Sharing this as a cautionary tale because it still hurts to think about.
We cruise fairly often and usually drive from Canada down to the NYC area ports. It’s cheaper than flying and normally very doable. This time we were boarding MSC Meraviglia with a 1pm boarding time, so we left home around 5 to 5:30am for what should’ve been a 6.5 to 7 hour drive.
Huge mistake.
Two hours in, my dad’s truck completely broke down on the freeway. Had to call police and a tow truck. It was a Sunday, no dealerships open, so we had to abandon the truck in another country. Rented a car and drove back home because there was no way we’d make it to New York in time.
We missed the cruise. MSC wouldn’t let us join at the first port (apparently illegal). No refund on the cruise or excursions, and travel insurance covered nothing. Only got drink packages, wifi, and taxes back. Lost thousands. I was also supposed to celebrate my birthday on that cruise.
To top it off, the truck had been checked at a dealership the day before because of an engine light and we were told it was fine. GMC is now ordering an entirely new engine.
So yeah. Always. Leave. The. Day. Before.
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