How early do you you usually fly/drive in before the ship departs?

[payitforward]

I normally fly in the day before. I do, however, like to stay in the port city for 1-3 days after the cruise. That way I don't have to do the early debarkation, hang out at the airport, and long flight home all at once.

[OCruisers]

Normally one day out of Miami or Long Beach. 3 days, at least, if we leave from New Orleans. It just depends on how fun the port city is for us.

 

Hear You! We'd definitely want to get to New Orleans several days early ... just for the FUN of it! :D

[originalgeek]

We usually fly in just one day prior. This next cruise will be our first out of Port Canaveral so we MAY go down 2 days early and spend a day at Disney.:D

 

I highly recommend it! (I've been going to WDW since the year it opened and enjoy it every time I go whether just me and the wife or the kids and now the grandkids lol)(I think I get more excited than they do)

 

 

As to the OP my next two booked cruises are out of Port Canaveral and Tampa respectively. I live in Orlando so we'll just leisurely drive over to the ports around noon-ish the day of cruising.

[reedl]

If I am lucky enough to take a cruise out of Boston (which is 45-60 minutes from my house), I drive in the morning of the cruise. There is no need to waste any money on a hotel for that short of a drive.

 

If the cruise is anywhere else, I fly in the day before typically. Although for a couple of cruises, we have arrived the morning of the cruise because of scheduling issues. I work for a living, so I cannot arrive 2-3 days before.

[Sequim88]

For our Miami departure Transatlantics we always flew down 2 days in advance. Coming from Minnesota (then) late-April or early-May was still Winter and we did not want to tempt fate. Even arranged for plane change to occur in Charlotte rather than Chicago to better avoid weather.

 

For departure from San Juan we went 2 days early also so we could spend one day driving to Aricibo area to see the radio telescope and Rio Camuy caverns.

 

BUT... for our Alaska cruise next June we will leave home about an hour before boarding starts. Early Sunday morning, piece of cake. :cool:

[Sungold]

I've never gone a day or more early to any port, even when I lived in New York. I took early flights and crossed my fingers that no problems cropped up. I live in SW Florida now, and it's a little over 2 hours drive to Tampa, Miami or Fort Lauderdale. So I always go to those ports on cruise day, usually driving myself. Earlier this year I cruised out of Port Canaveral, and that was a long drive so I took a shuttle service. Getting there was fine, but when I returned, the shuttle service stranded me and 2 other passengers. So I wound up having to rent a car and driving myself home anyway. In late May I'll be taking my first Alaska cruise out of Seward. For that, I will fly in 2 days early!

Pam

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[cb at sea]

We fly in the day prior....if there's time to "explore", fine...but it's not something that's always needed!

 

If we can drive to port in less than 2-3 hours, we will just drive in the same day...saves on hotel and packing stress!

[Nebr.cruiser]

We normally fly in the day before, esp. if it is Florida or CA ports, since we don't really need to tour those areas--been there too many times. From Nebr., it's pretty much impossible to fly in the day before anyway due to flight schedules.

 

For an interesting foreign port we might fly in several days before; it also helps with jet lag, and/or stay several days after.

[Dayenu]

We usually travel from a new place that we want to visit, so we stay 2-4 days pre-cruise. Enjoyed Venice, Copenhagen, Miami, Montreal.

[Robinsoncruiseso]

For Seattle or Vancouver we head to the ship the day of (2 hours to Seattle, 1 hr to Vancouver). For California departures, we fly down after work or early in the morning. Now, for Florida departures, we normally like to be on the ground some time before midnight the day before. Sometimes we even split up the flights into two shorter segments and overnight half way to Florida.

[MicCanberra]

Depends on the cruise, if it is a local Sydney is relatively close being 3 hours drive away, then we travel up the day or the day before. All other cruises we arrive at least the day before to ensure we can cater for any reasonable delays.:D

[MicCanberra]

Meant to add, If it is a new port for us, we like to spend a few days prior so as to explore.:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

We usually go to the embarkation port 2 or 3 days early -- even for ports we have been to many times.

