Jump to content

Best place for cruisers to live in Florida?


Censored

Recommended Posts

Im a Canadian. I can live in the USA for 6 months a year.  The term "Snowbirds" is what we are called.  To take advantage of all the "drive to"  ports in Florida , with Royal Im looking for recommendations for a place to reside  rent or buy (whatever is best) .    Take into account all the expenses    bond fees, HOA fees, taxes,  maintenance,  Maintenance condo fees if that applies,  and then there is insurance.  Lets factor in traffic congestion, weather, and crime/safety. What is the best value proposition for all of that? I also prefer the larger ships and not so sure what ports they are parked at.  I do not cruise in summer as I enjoy summer here in Canada.  I would say Dec-may  thx in advance.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The big ships sail from Port Canaveral, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. The other port in Florida is Tampa, but it can't handle a big ship because of the bridge.

Ft. Lauderdale and Miami are about a 45 minute drive away from each other and Port Canaveral is only another 3 hours away at the most.

If you're going to be driving to ports (consider gas, tolls and parking) then you pretty much can reasonably look anywhere along the east coast from near Port Canaveral south to Miami. If you want to minimize some of those costs, then you should look for something close enough to one of the ports where you can get a cab, Uber/Lyft or a friend to drop you off at the port.

Ft. Lauderdale and Miami city proper are going to likely cost more $$ than the Port Canaveral area. Ft. Lauderdale and Miami are closer to airports, though. But if you're going to factor in the costs of parking and driving to the port no matter what, you can look further out to the suburbs and the West Palm Beach area or even Port St. Lucie. 

It also depends on what you want out of where you are living. You could go more towards the Central Florida area (Ocala - Orlando - Tampa) and probably find some more value, but again your commute to the cruise ports will be a little more costly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an entire thread about moving to FL as it relates to cruising. 

There are so many things to consider but after many visits and much analysis, we chose the Treasure Coast as it is equidistant between MIA/FLL and Port Canaveral.  It is only slightly further over to Tampa.  We chose this area strictly b/c of its location relative to the cruise ports.  

We built a house in Port St Lucie, which is 1 hr north of West Palm Beach.  This area is exploding with development which is both good and bad.  Prices are becoming completely unreasonable and we are fortunate to have made our move when we did (signed construction contract in Sept 2020 and moved down here in Nov 2020 while the house was being built).  FL is like anywhere else….different parts of FL have different vibes and different influences.  As a general rule (always exceptions), south FL is more expensive than northern FL and the west coast is less expensive than the east coast.  The interior of FL is rural.  These are all generalizations and there certainly are exceptions but that will give you a good rule-of-thumb.

I guess if I have any advice it would be -DON’T WAIT.  I mentioned prices.  It’s really getting insane.  The base price of the house we built has gone up $109K in 16 months….and you can’t build my house right now at ANY price b/c all of the lots are long gone. Of course, like anything else, it depends on what you’re looking for.  We wanted an over-55 gated community but there are plenty of other  options.  Since you are going to be snowbirds, I would definitely recommend some type of gated community just for the security since you will be living elsewhere for months at a time.

There are many others on this blog that have made that move somewhat recently, so, no doubt, you will get lots of other advice !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I could never live in Florida.

I said these exact words to my wife two Saturdays ago when we had an extra day in Miami. We were wandering around outside of the touristy area. 
 

My statement was based on all the creepy crawly things that you don’t see in places where the temps drop below 0° F, but I agree with your reasons, too 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are between St Augustine and Jacksonville in North Florida. We actually have a change of seasons here and very few snowbirds. 
 

We are 2 hours to Port Canaveral, 4 to Fort Lauderdale and 4 1/2-5 from Miami depending on traffic. I’d personally look around the Space Coast. Melbourne etc. That would put you basically at Canaveral and then just 2-3 hours to Everglades and Miami. Prices will be more reasonable. You’ll also be close to I-4 (or Bee line) to shoot over to Tampa. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

I could never live in Florida. Hurricanes and heat and humidity. No thanks.

But man that sure would make cruising more convenient.

You're not wrong. Humidity is brutal and then there's the russian roulette every summer of will you or wont you get slammed by a major storm.

I tend to forget about all of that when I do my 1-3 hour drive to the ship instead of flying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have also thought about moving South.

 

My research tells me I oughta live in central/inland Florida.  That's still less than 2-hours drive to a couple of the cruise ports, the houses are much cheaper than on the beach, and hurricanes often slow down a little bit by the time they get inland.

 

Winter Haven is on my radar.😎

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been in Fort Lauderdale for my entire life and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Once your acclimated to the humidity it’s not even a thing. Hurricanes dodge downtown Fort Lauderdale for some reason we always get lucky! If you invest the money to install impact glass and home solar/generation systems then hurricanes and major storms are almost a non issue. Having access to two major cruise ports is wonderful and gives you the option to book quick weekend cruises year round. The downside is the cost of living in downtown proper is very expensive (well worth it though IMHO). You could always look for something in the surrounding suburbs like Hollywood, Plantation, Miramar or Pompano which offer a lower cost of living (in most cases) and still are in close proximity to Fort Lauderdale/ Miami. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I could never live in Florida. Hurricanes and heat and humidity. No thanks.

