Moving to Florida for long time Cruiser from California Pros and Cons ?

[lakeland]

I would agree to rent at first to see where you would like to live, we have been here in Florida since 1977 from outside Philly area 

we are centrally located in Lakeland we can drive to Tampa or Orlando sometimes in 45 minutes but with I-4 traffic can be longer ( I-4 is definetly a nightmare at time's) However I just have to comment we have the best Sheriff in all the U.S. ( Grady Judd). 

[Xaa]

I think @bobroo meant as opposed to just living where you are and flying to various port cities in the cruising universe to avoid what would be redundant to him.

I personally see some sense in being near a place that offers the most port choices and in the US, that's certainly FL.

[Rene Desmarais]

I have been seriously considering living in Florida for 6 months(retirement).    yes..   Snowbird (I'm aware some Floridians don't like Canadians temporarily moving on their turf)..   Lots of my family avoided the Canadian winters to enjoy amazing weather in Florida. They enjoyed it, loved the people, made lots of friends.  I do have family that live in Florida "Gulf side"  and they're encouraging me to do it.  (lol  mind you ex Trauma nurse now real estate agent)

[Jill]

I’ve lived in Florida almost 35 years. We are between Jacksonville and St Augustine in St Johns County. We get a change of seasons with occasional freezes in the winter. Hurricanes tend to skirt by us as they get sucked into the Gulf Stream. 
 

We don’t really have snow birds except when passing through on I-95. We are a golfer’s paradise and having the St Johns River, Intercoastal waterway and Atlantic Ocean, boating and fishing are very popular. 
 

St Johns is a great county. 

[tonyfsu21]

8 hours ago, lakeland said:

I would agree to rent at first to see where you would like to live, we have been here in Florida since 1977 from outside Philly area 

we are centrally located in Lakeland we can drive to Tampa or Orlando sometimes in 45 minutes but with I-4 traffic can be longer ( I-4 is definetly a nightmare at time's) However I just have to comment we have the best Sheriff in all the U.S. ( Grady Judd). 

I have to agree you have a rockstar for a sheriff! That guy is awesome! We need him in Broward County. 

[tonyfsu21]

3 hours ago, Rene Desmarais said:

I have been seriously considering living in Florida for 6 months(retirement).    yes..   Snowbird (I'm aware some Floridians don't like Canadians temporarily moving on their turf)..   Lots of my family avoided the Canadian winters to enjoy amazing weather in Florida. They enjoyed it, loved the people, made lots of friends.  I do have family that live in Florida "Gulf side"  and they're encouraging me to do it.  (lol  mind you ex Trauma nurse now real estate agent)

I don’t think it’s necessarily the Canadians because they are a massive source of tourist dollars in SoFl. I think we love their money but could do without their driving. The locals know to steer clear of a Quebec license plate at all costs. 

[tonyfsu21]

14 hours ago, twangster said:

Weekend cruises for sure but the weekend cruises are really for the new to cruise who want to test cruising.  

For the longest time the Oasis class operated a butterfly routine, east and west Caribbean.  They still do.  Occasionally Voyager class does a Bermuda run from here.  Southern Caribbean is usually available once you go eight or nine nights.  Occasionally there is a Cartagena stop on a cruise from Florida.  

If the 3/4 PDCC-Nassau gets old usually there is a 4 night from Tampa to Cozumel somewhere on the schedule and it's common to see a 4/5 from Canaveral going to Mexico as well sometimes with a Labdee stop.  

So yeah, the 3 night PDCC-Nassau weekend cruises would get old if all you could do is sail 3 night weekend cruises.  However the same can be said for California 3 night weekend cruises.  Ensenada over and over again, or "west-Nassau".  However back when cruises were affordable jumping on a 3 night PDCC cruise was a pretty great weekend even if you had been there a month ago.  Now with cruise fares so high it's not so tempting for a weekend getaway.  

Once you go longer than 3 and 4 nights there are tons of options from Florida that don't stop at PDCC-Nassau.

It is nice driving to the port.  Bring as much clothes as you want, get dressy for a special event, bring scuba gear, etc.  When it's time to disembark take your time, no hurry, no airport and TSA to get through, just drive home and dump the cruise clothes in the laundry.   

Once Icon arrives,  then Utopia and Icon 2 they'll be dominating PDCC so I expect we'll see then and less of them on smaller ship itineraries from FL.  

The weekend cruises are amazing! We ride Freedom like a school bus. It’s the easiest weekend getaway and the kids never get bored of coco cay. I would tend to agree that if you only sail weekend voyages and don’t mix itinerary and duration then it “might” get old but that’s the main selling point of living in Florida if you are a cruiser. There are always plenty of other options if RC gives you the shaft. Its nice to be able to choose another line because they are all here. 

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

The locals know to steer clear of a Quebec license plate at all costs.

I try to steer clear of everyone here, especially the "locals."

[tonyfsu21]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

I try to steer clear of everyone here, especially the "locals."

I would agree with that. The locals on the water aren’t much better. Weekends on the water around here are scarier than I-95 rush hour in a car. I’ve had my fair share of near misses. 

[Psycho and Barb]

On 9/25/2023 at 1:25 PM, BigKarl said:

I will be retiring and thinking of moving to an Income Tax free State.  I have only visited Florida about ten times and that was to board a Cruise ship. For those of you that live in Florida and wish to comment (Good and Bad)  please be honest in your personal assessment of florida living and also which area may be best. Thanks in advance. 

Florida is a wonderful state with ample areas to live depending on what type of lifestyle you're looking for...We also have two different time zones and no state income tax.  We decided Northwest Florida was the place for us and worked our last military assignment to Eglin AFB.  We have some of the most beautiful beach's, fantastic fishing and lots of forests with lots of wildlife and great hunting opportunities. 

We also have the heat with 100% humidity, tourists, snowbirds and hurricanes.  Our property insurance goes up every year even though we haven’t had a hurricane since Dennis in Sep 2004.  We did get lucky when that monster hurricane Michael hit to the east of us at Mexico Beach in Oct 2022. 

Our cruise options are 4 hours to New Orleans, Port Canaveral, about an 8 hour drive depending on traffic, and 10 hours to Fort Lauderdale or Galveston Texas.  Adding everything up…It’s a small price to pay for living in paradise!