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

[kwbound]

Home port is Galveston/Houston, about an hour +/- . Have driven to New Orleans twice, about 6 hrs. Wouldn't drive any farther. And if we have to fly, that adds too much expense to the trip. We might as well fly somewhere for a land vacation. So it's Houston/Galveston/NOLA for us.

[T. Advisor King]

Flying pretty much takes the whole day too. Maybe it doesn't for those who live in hub cities. So cost if time argument is irrelevant to me. 17 hours of driving is also less stressful, for me, than 10 hours of airports and airplanes.

 

I'm not sure it is a matter of living in a "hub city" (I certainly don't), but if your point is whether or not you have a direct flight, then I agree. However, I find air travel relaxing, even to the point of it approaching being boring -- not that I mind a drive once in a while or find it especially stressful.

 

But everything else being equal (and it isn't), I'd still prefer to fly. In the case of your 17 hour drive vs. 10 hour flying, that would seem to be the difference of 2 extra days of vacation to drive (unless you're thinking 6:00 am to 11:00 pm straight to get there and, say 9:00 am to 2:00 am the next morning to get home is fun).

[sjdqueen]

Home port is Galveston/Houston, about an hour +/- . Have driven to New Orleans twice, about 6 hrs. Wouldn't drive any farther. And if we have to fly, that adds too much expense to the trip. We might as well fly somewhere for a land vacation. So it's Houston/Galveston/NOLA for us.

 

Same here for me. Will be driving to NOLA in August with DD for the Conquest. It will be nice though once the Bayport terminal is opened later this year. That will take me about 20 to 30 mins.

[Jenna1983]

I'm not willing to drive. No desire to sail from the NE Atlantic Ocean ever!

 

 

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[Mrtwo]

There was similar post not too long ago....pretty mixed bag of responses then as well. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1814146

 

The wife and I sailed the NCL Start out of NOLA this past Christmas - about 10 hours to Lafayette stopped for the night then about 2.5 into NOLA the next morning. About 700 Miles and 13 hours total.

 

The wife and I are sailing on the Conquest the first week in November; then we bought the kids / grand kids a cruise for Christmas so all 15 of us will be heading down to NOLA again 12/28 to sail on the Elation

[cmoore120]

We are driving from Northeast Arkansas to Miami starting Friday night with a 3 year old! This will be our longest trip to a port but we can do it! We want to go on the Breeze so Miami here we come!!

 

 

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[swscruiser]

The longest we have driven is 12 hours and the trip after was AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mrtwo]

Forgot to mention...we don't plan to drive home after disembarkation. We have reservations in NOLA...plan to visit Bourbon street in the evening for mass consumption of adult beverages....a good nights sleep and then an early start homeward.

[skuttduck]

We have made the drive from Michigan to Port Canaveral several times.

 

Usually we stay in Knoxville, then around Savannah, then drive to the port.

 

I did it once in exactly two days. Port Canaveral to Asheville, then Asheville back home. On that trip it was scary as my dad got hospitalized in Port Canaveral. By the way, he was the first off the ship. My mom stayed with him but my wife and I had to work and she couldn't drive manual, so I did all 100% of the driving on that one.

 

By the way driving is the best when you go to the Eastern Caribbean if you plan to stock up on your duty free allowance at St. Thomas :)

[LadyTenorJD]

I must be spoiled, living minutes from Port Canaveral...

 

 

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[LadyTenorJD]

15 minutes. To JFK International Airport. I don't cruise from NY because the ports suck and I cannot be in a car for extended periods of time. Just doesn't work for me.

 

I used to live 15 min from JFK...now I'm closer to the sea ports than I am to a major airport...guess I need to do more flying and less cruising...

 

 

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[Flutie03]

Will be driving for 13.5 hours from my home in Louisiana to Miami alone for my first cruise. Have other friends going that are flying in. Cheaper for me to drive than fly and rent

 

 

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[mrsd912]

I would drive to Miami from Maine, I think even that long of a drive would be cheaper for us than flying, even with a hotel stay. It would just be so nice to not have to worry about minimal packing, and baggage fees, and having enough room to get souvenirs home.