Years ago when we used to cruise out of European ports, we would go 4 or 5 days early.

[2theship]

We always arrive at least the day before so that we can wake up in our departure city. If we have a lot of time zones to cross, we arrive a few days early to reset our body clocks and to explore.

[SailBadtheSinner]

For the cruises we have done, we either drove or flew the day of departure. There was one trip that was stressful, but we arrived a few hours before departure time. As has been written, all's well that ends well.

 

 

SBtS

[davekathy]

We always fly in the day before.

[cruiserssandr]

When we do Boston to Bermuda cruises we drive in that morning. We live about an hour from the pier at Black Falcon.

[MicCanberra]

For the cruises we have done, we either drove or flew the day of departure. There was one trip that was stressful, but we arrived a few hours before departure time. As has been written, all's well that ends well.

 

 

SBtS

 

Even when we drive, we make sure and allow time to so that we arrive before embarkation begins (11am) just in case. That way, if something does go wrong (traffic, etc,) we have a good 4-5 hours to still get there.

[jocap]

We used to drive to Southampton, and stay in a hotel, but as we've aged, we find driving for more than 3-4 hours quite stressful, more so on the return journey with a very early start, so now we send the luggage off before hand, then travel by train the previous day.

[SPacificbound]

We will always have to fly. We aren't in driving distance of any port we would sail out of.

 

If in US four days is standard. If out of US usually a week.

[mamasylvia]

I have yet to cruise from any port I'd want to explore. First cruise was RT Ft Laud and I'm a Florida native. We did a redeye and arrived about 8am local time. Will never do that again, really had no place comfortable to wait and I have back problems. Upcoming cruise is RT Seattle, which I have visited several times. We are flying in the night before and will stay in hotel room until we are ready to go to the port. Only stops will be a liquor store to buy wine for the trip and maybe Pike Place Market to arrange to have a nice king salmon frozen and ready to fly home with us when we return. (Can't get king salmon in Wyoming and it is far and away my favorite, hoping it will still be available when we cruise in May.)

[SmoothFlying]

Hey all,

 

I'm headed to the Southern Caribbean on the Fascination on March 5th but will be arriving there on the 2nd. How often do you give yourselves time to explore the city of the port before setting sail?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

We (my wife and I) always plan to arrive in the embarkation port the day before the cruise. However, IF there are flight schedules included or the possibility of bad weather :( we have been known to leave a little earlier. I retired from the airline industry after 29 years and we had hoped this might aid in flying to a cruise port, but that turned out to be way toooo 'iffy'. When you run the chance of not being able to get to the port at all because you're flying stand by there's always Plan B. So, we just drive which pretty much eliminates the west coast since it'd take 4-5 days for that.

 

Mac

[CanobieFan]

Living in Orlando and having only gone out of Port Canaveral and Tampa... I've always just left my house around 11 or so, to get to the port around 1. Although my travel partner typically comes in a day or two before and I take her to Disney or SeaWorld.

In January we are leaving out of Fort Lauderdale for our first time (a good +3 hours from here) but she wants to sightsee in Miami, she's never been. So we're going to leave a day early and check out South Beach and stuff and already be down that way for the ship. (Just under two months away! :D )

For the cruise we have booked in 2018, it will be the first time I have to fly to the departure point. I plan on being there three or four days prior.

Edited November 25, 2016 by CanobieFan

[MicCanberra]

If you have the time (retired, leave, etc), I don't know why anyone would want to risk cutting it fine, it only leads to stress and who wants that just before your cruise.

[CarnivalCreed]

I usually arrive the day before. I wish I had arrived a little earlier for my Hawaiian cruise though. However, between my excitement for my first time in San Juan and thirst for another adventure...I couldn't help but give us (friends and family) a few extra days to get acclimated

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums