Drive 6 hours to port morning of cruise?

[dd likes to cruise]

I will drive 4 hours, but I don’t think I would do 6 hours. Even with the 4 hours, I am a tad bit nervous. 6 hours, I would have to leave way too early to feel comfortable. We like to get on early enough to eat lunch.

[riclop]

Sure why not?

[Mommawo]

Actually, it's my wife's entire family that lives around Nashville. We're up in Chicago. So for a family reunion summer week on the Emerald Coast we had to do Chicago to Nashville to Panama City area. Our daughter is a nurse so leaving Chicago before about 5p on Friday was impossible. And flying in there would have been prohibitively expensive. It was a brutal 24 hour window covering just under 1000 miles with about a 6 hour stopover sleep at the grandparents place in Franklin. They were up and out of their house at 6a on Saturday, appropriately. Seeing as we didn't get in until 2a, we caught a couple more hours of shut eye before the next (and much tougher) leg. The worst part was my sis in law texting us grief from the beach while I struggled bumper to bumper passing Montgomery. Never again.

 

 

 

Sounds like quite the adventure lol Franklin is a really nice place. I assume you have eaten at Puckets ? I have family in Panama City Beach lol. Good place for a family reunion!!! I will be there in a week

[lenquixote66]

Anyone drive 6 hours the A.M. of a cruise?

 

 

No but we regularly do a 4 1/2 hour drive.

[Quilcruisers]

So I'll flip this around if anyone cares to comment. How early do you leave to make any possible contingency accounted for? And if air travel, how many connections, etc. does it take because that's certainly a factor.

 

 

 

We live about an hour and half from Galveston. Living and driving in Houston all my life, I would not chance it. Call me crazy but we leave the house at 8 or 9 am religiously. Gives us time to pack our cars, grab snacks in Galveston , park and leisurely make our way to port. Many of the routes we take, beltway 8/Sam Houston tollway, hwy 290, i45, 610 can be a beast with the smallest incident. Most times, traffic is bad for no good reason. I would be in a panic if I had to drive in the day of. I would find a way to get a cheap hotel and drive in the night before or day before if possible. I know how hard it is for people to take time off and also spend the extra on hotels, but it is worth it to really enjoy vacation. If I cruise from New Orleans, five hours away, same thing, because traffic can be so unpredictable. I would not drive in to NOLA the day of because there are so many highways that are closed for construction or just crammed with people. I like to get to the port extra early in case of any issues.

 

 

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[shotodrag]

We just moved to San Antonio a year ago, so our cruise on the Vista in September of next year is our first chance to not have to fly to our cruise. We have plenty of time to change our minds, but for now we are planning on driving to Galveston the morning of the cruise. Based on other comments, it sounds like it might be a good idea to drive out the day before, but so far we've been lucky with weekend traffic driving to Houston.

 

This past January we flew to Long Beach for the Inspiration the day of (even changing flights in Vegas!), and we had no issues. We're probably playing with fire, huh? :)

 

Previously we lived in AZ, and our cruise on the Magic out of Canaveral was definitely a "fly out the day before" situation. We're not THAT crazy.

[Drazil65]

Nope, would never do it...you never know the traffic situation or even an accident (you may be a perfect driver but you have no idea if someone is wreckless or textg :mad:and hits you), would never take that chance the same day...

[EmeraldCoastCruisers]

Never! I’d be afraid of a traffic situation that would cause me to miss the ship!

 

 

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[ballarinamom]

Interesting? Is this simply to avoid some rush hour issue in Houston mid morning on the day of the cruise. Because my sis in law uses that technique to get to the Emerald Coast from Nashville. The traffic is SO brutal that they'll drive into the night getting as far south as they can to beat the Saturday rush. Now admittedly that's a 8 hour run, even in perfect conditions.

 

Not the poster but a fellow San Antonian. We drive a little further in the night before Galveston cruises. Usually all the way in into atleast League City, mainly because we worry about something going wrong. Traffic in Houston is the worst. It took us two hours to get across town once. And there's always construction on 45 into Galveston. It's best to try to do early mornings to get past the traffics, especially in the summer when so many Houstonians heading to the island

[Bobbylah]

We drive from north of Charlotte NC for every cruise. I usually get home from work, eat dinner, pack my bag, and take a nap.

