Why I drvie

[K1200S]

On our August cruise on Freedom there will be 5 of us in one vehicle driving to Port Canaveral. I guesstimate the fuel cost to be $200 roundtrip and another $70 for lunches. I priced out airfare from RDU to MCO and the least expensive was Southwest coming in at $1500 rounttrip. I much rather keep that $1200+ in my pocket. Flying would only save about 2hrs from home to hotel in Port Canaveral which is really nothing. I don't have to put up with airport security, I can take wahtever I want and not worry about being over weight or buy new luggage because out current luggage is airline over sized. There are those that say I have to factor in wear and tear on the vehicle. I say no I don't because that really only matters when I go to sell it, the fewer the miles the more it is worth. I buy a vehicle to get me from A to B and the miles don't matter.

[Bethee99]

If you live near Florida yeah driving is way easier!

 

Now coming from the coast in Ca:

Driving time: about 40 hours each way!!! 2580 miles

Fuel cost probably near $500 each way

Food for about 5 meals: not sure but a couple hundred

Hotel for one night: over 100

Pain of sitting in a car for 40 hours twice! million dollars!!

 

Coast of flying: doesn't even matter!! ( especially when using miles to pay or it)

 

Another reason they need to bring a ship back to CA!!

[Northerncheapo]

"Pain of sitting in a car for 40 hours twice! million dollars!!"

 

 

LOL...yup, I agree:p

[Tyler80]

We are driving from MICHIGAN to Fort Lauderdale in December because of airfare costs. Saving us approx $2,500.00 for 8 people. Actually looking forward to it. More relaxing, it's really a simple drive down I-75. One hotel stay on the way down and 1 hotel stay while in Fort Lauderdale. Driving is great!

[newbiecruiser09]

Would love to be able to drive but for us it's a little too far to do in 1 day and usually can't take the extra time off work to build into the trip. Will just keep accumulating those air miles and using them when we can.

[knittinggirl]

We make the drive from West Texas to Galveston in two days, staying overnight in Austin. When I calculated the difference, we saved about $400 when we spent three nights in a hotel (two going out, and one on the way back) over what RCI would charge for Airfare. We had bad connections routing through DFW, and they raised the prices the second year. Also, they would book our airfare for 3 or 4 in the afternoon, which mean we could be back to Austin before the plane left IAH.

[cruis247g]

We live in the mid-Atlantic and drive whenever we sail out of Baltimore or NYC. I wish there were more sailings out of these ports. It is so much easier than needing to fly, spend a night at a hotel (because I'm always nervous about flying in on the same morning), and then getting transfers. However, having said that, we still fly for the right itinerary and timing. I think we would sail more if there were more sailings out of Baltimore.

[Starry Eyes]

for the number of people and the length of the drive, it makes perfect sense. On the other hand for two of us from a much further distance, flying is faster and cheaper.

[dmdicato]

We live in Ohio and also drive to port, either Baltimore or New Jersey. It's definitely better than the cost of airfare. I agree about wishing there were more cruises our of these ports!

[knittinggirl]

If you live near Florida yeah driving is way easier!

 

Now coming from the coast in Ca:

Driving time: about 40 hours each way!!! 2580 miles

Fuel cost probably near $500 each way

Food for about 5 meals: not sure but a couple hundred

Hotel for one night: over 100

Pain of sitting in a car for 40 hours twice! million dollars!!

 

Coast of flying: doesn't even matter!! ( especially when using miles to pay or it)

 

Another reason they need to bring a ship back to CA!!

 

Wow! We drove about 1700 miles (500, 700, 500) in 3 days once, and said never again. We were also much younger than we are now. These days, we have to get out of the car every 50 miles or so.

[ausofte]

H and I used to always drive, until the last one where we came back in a horrible storm system. We saw fatal wreck after fatal wreck, significant flooding and sat in more traffic than I ever care to do again (and that's coming from someone who drives in Atlanta traffic daily with no problem). It took us about 18 hours to get home when it should have been more like 11. Miserable. And incredibly dangerous. I held my breath the whole trip, just hoping we didn't wreck. Flying is much safer.

[Nurse011]

Ok maybe im crazy but this will be our second roadtrip i live in california and driving to fort lauderdale in july for our cruise . I did price flying and driving is cheaper by about 1000. I have the biggest fear of flying only flew once last october to hawaii the worst turbulence ever, so no will never fly again.

 

The only reason i priced air was just to see the price difference even if it was way cheaper i still will drive.

[cb at sea]

If the distance/time to drive is reasonable, I'd do it, too! MUCH easier to pack if you don't have to deal with airlines! However, anything over 4-5 hours...I'd fly. The trip TO the ship isn't bad....you're all excited! But, the drive home....huge hassle!

[DaveG99]

I fly everywhere. Even if it's 3 hours away. I fly on southwest for free and so does my girl friend and my bags. Perks of having a job where you travel a lot.

