Thinking about driving to Wonder this week

[chiguypaul]

I live in Chicago. I leave for the wonder on December 29. My cruise is on December 31. I am flying on Southwest. Given what a mess Southwest Airlines is right now, I have a lot of concerns about the probability of my flight getting out. I know it’s a couple days away but I’m worried about it. So I’m thinking about driving with my family from Chicago to Port Canaveral. We have four people that could drive so it wouldn’t be horrible but definitely not ideal. Obviously I need to wait a day or two to see what the airline landscape looks like. Was also thinking about renting a car instead of using our own but I know I can trust my own car.  Just wanted to reach out to my cruise critic folks to see what their thoughts are on this. I might be overthinking it. Thanks.

[smokeybandit]

You should be fine unless there is another snowstorm 

[DirtyDawg]

I agree, you should be fine but just in case does your car have winter tires? Does the oil need changing? You might need to do some prep on your car his week just in case. 

[chiguypaul]

10 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

I agree, you should be fine but just in case does your car have winter tires? Does the oil need changing? You might need to do some prep on your car his week just in case. 

All good things to consider. Car was recently inspected with oil change. So all good there. One option is to rent a car. Going down and then take our regular flights going back.

[DirtyDawg]

How are rental car prices these days? I rented in the summer and WOW talk about sticker shock! Prices were double to triple what they were pre-Covid. 

[chiguypaul]

$500 from Chicago to Port Canaveral with National. That includes two day rental with loss damage waiver. Hertz was $580 for the same coverage with a drop off at the Orlando airport.  

[poocher]

Not just Southwest, every airline has been affected by the weather situation.  I would certainly think, barring any further weather disruptions, flights should be back on track by the 29th

[LindaD22]

How about changing your flights to fly in a day or two early, just in case? Way easier than driving all that way 

[chiguypaul]

3 minutes ago, LindaD22 said:

How about changing your flights to fly in a day or two early, just in case? Way easier than driving all that way 

Flight is already two days before the cruise. 

[long4acruise]

Since you already have a two-day buffer between your SW planned flight and the date of the cruise, I'd tend to stick with the flight, and perhaps have a tentative plan to depart even a day earlier if offered the possibility . Not sure I'd want to drive that distance but that may depend on upcoming weather forecasts.

Whatever you decide, put safety first and have a wonderful relaxing cruise! The Wonder is a beautiful ship.

[chiguypaul]

2 minutes ago, long4acruise said:

Since you already have a two-day buffer between your SW planned flight and the date of the cruise, I'd tend to stick with the flight, and perhaps have a tentative plan to depart even a day earlier if offered the possibility . Not sure I'd want to drive that distance but that may depend on upcoming weather forecasts.

Whatever you decide, put safety first and have a wonderful relaxing cruise! The Wonder is a beautiful ship.

The plan is to leave on the flight and if for some reason there’s a cancellation we are ready to drive.  

[Jimbo]

Is this thread Royal Caribbean related or is this a weather related/ flight /travel issue thread?

Edited December 25, 2022 by Jimbo

[matj2000]

1 hour ago, chiguypaul said:

All good things to consider. Car was recently inspected with oil change. So all good there. One option is to rent a car. Going down and then take our regular flights going back.

You might not be able to do that.

 

If you no-show for the first flight, the entire flight may be cancelled.

 

You should check with S/W first.

[chiguypaul]

2 hours ago, matj2000 said:

You might not be able to do that.

 

If you no-show for the first flight, the entire flight may be cancelled.

 

You should check with S/W first.

I understand what you’re talking about.
We are on Southwest going down and American going back. But even if that were  not the case, we would split our reservations up with Southwest to avoid the situation you were describing. 

 

 

[chiguypaul]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Is this thread Royal Caribbean related or is this a weather related/ flight /travel issue thread?

I couldn’t find another part of cruise critic, forms to post this in. Recommendations?

[matj2000]

41 minutes ago, chiguypaul said:

I understand what you’re talking about.
We are on Southwest going down and American going back. But even if that were  not the case, we would split our reservations up with Southwest to avoid the situation you were describing. 

 

 

Just make sure that it is possible with the airline first.

 

However, I don't think there will be any issues with flying.

 

So I would make driving a last ditch effort..

