Florida residents: leave for PC day of departure?

[lorimay]

We live in the Ft. Lauderdale area, we have always gone the day before, we like to be there morning of the cruise.
Give yourself time if you leave morning of just in case.......

 

[randumb0]

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

You can leave home and make it to PC for a 1 pm PAT? Impressive

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You can leave home and make it to PC for a 1 pm PAT? Impressive

6am to 9am flight, I could make an 11am PAT if I can get it.

 

[varkgirl]

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?

Yes, we always leave that morning. It is 3 hrs for us. Sometimes a little traffic on 4 around Disney but nothing major.

 

[Aimeedyan]

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.

How much time did you give yourself? I'm tempted to do this... we have a 2 year old in tow which makes all things packing, unpacking, and staying a hotel so much more complicated so I'm wondering if driving down morning-of would be better.

We are coming from Tampa Bay to Miami

 

[varkgirl]

How much time did you give yourself? I'm tempted to do this... we have a 2 year old in tow which makes all things packing, unpacking, and staying a hotel so much more complicated so I'm wondering if driving down morning-of would be better.

We are coming from Tampa Bay to Miami

We come from North Port (south Sarasota county) and it is 3 hrs for us to PC or Miami - we try to leave about 3 and a half hours before our port arrival time in case of traffic, and to allow for parking, etc.

 

[SailorsWhyf]

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?

We’ve always driven morning of. We just add 30-60 minutes to whatever Waze suggests the drive time is to account for traffic delays, parking, etc.

 

[princesscinderella]

We always leave morning of the cruise around 7am from the Ft lauderdale area and have had to cruise cocoa beach because we got there too early. My feelings is that the ship doesn’t stop boarding til almost 4pm so there’s plenty of time to get there still if there’s car trouble or a road is closed even if we miss the early port arrival time.

 

[Lizgistix]

Coming from the gulf coast, I could drive to PC the day of, but traffic on 4 lately has started to become awful in a few places, so I play it safe and drive half way the day before. Then, since toll roads are less traveled than the free roads, I take toll roads from Disney out to the port.
Sunday morning out of Miami? I think if you start early enough it shouldn't be a problem

 

[auntlynne]

As in most things in life, go with your gut instinct. Especially at the last minute. Otherwise, go the day of. And have a great cruise!