How far would you drive to port the day of the cruise?

[melody-s]

I have a cruise later this summer and I am trying to decide if I should drive the day before and get a hotel for the night or drive in the day of the cruise. It's about 3.5 hours plus time to cross and international boarder (U.S. - Canada) from my home to the port.

 

I would prefer to save the money on the hotel, but I have a low tolerance for risk and would hate to miss the ship for something stupid like a problem on the way to port. When I fly I always arrive the day before, but not sure if the same applies to driving.

 

Any thoughts on what is reasonable in this situation?

Edited May 22, 2015 by melody-s

[Roz]

I would drive to the port city the day before. Too many things can go wrong - road construction, traffic accidents, bad weather, flat tire, mechanical breakdown, etc.

 

Roz

[DirtyDawg]

Just check out the typical wait times at the border for the day of your cruise and build that into the schedule. Also build in the traffic in Vancouver, it can be lousy at times. So, if all in your travel time will be 6 hours or so will you be comfortable leaving at 6am to get to the ship by noon? If not, drive up the day before and enjoy a night in Vancouver.:)

[Scrapnana]

Two hours would be my max. Go the day before and be relaxed for an extra day!

[GottaKnowWhen]

I have a cruise later this summer and I am trying to decide if I should drive the day before and get a hotel for the night or drive in the day of the cruise. It's about 3.5 hours plus time to cross and international boarder (U.S. - Canada) from my home to the port.

 

 

 

I would prefer to save the money on the hotel, but I have a low tolerance for risk and would hate to miss the ship for something stupid like a problem on the way to port. When I fly I always arrive the day before, but not sure if the same applies to driving.

 

 

 

Any thoughts on what is reasonable in this situation?

 

 

I would drive up ahead of time. If you like another's suggestion of an evening in Vancouver, drive all the way, get a reasonable hotel and enjoy. Otherwise, stop a half hour out, or wherever it would be reasonable to find lower cost hotel along the way. Leaves you a short leisurely drive on the way to the ship.

[melody-s]

OK, I am convinced. I will plan on driving up the day before. Thanks!

[Kamloops50]

I would never drive to the port the same day.

 

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[navybankerteacher]

OK, I am convinced. I will plan on driving up the day before. Thanks!

 

I think you made the right decision. I would drive from a motel/motel in the immediate area -- but no further -- on embarkation day. We follow the same idea when taking the Auto-train to/from Florida: staying with family in Bethesda, MD southbound ant at a motel in Sanford, FL northbound - rather than plan to board after a 4 or 5 hour drive -- too many delays/glitches - and certainly stress to drive much of any distance before any boarding.

[cb at sea]

The only way I'd drive to port on the day of is if I was less than 70-80 miles away....and knew of alternate routes!

[OCruisers]

Probably 4 hours at the most. It's about 4 hours from home for us when we cruise out of JAX.

We almost always stop at a hotel and drive our last three hours the day of the cruise when going out for Fort Lauderdale. :)

 

LuLu

[spookwife]

Two hours would be my max. Go the day before and be relaxed for an extra day!

 

Yup. we live less than 4 hours from Galveston ad we still drive in to Houston the night before.

[mtwingcpa]

If it was JUST the drive, I might go for it. But adding in the border crossing would make this a same day no-go for me.

 

Once I drove to SEATAC and caught the first Quickshuttle bus to Vancouver at 6:00 AM. It ran a bit late but did get me to the cruise pier by about 1:30 PM. Trouble was, I was so tired from the early morning activity that I had to take a nap...and missed sailaway. :-(

Edited May 23, 2015 by mtwingcpa

[caribsun]

I have taken the 3.5 hour drive to port on the day of sailing a few times with no issues. We leave at 6AM giving us plenty of time if there was a issue.

[deadmoney]

We drive from Tampa to Canaveral on the same day, about 2.5 hours.

If it was Ft. lauderdale or Miami we would go the day before.

 

sure do miss having a 7 day boat out of Tampa:(

[LeeBe]

We live in the Melbourne FL area and routinely drive south to FLL or over to TPA, both trips are under 3 hours. That's probably on the limit and if you wanted to real safe it would not be a bad idea of going the afternoon before sailing. However, in real life it just seems to add another layer of complexity... so we cheat and drive the day of.