But DH wouldn't drive further than 6 hours! Our next cruise we may try NCL' s Bermuda itinerary out of Boston just to save some money. That trip would only be about four hours for us!

[T. Advisor King]

I would drive to Miami from Maine, I think even that long of a drive would be cheaper for us than flying, even with a hotel stay. It would just be so nice to not have to worry about minimal packing, and baggage fees, and having enough room to get souvenirs home.

But DH wouldn't drive further than 6 hours! Our next cruise we may try NCL' s Bermuda itinerary out of Boston just to save some money. That trip would only be about four hours for us!

 

Maybe cheaper in cash spent. Maybe not depending on how you value your time. Here's how to factor in your time: Calculate the total cash savings of driving vs. flying. Remember to include things like the share of additional or accelerated auto maintenance required as a result of the extra miles. Divide the net savings by the length of the drive in hours. Then divide that by 2 (there and back). Then divide that by 2 if there are 2 people in your party. If the number you get is something like $7, then ask yourself whether your time is worth more or less than $7 an hour to you. If your time is worth less than $7 to you, then driving is the right decision.

[kruisecat]

I get cranky on the 1 hour drive to the port in Tampa :o The thought of 12+ hours driving anywhere just makes me :eek:

[803sailnsistah]

As newly Empty Nesters on our first cruise sans kids in like forever, we are flying to port...DH and I have never been on a flight together (we've gone solo for work, or without the other on girls' or boys' getaways) in over 20 yrs...we drove everywhere when the kids were 'kids' and driving was budget friendly. We would usually drive in the day before the cruise so that we were well rested and worry free to enjoy our vacation from the time we board the ship.

 

Only one time did we opt to take Amtrak, which was awesomely fun getting to the cruise (total of 14 fam members from 3 different stops along the train route), but return trip was affected by hurricane, so our 12 hour trip turned into 27 hrs of delays...including a 2 hr delay about 3 miles from our actual residence due to a signal outage, so DH has vowed Never Again on Amtrak (even though I would do it again in a heartbeat!).

 

For this cruise, we opted for flying to FLL from CLT because 9+ hrs in the car is not cost-effective, nor 'time'-effective....its a much better deal to be in Mia w/in 2 hrs!! Just praying for no delays that would effect us getting to the port. I deleted VPP without DH 's knowledge, so pray with me that nothing goes awry. That money can be better spent on DODs and a charitable donation to the Casino. Really, can you tell who's the adventurer/risk taker in this family?...6 days to go and the Tropics are quiet, so far....

 

 

 

Angie in SC

(with a tech aversion to creating a signature. Maybe, one day...)

[dancergrl608]

The farthest we drove was to Miami and it took roughly 17-18 hours with stopping for food, stretching, and gas. After that we decided that our limit was Port Canaveral, which takes us roughly 14-15 hours with stopping. We will be driving to New Orleans in December but it's roughly the same for us as driving to Port Canaveral.

[LadyTenorJD]

I used to live 15 min from JFK...now I'm closer to the sea ports than I am to a major airport...guess I need to do more flying and less cruising...

 

I meant more cruising and less flying...I am closer to Port Canaveral than I am to Orlando International airport!

 

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[steve819]

I'll drive the 90 minutes to Boston for a cruise,no problem, out of NYC or Baltimore it's Amtrak, otherwise for Tampa, FLL, MIA, NOLA, or Galveston, it's Hello Southwest Air. There is nothing fun about the white knuckle drive on I-95 through Fairfield County CT, NYC or Northern N.J. Ugh. I wish there were another way to get from New England to the South.

[LadyTenorJD]

I'll drive the 90 minutes to Boston for a cruise,no problem, out of NYC or Baltimore it's Amtrak, otherwise for Tampa, FLL, MIA, NOLA, or Galveston, it's Hello Southwest Air. There is nothing fun about the white knuckle drive on I-95 through Fairfield County CT, NYC or Northern N.J. Ugh. I wish there were another way to get from New England to the South.

 

I-95 through the Baltimore/DC/Northern VA area ain't fun, either...traffic!!! :( after that, no traffic unless you hit the Jacksonville, FL area around rush hour. South FL on 95 ain't a picnic, either!!

 

 

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