Driving into Miami on departure day

[NCL_Norway_Veteran]

We're planning on driving to Miami and are trying to figure out how far into Florida we should get the day before. Our cruise leaves at 4:00 on a Friday. NCL's site suggests getting there at least an hour prior to departure (as long as we have done on-line checkin). Looking on Google maps, it looks like Ocala is about 4:46 from Miami, which sounds reasonable with no traffic problems. Reading other posts seem to indicate that traffic is usually heavy. How much extra time should we allow for Miami traffic? Should we try to get closer than Ocala the day before?

 

Thanks!

[MIAMIMEDIA]

Leave Ocala early! If you leave by 10 am you should arrive by 3pm if you do not stop much. The port of Miami is in the middle of downtown Miami, which on a friday can be very congested!! Good luck!

[courageteaches]

If it is a nice day, anything can happen on our Florida interstates. It depends on the time of year - spring break, race week, bike week, Christmas holiday shopping?

I have seen the whole interstate close down for hours - but this is not a everyday occurence.

We live in Palm Coast which is just above Ocala. It takes us at least 5 hours to get to the Port of Miami. We usually go stay near Miami the night before so that we can get to the ship by 11:30 the next morning to have lunch and tour the ship. We cruised on Celebrity last year and stayed in Aventura - we were on the ship by noon! This spring we are going on the Dawn and we booked a Town Place Suites near the interstate in Boca Raton. (about an hour to the port) However, both times we had some Marriott points so we could save $$

[watchdiva]

I'd certainly be on the road before 10 AM the day of the cruise.....traffic from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami can be brutal even in the best of conditions. Throw in an accident or two, a lane closure or two for the never-ending construction on I-95 or the Turnpike and all bets are off.

 

Leave early and avoid the stress - you will also need to allow time to park your car. If you're asking for opinions, drive all the way to Miami on Thursday, stay overnight in a hotel and get to the pier at 11 AM or so on Friday. You can be on board by 12 noon and having lunch and relaxing, rather than fighting traffic on I-95 and worrying about boarding on time.

[Chuck2810]

You paid for Day one of your cruise, why not enjoy it?:) You can board between 11:30 and noon, the ship will be quiet. Enjoy as much as you can. Get a cheap no-tell / motel in Palm Beach area (Boca, Lantana, Boynton) and plan on a two hour drive, but expect it to only take about one.

[crew mom]

If you're asking for opinions, drive all the way to Miami on Thursday, stay overnight in a hotel and get to the pier at 11 AM or so on Friday. You can be on board by 12 noon and having lunch and relaxing, rather than fighting traffic on I-95 and worrying about boarding on time.

 

I agree with this if your travel time allows it. Much better than worrying about missing the ship.

 

If nothing else I would plan to be at the port no later than 2pm.

[BIG_Steve]

Ocala to Miami if you leave early should be no problem. But, it would make me skittish.

 

 

You really don't want to go through the Orlando area during morning rush time. The few times I've done it, I've been lucky. But anyone I know that does it a lot swears it's a nightmare.

[garycarla]

I would make plans to be at ship by noon. Leave yourself some time in case of all the reasons mentioned above. And of course you need to drop off the car or find a parking place - not sure if you are renting.

 

No idea where you are coming from, but I would surely get closer to Miami the day before to eliminate all those unknowns.

[floridacruiser63]

:)As a Miami resident, I would recommend that you leave Ocala no later than 7 a.m. You can be in Miami by noon and avoid the rush hour traffic, board the ship and have a nice, relaxing lunch and not have to worry about a traffic jam between Palm Beach and Miami. That is where they ussually happen the most. Please do not attempt to get into the downtown area after 2 p.m. on a Friday, there is lots of traffic on all highways as well as streets surrounding downtown Miami.

[Dale]

:)As a Miami resident, I would recommend that you leave Ocala no later than 7 a.m. You can be in Miami by noon and avoid the rush hour traffic, board the ship and have a nice, relaxing lunch and not have to worry about a traffic jam between Palm Beach and Miami. That is where they ussually happen the most. Please do not attempt to get into the downtown area after 2 p.m. on a Friday, there is lots of traffic on all highways as well as streets surrounding downtown Miami.

Speaking as a fellow south Floridian, yours is the best advice yet.

[CaribQween]

You paid for Day one of your cruise, why not enjoy it?:) You can board between 11:30 and noon, the ship will be quiet. Enjoy as much as you can. Get a cheap no-tell / motel in Palm Beach area (Boca, Lantana, Boynton) and plan on a two hour drive, but expect it to only take about one.

 

There are a lot of things that could go wrong and you don't want to do anything that would put you in a possible position to miss that ship. You really might want to consider driving all the way to Miami the night before. Then you can sleep in and be rested up when you board the ship and start your long awaited vacation :).

 

I agree with the fact that you paid for the first day on the ship, why not enjoy it? We flew into Miami the night before our cruise and then got up early and did some sightseeing. We went to the Biltmore and Vizcaya in Coral Gables. We had actually planned on being to the ship around 12:00, but we enjoyed the whole Coral Gables area so much that we decided to spend a little extra time driving around. We didn't make it to the port until around 2:00 p.m. and then by the time we got to our stateroom and unpacked and did a little looking around, it was time for the Muster drill and then the sail-away party after that. We sort of felt rushed the rest of the day and then kind of wished we had gotten there earlier. I think for our next cruise we'll get to the port and board as early as possible so nothing feels rushed. Throughout the entire cruise we felt like we didn't have enough time to really see the whole ship.

[esther e]

We also live in Palm Coast and would never consider driving down the same day. Canaveral, perhaps. FLL or Miami, never! As the other poster said, I-95 can be closed for a long time if there's a mishap and the exits are far and few between; you can be held up for hours. Not worth it in my opinion.

[bluesea777]

Hopefully this story would prompt you to re-think about driving to Miami on the day of the cruise ...

 

We were on back-to-back cruises from Miami last March and we did not have to attend the Lifeboat drill the second time. While waiting for the second cruise to depart Miami at 4:00 (date: Sunday March 30th), I decided to take the opportunity to go to the excursion desk at 3:35 to have an excursion changed - before the crowd returned from the drill and queued up again.

 

I went and was able to change the excursion. Then I went to the elevators to catch a car back to the cabin. A family of 3 came to the lobby - parents and very young child - looking really beaten - hyper, agitated, relieved, all sorts. They were wheeling carryons. as we entered the car, she asked me when was the lifeboat drill and I said it started 10 mins ago. So I said what happened. She "never again!". He "the drive took 5 hours - took 2 hours longer than expected - traffic". She "next time we'll fly". I calmly said it'd be better to come to Miami the day before. They looked at each other and agreed.

[Animal 57]

We generally drive down to south FL the day before, stay in Delray or Boca and then drive the 1 hour to Miami the morning of the cruise so we don't have to worry about massive delays.

[garycarla]

By the way, the person at NCL gave you really bad advice. The policy is you must board two hours in advance. Based on what others have indicated, you do have a bit more leeway than that.

 

Why put yourself through that?

[NCL_Norway_Veteran]

Thanks for all the great advice. We have to wait for someone to get out of school in GA the day before (12:30 or so), but we're going to push through to Miami if we can that night so we don't have to worry about the traffic nightmares.

 

Thanks again!

[BIG_Steve]

Thanks for all the great advice. We have to wait for someone to get out of school in GA the day before (12:30 or so), but we're going to push through to Miami if we can that night so we don't have to worry about the traffic nightmares.

 

Thanks again!

 

That's a long way to go, but it can be done. I think you'll feel better when you wake up in the Miami area instead of Ocala though.

[OceanBull]

We live in central Florida and have been debating driving down on the same day or not. I also think Ocala to Miami in 4:46 is ambitious. It may take us that long and we are an hour or more south of Ocala.

 

That being said, we have settled on driving down the night before and getting a hotel. As my wife and I discussed, if we plan on boarding by noon, we would need to get up by about 5:30 AM to get ready. Who wants to do that on your first day of vacation? Also, we would be in bed by 9:00 PM that night which would seriously shorten our first night on the ship. Lastly, we would probably be cranky all day from the long car ride with the kids and dealing with traffic.

 

Staying the night before is worth the extra money to us. We figure we can get up at 9:00 or so, get breakfast, check out at 11:00 and head straight to the port. To each his own though, hope you have a great trip!

[bigdeal]

Reading this has me a bit worried.....We are spending the night with relatives on Thursday night in Orlando. What time would you suggest we leave in order to board at noon at POM ?? Thanks!

[Quincella]

Speaking as a fellow south Floridian, yours is the best advice yet.

 

I lived in Miami before moving to Atlanta and I couldn't agree more. Last year I stayed with a friend in Orlando pre-cruise and did drive into Miami the day of, but I left her house at about 7:30 am, just in case.

 

For those of you who haven't done it, believe us when we tell you that traffic in Miami is NO JOKE! Not always, but if you get stuck in it, you'll be sweating it all the way to the port.

[BIG_Steve]

Reading this has me a bit worried.....We are spending the night with relatives on Thursday night in Orlando. What time would you suggest we leave in order to board at noon at POM ?? Thanks!

 

Personally, I would "get outta Dodge" before 7am. Then when I was clear of the Orlando morning rush hour, I would stop at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Since your relatives live in Orlando, they probably have better insight than I do.

[BIG_Steve]

Personally, I would "get outta Dodge" before 7am. Then when I was clear of the Orlando morning rush hour, I would stop at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Since your relatives live in Orlando, they probably have better insight than I do.

 

 

BTW "Orlando" has become a generic term for a very large area. Where exactly are they? If South of Orlando (for example) the morning rush hour will have much less of an impact.

[floridacruiser63]

Reading this has me a bit worried.....We are spending the night with relatives on Thursday night in Orlando. What time would you suggest we leave in order to board at noon at POM ?? Thanks!

 

If you leave the Orlando area by 7 a.m. you will avoid most of the rush hour traffic in Central Florida and you will arrive in Miami after our morning rush hour, thus avoiding all heavy traffic.:)

[OceanBull]

Leaving from Orlando may not be a problem since you have easy access to the Turnpike depending on what part of Orlando you are in. We live about 45 minutes west of Orlando which puts us in no man's land and forces us to drive all the way down US 27 or heading east on Hwy 60 or I-4 until we hit the turnpike.

 

I'd say leaving at 7:30 will definitely get you into Miami before the ship leaves and should get you there by 12:00 or 12:30 barring any major disasters and depending on your driving habits and any stops you make.

 

Keep in mind that traffic through downtown Orlando can be terrible as well between 7:00 and 9:00 AM, again depending on where you are staying in town. Ask the people you are staying with for that information.

 

You shouldn't have any problems. The only reason we are driving in the night before is because I am no morning person and I don't want to spend four hours in the car with the kids without a rest before getting on the boat.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!!!

[OceanBull]

BTW "Orlando" has become a generic term for a very large area. Where exactly are they? If South of Orlando (for example) the morning rush hour will have much less of an impact.

 

 

This is very true Steve. We live between Orlando and Tampa and this area is quickly becoming known as Orlampa. In fact, many "experts" think that the western I-4 corridor will become the next twin cities or "megalopolis" similar to the Dallas Ft. Worth area.

 

Currently Orlando can mean anywhere on I-4 from Polk to Seminole Counties!!!