Thinking of driving to Oasis cruise in Port Liberty, NJ from central Fla. Am I crazy?

[jean87510]

1 hour ago, boscobeans said:

In 2004 I did Orlando to Schenectady N.Y. in 22 hours straight driving on July 4th.  

11:00 am to 9:am the following morning.

 

It was a lot more fun a few years earlier when I did it in 3 legs and then I didn't feel like I had been run over by a truck..  LOL

Husband and I drove from NJ to Key Largo with 4 kids (one was 11 months).  26 hours straight with only rest stops and food stops.  Thank God for disney vcr tapes.  

[spintowin]

Wow. Sometimes kids can make the trip seem even longer.  I'm on the fence about it now. Not the best time to be traveling, driving or flying.

[Baron Barracuda]

20 years ago when our 3 girls were young we did the reverse drive several times from Ct or NJ to Miami or PE.  With 5 people plus stroller and all the kiddie stuff minivan made more sense than flying.  Tried to avoid rush hour around DC and get to Jacksonville on day 1 leaving 5 hours to port.  We'd do a 7 day sailing followed by a week in Orlando.  Looked into Autotrain but way expensive.  Today we fly.

[Another_Critic]

5 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

Driving to the airport, arriving over 2 hours early, waiting in lines, having a layover, getting off at an airport, renting cars, driving to final destination.......is also not the most fun experience either.  My last flight was a 10 hour process which saved me only a few hours.  

This was basically why I chose to drive home, instead of flying, from Quebec City to Philly area after my 10 night Cape Liberty to Quebec City cruise.

 

Although my first choice would have been to take the cruise back to Cape Liberty.  🙂  UnfortunateIy, I didn't have the luxury of taking more time off from work.  😟

[Travelling2Some]

26 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

This was basically why I chose to drive home, instead of flying, from Quebec City to Philly area after my 10 night Cape Liberty to Quebec City cruise.

 

Although my first choice would have been to take the cruise back to Cape Liberty.  🙂  UnfortunateIy, I didn't have the luxury of taking more time off from work.  😟

We took Amtrak's "Adirondack" train back from Montreal (train from Quebec City to Montreal was a couple of hours).  Absolutely beautiful scenery along Lake Champlain and the Hudson!  They run glass dome cars in autumn foliage season too.  No strain at all with big comfy reclining seats, a good book and a picnic of wine and fancy groceries.  Will definitely do it again one of these days.

[Travelling2Some]

1 hour ago, spintowin said:

Wow. Sometimes kids can make the trip seem even longer.  I'm on the fence about it now. Not the best time to be traveling, driving or flying.

On our NYC to Disney drives I used to collect inexpensive little "things to do" type presents for the kids in advance, gift wrap them, and then pass out a few whenever the natives got restless.  We also had Raffi on the cassette player (ha!) and some audio taped read-along story books - not to mention the port-o-potty between the two front seats of the van - our kids were very young at the time, so not shy.  They are in their 30's now and still remember those trips fondly.

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

We took Amtrak's "Adirondack" train back from Montreal (train from Quebec City to Montreal was a couple of hours).  Absolutely beautiful scenery along Lake Champlain and the Hudson!  They run glass dome cars in autumn foliage season too.  No strain at all with big comfy reclining seats, a good book and a picnic of wine and fancy groceries.  Will definitely do it again one of these days.

Back in June 2000, we took a one way cruise from Manhattan to Montreal.  IIRC, the cruise line offered a free bus, a free train, or I think discounted flights back to NY.  We thought the train (from Montreal to NY Penn Station) would be great, with great scenery.  🙂

 

Nope, it was foggy almost the whole trip, they ran out of food, and it was a rough ride (constant swaying).  😟

 

[Travelling2Some]

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

Back in June 2000, we took a one way cruise from Manhattan to Montreal.  IIRC, the cruise line offered a free bus, a free train, or I think discounted flights back to NY.  We thought the train (from Montreal to NY Penn Station) would be great, with great scenery.  🙂

 

Nope, it was foggy almost the whole trip, they ran out of food, and it was a rough ride (constant swaying).  😟

 

Aww, sorry you had disappointing weather.  We did have a beautiful clear autumn day so I guess we were lucky.  We learned in Europe not to expect much of "train food" so we bring a nice bottle of wine and some gourmet type things to snack on.

[Rogueperson]

You really have to ask yourself, how much is your time worth?  Is this a round trip deal where you will need to drive back to FL?