[GUT2407]

I have roughly a two hour drive.

 

But prefer to go the day before as that two hour drive can, with an accident or two stretch too four or five hours, and on one occasion 4 days.

 

Now the four days I couldn't have done much about except perhaps turn around come home and get a flight.

 

BUT then I live a stress filled life, professionally, and don't need more stress when on holidays.

[sail7seas]

No question I would come the day before especially given you have a border crossing.

 

Get to the hotel, relax, have a nice dinner and be ready to board next day.

 

[iancal]

We cross that border regularly. In fact we crossed two weeks ago with a five minute wait at the Pacific truck crossing. There are in fact neon signs in the Bellingham area that provide the estimated wait time the three border crossings-Peace Arch, Pacific Truck, and Abbotsford. Cross border traffic at those crossings have decreased with the decline in the Canadian dollar. Just be aware of any public holidays that may cause you extended wait times. We have always found that mid day, and late night crossings are best from a line up perspective.

 

I think that you would be fine. Leave very early in the AM-especially is it is a week day in Seattle and you cannot bypass the city commuter traffic. It is highway all the way until you reach the Oak Street bridge...about 10KM from the ship. You need to have a clear idea of where to leave you car. One option would be in the low cost (so called) parking at the Vancouver airport.

Edited May 25, 2015 by iancal

[luvscruising2007]

We generally drive the day before to NJ. However, we did sail from Baltimore once and drove up the day of the sailing. We were concerned because we have to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and any back up can be hours to clear.. So, we left early in the morning, about 8am and grabbed breakfast after we made the bridge crossing.

Unfortunately, we were in line for a long time, maybe 2 hours, before we could even go through security. But, it was a fun cruise.

[chipmaster]

All comes down to predictability of traffic and delays.

 

I've done Portland to Seattle for cruise departing at 5pm with boarding at 1pm if memory serves me correct. We left Portland around 7am, we know the route, worst traffic and detours well that we new we had time to spare.

 

Crossing the border can be very hard to predict. I've done it in 20' and stuck for 3 hours at its worst. Without knowing the exact time and date and detailed knowledge of traffic patterns always safer to do the night before.

 

Or ...give yourself 3 hours to cross the border + regular travel time.... :D

[sail7seas]

We cross that border regularly. In fact we crossed two weeks ago with a five minute wait at the Pacific truck crossing. There are in fact neon signs in the Bellingham area that provide the estimated wait time the three border crossings-Peace Arch, Pacific Truck, and Abbotsford. Cross border traffic at those crossings have decreased with the decline in the Canadian dollar. Just be aware of any public holidays that may cause you extended wait times. We have always found that mid day, and late night crossings are best from a line up perspective.

 

I think that you would be fine. Leave very early in the AM-especially is it is a week day in Seattle and you cannot bypass the city commuter traffic. It is highway all the way until you reach the Oak Street bridge...about 10KM from the ship. You need to have a clear idea of where to leave you car. One option would be in the low cost (so called) parking at the Vancouver airport.

 

 

 

 

Can you be sure it is always so fast with no wait at the border?

 

Never a back up there?

 

[iancal]

Yes, but the most we have seen has been 2 hours...on a long weekend when the Canadian dollar was higher than the USD. We have seen news reports of up to three hours on a holiday weekend.

 

No issues if you leave early and budget your time. Worst thing can happen is that you spend a few extra hours in glorious Vancouver.

 

Plus.....coming up the I5 you have three different border crossings that you can take.

Edited May 25, 2015 by iancal

[iancal]

We came through on a Friday, May 8, about 3 PM. The neon signs outside Bellingham indicated a 5 minute wait the Peace, Pacific Truck, and Abbotsford border crossings. We were in line 5 minutes max at Pacific but it can vary.

 

Having three border crossing options really helps.

 

Another option is to drop your car at SeaTac and take the Airport bus to YVR, then the seatrain to ship. You may also be able to do the same at Bellingham airport but I do not know if they have bus transportation to YVR or Vancouver from Bellingham.

Edited May 25, 2015 by iancal

[Kolten]

Always show up a day early try to start your vacation on a relaxed note... who wants to be stressing about getting there on time? :mad:

[trev71]

25 nautical miles