But man that sure would make cruising more convenient.

Maybe when I'm of retirement age I'll change my tune.

We say the same thing about anyone who does not live in SoFL wondering how people can deal with the cold. It’s jacket weather here if the temp drops below 70F. Hurricanes & humidity aside there’s something to be said about an endless Summer. I’ve left reluctantly a few times and visited somewhere with snow and a real Winter and I find myself kissing the ground when we land back at FLL vowing to never leave again. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Jill said:

We are between St Augustine and Jacksonville in North Florida. We actually have a change of seasons here and very few snowbirds. 
 

We are 2 hours to Port Canaveral, 4 to Fort Lauderdale and 4 1/2-5 from Miami depending on traffic. I’d personally look around the Space Coast. Melbourne etc. That would put you basically at Canaveral and then just 2-3 hours to Everglades and Miami. Prices will be more reasonable. You’ll also be close to I-4 (or Bee line) to shoot over to Tampa. 

I personally second this recommendation for space coast/Melbourne/cocoa beach area if you are looking to relocate to Florida. I live in west Broward county (west of ft lauderdale/port Everglades) and although happy here with the quick access to ports, just love that central  area of Florida. We are a military family and with the base up there, it is a beautiful, quiet, friendly and patriotic beach area, only an hour from Orlando. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Cruiser4Life said:

I personally second this recommendation for space coast/Melbourne/cocoa beach area if you are looking to relocate to Florida. I live in west Broward county (west of ft lauderdale/port Everglades) and although happy here with the quick access to ports, just love that central  area of Florida. We are a military family and with the base up there, it is a beautiful, quiet, friendly and patriotic beach area, only an hour from Orlando. 

Oh.. and I feel like the hurricanes also somehow avoid this area… the last couple times a storm was headed for SoFla, we hightailed it up to Melbourne and relaxed without having to worry about the base or surrounding hotels lose electricity. 😀

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We moved two years ago to a small town called Deland.  We are 20 mins from the beach, a little over an hour from Port Canaveral, 2 hours from port of Tampa, an hour from Disney, we can get to 3 airports and we can even get to Ft. Lauderdale in a little over 3 hours and it's not a bad drive.  We love it here, it's the best thing we have ever done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my parents were Snow birds for a couple of years in a gated retirement community(Springhill) and enjoyed it.

We have family in Springhill and Lake Placid

when I think about retirement plans,  my mind brings me in a journey of places I visited and reminders of my Parents experiences.

Had a recent chat with my wife concerning this and she had a smile on her face. She said "We could rent our current house for additional income and buy something in Florida"

hmmmm  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are looking at the Kissimmee area, eventually. We have to wait until I retire from public school in 9-10 years. We are also a military family, so being close to a "good" VA hospital and relatively close to an exchange is important. Besides cruising, Disney is big for us, so being close to the Mouse is a priority. I'm ready to get my Florida resident AP pass. Our timeshare program also has locations in Orlando and Cape Canaveral, so Kissimmee puts us close to both. However, if money wasn't an issue, we would buy in Key West tomorrow. LOL!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/8/2022 at 3:47 PM, smokeybandit said:

I could never live in Florida. Hurricanes and heat and humidity. No thanks.

But man that sure would make cruising more convenient.

Maybe when I'm of retirement age I'll change my tune.

Lived in Fl all my life so I guess I'm used to it.  There is a new invention call air conditioning.  Every car, business, and home have it.  We live inland some so the hurricanes (when and if they hit} are usually not as strong as on the coast.  If you invest in a whole house generator you have beat the hurricane thingie by about 90%.  It's all about how you are prepared.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/8/2022 at 11:41 PM, Cruiser4Life said:

Oh.. and I feel like the hurricanes also somehow avoid this area… the last couple times a storm was headed for SoFla, we hightailed it up to Melbourne and relaxed without having to worry about the base or surrounding hotels lose electricity. 😀

We are in Brevard county and lived through the 2004 season of 4 hurricanes!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/8/2022 at 3:47 PM, smokeybandit said:

I could never live in Florida. Hurricanes and heat and humidity. No thanks.

But man that sure would make cruising more convenient.

Maybe when I'm of retirement age I'll change my tune.

Good!!..Stay out of my swamp!

I like the heat and the humidity and all the creepy crawly things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, MikeK said:

Lived in Fl all my life so I guess I'm used to it.  There is a new invention call air conditioning.  Every car, business, and home have it.  We live inland some so the hurricanes (when and if they hit} are usually not as strong as on the coast.  If you invest in a whole house generator you have beat the hurricane thingie by about 90%.  It's all about how you are prepared.

Living in Houston is not much different than Florida when it comes to climate and hurricanes. Our Generac is a life saver. Funny enough, the first time it was really tested was the snowpocalypse last February when the Texas electrical grid collapsed. I'm a Gulf Coast girl, so I'll take 90+ degrees and 100+ mph winds over snow and ice any day. 😆  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

The heat isn't the issue.  Our summer high last year was 95. But that was with 20% humidity. Not that 70/80% stuff you Floridians swim through

Perhaps, but this probably isn’t what your swimming through in your backyard. The many positives certainly outweigh maybe a few negatives. 

02195260-1D95-4B9C-A8E1-7FFD959E0326.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...