Where is my closest port of departure?

[Sandra1616]

Hi

I live in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  So many ports of departure seem to be in Florida. I would prefer to leave for my cruises from Canada or somewhere near by.  What are the closest ports to me?  Have you used this point of departure?  Thanks, Sandra

[thinfool]

49 minutes ago, Sandra1616 said:

Hi

I live in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  So many ports of departure seem to be in Florida. I would prefer to leave for my cruises from Canada or somewhere near by.  What are the closest ports to me?  Have you used this point of departure?  Thanks, Sandra

You can likely board a cruise ship in Montreal or QC.  Your choice of itineraries will be very limited tho.

[138east]

A lot of folks from your part of Canada drive to one of the 3 NY cruise ports where ships leave year round.

[waterbug123]

49 minutes ago, 138east said:

A lot of folks from your part of Canada drive to one of the 3 NY cruise ports where ships leave year round.

 

There are also some cruises that leave from Baltimore and Philadelphia, but the selection will be much more limited than options from Florida, or even the NYC area with its 3 ports.

[Nitemare]

Boston is also an option.  Or Vancouver, if you don't mind a domestic flight

[mskaufman]

Also Quebec

[Sandra1616]

I am surprised at how often Canadians go to Florida for their departure.  New York is probably closer to me.  What 3 ports are in NY?

[AF-1]

Manhattan cruise port;  Red Hook cruise port which is Brooklyn, and Cape Liberty cruise port.  Cape Liberty is actually New Jersey.

[Twickenham]

29 minutes ago, Sandra1616 said:

I am surprised at how often Canadians go to Florida for their departure.

 

Many factors. More choice, which usually means better prices as well. Destinations served - it takes longer to sail out of NYC, so limits your choices.

 

I personally live in a departure port city - Quebec City, to be precise. However, I have never cruised from there. I prefer to cruise to more exotic locales than ones where I have or can travel to by car... 🙂

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

There are also some cruises that leave from Baltimore and Philadelphia, but the selection will be much more limited than options from Florida, or even the NYC area with its 3 ports.

No cruises have departed from Philadelphia in several years...close to a decade now.

Edited February 19, 2020 by njhorseman

[mjkacmom]

2 hours ago, Sandra1616 said:

I am surprised at how often Canadians go to Florida for their departure.  New York is probably closer to me.  What 3 ports are in NY?

We sail out of NY, but we live in the area. If you are flying anyway, I’d go to Florida, cruises are plentiful and cheaper, lodging is cheaper and easier.

[mking8288]

Between a 3+ hour drive (traffic is worst than NYC) to Toronto for flights to a US home port (or, drive across the border to Buffalo, fewer flight/airline options and dealing with TSA, CPB & border crossing, etc.) or a 10 hour drive to metro NY area (and most definitely, an overnight hotel stay, cruise-n-park issues) - I would fly south, prefer a non-stop to Miami, Orlando for Port Canaveral, or Tampa - multiple cruiselines, numerous ships & itineraries at very reasonable & competitive prices (year-round & especially off-peak/season) vs. those out of metro NY area.

[waterbug123]

21 hours ago, njhorseman said:

No cruises have departed from Philadelphia in several years...close to a decade now.

 

Oops, didn't realize that.  Sorry!  Baltimore is still an option though.

[martincath]

When we lived in Toronto we flew BUF to NYC for a cruise, and also drove on another occasion - while we've never cruised out of Boston, a friend lives there who we'd see at least once a year so we drove several times and it's quite similar timing to NYC. Flights from BUF - or even DTW, since you're already west of the GTA I think you'd be looking at ~3.5 hours drive to Detroit - avoid the border-crossing taxes and generally higher fees of Canadian airports, and plenty of folks from western NY and Michigan also want winter breaks in Florida so you should get plenty of nonstop flight options, including large budget US carriers like JetBlue and SouthWest. I would strongly advise against the tiny budget Canadian airlines or charter flights for meeting a cruise in winter - when something goes wrong with a plane on an airline without spare aircraft, delays can be brutal (we experienced this first-hand on one of the now-defunct Canadian budget airlines to Florida in winter - we were just doing a quickie week at theme parks and had a day of padding anyway, but several folks around us were loudly freaking out about missing their same-day cruises when a 6am flight turned into an 8pm one!)

 

Whether to sail from relatively close or far away really depends what you're cruising to see & do Sandra - if it's the typical Ontario winter getaway where the main criteria are Sunshine & Cheap Beer, then fly to Florida! We've done Feb and April cruises out of NYC, and the winters there might be a little milder than ON but are still pretty cold & snowy, with the first/last sea days also not exactly conducive to hanging out on deck. OTOH NYC or Boston do have an awful lot more in the way of cultural stuff to do Pre or Post cruise than Fort Lauderdale or Miami.