Stay overnight or arrive day of departure

[Bamamom1916]

We have been on 4 cruises and are planning our 5th for February 2019. Since all of our previous cruises have departed 8 - 15 hours away, we have always driven to the port city the day before departure. This time, the port is only 5 hours away. Just wondering your thoughts on this trip. Should we plan to drive down the day before and stay the night, or should we save the cost of the hotel and drive down the day of departure?

[Gin505]

It depends on where you are driving from. If you live in a snow belt I would still leave the day before. How about if there is an accident on the road and you are stuck. I would plan on a 5 hour drive but leave 8 hours before your assigned time for emergencys. Also if you drive that day will you be exhausted on your first night of the cruise.

[Havingfun2010]

No need to ask. Do what is right for you and your wallet.

[dmdiver]

Our home port is only 5 hours away & we usually just leave early in the morning, stop for breakfast and board around lunchtime. Once we did take advantage of a free hotel night through hubby's points & drove about 3 1/2 hours, spent the night & went to port the next morning. It was so much more relaxing doing it that way. There was no stress about traffic making us late to port and we were not worn out by dinnertime on embarkation day. Also, when I realized I had not packed a sweater, we had plenty of free time to run to Kohl's & buy one. That being said, we haven't done it again just because we don't want to pay for a hotel. When we fly, we used to fly the morning of as well, but now we go the day before to avoid the stress of any flight cancellations.

[Homosassa]

I have four ports within a five hour drive of me. We always drive the day before because just too many things can happen to delay the trip. When you have already laid out the cruise fare, the cost of a hotel room is certainly good insurance on protecting that money.

 

Our only exception to the day before is Tampa as it is only an hour from me. Even there, we leave by ten in the morning at the latest to allow for delays on the way down.

[Micahs Grandad]

We are always at the port or nearby a day before. Stuff can happen (highways get blocked, car trouble) that can cause one to miss a ship.

[SCcruiser123]

Only five hours away would be Ok for me to drive in the day of. Leave early morning and stop for breakfast and be there by lunchtime.

Longer than 6 hours I would go the day before, or if you are driving "up north" in the winter.

[chadci]

I have 4 ports within 3 hours of home. We always go the afternoon before. We've found hotels where we can leave the car after staying the night and it's often cheaper than the parking garage. We usually just take an overnight bag in the hotel and leave our cruise luggage in the car until the shuttle comes and just take it to the shuttle. Just our ritual but, we enjoy it PLUS the peace of mind of not having to do last minute travel is nice.

[tree.critter]

Living in FL sure makes travel to the ports so much easier. Unless my drive is more than 5-6 hours or flying I just head down the morning of the cruise.

If a flight is involved it's always the day before and I book a late return flight for the tail end too.

[salty dingo]

With a 5 hour drive, you can leave as early as you want to arrive when you want. No cancelled flights or other worries. Sure, there could be a wreck on the road but there is usually another route available.

 

Whenever we drove to port, we came in same day. When flying, if you are not making a connection and coming from a hub with lots of flights, and taking an early flight, I would feel good about same day, but we usually like to come in day before when flying.

[Tiger0613]

For me it depends on the day of the week, if my mom is going, and then the distance.

 

I don't have a license. Driving usually isn't an option. I will fly in the day before if I am cruising solo out of any port other than New Orleans, Mobile, or Galveston. I will take Greyhound the morning of the cruise for those ports.

 

If my mom is cruising with me, it will be Greyhound or Amtrak at least one day before.

 

My mom drove us to Mobile the morning of the cruise since it is only about three hours away. This was the day after Christmas. It was I-12 to Slidell and then I-10 the rest of the way.

 

My mom and I have taken Greyhound to Orlando. It leaves at 5:15am the day before the cruise and gets there at 1:50am the day of the cruise. That is just enough time to crash at an airport hotel before taking a shuttle to the port. There is one other trip that could get us there in time.

