When to arrive from Key West???

[surrocruiser]

I realize it is better to arrive a day before the cruise and would like to but here is my dilemma:

Planning on flying into Miami (or FLL) then renting a car and driving to Key West. Getting married on a charter at sunset then driving back to Miami for our honeymoon cruise. We want to do the charter on a Saturday so friends and family won't have to miss much work if they come. I'm only choosing cruises that depart on a Sunday for that reason. Ideally we would stay Saturday then in Key West and get up early Sunday for the drive back. I'm very concerned about traffic causing a problem. Should we just drive back up late Saturday evening (that would not be a fun wedding night:rolleyes: ) and stay in Miami or would it be OK if we planned to leave Key West by 7 AM with our cruise scheduled to leave at 4PM?

 

-Sorry this is so long and complicated.

[DanJ]

I would think your plan sounds fine. I think it's about 3 hours driving, so even if you run into delays, if you left that early, you should be fine. I would guess that the drive to Miami early on a Sunday morning would be relatively light compared to the other direction or later in the day. Congrats on the wedding. It sounds like it will be a great time.

[ebrener]

Rachel, if all goes well, you should have no problems making it. However, be aware that there's only 1 road into and out of the keys. If there's an accident, the road may get blocked and you can get stuck there for hours (it's happened). I agree that the Saturday night drive is not fun, and given that situation, I'd probably drive on Sunday morning, BUT do purchase travel protection just in case!

 

Regards and congrats,

 

Enrique

*****

[TheAs]

We're also staying in KW before our cruise. We're leaving around 7 on Sat and our cruise is at 4. I have no fear of not making it. We did the Miami to Key West and back drive a year and a half ago and it took around 3 hours. Traffic wasn't a problem at all.