a snow store when we drive through Erie. We are going on a cruise in Feb -a group of eight. I put my foot down and said I was flying - didn't care what anyone else was doing. We have all agreed to fly. I am 44 years old and have done dozens of 24 hour road trips across Canada and to Florida. My kids are in college / university now - I feel free to fly wherever I want to and I am taking advantage of it whenever I can.

[moobear67]

I guess it depends on how much you like to drive places. We do the car trip from MD to Orlando in one straight 13 hour shot (only 2 or 3 quick stops for food/bathroom). The best way to do it is to start driving at some odd hour of the night/morning..like 2 or 3 am....so you get through the I-95 "mixing bowl" in No. VA while there is no sign of traffic. By the time morning traffic starts to get heavy, you are already through 1/3rd to 1/2 of your trip, and you are way past the worse part.

[LadyTenorJD]

I live in East Central Florida and have five cruise ports within easy dirves. Port Canaverla is 45 minutes away, Jacksonville just 75 minutes, Tampa one hour forty-five minutes, Ft. Lauderdale 3 hours, and Miami four hours. I can find all the cruises I want here.

I am blessed!

 

I agree with that! I moved to Brevard County in 2004. DH and I finally got around to cruising this past summer. Very convenient to drive 35 minutes to Port Canaveral! We are cruising in December and will be leaving from Ft. Lauderdale; that will be a bit over 2 hours to reach. Not a big deal. We are spoiled here in FL with so many ports from which we can depart.

 

However, after we get tired of cruising in the Caribbean, we will have to fly elsewhere. I'm not into long driving, and DH likes driving less than I do.

 

I've driven from FL to NY once with a friend, and that was about as long as I can take. No one is going to see me driving to CA anytime soon. :) If I want to visit my relatives there, I fly.

 

Happy cruising to all, and to all a good night!