Cruise ship vacation from Florida
What are cruise holidays like?
Have you ever wondered what cruise holidays are like? Have you always wanted to visit the Caribbean?
If you have ever asked those question you have come to the right place for the answer, we will try and explain to you what it is like to take a cruise holiday from Florida.
One of our favorite vacation trip experiences is taking a cruise to the Caribbean. When traveling to Orlando, Florida to enjoy the theme parks, attractions, and shopping, why not extend your vacation by taking a cruise ship to the Caribbeans for some tropical sunshine?
At least a couple times a year we like to go on vacation to Orlando, Florida to enjoy the sunshine, have fun at the theme parks, and shop till we drop.
At least once a year we also like to take an extended vacation while we are in Orlando and book a cruise ship to the Caribbean.
Orlando is centrally located and is a great place to take advantage of for booking a cruise vacation.
Port Canaveral is only 1 hour away from Orlando and up until the pandemic hit, Port Canaveral was ranked 2nd busiest cruise port in multi-day embarkations in the world.
As a result of the ongoing health crisis, all cruising operations have ceased, unfortunately.
We live in hope that one day soon they will resume operations. We hope this blog post gives you some inspiration for your next holiday and that maybe you will plan a cruise stay vacation just like us.
There are also other options for cruise departures as there are cruise ports located in Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and in Miami.
Tampa is located approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes drive west of Orlando by taking the I-4 corridor.
Fort Lauderdale is approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes drive southeast of Orlando.
Miami is also a great option to cruise from if you don’t mind the commute which is approximately 3 hours and 50 minutes drive south.
We have done most of our cruise vacations out of Miami as we also like to spend some time there either before or after our cruise to soak up the Miami vibe.
If you are going to take a cruise out of one of the ports in Florida there are a few cruise companies we can personally recommend.
Over the years we have taken 7 cruises from Florida to the Caribbean and we highly recommend the following cruise lines companies”
There are cruise companies to suit every budget and taste and it is advised to shop around to find the best deals available.
Our Vacation to the Caribbean
We started our vacation in Orlando, Florida, and stayed there for a week to take in the parks, and do as many attractions as possible, as we knew our second week on holiday would be pure relaxation on a cruise ship on our way to Mexico.
When we go on vacation this way we always pack light and visit the amazing designer shopping outlets our first week and stock up on new clothes for our week on the cruise ship, here is a link to our other article about what to pack for your trip to Orlando when going on vacation.
When we arrive in Orlando get a hire car and the rental desk with a one-way drop off to Miami as this is where we would be taking our cruise to Mexico from.
On this trip we got an upgrade to a Dodge Challenger, a car I have always wanted to drive, and taking it on a long drive to Miami was a dream come true.
We left Orlando the morning of the day the cruise ship was to depart Miami. This can be a risky thing to do especially if you hit any delays on the way, you could potentially miss your cruise departure, however, we don’t mind doing it this way and have always made our cruise departure on time.
The trip to Miami is a very easy drive to make, but that depends if you like driving or not.
There are plenty of comfort stops along the way to get out and stretch your legs and are great chances to use the restrooms and pick up refreshments if needed.
We try and keep the road breaks to a minimum and try to only stop once on our way to Miami.
Once we arrive in Miami our first port of call is the airport.
Why the airport I hear you ask? We need to drop off our hire car, so we always choose the airport as the drop off as there are free shuttles to the cruise terminal at Miami port, this saves on cab fare. Check with your cruise provider first to see if they offer a free shuttle from the airport.
Next its on to the cruise port in Miami for registration and embarkation of the ship.
Boarding our Cruise Ship in Miami
Once all of the formalities are taken care of at the cruise port terminal and check-in goes smoothly it’s time for a cocktail and to explore the ship we will be relaxing on for the next 5 nights in Mexico.
The whole process of traveling to Miami from Orlando to take a cruise is really easy and one we highly recommend.
Our next blog post will cover our trip to Mexico on the cruise ship and some cool pictures of the amazing sights we’ve seen, including the incredible Mayan Ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Check back for the second part of this blog post.
To be continued………
