How do you cruiser's determine which port of departure to use?

[lennythenose]

Total cost. The drive to Galveston is a little shorter, but the prices out of NOLA have usually been MUCH cheaper for us when we are able to travel. We drive overnight so no hotel expense either way. For "special" trips I look at itinerary and ship first.

[Melissalcsw]

Proximity to Port. In the middle of Georgia, can get to many ports within 8 hours +/-

If I had to add on flights, then it might be a deal breaker for us.

 

The two cruises we will fly for will be Alaska and the Mediterranean :) Those are our bucket list!!

[beachbum6264]

I don't fly (phobia and I admit it), good thing we live in Florida. We have cruised out of Mobile and NOLA too. I like going out of Tampa, going under the Sunshine Skyway bridge is a sight to see, but the itineraries are limited. I'd like to go back to the southern Caribbean again... that means FLL or Miami, easy drives.

[Kyndal93]

I live about 30 minutes away from Port Canaveral, so that's my first choice always. But Tampa is only about an hour and a half, so that one isn't too bad. Convenience is most important. But I will be cruising out of Fort Lauderdale this year because I got an awesome deal for a Premier cruise, it's about a 3 hour drive. & planning a Southern Caribbean next year out of Miami, about a 3 & a half hour drive, by itinerary and ship is better than out of Port Canaveral. So I guess it's a mix of all factors. Only time I would fly to cruise would be to Europe, Hawaii or Alaska. But I'm guess I'm lucky I live in FL!

 

 

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[gottaluvcruises12]

I go by destination, Length of cruise, Dates, price. I know if I do another 7 day cruise I will want to leave out of Miami or San Juan because you stop and more ports. Compared to leaving out of SC where you will cruise for at least 2 days and I don't really like days at sea. The next cruise I am going on I am going with my husband and it will be his first one plus I have a 1 year old and I know I didn't want to leave her for 7 days. This cruise selection was based on my husbands vacation schedule, length of time (it's his first and not sure if how is he going to like it), I knew that most of the short cruises would only go to the Bahamas and Key West. I just knew I didn't want have a lot of days at sea. It narrowed it down to the one we are going on. My family wants to do a family cruise, and we are first going to look at the people who have fixed schedules, my sister's boyfriend is a teacher, coaches football and track and field. He only has spring break, summer, winter break and thanksgiving break. Which are all the most busy times of year, Once we get that down we will probably look at the itinerary and then price. It's all up to preference I guess. That's how we decide and go to there. Some of my fam like to drive other like to fly. I like to fly so i have no problem no matter where we go. Also we put into consideration if we wan to go in a day early or stay a day late.

[cruisemom67]

We are about 30 minutes from Galveston, so we usually go from there. We have also gone to NOLA several times as we liked the price and itinerary better. Our next trip is leaving from San Juan, and we mostly had miles saved for the flight, plus wanted to make it "special" since it is our 25th wedding anniversary. But when we lived in Iowa, we had to fly, and we flew to Miami several times and also San Juan. Usually we calculate the cost of getting to port into the cost of the vacation, and whatever makes the most sense we book.

[amydresh]

We live in WI so no port is close. We picked ports that we haven't been to before. We've been to FL several times so we chose NOLA and then picked the itinerary that we wanted to do. We drove 16 hours to NOLA because flights for our family of 5 would have been more than the cruise. For our anniversary cruise in Feb it's just dh and I so we will fly and chose San Juan since we've never been there and the ports that we will be going to seem to be pretty awesome.

[trcyfrrr]

This is only my second cruise but I picked a port in a place I want to visit so that I can sneak in a few extra days of vacation.

 

Because I live in a port that has pretty limited destinations (Vancouver), I figure I have to fly somewhere anyhow so might as well make the best of it!

[Tiger0613]

I have only flown once when cruising, but I didn't fly to LAX for the cruise. I was already in LA for a vacation. The cruise was an afterthought. I have taken Greyhound(2 hours 20 minutes) to New Orleans.

 

My mom refuses to fly. My mom and I have taken Greyhound to Orlando and then a shuttle to Port Canaveral. My mom drove us to Mobile(3 hours). My mom and I have taken Greyhound to New Orleans and then Amtrak to Seattle.

 

I love flying. I don't see it as a hassle. I would have flown more to ports, I just haven't needed to.

 

My reasoning for my choices of departure ports is usually tied to emotional reasons, with cost being a secondary concern.

 

The Sensation and the upcoming cruise on the Dream are because my parents had their honeymoon on Paradise Island. The Inspiration was because I was already there. The Fantasy was because of the name of the aft dining room(I'm serious). The Triumph was because I love cooler weather, it was close, and I didn't want to spend alot. The upcoming Triumph cruise is because I loved the room I had the first time, and I wanted to do a B2B on the Dream but the room I have on the 1/28/18 sailing was taken when I tried to book the 1/21/18 sailing.