[Jman1118]

We drive everywhere. Port Canaveral is ~25 minutes from my house, Port Everglades is three hours and Miami is four hours..

[temple1]

We drive most of the time. We have flown to Ft Lauderdale, but drove the last 2 times. We can make Ft Lauderdale in about 11 hours. We leave extra early and spend either one or two nights before the cruise and a straight drive home on the return.

 

Port Cananveral is only about 9 hours so a no brainer to drive.

 

For us it is a time and aggravation issue. The time - Arrive at the airport at least 1 hour before the flight, fly 45 minutes to Charlotte, wait in Charlotte 1 - 2 hours, fly 2 hours to Ft Lauderdale, wait for luggage, rent a car and get on the road to the hotel. With ground time and wait time probably 7 hours to fly. Then there is the security, hurry up and wait, stress over what you pack in your carry on, cramped seats with no leg room, unpleasant seat mates, etc. etc.

 

I'll drive when I can.

[CENTEX CRUISER]

I guess we are really fortunate to live in central Tx , 3.5 hrs from galveston..We would love to do do a med cruise, but yowee! , the airfare...

[mj]

Got where I drive to the cruiseport as well. Being from SC, it is about a 10-11 hr drive to Miami. I have driven the last four cruises and enjoy not being packed like a sardine in an airplane. Have to say that I do not miss flying at all and that is after flying all the time in the past.

 

However, next year is Alaska, so we will have to fly to either Seattle or Vancouver for the trip and want to go on a Med cruise or back to Europe sometime in the future.

 

I now only fly if it is a very long trip.

[lady_cruiser]

We are lucky too because we live 3 hours from the Port of New Orleans and 3 1/2 hours from the Port of Galveston. We would like to cruise out of Florida one day but neither one of us flies and with two cockatiels and now a stray cat we adopted it would be impossible to find some one to take them for the four days of travel to Florida (two days, each way) plus the 7 days of the cruise.

[bigque]

Driving to Port Canaveral in September. Only a 7 hour drive from here but we will get there in about 8 1/2 hours after stoping for breakfast and a couple of gas stops. We just like to take our time but we still get there the day before!

[temple1]

We are lucky too because we live 3 hours from the Port of New Orleans and 3 1/2 hours from the Port of Galveston. We would like to cruise out of Florida one day but neither one of us flies and with two cockatiels and now a stray cat we adopted it would be impossible to find some one to take them for the four days of travel to Florida (two days, each way) plus the 7 days of the cruise.

 

I know what you mean. We have 3 dogs and no longer kennel them. We have found someone locally to house sit for us. She doesn't cost much more than the kennel. Check with your vet or pet store to see if they know someone who would be able to do it at a reasonable cost.

[lrn2cruise]

Galveston is no problem for us. We would need about 4 hours or so from San Antonio.

 

Florida? a bit more difficult. We flew SW for FOS. Airfare is really creeping up though. I think we would need 2 days to get to Orlando. No telling to Fort Lauderdale. I would rather fly to Florida.

 

We will most likely do Carnival Magic and Mariner anyway.

 

New Orleans port is not bad but I dont see a reason to drive there when the ports are no different than Galveston

 

I want to do Allure/Oasis

[hazeleyez3]

That would be wonderful. It just isn't feasible. We like to take 7 nt Caribbean cruises (not Bahamas)...which are typically out of Florida.

 

Baltimore-Ft. Lauderdele = 17 hours

Baltimore-Orlando=14 hours

 

Driving

 

Hotels: Probably around $300-$450.

One heading down, one in Florida the night before, one headed back

Food: $110

$30 dinner headed down, $50/person for the full day before, $30 lunch on the way back

Gas: $300-$350 for the entire trip

 

Lowest cost: $710 + 7 vacation days

 

Flying

 

Airtran: Around $300-$350/person

Hotel: $100-$150 for 1 night

Food: $30 for dinner the night before the cruise

Taxis and Shuttles: $50

 

Highest cost: $930 + 5 vacation days

 

While driving might be $200 less, it can be more of a headache, plus it will cost each of us 2 extra vacation days. I don't get a lot of vacation, so I could use those days elsewhere.

[WisconsinFan]

We also drive to our cruises, the only exception was the Alaska cruise out of Seattle. With four of us this year air would have been more than our cruise. We have taken two five day cruises most recently in stead of seven day cruises because it worked better for the kids spring break. Usually two nights down so we have plenty of time in the home port city and one night home.

 

We have enjoyed seeing parts of the US we wouldn't have otherwise seen. We now drive through Alabama instead of Atlanta and have saved hours (even though the miles might be longer) and love Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. Missouri and Arkansas as well as Texas also very nice.

 

If it was only two of us, then we would consider flying.

[Desert Cruizers]

For our next cruise to Australia and taking our daughter, we will need to fly out of LAX, so if we take the commuter flight to LAX from home, it would cost us over $400 pp, so we will rent a car for one way, for $100.