Round trip cruise from Northeast to Canaveral Fl?

[wakebord99]

Good evening everyone..

Crazy question here but I’m in NJ and head down to Dis a few times a year. Flying and the airport process is by far the single most stressful part of our trip, and my wife can’t sit in a car for 12 hrs.

We have cruise ships that leave NJ and MD heading down to Canaveral Fl for as cheap as $300 per person which pays for 7 days at sea and food. Has anyone seen a cruise ship that simply goes from the NYC area down to FL making round trips for a reasonable price?

 

[Tinknalli]

Technically a cruise that goes just from the Northeast to Florida and vice versa would not be affordable or convenient. Cruise laws require that any ship that is flagged in another country (non US) that cruises originate in a US port (NJ, MD, FL etc) must make a stop at a foreign port before disembarking guests in a US port. So, in order for the cruise ship to drop passengers off in Florida they must stop in Bermuda or continue on to the Carribean and make a foreign port stop prior to stopping in Florida. And on a Northbound cruise would need to stop in Bermuda or continue on to Canada before turning around. The only way not to make that foreign stop is to flag the ship in the US which opens the ship up to US taxes and labor laws, which would take the affordability out of the cruise. I believe there is currently only one cruise ship that is flagged in the US and that is Pride of American which does Hawaii itineraries. It is a very old ship with very high prices.

Have you thought about Amtrak? You could even drive to Virginia (not much further than Maryland) and put your car on the auto train and go to Sanford and then reverse it.

 

[Cheburashka]

Good evening everyone..

Crazy question here but I’m in NJ and head down to Dis a few times a year. Flying and the airport process is by far the single most stressful part of our trip, and my wife can’t sit in a car for 12 hrs.

We have cruise ships that leave NJ and MD heading down to Canaveral Fl for as cheap as $300 per person which pays for 7 days at sea and food. Has anyone seen a cruise ship that simply goes from the NYC area down to FL making round trips for a reasonable price?

This is a great idea if you have the time and inclination to take a cruise each way. As a PP said, it wouldn't be a nonstop cruise, but Bermuda sounds nice.

 

[Capt_BJ]

back in the 80's there was a company that tried this. They got around some of the US laws by making it two half trips and used car ferries. One leg ran between NYC and Freeport Bahamas and the other leg between Freeport and Cape Canaveral. You could book Canaveral <> NYC by combining the two legs .. you actually had to unload your car and change ships in Freeport ...... it didn't last too long ...... but I know someone who did it ..... One of the ship's later became the Sea Escape cruise to no - where in Canaveral which went up in flames in a glorious fire a few years later.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1986-08-14-8602180225-story.html
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/03/16/Fire-broke-out-in-the-engine-room-of-the/2942574491600/
https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO Documents/5p/CG-5PC/INV/docs/boards/scandnavian.pdf
this last reference IS a bit long but resulted in significant changes to port operations with regard to ship fires. This fire was plagued by confusion as to WHO was in charge / responsible for the fire once the ship arrived in the port. This confusion was significant because tow major players - US Coast Guard and the local volunteer fire department - had significantly DIFFERENT approaches to firefighting. How a fire is attacked on a ship at sea is very different from how one fights a house fire. This ship burned at the pier for DAYS.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I'd be all in! DH and I are still looking for a DCL that is from Port Canaveral that is *unique*. We would take a cruise like this for convenience, at least one way even though it wouldn't be very special.

Driving from NH is 24 hours not counting traffic and we're not getting any younger so we fly from MHT. Using points, our flights cost next to nothing but it's a long, miserable day. We are making our trips much longer (three weeks in November) and two trips annually rather than short trips.