 

Since my mom refuses to fly, we took Greyhound to New Orleans and then Amtrak to Seattle(via Chicago). We left home on Thursday for a Monday cruise. We got to Seattle on Sunday.

[Bamamom1916]

Thanks for all of your input. We rarely get snow, so I don't see that as a problem. However, I know there are other things that could slow us down on the interstate...car trouble, wrecks, highway construction. We will be headed to Mobile and must pass through Birmingham. If you have driven on I-65 South through the Birmingham area, you have encountered "Malfunction Junction". So we will drive down the day before and be up and ready to go on embarkation day!!!

[Hypaiceangel]

I'm a big fan of staying at a hotel nearby the night before so I can minimize potential hiccups. Often times you can find a very reasonably priced hotel in the vicinity.

 

 

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[Sugar Skull]

We are also about 5 hours away from the closest port and both times we left same day at about 6am and got there in plenty of time On board by 12:30-1:00 with FTTF or a Suite.

[JerseyGirlJen]

I also vote for going the day before. You never know what could happen that could wreak havoc on your drive—highway closures for accidents, fuel spills, bizarre weather, etc. 5 hours is too long a drive to gamble with. Plus, you get to start your vacation a day early [emoji2]

 

 

 

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[Shaded Lady]

Whenever possible we drive in the day before and spend the night. It starts our vacation a day earlier, avoids stress and makes the morning of the cruise a leisurely event instead of rushing.

 

There may be times when that's not possible, but it's how I prefer to cruise.

[txmom11]

We usually go the day before--even when we lived in SE Texas and cruised from Galveston. Too many things can happen for my comfort, but like someone posted earlier--do what's right for you and your wallet.

[cb at sea]

Overnight the night before the cruise. No need to stay AFTER the cruise.

[SPacificbound]

Stay overnight.

[Z'Loth]

I'm in Sacramento, California, so the only time I would think about risking a same-day flight is if the cruise departs from Los Angeles or San Diego. Of course, that means an early-morning flight, which means that by the time I get to the ship, I am t-i-r-e-d.

[navybankerteacher]

A five hour drive really means six hours, because you want to leave at least an hour for “just in case”. If you are shooting to show up at the cruise terminal by noon, giving yourself perhaps an hour to park your car and get your luggage out you really are thinking about getting on the road by about 5:00 AM - which means waking up

possibly as early as 4:30. Even if you cut corners, and don’t wake up until 6:00, you are still going to be tired by the time you get on board.

 

If it is anything much more than two hours to the cruise terminal (total travel time) we go the day before so we can enjoy the first afternoon and evening on board.

[lenquixote66]

We have been on 4 cruises and are planning our 5th for February 2019. Since all of our previous cruises have departed 8 - 15 hours away, we have always driven to the port city the day before departure. This time, the port is only 5 hours away. Just wondering your thoughts on this trip. Should we plan to drive down the day before and stay the night, or should we save the cost of the hotel and drive down the day of departure?

 

 

We almost always drive to the cruise port .One day we decided to fly in a day early but there were so many delays that we did not arrive till 1:20AM and the ship was leaving 8AM .

[Heidi13]

Vancouver is the only port we would arrive day of cruise, since it is less than a 1 hr drive. Every other port we prefer to arrive at least 1 day early.

[bUU]

It depends on where you are driving from. If you live in a snow belt I would still leave the day before. How about if there is an accident on the road and you are stuck. I would plan on a 5 hour drive but leave 8 hours before your assigned time for emergencys.

This.

 

 

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

[marco]

Different factors come into play. We're on the west coast of Fla in the winter and usually take a Jan or Feb cruise out of FLL or MIA. We could just drive over the morning of, but may hotels offer free parking for the duration if you stay there the night prior. It ends up costing about $20 more to stay the night prior and leave the car there and it's much more relaxing than driving 3 - 4 hrs the morning of the cruise sailing.