Do you drive to your cruise?

[kelkel2]

Does anyone drive to their cruise? I know a lot of people who live in the port states do, but what about those who live farther away?

I am crunching numbers for our next cruise and it seems like it would be much cheaper. We have about a 19 hour drive to Miami from where we live, but I love driving and I love road trips, so I wouldn't be against it.

How far have you driven to a cruise and would you say it's worth it?

[mtwingcpa]

It's all a matter of personal preference, but these days I'll do just about anything to avoid having to deal with airports/air travel. YMMV. ;-)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have never driven to a cruise port.

Don't want to spend 3 days or more on the road. Hauling luggage in and out of the car every morning and night.

[OCruisers]

It's all a matter of personal preference, but these days I'll do just about anything to avoid having to deal with airports/air travel. YMMV. ;-)

 

Same here! We aren't afraid to fly ... just hate the hassle! :eek:

 

LuLu

[bethco]

It would depend upon how many people's plane tickets I have to buy and how much time is available. A plane ticket just for me, not a chance would I drive that far unless there was a really good reason. And doing the driving, there is no way that I would haul large luggage in for hotel stops when you are getting on the road again the next morning. Everyone would be required to pack in a carry on size for the road trip portion and that is all that would go into the hotel.

 

I currently live 4 hours from Galveston so most of my cruises are from there, but my friend who lives in the panhandle while still in the same state as the port always flies, and it is a 9 hour drive for them.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Does anyone drive to their cruise? I know a lot of people who live in the port states do, but what about those who live farther away?

 

I am crunching numbers for our next cruise and it seems like it would be much cheaper. We have about a 19 hour drive to Miami from where we live, but I love driving and I love road trips, so I wouldn't be against it.

 

How far have you driven to a cruise and would you say it's worth it?

 

 

The problem with driving to a port is that many folks who do it really do not look at the true cost. Surely, they figure the cost of gas and tolls and probably hotel(s) and food for long hauls. But, do they figure "wear and tear" on their auto? A better mileage cost calculator (than gas and tolls) would be the federal mileage allowance (been a while so I don't know what it is today .50-.55/mile[?]). Often another big bite, particularly on a longer cruise, is parking.

 

We live just north of the Port of San Francisco. When we figure the approx. 40 mile (port) or 50 mile (SFO) round trip mileage cost, two bridge tolls and the real killer, parking in SF or at SFO, it is far cheaper to hire a town car or limo coming and going. So, bottom line for us is we really neither drive (our own car) or fly to our "home port."

 

It's even worse with driving to Ports of L.A. and Seattle: many hundreds of miles (on I-5), many hours, etc. -an absolute waste of precious time that could be spent exploring what's new in those terrific towns.

 

And for those individuals whose lost time at work (to make a multi-day drive to a port) means loss of income, flying instead is a no-brainer.

 

The only time driving might make sense is when it's a family whose airfare could be substantial. Of course, there's room for luggage to consider as well as how well the family normally does a "road trip."

[tetleytea]

It would take a party of 4 for us to drive 19 hours. You're comparing the price of 4 airline tickets + baggage fees vs. one car and one parking. Besides, more fun in the car.

 

I have driven less, though. The nice thing is not having to deal with TSA and baggage limits--and it's not so much the trip there, but the trip back. There are a lot of good deals in those Caribbean ports, and I would kind of like to load up.

 

However, a major point of cruising (and travelling in general) is to visit faraway places. Driving becomes not feasible. It can work once or twice, but after awhile it's easy to want something other than the Caribbean.

[Xyla]

We drove/are driving to our first 2 cruises but if we lived further away, I would probably drive if it was within a day's drive (12 hours or less). Since there are usually 4 or 5 of us cruising, airline tickets add up quickly even if I can find them dirt cheap! However, I'm limited by vacation time so I can't really spend a couple days on the road at either end of a cruise.

