Has anyone tried to drive to the port the day of? Atlanta to Port Canaveral

[6 of us]

We are coming from Atlanta to Port Canaveral. I always go the day before & stay over night nearby. I'm curious, has anyone tried to get up at 3AM or so & drive to the port that day with out issue?

We have FTTF with Carnival so I figured we can just drive up & walk right on :D.

[Monalis]

Not that route but we did drive from outside Montgomery to New Orleans the day of. We left around 4am and got in right around 10:30am. I was nervous the entire time since like you we usually go in the day before, but it was fine.

 

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[nhsails]

Once, flat tire 2 hours out, made ship with literally a minute to spare ( thank you Royal) never again

[JordyM]

I drive from SE GA to Pcan, but it is only 3 hours. We leave at 8 and arrive around 11. From Atlanta I would travel the day before.

 

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[tef43]

A day doesn't seem to go by here in North Florida where I-95 isn't blocked for hours on end.

 

Why risk it?

[fkfad]

We have made this drive many times with no issue. Always made it to the ship with hours to spare.

[meatloafsfan]

As someone who drives around 24 hours (yes, over several days) to get to each cruise - I have to ask - Why would you want to start off your vacation exhausted?

 

Leaving at 3am means getting up at 2:30am at the latest - and then booting it down to Florida.

 

Unless you regularly get up that early, the day of the drive, you'll find yourself feeling crazy and probably once on board, you'll be too tired to enjoy the first day.

 

If it's because you don't want to take an extra day off work - why not split the drive and go 3-4 hours on the night before, stay in a hotel and then finish off the last few hours the next morning.

[bnorris10]

If it's because you don't want to take an extra day off work - why not split the drive and go 3-4 hours on the night before, stay in a hotel and then finish off the last few hours the next morning.

 

This is such a good idea ... This way it leaves you room for what if's

[hotsauce126]

I did it two years in a row when I had just gotten out of college. Left at 11pm and drove straight from Athens, GA to Port of Miami. I was drying around 4-5 am but by the time I got to the port both times the excitement was enough to keep me going the rest of the day.

[skrufy]

I would also leave the night before right after work. Drive until you tire but at least to Jacksonville or a little south of Lake City on I-75. Stop at a hotel or grab a couple hours rest in a truck stop. Back on the road by 7am and barring a typical Florida traffic jam you will arrive around 11am. If you have someone to share the drive I would consider leaving at 3am.

[vestamark]

We've done it three times. Twice from Birmingham to NOLA and once from Tampa to Miami. All have been with no issue. However if you're a worrier then don't chance it. The very chance of a problem will ruin your day. However, I enjoy getting up and driving to a destination, especially when I don't need to be there first thing in the morning.

 

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[pblack]

Hubby, 2 friends, and I drove from Austin, Tx to New Orleans the day of the cruise. We left about 1 AM and arrived in New Orleans around 10ish. (We stopped for gas a few times and breakfast.) We made it in plenty of time.

[Qchell]

We often cruise out of Port Canaveral and are coming down from Charlotte, NC. We tend to drive down to Kingsland, GA the night before and that way when we get up in the morning we are relaxed and have just a couple of hours left to get to the port. We have found the hotels in Kingsland, GA are a fraction of the cost of the ones 20 min down the road in Jacksonville, FL.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

We are cruising out of Mobile in May and are debating this same issue. We will be leaving from North Georgia (Dalton) and will have about 415 miles to drive and have considered leaving at 4 am to do the drive but I don't want to be so tired when I get there that I won't enjoy my first day since our cruise is only a 5 day anyway!

 

I'm really thinking we might leave around 8 pm or so on Friday night and drive until we get tired and then stop and spend the night. If we get back on the road by 8 am we should still be in Mobile in plenty of time plus we won't be dog tired!

 

If you decide to split your drive, check out some of the La Quinta Inns around Jacksonville (on 295). We have stayed in several and they are decent for 1 night plus they have a fairly good breakfast and don't cost an arm and a leg.

 

Good luck in whatever you decide!

