Midwestern Family Cruisers: Anyone choose to drive?

[avgsuperheroine]

I hate asking family to watch our kids while we vacation so my hope is that we can start taking the boys with us when we travel now that they're a little older (9, 8, 6).

 

The closest port is 16 hours from us, and the farthest one is 24 hours. I could MAYBE see driving to Galveston to save some $ on a family cruise. This next cruise I got a great deal on airfare (under $200). So far my only tip I've learned is to be really patient and wait for a great deal!

 

Any other tips for family cruisers to save on airfare? Trying to find cabin prices for a group of 5 online without having to call is also tricky.

[1025cruise]

Can't speak on airfare, but there are very few cabins for 5.

[cb at sea]

What's wrong with calling? Just make sure to have the deck plans in front of you, so you know what's being offered!

 

About the driving....no way would I want to spend 2 days in a car...especially AFTER the cruise is over! What a horrible way to end a great vacation!

[*Cassie*]

We're in IL and we really debated flying vs. driving, but we finally decided on driving so we wouldn't have to worry about the carseat situation. We're cruising out of Miami (16 hours) so we're breaking it into two days. Also on the way back we're going to stop in Orlando for a day at Universal.

 

Last summer we drove to Charleston, SC, with an overnight stop in Atlanta and it really wasn't bad at all.

[Onessa]

Dependent upon the kids, the drive could be doable - but it also really limits the time of year you can travel -- it is one thing being delayed at a airport due to whether, another thing getting stranded in the middle of no-where in a storm!

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I saw cheap cruises on Princess out of Houston. That might be a good port for you. One thing to consider is getting two inside connecting cabins. That way you have two bathrooms, two tvs and privacy

Edited January 7, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

We come from St. Louis and our port of choice is New Orleans. It is about a 10 hour drive for us and if needed we usually make a stop in Jackson, MS if we don' want to do the trip in one shot. Also there are a couple of hotels in New Orleans that offer stay and park where if you stay a night they will let you park for the week for free. The Drury Hotel offers this still I think. Also New Orleans has a lot to see and do before getting on the ship which is nice.

Also the biggest reason we don't fly is that I don't want to double the amount of my vacation for airfare. Usually that costs as much as the cruise itself.

[cruzinlisa]

We come from St. Louis and our port of choice is New Orleans. It is about a 10 hour drive for us and if needed we usually make a stop in Jackson, MS if we don' want to do the trip in one shot. Also there are a couple of hotels in New Orleans that offer stay and park where if you stay a night they will let you park for the week for free. The Drury Hotel offers this still I think. Also New Orleans has a lot to see and do before getting on the ship which is nice.

Also the biggest reason we don't fly is that I don't want to double the amount of my vacation for airfare. Usually that costs as much as the cruise itself.

 

 

We come from Jeff City, Missouri, which is just a little further and we do about the same. We usually stop in Southaven MS on the way down. Then on to NOLA the next day. Then on the way home we go all the way through. We have done it twice with our DD (who is now almost 3)

[echoeasy]

We come from St Louis, MO and drive to New Orleans since it's only a 10 hr drive. Carnival now offers staterooms that will sleep 5. The only catch is that the two twin beds cannot be made into a king if all 5 beds are in use. The plus is that the room has one bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet and the 2nd one has a junior tub and sink. The jr tub does have a shower head too.

[echoeasy]

Hey CaribbeanAmphibian, I see you are also a St Louisan. Where abouts are you? We live about 10 min from Lambert Airport.

[Mistyhon]

We're in SW Minnesota and chose to drive to Galveston for our previous cruise. It was our first time taking the kids and it went wonderfully. Kids were 3 and 6 and did so well. We'd do it again in a heartbeat (and just may from New Orleans next time.) LMK if you have any specific questions. :)

[avgsuperheroine]

We're in SW Minnesota and chose to drive to Galveston for our previous cruise. It was our first time taking the kids and it went wonderfully. Kids were 3 and 6 and did so well. We'd do it again in a heartbeat (and just may from New Orleans next time.) LMK if you have any specific questions. :)

 

Thanks everyone! Great insights!

 

This is really helpful. We are in NW Iowa, and I'd love to know how long it REALLY took to get to Galveston, and did you stop halfway? Did you still arrive a day early?

 

It feels like I'd want a longer cruise if we drive, but then the travel adds even more time. I get a lot more vacation time than my DH, so we'd have to work that out.

[My6Dogs]

We live in Kansas City, MO and will be driving to New Orleans for our Dream cruise in November. First time driving to a port. We will probably just drive straight thru.

Unless I can find some great deals on airfare... :)

 

Mike

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[CaribbeanAmphibian]

Hey CaribbeanAmphibian, I see you are also a St Louisan. Where abouts are you? We live about 10 min from Lambert Airport.

 

North county, Florissant area. Probably 15 minutes from the Airport.

[Mistyhon]

We anticipated it taking about 19 hours (so realistically 24 LOL!) We never did figure out what it ACTUALLY took. We left at 5 am and drove until 7pm the first day (Friday) and stopped in Sherman, Tx. We saved a lot of time by having a potty in the car so we weren't stopping every 25 minutes.

 

The next day we were in Galveston by 2:30 pm (I think 5-6 hrs total that day) to enjoy the pleasure pier and fun things to do in Galveston (so yes, we did arrive a day early.)

 

On the way home we spent a couple of days in DFW so we made the drive home from Dallas to MN in one day. We left at 6am and returned home by 9pm that same day.

 

I had lots of activities for the kids and we didn't even end up using our ipads or the kids leap pads (surprisingly! The didn't even know we had brought them with.)

[avgsuperheroine]

Wow! Thank you!

