Do You Fly or Drive to the Port?

[bellybutton530]

I just got this nifty "Fly -or-Drive" trip calculator from bargineering-dot-com:

 

http://www.befrugal.com/tools/fly-or-drive-calculator/

 

The results continue to tell me that driving is far less expensive than flying (Texas to Fort Lauderdale.)

 

Enjoy....:p

[dmwnc1959]

Definitely have to weigh the cost-benefit of your options. According to that little calculator I would save nothing by driving over flying from

northern West Virginia. Nothing would get me to drive 2000+ miles roundtrip these days even if gas was .72 cents a gallon. Fly me away. ;)

[cruzeluver]

Neat little tool. Tells me I am far better off driving to Bayonne than flying from Charleston. Thanks!!

[CruisingChick]

Neat little tool. Tells me I am far better off driving to Bayonne than flying from Charleston. Thanks!!

 

Duh, I could have told you that!!! ;)

 

We have been driving even if the cost is the same. The hassles of worrying about luggage do not exist when you can throw everything in the trunk of your car and go.

[Denny01]

Interesting calculator, but part of the personal decisions over driving/flying is the time off you may have to take to drive there, and the calculator doesn't list out a cost of parking your car at the ships terminal, which can run $100's or so.

 

I agree on when we can drive, we do so, but I'm surprised it says its cheaper to drive from Texas to FLL - that is a real push. I did the calc from Dallas and it takes 2 days to drive and $930 while the flight is for 4+hrs and costs $723.

 

I guess it depends on if you add luggage costs and so on.

 

Den

[mcrcruiser]

I just got this nifty "Fly -or-Drive" trip calculator from bargineering-dot-com:

 

http://www.befrugal.com/tools/fly-or-drive-calculator/

 

The results continue to tell me that driving is far less expensive than flying (Texas to Fort Lauderdale.)

 

Enjoy....:p

 

Cheryl thanks for sharing thae web site:D .Always good to use a tool to decide which way is the best way to travel .

 

One thing it doesn't consider are the cost of meals on the road. However ,if it is all a vacation & stoping on the road to see things on the way to a cruise ship ,it wouldbn't make any difference any way:p .

 

We prefer not to fly & try to drive to a cruise terminal from our base in San Diego:D .That being said we are relegated to cruising Mexico ,Hawaii ,Alaska & one ways through the Panama Canal . Except for Mexico & Hawaii ,we still must fly one way.When we take the Panama Canal cruise we usually hook up with a Caribbean cruise on the far end to really make it all worth while flying the one way:rolleyes: .

 

Cliff

[cruisegirl1]

Wow - that was great. I actually save a bit more driving than the site calculated as it calculated a hotel stay driving to and from. We have a hotel stay on the way down but drive straight through the way back.

 

Extra driving bonus - your luggage will not be lost by the airlines and no multiple bag or weight restrictions.

M

[esther e]

Very interesting. We live about 5 hours from FLL and at this point in our lives there is no way we'd drive there. My husband has some medical issues and is not able to drive and I'm scared to death of the drivers down there. For us it's much less of a hassle to hire a limo to take us to the airport, stay a pre-night with the cruise line, have the same limo take us back home at the end of the cruise. Different strokes for different folks. I might add, we are much older and my husband has been retired for many years. Two years ago we'd drive down, and did. Now, no.

[LOP]

OK, my next cruise leaves from San Juan, P.R.

 

So I used the calculator from TX and given the cost of losing the car in the sea, it is cheaper to fly:p

[C 2 C]

On the road again... :D

 

No one stealing my luggage bin..

Grabbing or kicking the back of my seat

Coughing and sneezing on the back of my head

Crying kids,

Lost luggage,

Picking up athletes foot at security..

 

We'll drive 2000 miles to avoid a flight....

 

Now if I could only figure out a way to get to BCN without flying...

[CathyCruises]

Hmm, if I could drive from the middle of California to Barcelona, would I???

 

I just drove in a U-Haul truck from Idaho to Annapolis, MD--now THAT was an experience, especially since I was in the jump seat. Had a great time, but my bum is still numb!

[dougt1957]

Living in the Atlanta, Georgia area driving to a cruise departing anywhere on the east coast is always an option. We did it once. Never again. The drive down was bearable. Spent the night in a hotel and got to the boat just fine. Then came the twelve hour drive home after the cruise. By the time that was over I needed another vacation. I'd rather take off my shoes and belt, get on the plane, take a nap, and not have to worry about all the things that can happen on a 700 mile drive. Personally I don't get all the complaining about security at the airport. Take off all the metal and breeze right through. Have a cocktail, and start enjoying myself.

