Take a drive, then cruise

The good news is that American Airlines is likely to keep its one daily departure to its hub in Miami, and AirTran and Southwest will continue to serve Orlando and Tampa with several flights each day, while AirTran and USA 3000 still offer several flights each week to Fort Myers.

Miami is a major port and Orlando flights do allow passengers to catch cruises from Port Canaveral, a 45-minute drive along the Beeline Expressway, with connections via taxi (about $50 each way) or van shuttle ($60 round trip).

Otherwise, none of these destinations will get you anywhere ground transfers to the cruise pier will be easy, quick or inexpensive. Travelers faced with last-minute schedule changes may find themselves out of options. Getting to or from the gangway will involve making a flight connection in either Philadelphia, Charlotte or Atlanta. In addition to the extra travel hours that connection will entail, it also inevitably introduces potential for the spectrum of snafus that have turned too many air trips in recent years into exercises in extreme patience, flexibility and frustration.

This uncertainty is why many cruise experts have long advised passengers to arrive at their departure city a day before their scheduled embarkation -- to minimize the chance any flight disruption will cause you to miss the boat.

How can cruise-loving travelers avoid the stresses of flying to their departure?

Skip the airport and try driving.

Over the past few years, various cruise lines have begun offering departures from ports that can be easily reached in a day's drive from Pittsburgh. Norfolk, Va., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City have all made major investments in refurbishing their berthing facilities for cruise liners.

The big companies -- including Carnival, Holland America, Norwegian Caribbean and Royal Caribbean -- have responded by scheduling a range of departures and itineraries to appeal to those who enjoy the on-board experience.

As the accompanying list details, cruises from these mid-coast Atlantic ports tend to favor island destinations such as Bermuda and the Bahamas, which are close enough to reach in a day or two of sailing, making possible round trips of four to seven days. While the distances involved with sailing to the Gulf of Mexico are prohibitive for short cruises, several lines do offer longer itineraries to islands in the eastern Caribbean. Fall foliage cruises along the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada are popular options that also can be accomplished without getting on an airplane. Finally, a few shorter "cruises to nowhere" sail out and back only from a particular port.

While a selection of one-way cruises and repositioning itineraries are also available from New York City ports, we include only those options that start and finish at the same place, which allows passengers to drive to the point of embarkation and park their car in a guarded lot while they're cruising.

Other drive/cruise options for Pittsburghers include two itineraries on the Great Lakes, as well as two voyages each year on the Ohio River on the Delta Queen steamboat, which is now operated by Majestic America Line. The Queen makes two voyages to Pittsburgh each fall, so local travelers can take a cruise directly from Downtown.

Driving to a cruise can have other advantages.

Obviously the logistics of packing what you want to take on the cruise and putting your bags in the trunk of your car are simpler than trying to fit everything into suitcases that must be toted through an airport and loaded onto a plane, especially considering the fees for checked baggage. And there are other financial advantages.

Long-term parking is available for cruise passengers at Norfolk ($10 per day), Baltimore ($13 per day), Philadelphia ($10 per day) and New York ($30 per day at the Manhattan terminal and $19 at Brooklyn terminal). So, even with the cost of gas to get there and back, leaving your car at the cruise terminal will probably be less than the round-trip flights, especially considering any expense that might have accrued either parking at the airport or transferring between the airport and the ship.

Also, because cruises generally embark in late afternoon and disembark in the morning, there is ample time to drive to the ship on the day of departure as well as drive home after the cruise.

So if you're a traveler who enjoys the experience of a week on a big cruise vessel without the hassles of getting on an airplane, driving may be the right option for you.

More than a dozen cruise ships now sail from ports in Norfolk, Va., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City. Some are voyages to other ports, but here's a listing of ships and cruises that both start and end at the same port, which makes driving to and from the ship a viable option.

Check with the individual cruise lines or your travel agent for specific prices, departure dates and itinerary details.

• Cruises from Norfolk (www.norfolkvisitor.com)

Carnival Victory: 6 nights Bahamas.

Carnival Triumph: 6 nights Bahamas, 2-night "cruise to nowhere."

Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas: 5 nights Bermuda; 9 nights Caribbean.

• Cruises from Baltimore (www.baltimorecruiseguide.com).

Royal Caribbean: 8 and 9 nights New England and Canada; 5 nights Bermuda.

American Cruise Line: 7 nights Chesapeake Bay.

Norwegian Cruise Line: 7 nights Bermuda (starting 2009).

Carnival Pride: 7 nights Bahamas and Florida (starting 2009).

• Cruises from Philadelphia (www.cruisephilly.com)

Norwegian Majesty: 7 nights Canada and New England; 7 nights Bermuda; 14 nights southern Caribbean.

• Cruises from Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC (www.nycruise.com).

Princess Cruises: 7 nights Canada and New England; 9 nights eastern Caribbean.

Carnival Miracle: 6 nights Bermuda; 8 nights eastern Caribbean.

Carnival Triumph: 4, 5 and 7 nights Canada and New England.

Carnival Victory: 7 nights Canada and New England.

Cunard Queen Mary II: 4, 5 and 7 nights Canada and New England; 10, 13 and 15 nights southern Caribbean.

Cunard Queen Victoria: 105 nights World Cruise.

Holland America Noordam: 10 nights eastern Caribbean; 11 nights southern Caribbean.

Norwegian Dawn: 7 nights Bermuda; 7 nights Canada and New England.

Norwegian Gem: 7 nights Bahamas; 10 nights eastern Caribbean.

Norwegian Spirit: 6 nights Canada and New England

• Cruises from Hoboken, NJ (www.capeliberty.com).

This facility across the Hudson River from Manhattan has served more than 320,000 cruise passengers since 2004. Two cruise vessels, Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas and Celebrity Cruise's Constellation, sail five- to 12-night itineraries from Cape Liberty to Bermuda, the Caribbean, as well as voyages along the New England coastline up to Maritime Canada.

• Great Lakes cruises (www.greatlakescruising.com)

American Canadian Caribbean Line: 16 nights Chicago to Warren, R.I., via the Great Lakes and Erie Canal.

Great Lakes Cruises: 7 nights Duluth, Minn., to Toronto, Ontario (starting 2009).

In addition to driving to these cruise ports, it's also possible to take a train.

Amtrak offers only a single train each morning at 7:20 to Philadelphia, but that would let cruise passengers ride the rails to catch an evening embarkation in the City of Brotherly Love or, by making a train connection in New York, Bayonne or Baltimore, catching a cab from the train station to the pier for the final leg of the journey.

It also would be possible to take a train to Norfolk, via Washington, D.C., but that journey could not be accomplished in a single day.

While probably requiring more time than driving, the train does offer a viable cruise connection option to these ports.

For that matter, so would taking a Greyhound bus.

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