Driving the night of?

[hihello]

We leave on July 25th on the Miracle out of NYC. I live in Ottawa, Canada...so it's about an 8 hour drive. My friend forgot to book off the 24th (So we could drive down a day earlier) and it working until 10pm on the 24th. Our plan is that I will sleep for the majority of the day (since I am the only driver) and then leave by 11pm and drive all night to NYC. I am stressing out a little bit...thinking 'what if something goes wrong'?

Has anyone ever done this before? Will we be fine?

Ahhh!:eek:

[TMWTim]

We only cruise out of Galveston, Texas as we live in San Antonio, Texas and it is a 4 hour drive. We ALWAYS leave the day before as to not run into a tight jam. Traffic, vehicle breakdowns, road construction.....pretty scarey if it happens.

 

Research your trip and know of any construction you might encounter, download some apps for you mobile phones to know where the congestion is on the highways, watch the weather prior...not much more you can do.

 

Good luck and don't worry a whole lot. Drive safe!

[sweetcurves]

So because I'm super nosy, I looked up flights for you. LOL You can fly from Syracuse, NY for $146/pp round trip (to JFK).

 

I just can't imagine driving all night in upstate NY...all I can think about is deer in the dark. But my night vision is total crap so I hate driving at night.

[maxandmolly]

I live 3 & 1/2 hours from port, and I'm not even driving up there day of. (It helps that I have a free place to stay!) I don't knOw how it is in NY, but in FL they are FOREVER "working to improve your roads" and the interstate that moved fine last week could now take 2 hours to go 10 miles.

Is there a way your friend can switch shifts with someone to get that day before off? It just sounds risky time wise and also, a lousy way to start your cruise, after spending all night driving! Good luck.

[Alliezona09]

I've driven from Phoenix AZ to Long Beach CA the morning of a cruise~ that's about a 6 hour drive~ got there in plenty of time! Just make sure your car is in working order and you know exactly where you are going! Do you have a GPS? Makes things a lot easier!

[golfadj]

If all goes well on your drive you will be fine but you have little wiggle room if you run into traffic or something unforseen.

[jeansaussie1]

so it's about an 8 hour drive. leave by 11pm

 

That puts you in NY at 7am which is too early. Pull over for a 3 or 4 hour nap and you'll still be there by 11am barring traffic/getting lost. Worst case scenerio you have till about 2 or 3 pm to board boat.

 

You'll be fine since you have a big window. I'm Ok with driving same day of cruise but would never consider flying same day.

[sweetsixteencruisers]

We live in NY (Long Island) and we drive to Florida every time we cruise. Never had a problem (knock on wood). If you give yourself enough time you will be fine. 8 hours will be over before you know it.

 

Be Safe!

 

~Sweet~

[joea32257]

Looks like your cruise is a Wednesday. If so, you may want to drive straight through and arrive at the parking garage at 7, park and then grab breakfast somewhere near the area. I live 45 minutes north on NYC but when I have to go to the city for meetings, I leave extra early to beat the rush hour traffic. If you are around 8AM to 9:30AM you will sit in traffic and add about an hour+ to the trip. Before 8 and after 10 you should be ok, a little heavy at times but no problem.

 

The NYS Thruway should be ok for your trip, but be a little careful of the deer at night. If you take Route 81 and 17, be more careful, but you shouldn't encounter much contraction delays. The NYS Thruway will also back up during the morning rush as you get about 45 minutes north of NYC.

[QLUVS2CRUZ]

We have about a 6.5 hour drive for our Fantasy cruise...debating whether to drive part way the night before or not...there isn't really any place great to stay. I really think we will be fine driving the day of. I think you will be OK too, but I know (at least for me), it's a little harder driving all that way in the dark. How are you with staying up late? I know you said you'd sleep during the day, but is that your normal pattern? It might be hard to get yourself to sleep that much, especially if you are thinking about all the driving.

[edawn]

In February, we drove from upstate NY to NOLA. We left at 8 pm and arrived at 12:30 pm the next day. Our flight had been canceled so we rented a car and drove down. That was one crazy night but we made it :). We had two drivers though but it was over a 17 hour drive. For about the first five hours we were worried we wouldn't make it. Then we remembered NOLA is in the central time zone so we gained an hour. I wouldn't recommend this but it worked out. We saw NO traffic and only two police cars. I'm sure you can do it.

[AngAndBoys]

I sort of accidently did this one time. I left Texas around 7 in the evening, planning on staying overnight somewhere on the way to Florida. Hit traffic and ended up worried that if I stopped and got a late start the next day or hit MORE traffic, I'd never make it. I drove straight through, middle of the night with three youngsters in the back, nobody but me to drive. The middle of the night was sort of hellish cause I was loaded up on coffee and they were asleep. I was too afraid to stop at a bathroom with just me and 3 kids in the middle of the night. We made it to Jacksonville about 9 in the morning or so.

 

The only thing that really sucked about it was I was SO tired the first day of cruise. I recovered by day 2 though.

[Kato27]

We leave on July 25th on the Miracle out of NYC. I live in Ottawa, Canada...so it's about an 8 hour drive. My friend forgot to book off the 24th (So we could drive down a day earlier) and it working until 10pm on the 24th. Our plan is that I will sleep for the majority of the day (since I am the only driver) and then leave by 11pm and drive all night to NYC. I am stressing out a little bit...thinking 'what if something goes wrong'?

Has anyone ever done this before? Will we be fine?

