How far would you drive to get to your port on departure day !!

[Cushing985]

16 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

what port is 2 miles from D.C.?

 

You asked before I could!  Closest port to DC is Baltimore and it's a bit further than 2 miles.

[wolft927]

So i live about 5.5 hours from new orleans, so it isnt bad. Go down the day before. But honestly i would drive up to about 10 hours (as long as its just the wife and I with no kids lol)

[Cushing985]

We live south of Port Canaveral (about 45 minutes or so).  Gotta start cruising out of there more!  Our last two left out of Miami and that's about 2.5 to 3 hours.  I get a little paranoid though because I have visions of the car breaking down but I just can't justify spending the night before in a hotel.

[CJinFLA00]

We're in the Tampa area and have sailed/driven to every Fla port except Jacksonville. No problem driving the day of however we have stayed over the night before only to extend the vacation. 

[stellarose]

we did port Canaveral from Delaware  . Arrived one day early .

[spyingeyes]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

 

 

what port is 2 miles from D.C.?

Geography obviously dictates that there are no ports within two miles of DC. However, the question was, "how far would you drive to get to your port on departure day?" Since we ALWAYS arrive at least one day before we sail (to any port of departure), and book hotels within a couple miles of the port, my comment stands.

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

We drove once from Sarasota to Ft Lauderdale (3 hours) but probably wouldn't drive that far on the day of again. We had car trouble and were delayed leaving by over an hour, which is stress I don't need the day of a cruise.

 

We now live about 50 minutes from Baltimore and would definitely drive the day of a cruise out of there (which we will probably do in the next year or so).

[grandmarnnurse]

5 hours ago, Garf said:

Like to get feed back !! I live in Orlando Fl, so it's an easy 50 mins to Port Canaveral.I usually get to the port very early on my departure day. If I had to travel for more that 3 hours, I would stay at a hotel near by, the cruise port the day before departure..

We always have flown into our port city at least one day prior, but for our April cruise, we are actually driving to Florida from Buffalo, NY, and staying in a cottage rental about 4 hours from port. We will get up at 5am, and drive those 4 hours the morning of cruise. Hopefully, since it’s a Sunday early morning, traffic will be light.

[Floriduh]

One hour. No longer. Live in Kissimmee. Tampa on one side and Port Canaveral on the other. Went to Miami once... Once.

[cyntil8ing]

We have driven three times to Bayonne (about 3 hours) and three times to Baltimore (less than an hour) on cruise day. For the two long drives we have made, Charleston and Jacksonville, we left the night before, drove until early morning, leaving an hour or two's drive the next morning.

Edited January 11, 2020 by cyntil8ing

[mz-s]

Typically 4 hours - our drive time from our front door to the port of Charleston. We've done it where we stop halfway and stay the night, but that just got us to the port too early to get on the ship (but not early enough to really do much sightseeing) so now we just drive the morning of.

 

Next month we'll be driving a bit farther, as we will be staying in Daytona a few days before the cruise - so we'll be adding about an hour to the drive, coming from Daytona to Charleston. We still plan to do that the morning of embarkation.

Edited January 11, 2020 by mz-s

[Daddymikey1975]

We live in northern Indiana (home of Notre Dame) and cruised out of Tampa in August.

We drove to Bloomington (3 hrs) Thursday night. Went for a ten mile hike on Friday with friends. Then left at 1am for Tampa which was fifteen more hours.

We got to Tampa around dinner time Saturday. Spent the night at an air bnb just ten minutes from the port.

Left Sunday morning for our cruise.

In the return trip we disembarked Sunday morning. Spent the day in Clearwater then went to bed Sunday night at the same Airbnb. Left at 4am Monday morning from Tampa and drive straight home. Was supposed to be about 17 hours but we got home at midnight and I can't math but we drive straight thru on the way back.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[pjhootch]

We drove 24 hours straight through from home to Miami. Got to the hotel late at night and got up the next morning and got on the ship.  We were younger, had teenaged kids, were a family of 5 with a car that got 42 mpg and flying from home would have cost about 2K for 5 of us (minimum) for that trip.    We were nuts and I probably wouldn't do it again!  

[samiam0403]

I live about 3.5 hours from the port of Mobile, and have never driven up the day of. Longest drives for cruises: I've driven from Ohio to Mobile for a cruise, and from the panhandle of Florida to Miami - always the day before (and never again). Getting the vacation started a day earlier, relaxing from the drive, and being well-rested on boarding day is a priority for me - even though I live fairly close to multiple ports.