[paul929207]

We drove once, to Charleston, SC, but that is only 3+ hours away. Most of our other cruises depart from outside of the Americas, so no driving there

[navybankerteacher]

Considering time required to get to the airport at least an hour before flight time, to check bags, to clear security, actual time in plane, claiming bags, and getting from destination airport to port, you have to figure a minimum of four hours to fly ANYWHERE. This means that you can probably count on driving at least 200 miles in less time - for far less cost (if there is more than one in the car). Which also means I can drive to cruises embarking in Boston or Baltimore - and certainly New York. Sadly, the New York market is effectively limited to NCL and Royal Caribbean's Heffalump of the Seas: the bottom of my list; Baltimore is limited to Carnival and RCL; and Boston is strictly seasonal.

 

Bottom line: given that two-plus days on the road each way for other US ports is too much (in time and true total cost) - and the necessity of flying for overseas ports - we now almost always fly.

[LHT28]

Depends on how much time we have to be away from home

We have driven to Miami via Houston & taken a 30+ day cruise

 

I would never drive 20 hrs in one go as my neighbour has done in the past but they only had 2wks off work

 

Personal choice if you enjoy the drive & saves $$ go for it ;)

[YubaSutter]

We drive to the port often. It's now a two hour drive. A few years ago, we lived 10 minutes from port.

[cb at sea]

I would only drive if it was less than 5 hours....the trip TO the ship is ok, because you're excited about your vacation...but coming home and having a 19 hour drive ahead of you...no way!

[OCruisers]

It's not always possible to drive but we do when we can ... like taking a cruise out of Florida. It would probably be less expensive for the two of us to fly rather than drive BUT we had rather drive.

 

When driving, we stay at full service hotels with security cameras in the parking lot and a security guard on duty so we leave our "cruise luggage" in the car and leave it there until we drop it off at the cruise terminal. We only move it into and out of the car once. :)

 

We always go in a day early when we fly to a port in Europe, etc. so we have to claim our luggage and take it to the hotel with us and then deal with it again when we board the ship.

 

Guess it's whatever works best for each of us. :)

 

LuLu

[cruisead]

Seeing that you're from Illinois, and thinking that you are probably going to look at winter cruising, do you really want to take the chance of driving in winter? No way for us, when we used to live in Michigan. Can't take the chance of running into a snowstorm or going farther south, an ice storm on the way to the cruise port. If it were a spring or summer cruise, we MIGHT consider a drive of less than five hours, but anything over that, no way.

[Warm Breezes]

Does anyone drive to their cruise? I know a lot of people who live in the port states do, but what about those who live farther away?

I am crunching numbers for our next cruise and it seems like it would be much cheaper. We have about a 19 hour drive to Miami from where we live, but I love driving and I love road trips, so I wouldn't be against it.

How far have you driven to a cruise and would you say it's worth it?

 

Sometimes we fly and sometimes we drive. I always make sure we have enough travel time to either drive or fly when I book the cruise. Then I watch airfares and car rentals (DH prefers that over taking our own cars plus we get to try different vehicles to see if we would like them in the future). If I find a good car rental price first I will reserve it because I can always cancel it later if I find a good airfare. Miami is about 24 hours for us. Usually if it is just 2 of us it is cheaper to fly. When we take the kids it is about 50/50 flying vs driving. Like you our whole family is good with road trips so we just go with whatever works out to be our best deal.

[kelkel2]

Seeing that you're from Illinois, and thinking that you are probably going to look at winter cruising, do you really want to take the chance of driving in winter? No way for us, when we used to live in Michigan. Can't take the chance of running into a snowstorm or going farther south, an ice storm on the way to the cruise port. If it were a spring or summer cruise, we MIGHT consider a drive of less than five hours, but anything over that, no way.

 

Eh, yeah it's tempting. It doesn't seem any more risky than trying to catch a flight in the middle of a snow storm if there were one. But it's definitely something to think about...I do really want to drive, but it's likely my husband won't want to.

[Cant_Wait1996]

Eh, yeah it's tempting. It doesn't seem any more risky than trying to catch a flight in the middle of a snow storm if there were one. But it's definitely something to think about...I do really want to drive, but it's likely my husband won't want to.

 

We are in the Chicagoland area and will most likely drive next June for our cruise. Its just so expensive for my family of four to fly anywhere and then you have to add in checked bags and transportation to and from the airport so I'm thinking flying will cost us around $1500. I'm pretty sure it wont cost anywhere near that to drive but we have to pick a port that's not horribly far, just far enough lol. We are pretty much ruling out anywhere in Florida and focusing on East coast or New Orleans.