 

Then we drive from 12AM (it varies) timed out to reach the IHOP at Exit 3 in Georgia at 6 or 7AM. After a nice breakfast, we drive the rest of the way to the port.

 

This allows for time lost in traffic, breakdown, etc.

 

I am pretty much awake all day on the ship, but sleep like a baby on that first night!

 

Ditto, except we leave around 3am. Such an easy and relaxing drive. We actually run down 220 through Cheraw SC and then over to 95. I put some tunes on and just chill and enjoy the drive. It's the start of me getting off grid, so phone gets turned off. I see our main difference being that some people stress out about missing the boat. Our take is that stuff happens. Don't sweat it. Just book another one.

[jsglow]

Ditto, except we leave around 3am. Such an easy and relaxing drive. We actually run down 220 through Cheraw SC and then over to 95. I put some tunes on and just chill and enjoy the drive. It's the start of me getting off grid, so phone gets turned off. I see our main difference being that some people stress out about missing the boat. Our take is that stuff happens. Don't sweat it. Just book another one.

 

None of this discussion applies to us for cruising but I LOVE the early AM departure by car for vacation. It's something that dates back to my childhood when my family pulled a trailer camping. We'd always leave by 4a at the latest to 'get a good site' up in the national forest. Magical as a kid.

 

Now as an adult, as you say, it's that quiet 'off the grid' experience.

[JFletcher32]

Mmm...yes, we were just discussing this last week. My mother, sister and I are leaving on July 12th out of Miami. We live just north of the Tampa area. It is a little over 4 hours for us to the Port in Miami. I did a lot of research and ultimately we decided to make the drive the night before and stay in a $100 hotel room....now I am not expecting much from the hotel, however it looks to just having completed a renovation and the reviews were decent. Also, there is 7 days of free parking included with the room and a free shuttle only TO the port for up to 4 people. Just the parking fee at the port for the 4 days will cost us $88.00 and while I understand the convenience of it this way just seemed like a better way for us to go!

[mysweetsmile03]

Yup, just did it a few weeks ago from northern Florida to Miami.

 

How much was it to park at the port?

[Keys2Heaven]

I believe this same OP wrote into JH as well, as this is a poll question from this morning: drive the same day or leave the day before. 95% responded to leave a day early.

 

If the OP is interested in what other's think, that sums it up pretty well.

[ITeach2Cruise]

Not the poster but a fellow San Antonian. We drive a little further in the night before Galveston cruises. Usually all the way in into atleast League City, mainly because we worry about something going wrong. Traffic in Houston is the worst. It took us two hours to get across town once. And there's always construction on 45 into Galveston. It's best to try to do early mornings to get past the traffics, especially in the summer when so many Houstonians heading to the island

Hit the nail on the head with your response.

 

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[jsglow]

Mmm...yes, we were just discussing this last week. My mother, sister and I are leaving on July 12th out of Miami. We live just north of the Tampa area. It is a little over 4 hours for us to the Port in Miami. I did a lot of research and ultimately we decided to make the drive the night before and stay in a $100 hotel room....now I am not expecting much from the hotel, however it looks to just having completed a renovation and the reviews were decent. Also, there is 7 days of free parking included with the room and a free shuttle only TO the port for up to 4 people. Just the parking fee at the port for the 4 days will cost us $88.00 and while I understand the convenience of it this way just seemed like a better way for us to go!

 

The free parking is a big deal.

 

Just so you understand. Those of us 'up north' are jealous about how easy it is for you sunshine state folks to cruise! :D

[carnivalman]

The free parking is a big deal.

 

Just so you understand. Those of us 'up north' are jealous about how easy it is for you sunshine state folks to cruise! :D

 

Living up north and retired, always I always go the day before. The ship’s not going to wait until I arrive. Spending that much for a cruise, a hotel the night before is cheap at twice the price.

[AmberTeka]

We've done it. We have driven from Jacksonville to Miami or Fort Lauderdale UNTIL the day we decided to get off of the Interstate in Port St. Lucie. We went to a Bank of America.

 

On the way out, and I was driving I heard a big THUD.

