side by side

[jcool]

I am thinking about doing a side by side on Carnival. Do you think I could make it from Port Canaveral to Miami on the same day? Has anyone done this? 

[Lane Hog]

What are the arrival time and sailing time?  That's a four hour drive with a bathroom break... if you did self-assist on your bags and got off immediately on arrival, and used your own car to drive between the two, it's doable but not a lot of room for error.  

One bad road construction/wreck delay or a late arrival at the port, and you could be out of luck for a 4:30 sailing.

[itching2cruiseagain]

We just got back to Miami on the Horizon this past weekend. They were letting people off the ship long before we got off. Our bags were checked and we had luggage tag number 2. We were off the ship, bags loaded into our car and on the road before 8:30 am. In theory if we were going to Port Canaveral from there, we would have around 3 hours extra cushion on top of the approx. 4 hour ride to get to Port Canaveral. I believe cruise lines are required to provide a final passenger manifest at least an hour before departure, so you would need to be there by 3:30 for a 4:30 departure. Hope this helps. 

[Corby114]

The two hundred fifty plus mile ride takes approximately four hours to complete. Bad weather, a serious motor vehicle accident or brush fire on Interstate 95 and you miss the ship in Port Canaveral. If you decide on this scenario try carrying off your own luggage and being one of the first passengers to leave the ship in Miami.

[jimbo5544]

We did it in August from a 6 day on the Horizon to a 7 day on the MG.   We ensured we were first off, Ubered to the airport and had a rental and were on the MG by 2 ( the testing for the side by side added an hour).  Doing it our way, you are lucky y have the car drop off acroos the street from the port.  The time is the same tho.  We also had a shut down 95, Waze kept us on track.

Edited March 25, 2022 by jimbo5544

[Jamman54]

We wouldn't do it. We have the same situation coming up in January. Doing a 5 day cruise on the Freedom from Port Canaveral, then an 8 day cruise on the Spirit from Miami. We chose the cruises so that we had a one day gap between them. We once did a same day side to side from Pot Canaveral to Jacksonville. Even being one of the first getting off in Port Canaveral, we didn't board in Jacksonville until one o'clock, and that's only half the travel time it would take to get to Miami. That was enough stress. 

[tlw440]

The ship could also be late, we just got off the Pride on the 13th and we were over 1 1/2 hours late, I know we sailed out of Tampa but it could happen at any port. We weren't doing a side by side thankfully.

[jcool]

Thanks everyone for your help. That was helpful knowing what time you got off the boat. I did not take into consideration if something happens on the road thank you for mentioning that.