Port Canaveral Traffic with 4 ships in port

[stingray310]

I'm just wondering how the traffic on highway 401 from A1A into the port area is on Saturday's with 4 ships in port? We were there last December headed to the Carnival Magic and it took us 30-45 minutes to get through the stop and go traffic into the port from A1A highway. We're hoping they have improved or changed the traffic problems and it was only backed up because I believe that was the first month or so of having 4 larger ships in port and they just hadn't developed a good system for traffic yet.

 

We are looking into booking another cruise from Port Canaveral in the future and don't want to have to sit in traffic again.

 

I'm hoping Capt. BJ or someone else who lives in that area or has cruised from there recently might be able to help me.

 

Thanks,

Stingray310

[HD2003]

A1A is always busy Cocoa Beach through to Port Canaveral during tourist season. Traffic patterns have not changed, in fact, they are going to be starting road work on SR520 which goes between US1 and A1A so you might want to avoid that stretch.

[stingray310]

A1A is always busy Cocoa Beach through to Port Canaveral during tourist season. Traffic patterns have not changed, in fact, they are going to be starting road work on SR520 which goes between US1 and A1A so you might want to avoid that stretch.

Thanks for the reply, I will keep that in mind when there. I was mainly inquiring about the traffic on 401 after exiting A1A as it was really slow stop and go traffic getting into the port over the drawbridge area. Our Uber driver said it was worse than normal and attributed it to the Norwegian Epic which had recently began embarking at Port Canaveral. We were just hoping to avoid the traffic problems next time if they still exist when 4 ships are in port. It just seemed that Capt. BJ had some info a while back about the traffic issues at one time. Was hoping to hear from him on this topic.

 

Thanks

Stingray310

[Magellan321]

Traffic on 401 still stinks on busy port days. There is only so much they can do about it.

[stingray310]

Traffic on 401 still stinks on busy port days. There is only so much they can do about it.

Thanks Magellan321, That's what I was afraid of, I was hoping it was only a temporary issue due to a new ship being in port. I guess I'll just have to allow a some extra time and have some patience and keep telling myself that I'm on vacation and not at work.

 

Thanks,

Stingray310

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

It is not bad at all ..

[Capt_BJ]

I'm here Goose!

 

You don't say when you are sailing .... but you can check the port load here

https://www.portcanaveral.com/PortCanaveral/media/Cruise-Assets/FY2017/Master-Cruise-Schedule.pdf

 

4 ships is not a huge load for Canaveral ..... depending on what 4 ships. EPIC is a seasonal visitor ..... and OASIS, while BIG is usually a slower day so far as people count (Sunday)

as mentioned ....

 

once you turn off 528 to the road to the north terminals you are stuck .....

 

I believe the delays you say/experienced were VERY unusual.

 

I remember mentioning several 'events' happening in the port: art festivals .... sea food festivals ..... and how these TOTALLY SCREWED traffic around the port. I guess they heard me ..... most of these special events have been told to find a new home .......

[stingray310]

Capt. BJ,

Thanks for the info, much appreciated, My planned cruise date would be 2/10/2018 and it looks like the 4 ships in port will be Norwegian Epic (4100 pass.), Disney Fantasy (4000 pass.), Carnival Magic (3690 pass.), and Carnival Sunshine (3006 pass.). My previous cruise was 12/10/16 and there were the same 4 ships in port and traffic was horrible, hopefully it won't be as bad this time.

 

According to you port load chart, my previous cruise on 12/10/16 was only the second time that both Magic and Epic were both in port together other than on 11/12/16 and on that date the Epic docked at Terminal 1 which I could be wrong, but I believe is on the other side of the port and shouldn't have affected traffic on 401. So I'm hoping on 12/10/16 they were still learning how traffic was going to be when 4 ships were docked on the north side of the port and overloaded 401.

 

Thank you very much for all your informative information on traveling to Port Canaveral. It's been very useful to me and hopefully others who planning to travel to that area.

 

Thanks,

Stingray310