 

A car had driven past as I backed up. Luckily for us...no damage to the other car. Not much to ours/ Bank policeman said to call our insurance and report it. We did. Our agent, who once taught school in the same school as we did... said.go on your cruise and call us when you get back.

 

Since then, we always drive down the day before. We do drive direct to Port Canaveral as that is only 3 hours, ditto Tampa and the Elation is in JAX.

[jsglow]

Living up north and retired, always I always go the day before. The ship’s not going to wait until I arrive. Spending that much for a cruise, a hotel the night before is cheap at twice the price.

 

Retired? Only one day before? :) DW and I are looking forward to our first 14 day and then our first 28 day. Not too many years.

[jakesnana]

NEVER!!! True story - I live in Central Florida and we were sailing out of Miami. We had planned on spending the night in Miami (thank God) so we left the day before at 10 AM expecting to get to the hotel around 3 at the latest. We had a problem with a tire on 95 which resulted in us having to get off the highway, find a repair shop, get the tire fixed and get back on the road. We didn't get to Miami until 8 PM that night (5 hours late). If that had been the day of sailing we would have missed the ship.

 

Now the only time I will drive down the day before is if I'm going out of Canaveral, which is only 1 hr. 20 min. from my house. I figure if something goes south I can call my son to come get me and drive me and STILL be at the port on time (BTW, I leave at 8 AM to drive to PCN, which gives me plenty of time for "life" to happen).

[jsglow]

NEVER!!! True story - I live in Central Florida and we were sailing out of Miami. We had planned on spending the night in Miami (thank God) so we left the day before at 10 AM expecting to get to the hotel around 3 at the latest. We had a problem with a tire on 95 which resulted in us having to get off the highway, find a repair shop, get the tire fixed and get back on the road. We didn't get to Miami until 8 PM that night (5 hours late). If that had been the day of sailing we would have missed the ship.

 

Now the only time I will drive down the day before is if I'm going out of Canaveral, which is only 1 hr. 20 min. from my house. I figure if something goes south I can call my son to come get me and drive me and STILL be at the port on time (BTW, I leave at 8 AM to drive to PCN, which gives me plenty of time for "life" to happen).

 

You didn't have a spare?

[Shaded Lady]

We just moved to San Antonio a year ago, so our cruise on the Vista in September of next year is our first chance to not have to fly to our cruise. We have plenty of time to change our minds, but for now we are planning on driving to Galveston the morning of the cruise. Based on other comments, it sounds like it might be a good idea to drive out the day before, but so far we've been lucky with weekend traffic driving to Houston.

The first time I cruised out of Galveston we ran into issues on 290 due to an accident, then again in Houston due to the perpetual construction... then as we made our way south we stopped (I mean PARKED) our car on 45 for no apparent reason for more than 30 minutes. Things cleared up but then again just before getting onto Galveston Island, traffic parked again- this time for almost 45 minutes, due to construction AND an accident!

 

I live in Austin, it's a 4 hour drive to Galveston and it still took us almost 7 hours to get there... this happened even though I planned our route based on info from TXDOT to avoid the worst of the construction, we left well in advance and used all the phone apps to help us avoid traffic. Thank God it was the day before the cruise or I'd have been a wreck!

 

I use that as my 'worst case' scenario now and always go down the day before.

[Bobbylah]

You didn't have a spare?

 

+1.

 

A 30 min delay at most.

[BookDragon]

Not the poster but a fellow San Antonian. We drive a little further in the night before Galveston cruises. Usually all the way in into atleast League City, mainly because we worry about something going wrong. Traffic in Houston is the worst. It took us two hours to get across town once. And there's always construction on 45 into Galveston. It's best to try to do early mornings to get past the traffics, especially in the summer when so many Houstonians heading to the island

 

Our TA advised that we stay in Pearland or League City the night before for the same reasons you gave. We have dealt with bad Houston traffic on many other occasions and didn’t want to take any chances. So we are going up the day before, hanging out at the galleria for lunch & a little shopping then going onto our hotel to relax.

[Badfinger]

+1.

 

A 30 min delay at most.

 

And that is why I make sure we have a little extra cargo room in the vehicle. That full size flat tire is not going to fit in the compact spare storage area.