[SiraJoy]

Proximity of port is important for us. Since we live within a 6-7 hour drive of both Mobile and New Orleans, our costs are significantly lower if we sail from one of those ports. Anywhere else, and the drive is a good bit longer, or we would have to fly. Longer drives or flights cost more. We found our cruise costs are significantly lower if we use a nearby port.

 

However, if we were a long distance from any port, I expect other things would be more important to us in choosing a cruise.

[vamartha]

We almost always fly as Charleston is just a few hours away but I am usually not interested in a Bahamas cruise. I narrow down by ship and itinerary and then usually DH decides the date. The ship is important to us. I love a good Guys Burger and we like the Steakhouse and other specialty restaurants.

 

Sea Days are better than port days to me - a balcony and a good book are my most cherished times on a cruise. DH is more into the ports so we compromise with itinerary.

 

And I factor in flights too, but we almost always spend about the same amount no matter where we fly. We've sailed out of Miami a couple of times, Tampa, Port Canaveral and NOLA a couple of times. Oddly enough, although I've purchased air tickets to NOLA, we had to cancel that cruise and went a few weeks later and ended up driving! I've driven both times! Port Canaveral will be a repeat again in about 158 days!

 

FWIW, we are in North Carolina, just outside Charlotte.

[Flytko]

Right now, the proximity to the port is important. We live about 25 minutes from Galveston, so that's a no brainer, but few itineraries offered, I would consider other ports, mainly flying distance to get a cool itinerary.

[KPfromCT]

We pick a ship and itinerary we like, and whatever port it is, so be it.

I also HATE flying. (deathly afraid) but DH REFUSES to drive from CT to FL, so I just start drinking wine when I wake up.:'):') Takes the edge off.

Then some bloody Mary's on the flight and I'm good!!!! lol

[IntrepidFromDC]

Ports and total cost. We can uber to the Baltimore port for $40, but there are no good itineraries under 8 days, so we usually fly to FL. We'll be doing a long one out of Baltimore that includes Aruba and Curacao in 2018.

 

Cruising out of NOLA is a nice experience, go up on Lido for four hours and watch the delta unfurl.

[Badfinger]

Hello I will be taking my first cruise on the dream in October and the Fantasy next April. I was just wondering how others determine which port of departure you use? Is it a particular ship, proximity to where you live, destinations, etc. As for now for me it's proximity to where I live. NOLA and Mobile are the 2 closest ports to me followed by Charleston Sc., Jacksonville and Orlando. I'm not much into to flying although I have a few times. Just wondering how you ladies and gentlemen choose your cruises. Cheers!

 

 

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I only cruise out of Galveston because it is a very easy four hour drive. Allows me to sleep in and still get to the port with plenty of time to spare.

 

If we had to fly, IMO, that would be a deal breaker as the total price would bring many other vacations into the picture (Hawaii, etc) for our family of 4.

 

The only port I would fly to would be Seattle or Vancouver for an Alaskan cruise, but our kids have already told us to wait until they leave the nest for that cruise...they have zero interest!

[FlamingJune1967]

We happen to live within driving distance of 7 southeastern US ports - so I limit our cruising to these. However, I choose from these ports based on ship (1st). cost (2nd) and itinerary (3rd.)

Eventually - when we retire - we will be able to fly to ports that offer more variety, but for now, we are content to continue exploring the Caribbean.

[IntrepidFromDC]

Badf...

 

Please take your kids on an Alaskan cruise.

 

My daughter also said ew, but now she asks when we can cruise to (her favorite out of eight) Alaska again.

[Rinalouise]

I have no choice when sailing carnival... it's either Sydney Sydney Sydney or I win the lotto and go to Florida... lol

 

 

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[Drazil65]

As long as its on the east coast (we can drive to the majority within 9 hrs or less), our go to port of departure is typically PC (8 hr drive). Based on that we go for itinerary and ship (even) and our schedule.

 

Cruising is very easy and cost effective for our family mostly cuz we live within driving distance of so many east coast ports.

[no1racefan1]

We're in Iowa, so we have to fly no matter what, so we go by itinerary.

 

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I'm in Wyoming, so ditto.

[Unclearnie]

We live near Sacramento. We have cruised out of San Diego, Seattle, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and New York City. We are booked out of New Orleans next November and Boston in September of 2018. For us it is itinery, dates and costs. Work to get best value overall.

[cynt]

All the above. When Im feigning for a cruise and funds are low I select cheapest, closest port.

 

When I plan a cruise and I'm marking off items on my bucket list, itinerary and ports are important.

 

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[Jamericannn]

Cost of the cruise, cost of flight to that port, proximity, and ship

 

 

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[Bkchero]

I drive by Port Everglades on my way to work. Miami is 45 mins. So now that I've gotten into this cruising thing those are the starting points. Wife wants to go to Alaska though so that will require flights.

[azjim66]

Hi there, I live in Phoenix, AZ so it's a fairly easy drive to the West Coast port of Long Beach. Not many options from Arizona by car... although we haven't ruled out making a run to Galveston in the future! Being able to drive to the port just makes cruising such a tremendous value for us. Luckily we love the Mexican Riviera especially Cabo and Puerto Vallarta!!