 

You are spending 48 hours (minimum) for a round trip.  Plus recuperation time from that exertion.  Not to mention your first cruise day will be spent pretty much recuperating from the drive.  Flight between FL and Newark takes about 2 hours, and add 2 hours for processing time, you're taking 4 hours to travel between the two points vs. 24 hours.

 

There's also the frustration of traffic.  Depending on time, and luck, the stretch of 95 between Richmond and DC stinks.  I went through that a couple weeks ago.  A normal drive on a weekend between DC and Richmond should not have taken more than an hour and a half usually.  This day with NO accidents, just volume, 4 hours.  

If its two people, then you're not really saving money as you're using a lot of time to save that money.  If you got kids, are they going to sit still for the full trip.  Kids are usually notorious for wanting to stop for something.

[Another_Critic]

15 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

Aww, sorry you had disappointing weather.  We did have a beautiful clear autumn day so I guess we were lucky.  We learned in Europe not to expect much of "train food" so we bring a nice bottle of wine and some gourmet type things to snack on.

IIRC, we had no time between debarkation and catching the train to get food/drinks.  😟

I suppose we could have "stocked up" in Quebec City the day before.

 

P.S.  My Dad and I were traveling through Western Europe (picked up my car in Germany 🙂 ) and after we dropped off the car at the seaport, we were waiting for the train in Emden, Germany.  I was hungry and said we should just eat in the station.  My Dad said he wasn't going to eat in a train station ... it was one of the better meals that we had during the trip.  😁

 

Edited August 12, 2021 by Another_Critic

[zekekelso]

3 hours ago, jean87510 said:

Husband and I drove from NJ to Key Largo with 4 kids

I could *never* do that. Mostly because that Bertie Higgins song would be stuck in my head the entire time. 
 

 

[Travelling2Some]

7 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

IIRC, we had no time between debarkation and catching the train to get food/drinks.  😟

I suppose we could have "stocked up" in Quebec City the day before.

 

P.S.  My Dad and I were traveling through Western Europe (picked up my car in Germany 🙂 ) and after we dropped off the car at the seaport, we were waiting for the train in Emden, Germany.  I was hungry and said we should just eat in the station.  My Dad said he wasn't going to eat in a train station ... it was one of the better meals that we had during the trip.  😁

 

Absolutely!  One of the secrets to budget travel in Europe is to eat out of the many great options (casual restaurants, grocery stores) inside the train stations.  The food onboard the actual trains is generally of a much lower quality and much higher price though.

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, spintowin said:

Wow. Sometimes kids can make the trip seem even longer.  I'm on the fence about it now. Not the best time to be traveling, driving or flying.

I'm surprised Royal selected someone from FL to do a test cruise in NJ - they could have picked - I'm in PA (2 hr drive to cape liberty port)🤪

 

Do you and your husband like to drive?

Are you both okay if you drive thru the night to avoid traffic?    You will see a lot of trucks on the road at night, especially on I95 in the northeast region.

How many hours do you think you could drive before needing a hotel break?

 

Did you call a2s to see if any discounted flights for the test cruise people?

 

 

[DaniDanielle]

So done from Seattle was picked and is coming!

[jean87510]

1 hour ago, zekekelso said:

I could *never* do that. Mostly because that Bertie Higgins song would be stuck in my head the entire time. 
 

 

this was in 2001 way before all the tech we have now to "entertain".  I have taken all of my kids (5 total) on many vacations up and down the east coast and on cruises, all inclusives... and given a choice between driving for over 9 hours in a car or flying, I'd take flying any day.  I was the referee, navigator plus the maid on top of the parent while my husband put his blinders and ear plugs in and drove.

[spintowin]

I did call a2s but until I get a reservation number, they can't help.  I assume that will come with the cabin assignment.  I agree, Fla test cruise would have been much easier.  

[Sunshine3601]

On 8/11/2021 at 4:06 PM, spintowin said:

How bad of a drive is it? Will 24 hours be plenty on a weekend for a Sunday embarkation? Thoughts?

Hi!  curious to know if you are driving or flying to port bayonne for the oasis test cruise tomorrow?  

[soremekun]

I did the drive (with one other driver) from Boston to Tampa for a cruise.  I timed it to so that we would at 6am in Florida the morning of the cruise.  That was very risky.

Virtually non-stop trip.  Only had time quick bathroom, gas, and snack breaks.