Ahhh!:eek:

 

Last summer we drove rom MTL. to Baltimore, mind u we left 3 days before our cruise .

We had the time and never having done a long drive like that wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time, so spent 2 days in baltimore. That was a positive experience,it's a beautiful city.

On the way back did it straight, took about 10 hours with stops to eat and filling up the tank. This summer we are doing it again but will get there just 1 day before.

I liked the inner harbor, want to spend sometime there again before our cruise.

 

New York is closer so u should be ok, as far as stressing over something happening on the road well, u can't leave with that attitude. Anything can happen anywere at anytime wether driving or flying. Just drive carefully don't speed cause u have plenty of time, u will be high on adreniline cause u will be excited about ur cruise so u won't be tired.

 

U can't control traffic on the way there, but u should have less traffic driving at night.

What u can control is making sure u know were ur going, so u don't get lost.

Another poster mentioned stopping and sleeping for a few hours before getting there. I wouldn't do that, if u do get there too early then take a nap once ur there.

Have a safe trip and a GREAT cruise:)

[Gizmo88]

We leave on July 25th on the Miracle out of NYC. I live in Ottawa, Canada...so it's about an 8 hour drive. My friend forgot to book off the 24th (So we could drive down a day earlier) and it working until 10pm on the 24th. Our plan is that I will sleep for the majority of the day (since I am the only driver) and then leave by 11pm and drive all night to NYC. I am stressing out a little bit...thinking 'what if something goes wrong'?

Has anyone ever done this before? Will we be fine?

Ahhh!:eek:

 

there shouldn't be any problems for you other than traffic and a few tolls and being a bit tired, if your car us in good working order, should also be fine. I live in your area and the traffic is light at night between O-town and NYC as i travelled this road route.

 

Also if you are still worried, Air Canada and Delta offer flights to LaGuardia from YOW.

[Hurricane Girl]

We have driven the 10 hour drive from TN to Port Canaveral overnight and gone directly to the ship several times. We have also done it to Tampa and Jacksonville. We try to time our arrival at the port around 9:00. Miami and Ft Lauderdale are just too far to do that for us, so we go down a day or two early. We do the overnight drive when we're doing the budget cruises.

 

The drive down is no problem. The drive home is what sucks!

[fergusonvt]

So because I'm super nosy, I looked up flights for you. LOL You can fly from Syracuse, NY for $146/pp round trip (to JFK).

 

I just can't imagine driving all night in upstate NY...all I can think about is deer in the dark. But my night vision is total crap so I hate driving at night.

 

 

Totally agree. My night vision sucks and that area is deer (and Moose) central.

[Kato27]

We have driven the 10 hour drive from TN to Port Canaveral overnight and gone directly to the ship several times. We have also done it to Tampa and Jacksonville. We try to time our arrival at the port around 9:00. Miami and Ft Lauderdale are just too far to do that for us, so we go down a day or two early. We do the overnight drive when we're doing the budget cruises.

 

The drive down is no problem. The drive home is what sucks!

 

LOL....that is sooo true!

[Homosassa]

Driving all night is a good way to kill yourself. We often get the stories here in Florida of entire families wiped out in a crash because someone decided to drive all night to reach Disney World or some other vacation destination.

[SnowWhiteNYC]

Would drive straight through and be parked and done waiting at the pier or grab breakfast. I would 100x rather be sitting waiting at the pier than sitting in the car stuck in traffic worried about making the ship. Just know that you may be really tired the first night...but what the heck you will be on a cruise!

[MalleyCat]

We drive the NY Thruway frequently in the winter months and have found this info line 1-800-847-8929 to be almost better than any traffic apps and GPS updates that we have. Good luck!

[hihello]

Wow! Thanks everyone for the awesome replies!! :) I don't mind driving at night...I actually prefer it. I should be fine for sleeping as well. My SUV is 2011 so I'm not worried about that either. The only thing is DEER. *knock on wood*. When we drove to NYC late May (during the day) we counted 9 dead deer on the road. Are they really bad there? I'm really just nervous about that. I know deer could jump out any time- but it's much harder to see them during the night. I've driving home 18 hours from Thunder Bay to Ottawa during the night...which is high for moose/deer and bears...but I've just never seen so many dead deer driving to NYC!

We will be taking I-81 S.

 

Flying isn't an option...one of my friends refuses to fly due to fear!

[joea32257]

Most deer killed on the NYS Thruway are by the tractor trailers at dusk to night.

They are going at a high rate of speed and stopping or even swerving isn't an option.

[Mom2JJandJ]

It's doable, but I would definitely recommend a GPS with Traffic Alerts that will allow you to detour if needed. And (for me, Ms. Lead Foot), a radar detector. I remember years ago driving in New York though and my hubbs at the time being from there swore we were fine. Driving back to Texas we had to drive through Pennsylvania and we (HE) ended up getting a ticket because radar detectors were illegal. :eek: So... that being said, do check and see if they are legal where you are, but for me it's a standard on a daily basis. ;)

 

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your cruise!

[joea32257]

Radar detectors are legal in New York. Illegal in Conn. and Virginia, so be careful on trips to Florida ports.

 

We always drive New York to Florida for our cruises. Leave two days early and drive through the night. Arrive mid-morning to mid afternoon and then rest for the next day!

[glrounds]

Drive 130 mph instead of 65 and you'll get there twice as fast. It'll only take 4 hours that way. You'll only be on the road half as long also, so you'll have only half as much chance of getting into an accident.

(my son's logic) :D