[MedicKen]

We try to drive to our cruises for a different reason. My wife uses a scooter for mobility and we prefer to bring hers. I know we can fly with it but we've had less than stellar results with the airlines and the condition of the scooter on return. For that reason we, make that I, drive to Baltimore or Bayonne/NYC to cruise. If we have to fly we'll rent a scooter for use on the ship.

[ZeroLT1]

We drove to our first cruise and are going to again for our second.

 

From Cleveland, Ohio to Miami, Florida.

 

We might be a bit crazy. ;)

[biker@sea]

We live close the port of Boston,Mass.

 

So we did an extended vacation, got a one week one way rent a car.

Drove the 1700 miles to the Florida keys for a 5 night pre cruise stay.

The last morning we got up early and drove to Tampa.

 

I dropped D.W. and luggage @ the port and retuned the car a couple blocks away.

 

We boared for the last 7 day western Caribbean cruise offered for the NCL Dawn's season. We then started the second leg of our B2B with the 12 day Repositioning cruise from Tampa to Boston.

 

Finishing up with a $75 town car ride back home from the port of Boston.

26 day vacation 19 day cruise

P/S the $500 car rental was cheaper than flyin .;)

Edited August 3, 2015 by biker@sea

[dolita22]

We always fly. Both my DH's and my limit of in-car time for any roadtrip is 8 hours total. We've done longer than 8 hours and decided that's our max. We live in Wisconsin, so driving with our limit wouldn't get us to a cruise port. :) My job is flexible, but his is not as much, so flying is faster and less expensive than driving.

 

We've only cruised out of Florida and can usually get direct flights for not that much money to most cities there from Milwaukee. We'll drive to ORD or MDW as a last resort, but have had good luck with direct flights from MKE. We book early and book on SW, so don't have to worry about baggage fees. We fly in two days early, generally, and even with paying hotel costs in January in FL, I think it's still less expensive to fly. But there are only two of us. I can understand that with any more than two, flying costs could add up.

[skrufy]

We are in northern Illinois and drive to Florida for all our cruises. Our advantage is we are both retired and time is not a concern

[cruiserking]

We live in New York and are very fortunate to have three cruise ports within a twenty minute cab ride or less. Otherwise we fly to Europe or perhaps Florida to pick up a ship.

 

Jonathan

[Cruisin' Chick]

The problem with driving to a port is that many folks who do it really do not look at the true cost. Surely, they figure the cost of gas and tolls and probably hotel(s) and food for long hauls. But, do they figure "wear and tear" on their auto? A better mileage cost calculator (than gas and tolls) would be the federal mileage allowance (been a while so I don't know what it is today .50-.55/mile[?]). Often another big bite, particularly on a longer cruise, is parking.

 

We live just north of the Port of San Francisco. When we figure the approx. 40 mile (port) or 50 mile (SFO) round trip mileage cost, two bridge tolls and the real killer, parking in SF or at SFO, it is far cheaper to hire a town car or limo coming and going. So, bottom line for us is we really neither drive (our own car) or fly to our "home port."

 

It's even worse with driving to Ports of L.A. and Seattle: many hundreds of miles (on I-5), many hours, etc. -an absolute waste of precious time that could be spent exploring what's new in those terrific towns.

 

And for those individuals whose lost time at work (to make a multi-day drive to a port) means loss of income, flying instead is a no-brainer.

 

The only time driving might make sense is when it's a family whose airfare could be substantial. Of course, there's room for luggage to consider as well as how well the family normally does a "road trip."

 

For our Hawaiian cruises, we did hire a private towncar or similar to pick us up as two week's worth of luggage will not fit in either of our trunks. Right now, we're planning a road trip from LA to way up north to take our girl to college and we're planning to rent a car (just trying to narrow down the category based on how much we're bringing -- some stuff I'm shipping there). Fortunately hubby and I don't have to dress up for parent orientation, and we plan to do laundry in one hotel. I've never gone on such a road trip (I took the train to get to my midwestern college), but fortunately we have the time to spend as hubby just retired.