[Joseph2017China]

5 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

I agree, you should be fine but just in case does your car have winter tires? Does the oil need changing? You might need to do some prep on your car his week just in case. 

They live up North, so pretty sure they would not need to do anything like that to drive to Florida.  I drive distances all the time, and never bother with any of that. 

[vswan]

The one good thing about a rental car is not having to worry about where to park it. Parking would make up a portion of the rental expense. If you have 4 drivers, you could wait to see how weather/cancellations look and leave after your flight is cancelled, or watch the weather and get out while the getting is good...

[Mum2Mercury]

Random thoughts that might help:  

 

- Google Maps tells me you're looking at 1200 miles /18 hours one way.  

- What kind of mileage do you get?  I get about 41 MPG, so I'd need 29 gallons to make that trip, which would cost about $82 ($164 total).  That's a pretty low cost to get four people to Florida (and back).  Of course, you'd also need food on the road. 

- If you trust your car completely, renting doesn't make much sense.  Why add that cost?  

- Don't forget that you'll have to pay to park.  I think it's $16 to park at Port Canaveral (I just did it two weeks ago -- you think I'd be sure).  They charge by the day, so that'd cost you $16x8 = $128.  

- Can you cancel /get your plane ticket money back -- or at least get a credit towards a next trip?  

- Can your four drivers do 18 hours basically in one shot?  Or would you need to spend one night on the road mid-way?  You're already planning to arrive two days ahead of time -- can you change one of your hotel rooms in Orlando to an on-the-road hotel?  

- Is your family a good road family?  I mean, mine will ride 8 hours without blinking an eye, but not everyone will.  Can they do two days in a row without killing each other?  My family can do one marathon road day, but two days in a row is a problem.  

- Do you have travel insurance?  Meaning, if you don't make it to the cruise, would you get your money back /be able to book a later trip? 

 

 

[DirtyDawg]

5 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

I agree, you should be fine but just in case does your car have winter tires? Does the oil need changing? You might need to do some prep on your car his week just in case. 

5 hours ago, chiguypaul said:

All good things to consider. Car was recently inspected with oil change. So all good there. One option is to rent a car. Going down and then take our regular flights going back.

41 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

They live up North, so pretty sure they would not need to do anything like that to drive to Florida.  I drive distances all the time, and never bother with any of that. 

 

You never bother with an oil change? I guess you drive a fully electric car.

Because if you don't ....  💥

No worries. I can get you a good price on a new engine. 😁

[renza]

You should be fine by then but you could drive and fly home. That would not be horrible just driving one way

[Joseph2017China]

13 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

 

You never bother with an oil change? I guess you drive a fully electric car.

Because if you don't ....  💥

No worries. I can get you a good price on a new engine. 😁

Oil Every 10k miles.  Tires hood for 60K miles.  But that has nothing to do with the post

Edited December 25, 2022 by Joseph2017China

[DirtyDawg]

 

4 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

Oil Every 10k miles.  Tires hood for 60K miles.  But that has nothing to do with the post

Well, I said;

6 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

I agree, you should be fine but just in case does your car have winter tires? Does the oil need changing? You might need to do some prep on your car his week just in case. 

And you said

1 hour ago, Joseph2017China said:

They live up North, so pretty sure they would not need to do anything like that to drive to Florida.  I drive distances all the time, and never bother with any of that. 

Of course my comment has everything to do with your post. Never pass up a great straight line! 😁

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

 I would stick with the flights.  The weather doesn't look bad for the 28th or 29th and looks to be in the 50's on the 29th.  The schedule is a mess now, but it won't take much time for it to get back to normal.  We were once on the last plane out of ORD at the start of the blizzard that shut it down for two solid days.  The weather was a whole lot worse than what you are looking at on the 29th.  

[poocher]

It’s not just the weather where you are & where you’re going.  Where the plane is coming from also has an impact.  My brother & I were flying out of different New England airports at just about the same time for flights to MCO.  Weather in New England wasn’t bad enough to ground flights but his was cancelled because the plane couldn’t get through the storm from where it originated.  He rebooked twice that day.  Same issue with the first rebooking and by the time of the second, the storm was too bad.  Never made it to the cruise.

 

OP, not saying this will happen to you but it could be a consideration.