[Nebr.cruiser]

Thanks everyone! Great insights!

 

This is really helpful. We are in NW Iowa, and I'd love to know how long it REALLY took to get to Galveston, and did you stop halfway? Did you still arrive a day early?

 

It feels like I'd want a longer cruise if we drive, but then the travel adds even more time. I get a lot more vacation time than my DH, so we'd have to work that out.

 

We live in NE Nebraska and have driven home from Galveston--just the two of us though. We did it in one shot; probably about 18-20 hours; it's been a while. With kids, I'd want to stop somewhere.

 

We were visiting family in the McAllen area, so first drove there from home and then on to Galveston for the cruise.

 

We probably won't do this again because the weather was so cold both the first and last sea days--40ish in Feb. Of course you can hit warmer weather, but it is probably still going to be cooler than leaving from Florida.

[Carnival_Brides]

I'm in my mid-20's and we did several 15+ hour family road trips with no problem when I was a kid. Once Carnival leaves the northeast this fall, we've considered driving from our home, north of Baltimore, to New Orleans, Tampa, and Port Canaveral (all 17 hour drives) with our nieces since the cost-savings is close to $1,000.

 

I did one cruise in a cabin with three teenaged Girl Scouts and another adult and it was akin to being in the fifth circle of hell. If you can, perhaps try to book a connecting cabin for the extra space and bathroom? We did that on Carnival this summer for a five day cruise and it was less expensive than smooshing five of us into a cabin.

[Samityna]

We just took our first cruise out of Miami and flew with three kids. The airfare was as much as the cruise! When we do it again (and we WILL do it again! LOL!) we will drive. We are looking at cruising out of New Orleans and the drive from SE Minnesota is about 16 hours. 4/5 of us can drive so I think we could do it straight through. Our kids were 19, 15, and 6 when we cruised in December.

[Mistyhon]

We just took our first cruise out of Miami and flew with three kids. The airfare was as much as the cruise! When we do it again (and we WILL do it again! LOL!) we will drive. We are looking at cruising out of New Orleans and the drive from SE Minnesota is about 16 hours. 4/5 of us can drive so I think we could do it straight through. Our kids were 19, 15, and 6 when we cruised in December.

 

Where are you at? We're in the Mankato micropolitan area. :)

[Samityna]

Where are you at? We're in the Mankato micropolitan area. :)

 

Small world! We're about 10 miles west of Rochester. I grew up in Waseca and my husband grew up in New Ulm. We both went to college in Mankato and lived in that area until 2006 until he got a job in Rochester and we made the move. Miss the Mankato area! Rochester is a much different "atmosphere" then Mankato and miss the friends we have over there.

[Heartfruit]

I haven't driven to a cruise yet but we are planning to do so this year. That said, we have done some pretty epic car trips with my now 9 year old starting from when she was 1.5.

 

1) Consider audiobooks. YT lit has come a long way and it isn't too hard these days to find a novel that will entertain everyone in the car from say 6 to adults. A good novel can kill a lot of road hours. And they still give the passengers time to look out the window at the changing scenery. Also a good alternative to books or screens if your little ones are prone to motion sickness.

 

2) Headphones for the kids if they are doing something (video games, movies, etc) that not everyone will want to hear. They make sound limiting headphones for the little ones.

 

3) Car crafts are great. Just be sure to pick something that isn't too messy.

 

4) If you are traveling with very small kids, consider breaking the driving day into two parts. Find some sort of attraction en route where you can stop for an two or three hours mid-afternoon. Let them run around a bit. It is often easier to drive late into the night after a fun afternoon then drive straight though and get to the hotel at 6.

[lovestocruisesue]

We live in Indiana and are cruising Enchantment in June. We normally fly, but this year we decided to drive, mostly due to traveling with another family who preferred to keep costs down, which we were happy to agree to! (They are first time cruisers, so it will be a blast!) Our plan is to allow extra days coming and going and we are researching fun things to do inbetween such as amusements parks, etc. We will probably do more on the way home rather than going down just to make sure we don't cut it too close. Our kids are all 15 and 16 years old so they have no problem entertaining themselves, however, we did drive to Florida a couple years when they were young. Games, books, videos are all great. LOTS of snacks are a must. If you don't stop to spend the night somewhere, it is helpful to try and do the majority of the driving at night (if possible) so they can sleep in the car. Hope you have a wonderful time and make some precious memories!:)

[ediesbeads]

We are cruise for the first time this December with three kids! We are from central IL. This cruise will be out of New Orleans, but we've driven several times to Florida for family vacation. We have a very comfy van with DVD players for the kids. We make EVERYONE try to go potty every time we stop, which helps reduce the number of stops. We usually plan a car lunch with sandwiches etc, then stop for a hot dinner when we drive all day.

 

Our kids will be 15, 12, and 9 at cruise time. For our New Orleans trip it will be 12 hours of driving, so we plan to drive about 9 hours the first day, then get up and drive the last 3 the morning of the cruise. That should put us to the port right around boarding time.

 

We are going Royal Caribbean. We have connecting rooms. One for two, one for three, with a door between the rooms. We also looked at a family suite. It has two bunks, a pull out couch, and regular push together beds. It was similar cost, but we decided we liked two bathrooms and more privacy.

 

Have a GREAT time!!

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Have a great time on your cruise. I cruised Serenade of the Seas and it was my favorite of all the Royal Caribbean cruises I've sailed. Really nice ship. New Orleans is a really neat city. I think your kids would enjoy it- at least during the day. There is always some kind of jazz music, the little "beignets" are delicious and the crawdads (crayfish) are a really unique treat. Loved them. So if you get a chance hang in New Orleans for a few hours.

Edited January 24, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain