Florida residents: leave for PC day of departure?

[Rabiman]

Fellow FL residents: Our first DCL and first cruise ever is in November on Fantasy leaving PC. We live in So. Fla. and the drive is exactly 2.5 hours. I've made the drive many times before having done family vacations to KSC. I don't expect much traffic on a Sunday and our likely boarding time as first timer will be after 1 pm.

Am I ok leaving for PC from home day of? Or is there a risk to not driving night before and staying at local hotel and then short drive to port?

 

[Rabiman]

Apologies for my misuse of acronym. PC = Port Canaveral.

 

[MnkyGirl]

I lived on the panhandle for years, and I think driving is always ok to come in day of. I NEVER fly in the day of the cruise, but half of my cruises I've driven overnight, stopped at the Cracker Barrel a few exits down for breakfast, and timed it to get to port when the parking deck opens. Then I nap in the car for as long as I can (it's never been longer than an hour... I get way too excited)
I would just make sure to leave plenty of time in case you hit unexpected traffic (those weekend car wrecks... gosh)

 

[MrKopec]

We have done Daytona to Miami several times morning of. You should be good as even if there is traffic/accident there are other north bound roads you can take.

 

[holula]

I used to live close to Tampa and I’ve driven to both PC and Miami day of the cruise. I would go day of and leave extra time.

 

[OKW Lover]

We are in Central FL. It takes us ~75 minutes to get to the port, all on well traveled roadways. We don't hesitate to drive over the day of the cruise.

 

[hrhdhd]

As long as you're not talking the Sunday before or after Thanksgiving, you should be okay. If it is one of those Sundays, I'd drive the day before just to be safe. Or leave super early and have a tasty Cracker Barrel breakfast nearby that morning.

 

[BK2014]

Or leave super early and have a tasty Cracker Barrel breakfast nearby that morning.

We live in Orlando and are sailing out of Port Canaveral in December. We plan on doing the above (well, probably a restaurant other than Cracker Barrel) just to be safe.

I think the key is leaving much earlier than you think is necessary just in case its the day where your preferred route of travel gets closed down by an accident or other detour.

 

[nancipants]

Also a Central Floridian, we always drive over morning of. The only major issue would be if you take the Beachline and and it gets shut down, because there’s not many places to get off in the eastern parts of Orange County. That said, we’ve never had an issue, and if there was an issue shutting down the Beachline, the DCL transfer busses would be stuck, too.

 

[CastawayCayLover]

I live in Cocoa Beach and I've always driven down to Miami the night before, primarily because the local traffic is much worse than it is up here and I haven't driven around the area down there very much to know of work arounds if there is a problem.

Doing the reverse I'd be comfortable going day of, especially on a Sunday. It's not often there's a traffic incident on 95 or the turnpike that lasts so long that you wouldn't make it on the ship. If you get up here early, go to the one of the restaurants in the port area for breakfast and get a great look at the ship while you eat.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

Yep, we always drive over from Central Florida by the Gulf Coast. We leave an extra 30 minutes early and never had a problem.

 

[rere101399]

We live in Orlando and always drive to PC on the morning of. We did our first cruise out of Miami last December and were worried about the longer drive plus Miami traffic so stayed at a beach hotel the night before. I won’t do it again, we will just leave super early this December when we repeat it. The pain of having to pack a separate bag for the one night, load and unload the car, and still try to leave a little early in case there was morning traffic by the port I felt like took as much time and effort as just leaving super early on the morning of the cruise.

 

[stkgator]

I vote departing Day of - just be sure to check Google Maps and any other mapping app prior and during departure to insure there are no traffic surprises. The traffic unknown for us is Orlando - but the good news is that there are a few routes around and to PC if there is a major traffic issue. You have until ~3:30 pm to arrive so you have an additional buffer if you are late for a 1:00 pm PAT.

 

[lucas]

We live in Boca Raton. We have done it both ways - same day and day before. I prefer to go up the day before. We like playing tourist and checking out some things in the Cocoa Beach area (historic Cocoa Village, the pier, Manatee Park, Ron Jons, etc.,) and having a nice seafood dinner at one of the restaurants right down where the ships go by. If we go the day of, I worry about a big traffic jam on the turnpike or us having car trouble. You never know. We just add in the cost of a hotel (close to the port - there are several) into our expenses.

P.S. The Dream will be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale in Fall 2023. Can't wait. No more driving up to the port!!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I live in Connecticut and I see no problem leaving home day-of.

 

[OKW Lover]

We plan on doing the above (well, probably a restaurant other than Cracker Barrel) just to be safe.

Two words - Simply Delicious. It's about 5 miles south of the port.

 

[1lilspark]

Two of the three times we’ve sailed from PC we have driven in day of from central FL the third we did an overnight in cocoa beach

 

[gatordoc]

We live in Orlando and always drive to PC on the morning of. We did our first cruise out of Miami last December and were worried about the longer drive plus Miami traffic so stayed at a beach hotel the night before. I won’t do it again, we will just leave super early this December when we repeat it. The pain of having to pack a separate bag for the one night, load and unload the car, and still try to leave a little early in case there was morning traffic by the port I felt like took as much time and effort as just leaving super early on the morning of the cruise.

We live about a 5 hour drive from the Miami port, and have tried various permutations. The one we’ve settled on is to stay at one of the hotels the night before that include length of cruise parking. The room and parking ends up costing us about the same as parking at the port would, and it’s a much nicer experience to be able to sleep in the morning of the cruise, and to take a quick Uber to the port rather than dealing with the terrible parking there.

 

[sethschroeder]

I used to live close to Tampa and I’ve driven to both PC and Miami day of the cruise. I would go day of and leave extra time.

Flew in to Tampa night before stayed there and then drove to PC in the morning (even dropped off rental car).

Driving from inside of FL I wouldn't see being an option but not from there.

 

[Breezer4]

We’ve driven in the morning of from Jacksonville with no issues. Give yourself a little extra time to arrive within your PAT window.