Driving from NYC to Miami
 

My cruise starts from Miami at 5:00 PM. I am planning to drive. How long will it take me to drive to Miami from New York? What is the best schedule? When to start the trip, and where would you suggest that I stay overnight.
Thank you.

Its about 2000 miles. I would assume 2 full days of driving. Aim to get to South Carolina the first night (minimum of North) as I would not want to risking arrival time around 5 pm. I might even plan on getting there the night before. The one time I drove to FL, we planned on making South Carolina and barely made it thru Virginia due to multiple accidents.

What time of year would you be doing this?

It will be at the end of December.

Just read my post. Its about 1200 miles.

Since its in December, realize that due to cold and snow (which is possible for most of the way, but more likely thru Maryland). I would definitely aim to get there the night before.

Say your cruise leaves 5pm Saturday, I would leave NYC (if weather is good) first thing Thursday morning and drive to someplace along 95 in South Carolina. Spend the night and then get up first thing Friday morning and drive the rest of the way.

This way, you are protected from any delays (weather, traffic, etc). If nothing happens, you have an extra day in Miami. At the most, leave it so you only have 4-5 hours of driving. Maybe make it to jacksonville or Daytona the night before

It's about 1,300 miles between NYC and Miami. Figure between 20 and 22 hours of actual "behind the steering wheel" driving time.

How far you drive each day and how many stops you make along the way depends on your stamina.

Go to sites like Mapquest and enter your starting address as well as your intended destination. It will plot out your route with turn by turn directions and distances between given points. You can assume you'll be able to drive an average of between 55 and 60 miles every hour (slightly less when driving near large cities and slightly more when traversing open country). Decide on how much you are capable of driving each day and you can easily figure where it's best to stop for meals or for the night.

Most routing web-sites will tell you to take I-95 south pretty much for the entire way between NYC & Miami. That route is lined with rest stops/motels/restaurants/gas stations at almost every exit.

Thank you.

I know that many deplore posts that offer unsolicited advice, but is there a reason you are driving? How many people? Gas alone can cost more than the price of an air ticket (we often get great Miami/New York tickets). Add in parking your car in Miami and the return. . . Or do you need the car there and are you spending more time after?

Will be two of us. Air ticket cost about $600.00 for one person. Driving will cost around trip and parking plus/minus $450 total. I will safe $800.

go to freetrip.com and after entering starting and ending points, scroll down and check off hotels in your price range.

This will show you miles and time traveled, miles and time to go, and hotels along the entire trip.

If you want a printout of the trip, do it after you have selected a hotel. Otherwise you will have pages and pages of info because of the number of hotels being shown.

Give yourself an extra day in case of snow or ice through NC.

You've added in a night or two hotel along the way, and some 5 or 6 meals for two along the way? Is 4 extra days of your time really worth it, plus that "torturous" drive?

I tried half a dozen dates at random at the end of December and mainly find flights on AA for $300 or less round trip. A couple peak days they jump up, but since you have several days leeway at each end of the cruise, you could go a day earlier or come back a day later. Have you checked fares since the holiday specials just went into effect? And there are numerous other airlines as well. What am I missing here?

But to answer your question and allowing to be there by 3 or 4 PM to be safe with weather and holiday traffic, I'd actually allow three days going down and two days coming back.

Having done this drive, I would strongly second he advice to fly.

Having just done the drive from Key West to Michigan a few months ago, I realized that I would put up with just about anything to fly instead of drive (DH bought a car in Tampa and we decided to make a vacation out of it). My butt is tingling just thinking about it.

Have you checked flying into Fort Lauderdale? They may have lower fares. It's not far at all- I actually think they have a shuttle from the airport to the cruise dock there. And don't forget to check Spirit and Southwest (and any other airline that wouldn't be on Expedia or Travelocity that fly out of your area).

You mentioned "end of December." I assume that means the week between Xmas and New Year's? I can tell you from experience, during that week traffic is terrible for the whole I-95 corridor between NY and FL.

Whatever you do, make sure your plan gets you into Miami no later than noon. The last thing you want to do is hustle last minute to the boat. In fact, I'd try to get to Miami the night before, maybe spend one night in South Beach, and then head for the boat the next day.