Falcon Heavy Launch On Sail Away Day!!!

[tomcatguy74]

Hi All,

 

I was just wondering what the traffic around Port Canaveral is going to be like. We would like to actually watch the rocket go up from the port area. Is there an area at the port where we can see it go up?

 

Thoughts?

 

Robert

[mondello]

@tomcatguy74 I did a search and it said Port Canaveral offered great views. Traffic varies on day/time. Artemis launch was expecting 100,000 people; scrubbed/moved to middle of Labor Day weekend and they were expecting 200,000-400,000. Always hard to predict everything so dependent on weather window.

[skrufy]

2 hours ago, tomcatguy74 said:

Hi All,

 

I was just wondering what the traffic around Port Canaveral is going to be like. We would like to actually watch the rocket go up from the port area. Is there an area at the port where we can see it go up?

 

Thoughts?

 

Robert

 

[RedbirdFLCruiser]

Port Canaveral will have great views of rocket launches because it's so close to KSC. We saw a launch from the deck of the Liberty as we were leaving port in January. It was fabulous! If it's not yet time to be onboard the ship when the rocket launches, then the top of the parking garage will have great views, or anywhere outdoors in that area. Just look to the north - you can't miss it. 🙂

 

The traffic will depend on the time of day and day of the week of the launch. If it's on a weekend, then traffic will be heavier since people will be off from work and will drive over and bring their kids. The launch we watched was on a Monday, and the traffic wasn't bad at all.

 

But Mondello's right - the Artemis planned launch dates brought in huge crowds and I heard the traffic on the space coast was insane. And yes, launches do get scrubbed or delayed frequently.

[RedbirdFLCruiser]

This has some non-port suggestions. Keep scrolling to see the spots they suggest that are not at KSC.

 

https://orlandoinsidervacations.com/best-place-to-watch-the-rocket-launch/

[evandbob]

We had a view of the last Discovery shuttle launch from our ship.  The harbor was shut down and no ships were moving due to the 4pm launch.  We got some great pics of the craft as it left the launch pad and then flew over our heads .using a camera with a telephoto lens

 

I believe it was after 5pm when our cruise got under way, but we didn't hear any complaints about the delay.

 

{The OP seems to be talking about viewing a launch from the immediate launch area in the Cape and not from a ship 20 miles away in the harbor - I know}

[Knights on the Beach]

Any of the port restaurants on the water are good places to watch the launch. We prefer Grills - they have an outside tiki bar and a good sized deck with lots of tables. Or go over to the beach and view from the sand.

[Guest BasicSailor]

33 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

Any of the port restaurants on the water are good places to watch the launch. We prefer Grills - they have an outside tiki bar and a good sized deck with lots of tables. Or go over to the beach and view from the sand.

 

All of those bars have outside tiki bars and the views are all the same. Fishlips, Rusty's has a great tiki bar. with more seats available.

[Knights on the Beach]

Correct - but we still prefer Grills. Gators also meets the above description and we go there as well.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Here's a good www site to keep track of launches.  We sail November 20th and will be in Coco Beach on the 18th hoping to see the launch on Friday from the hotel.  There's also six more set for November but no dates or times yet.  Artemis is set for 11/13 (Sunday) late night around midnight.  

 

https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/category/fl/  

 

 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 10/22/2022 at 6:54 PM, tomcatguy74 said:

I was just wondering what the traffic around Port Canaveral is going to be like. We would like to actually watch the rocket go up from the port area.

Which Falcon Heavy launch are you looking at?  The only one I can see with a set date is on 10/31/22 at 10:44 PM.    

[tomcatguy74]

That’s the one, but its at 9:44 AM

 

 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

20 hours ago, tomcatguy74 said:

That’s the one, but its at 9:44 AM

 

 

Sorry, I get screwed up as my feed always show west coast or UTC time.  You are correct it's now showing 0944 hrs.  Good luck it would be a once in a lifetime.  I hope we get to see at least one of the seven still set for November.  

Edited October 25, 2022 by ATSEAMYLIFE

[Ret MP]

Take this for what it's worth:

 

I called my hotel and an off site parking business, Port Canaveral Parking, and both assured me that the traffic will not be MUCH of an issue.  The Parking lady said that Port Canaveral, on launch days, only allows Cruise Passengers, port employees, and those with actual business on the port, in.  Before I asked that question, I was concerned about the general public coming into the parking garage, taking up all the spaces just to watch the launch.  I guess, if the above is true, that's not a problem.  I'm more concerned with the traffic getting to the port on the causeway.  But, again, the lady said that the traffic on the causeway was tightly controlled and most areas will be roped or barricaded off by local PD, SO, HP, again, they do a fairly good job of keeping traffic moving, we'll see. 

[tomcatguy74]

Thank you everyone for your help and thank you MP for making that call. Very much appreciated!

Is there a way to go on top of the parking garage before we check in and view the launch with out paying the week parking fee twice? We would like to go straight to the garage, watch the launch, and then drive to drop off luggage at terminal and and then repark the car back into the garage. Is this possible?

Edited October 27, 2022 by tomcatguy74

[tomcatguy74]

UPDATE!! 

So SpaceX fired the engines on Falcon Heavy last night and I guess it was a success. However, once that was completed, SpaceX changed the launch day to November 1st.🙃🙂

 

 

 

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Just got update for our Thanksgiving cruise we have a launch schedule for Sunday sail away at 4:40 PM and another on Monday at 7:00 PM.  If my research is correct we will only be 70 miles from launch on Monday so being dark it should be awesome.  The next week there are now two scheduled.  

[Cienfuegos]

Evening launches just after sundown are awesome. Although it is dark at ground level, the plume of the rocket and booster catches the sunlight at about 10,000 feet. The rocket itself  looks like a lit cigarette tip in the dark

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 11/1/2022 at 4:34 PM, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

Just got update for our Thanksgiving cruise we have a launch schedule for Sunday sail away at 4:40 PM and another on Monday at 7:00 PM.  If my research is correct we will only be 70 miles from launch on Monday so being dark it should be awesome.  The next week there are now two scheduled.  

 Looks like our Sunday sail away has been moved back to Friday as originally scheduled.