[jackdiamond]

Our drive to Port Everglades is one hour and 58 minutes, whereas Miami is about 15 minutes longer, and Tampa is about 2 1/2 hours. On the other hand, the drive to beautiful Estero Island is about ten minutes; and, the drive to Sanibel Island is about 17 minutes. And the beaches there are just as nice as most of those in the Caribbean.

[fleckle]

There is more than cost alone to consider. In general, if driving takes around 4 hours or less, I will drive.

 

Essentially I compare the total travel time required from starting point to final destination as well as the total cost.

 

I dislike long, boring driving trips so prefer to fly when driving will take more than 5 hours, unless the cost of the flight is prohibitive.

 

However, the reverse is true if it is a very scenic drive chosen for the journey itself, not just for transportation to the destination.

[shippmates]

We will be driving to Cape Liberty for our first Celebrity cruise. It is about a three hour trip down the turnpike from Central PA. We are looking forward not to have to ship luggage or worry about weight of our luggage.

[Lois R]

I fly. I don't mean to sound disrespectful to anyone but if you are retired

and have no time of reference and can just drive and take as long as you

want? That's great. But when you work and are on specifc vacation days?

The time it takes to drive would cut into my time off and so, I fly.

My next cruise is out of Bayonne and I am not driving 1,000 miles

for it. Whatever savings for the drive? I lose in the time. So, I guess

it all depends on what a person values most. 300 bucks gets me there

in 2 hours.

[Glendakayself]

Interesting calculator, but part of the personal decisions over driving/flying is the time off you may have to take to drive there, and the calculator doesn't list out a cost of parking your car at the ships terminal, which can run $100's or so.

 

I agree on when we can drive, we do so, but I'm surprised it says its cheaper to drive from Texas to FLL - that is a real push. I did the calc from Dallas and it takes 2 days to drive and $930 while the flight is for 4+hrs and costs $723.

 

I guess it depends on if you add luggage costs and so on.

 

Den

 

I ran the same calculation from Dallas for January departure, February return. They estimated $75 for a hotel on the road which seems low, and did not have a place to put in partking in FLL. The cost of driving was still higher according to the calculator even if I add some additional monies above the calculator fees for transportation to/from DFW.

[CrabbyHarper]

After 24 cruises, and many many flights over the years, I will not fly again - at least for the present.

 

The TSA folks will not have the opportunity to touch me where only my doctor and DH touch me. I have plates and screws in my back and really do not want to risk being hauled aside by some little tin-plate TSA god and hassled.

 

It is awful to contemplate a vacation that begins and ends with a horrid experience.

 

We have driven to Norfolk, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Bayonne, NJ - we would take a train to Nyc, or drive to Charleston SC. But fly ? No way!

 

So we take our time while driving. Stop for lunch and other breaks. Stay in a hotel if we have to. We are retired. As for flying, I don't have to, I don't want to, and I ain't going to! ;)

[texkan]

We fly from Tx to Fll. Would be great if Celebrity sailed from Galveston and then I could drive.

[bellybutton530]

I ran the same calculation from Dallas for January departure, February return. They estimated $75 for a hotel on the road which seems low, and did not have a place to put in partking in FLL. The cost of driving was still higher according to the calculator even if I add some additional monies above the calculator fees for transportation to/from DFW.

 

I went back and looked; you can change the hotel costs; and there is a place to put parking costs under the flying option

 

I agree that food costs aren't included, but I bet they could be added in to the hotel costs for perhaps a more accurate comparison.

 

To me, this surely beats trying to do it manually.... but that's just me.

[cruise kitty]

interesting calculator, but I'll stick with flying to port most of the time. I understand that some folks can't stand flying, but I don't see what the big deal is, it's certainly safer than driving, plus you can drink.

 

Living in L.A. we're in our cars enough, certainly don't want to drive 6 days to FL.

[A1A]

Nice travel tool! Out of FLL or MIA driving is a no brainer, $20.00 vs $700.00, but it is of interest if cruising out of New York or even Tampa for us! Thanks Cheryl!

Ken

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Time is a factor for us. I'd prefer to drive (or take Amtrak, but only because I also love trains), but every extra day is critical. I will, however, drive 4 1/2 hours from central Wisconsin to O'Hare, rather than deal with a relatively short connecting flight. Those short connecting flights can add quite a bit to the total airfare.

[Hstergo]

I live in Ft Lauderdale I am 3 miles from the port I could walk it if I had to :D

[cruise kitty]

Hmm, maybe a better question is how much more often would you cruise if you could drive to the port... we loved our vacation cruise on HAL out of San Diego, but they're pulling out of the mexico market...& we're just not about to cruise on Carnival... we like Europe every other year, but would love to do a 7 day drive cruise on the off years, however now it's become more difficult, it's pretty sad that we paid $800 more for our RT plane tickets to Rome than we did for our AQ cabin.