[topspin1267]

We cruise out of PC pretty regularly. We used to drive straight in but once we started using the snooze and cruise at Comfort Suites we come in the day before.

 

Usually its less than $50 difference from just paying for parking and includes a hot breakfast.

[saharaga]

We've driven to Miami and Port Canaveral from Atlanta several times for our cruises. Orlando/PC is fairly easy and straightforward. For us, it's about 6-7 hours and usually an easy drive.

Edited March 21, 2017 by saharaga
To remove my irrelevant rant about driving to Miami.

[JayDeeJay]

I wouldn't do it! We have made 34 cruises so far, either port C. or Jax. We always drive down the day before, stay within an hour or so of the port facility and board the boat the next day in good shape. And we usually encounter construction delays on I-75 , often around Cordele. We drove the same day on our first cruise, thinking its a breeze and darn near missed the boat. Frazzled nerves!!

[James in SA]

It works fine until the time it doesn't. We drive to Galveston for cruises and have driven down the morning of the cruise a couple of times with no problems. On our last cruise on Breeze we had a totally unexpected ruptured tire failure, but fortunately were able to find a Walmart open and get a new tire the evening before our cruise. Had we decided to drive down in the morning that time, we would have had a big problem on our hands. Never again!

 

Besides, it is a vacation. If you can leave the day before it is relaxing and stress free, and your vacation has already begun. Have a nice dinner and stay in a hotel. Don't put yourself through that kind of stress unless you have no other option..

[GranysT]

I always vote for leaving the night before. Especially from that far away. There is just too much that can happen to mess things up.

 

We live about an hour and half from PC, where our next cruise leaves from. Even that close, I have a hotel booked for night before. Things happen on I-4 every day it seems. I would rather spend that extra 100 bucks, and have peace of mind. I never want to miss an awaited cruise.

 

The only cruise we have driven to on day of, is out of Tampa, which is only about 30 min from us.

Even then, I was nervous til I saw the port. LOL

[RTRMom]

We have done 8 cruises with driving the day of. Sometimes 8-9 hours..we would just leave very early and take turns sleeping.

 

But on our 9th cruise a couple weeks ago, we took a day off before and just left around 7am, arrived at a hotel on the beach in Cocoa Beach right next to the pier. Had a wonderful dinner on the pier and great sleep. It was nice waking up and taking showers and taking our time. We had no traffic to port canaveral. Took just a few minutes to get there. I will always stay the night before from now on.

[NCMtnBoys]

There were seven of us sailing from Miami on a Saturday about 6 years ago. Two of us worked all day til 5pm on Friday, then drove an hour and a half east to Winston-Salem, NC to meet three others. Ate dinner and then the five of us got on the road at 8:50pm and drove 12 hours straight through to Ft Lauderdale, arriving at 9:00am, where we met two more who had driven down a day or two before. Visited for a bit at their hotel, then drove the rest of the way to the POM. I ended up doing all the driving while some of the others slept.

 

We only did that once and it's not something I would endeavor to do again. We much prefer to go the day before, whether it's by air or car.

[bUU]

We'll not even consider it. We'll stay over in either Orlando or Vero Beach. I want to start vacation calm and well rested.

[elainmir]

Anything that is more than a 6 hour drive we usually go the night before. Even if we leave Panama City to Mobile, Jax, PC or Tampa we give it about 3 hours extra and usually wind up eating breakfast near port and parking first so we don't have to fight the crowds later. We've been blessed to not ever have any mechanical or tire issues thank goodness! But if we are going out of Miami then we drive past Orlando and look for hotels in out of the way towns on our route. They are far less expensive than some of their locations in bigger cities. You can figure out what route you are going to use and google traffic delays for that Interstate. THAT will help immensely.

[sheeniwoo]

I'm in Pensacola, so from me to South Florida is quite a trek in one day, doable but a good drive. It's pushing it really close and hard to drive from Atl to Port Can. On cruise day.

 

 

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[tennboy1981]

I always make sure im near the port the day before and spend the night somewhere.

 

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