[clo]

7 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

We live by San Francisco, so we will be enjoying our next 3 cruises with a short commuter train ride we catch 3 miles from home, that drops us off in SF -- and then a 15 minute walk along the waterfront to the port. 

Cal-Train? Do you taxi to it? We live in Reno but there are really no cruises departing from the West Coast that appeal to us...darn it.

[VentureMan_2000]

No... BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit).  We are 3 miles from a BART station, so we have family drop us off.  We could Uber too, if needed.  We get off at the Embarcadero station, and then it's a 15 minute walk along the waterfront to the port.

San Francisco basically just cruises to Alaska, Mexico (Catalina/San Diego/Ensenada), and Hawaii.  I wish they would add a Mexican Riviera cruise.  

[clo]

1 minute ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

No... BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit).  We are 3 miles from a BART station, so we have family drop us off.  We could Uber too, if needed.  We get off at the Embarcadero station, and then it's a 15 minute walk along the waterfront to the port.

San Francisco basically just cruises to Alaska, Mexico (Catalina/San Diego/Ensenada), and Hawaii.  I wish they would add a Mexican Riviera cruise.  

Oh, you live close in.

 

We have to fly everywhere...and not close. We're more Europe and S. American oriented.  Have fun.

[OCruisers]

Getting 4 hours from the port the night before works fine for us.  😉

[clo]

As a side question, if you drive in do you have a free place to park your car?

[Organized Chaos]

1 hour ago, clo said:

As a side question, if you drive in do you have a free place to park your car?

 

Is there such a thing as free long-term parking near a cruise port? I wouldn't think so. Terminal parking is always more expensive, but comes with the convenience of having your vehicle nearby. Then there's the independent lots in the immediate area. Those are usually much cheaper, but some have their disadvantages. I've looked into plenty with very bad reviews. Some park your car for you and cram them into their lot very close together. Those same lots normally keep your car keys for the duration of the cruise so they can retrieve it upon return. I have no interest in risking damage in a lot like that or parting with my keys. I'm sure there are good ones out there though. We always find a hotel with long-term cruise parking. Some offer a cruise package with a bit higher rate that includes so many days of parking. Others separate their room rate and their per-day parking fee.

[clo]

5 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Is there such a thing as free long-term parking near a cruise port? I wouldn't think so. Terminal parking is always more expensive, but comes with the convenience of having your vehicle nearby. Then there's the independent lots in the immediate area. Those are usually much cheaper, but some have their disadvantages. I've looked into plenty with very bad reviews. Some park your car for you and cram them into their lot very close together. Those same lots normally keep your car keys for the duration of the cruise so they can retrieve it upon return. I have no interest in risking damage in a lot like that or parting with my keys. I'm sure there are good ones out there though. We always find a hotel with long-term cruise parking. Some offer a cruise package with a bit higher rate that includes so many days of parking. Others separate their room rate and their per-day parking fee.

I don't know their range but we've use "park/sleep/fly" where you pay more for the night but get to leave your car there along with airport shuttle.

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

No... BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit).  We are 3 miles from a BART station, so we have family drop us off.  We could Uber too, if needed.  We get off at the Embarcadero station, and then it's a 15 minute walk along the waterfront to the port.
  

 

We have done that a few times.  But usually instead of walking we jump on the street car right there by the Embarcadero station.  Too lazy to walk dragging the bag I guess.  Lol

 

In response to the OP's question we have driven day of the cruise from the SF Bay area to San Pedro or Long Beach several times.  It is about 400 miles in round numbers.  We did that a lot when the kids were young.  Some times we were with several families and part of a caravan down I-5.  

[MicCanberra]

We live 4 hours away from Sydney, depending on the time of year and where the cruise is going, we will often drive up on the day.

[navybankerteacher]

19 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I try to get within an hour of the port. If I lived 50 mins away I’d drive on embarkation day but I’d leave enough time for a tow truck to get my vehicle and an uber to get to me in the event of a breakdown or accident.

This sounds about right - we are just over an hour from the Manhattan and Brooklyn piers and an hour and a half from Bayonne.  We will Amtrak to Boston or Baltimore the day before, and fly in one or two days before to any other port.  There is no point in stressing and wearing yourself out to save a bit of money when the whole point of the exercise is to have a good time.

[BlueRiband]

Lucky me, I live in NYC.  But I would not drive more than an hour on embarkation day as my tolerance level for this kind of drama is very low.