Port of Charleston Questions

We are sailing on the Majesty from Charleston. We are wondering if there is a hotel that allow patrons to leave thier cars while a shuttle takes them to the ship. Also, what time do you suggest we get to the ship? How early can we start the process?

If you are planning on staying downtown, there are no hotels that have parking of such available. All downtown hotels use an ajoining parking garage, which is usually owned and operated by a private company. Some other options would be to just leave your car in the port authority parking garage. This garage is located in front of the state ports authority building, which is the brown brick building to your right when you are standing directly in front of the passenger terminal (@the foot of market street). The cost is probably about $12/ day, which is what they charget the cruise passengers to leave there cars in the warehouses. Other options you may have is to leave the car at a hotel in Mount Pleasant or Downtown, which would probably be free, but then you have the hassle.

Stefan

I found a list of hotels at the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau. I chose the Hampton Inn Mt. Pleasant/Patriots Point and have found their sales manager Anthony to be very helpful. They have a cruise special which includes a room for $59 + 11% tax +$5.00pp shuttle to the port. They alllow you to leave your car there for free. I think this is a pretty good deal since it costs $84 to leave your car at the port. You have to provide your own transportation back to the hotel, but Anthony told me that the shuttle driver will give us his card when he drops us off and we can contact him to pick us up-or just take a taxi. Their phone # is 1-843-881-3300. Hope this helps!

I just booked the Best Western Charleston Airport for the Friday night before the cruise. It was $71 and includes free airport shuttle.

We are going to rent a car on Saturday but I cannot find an affordable (for us) hotel in the Historic District.

Prefer not to go over $100. Any suggestions of where to stay between Historic District and airport?

Thank you for the convention bureau website. Just found out that the Clarion picks up at the airport and takes to the cruise ship for $79. How convenient!!!:)

Still need to figure out where to stay when we get back

I booked a room at the Howard Johnson's which is about 2.5 miles from the pier. They have a cruise special, $59.00 per night, free parking during the cruise, and a free breakfast buffet in the morning before you leave. I figure a taxi will only be $5-10, so this is still cheaper than paying the parking fee at the pier. . . Mike

THe Howard Johnson is on the peninsula...only about a ten minute drive to the port. It is not in the best part of town, but it is right next to the police deparment and it is a high traffic area, so your vehicle should be safe. Plenty of fast food 200 feet away for a quick bite to eat. We do not have circulating taxi's in charleston so you will have to pre arrange that ride to the ship.

Also.... Check out the FRENCH QUARTER INN i think they are currently running a $100 nightly rate... very nice hotel and it is only about 300 yards from the ship. Holiday Inn on calhoun and meeting street is not bad... Embassy Suites is right across the street on Marion Square, which is another resonable place close to the ship.

in Mt Pleasant? Anyone know anything about it?:confused: I think we're paying $80 a night after you figure all taxes... which seems a bit high but was absolutely the best I could find... a lot of places were already full since it's mid april and over a weekend... anyone know about the hotel, or neighborhood?

Thanks!

i stayed at the hampton near the airport last april it was great and cheaper then most places;)

dean

Copper Beaches-

let me know what Mt. Pleasant hotel you are in and i can give you some info.... i live about a half a mile from all the mt. p hotels.

Thanks! It's the Red Roof Inn in Mt Pleasant.:)

Mount Pleasant is a great area... it is suburb of Charleston, but dont let this fool you b/c you can basically throw a stone and hit the port of charleston. Downtown is located on a Peninsula with the Ashley river on the west and the Cooper River on the East. The cooper River (port is on the Cooper river) divides Mount Pleasant and Downtown Charleston. You are approximately ten minutes away from port at red roof. About the price.... that is about right for the area. They recently did a study on Charleston area hotels and found that hotels that are downtown average 185% the national average nightly rate. It is abnout 145% in Mount Pleasant. So yes, our rates are a bit high, but it comes with the area. There is a great BarBQue place next door to the Red Roof called Sticky Fingers... good food, but i would head downtown to the Market area ( Market Street). Plenty of eats, shopping, bars, and sights within walking distance.

Let me know if you need anymore help.

Clint

We are going to stay at the Air Force Base in the V.O.Q. Does anybody know how far that is from the pier.

10 miles... Air force base is part of the airport.

Are you Space A at the AFB? Is it tough to get quarters?

We stayed at the Hampton Inn riverside - very nice with free breakfast! The gate was opened at 11:30 am and we were eating lunch on the ship at 12:15. Have a good time:)

For the info.. I generally wouldn't call $80 expensive, being from the Boston area after all;) it's just that a lot of other posters found better deals... and when I was searching I kept finding these really low rates, that of course aren't available the week I need them!

In any case, I appreciate your help! Is that market area downtown Charleston, or in Mt Pleasant? I've rented a car since we want to go to Magnolia Plantation on Friday (we're flying on Thursday, and sailing on Saturday) so I should be able to get around pretty easily.

Thanks again!

Meredith

Clint,

Hi from Snee Farm, Mt Pleasant! :-)

Copper Beaches - as long as you're staying on "God's side of the river" (Mt Pleasant) :-) be sure and check out Boone Hall Plantation in Mt Pleasant http://www.boonehallplantation.com - You're just a few miles away and it's just "right down the road" from where you're staying.

...and one note about the Market - it's downtown Charleston - lots of shops & restaurants - parking is HARD TO FIND - so get there early or park in one of the convenient, close-by parking garages. North Market Street & South Market Street are both one-way streets (imagine the market in the middle of the and restaurant and shops on the other side of the streets...it's a great area to see and where you catch the different carriage rides also...and don't worry about our horses - they'll be wearing their "diapers"! We're not known as the Most Well-Mannered City for nothing!! :-)

Hi Again, thanks for the heads up :-) We're doing Magnolia Plantation on the Friday before we sail, do you think we would have enough time to do Boone hall in the morning, have lunch there, and then go to Magnolia and have the afternoon there until dinnertime? The Magnolia plantation website seems to reccomend 3-5 hrs to properly tour the entire thing with the audobon swamp, and all the boat/train tours... how long would we need at Boone Hall?

I really appreciate your help!

Meredith

Hi Meredith! Morning for Boone Hall, lunch (they have a great little restaurant there - upstairs over the gift shop - great lowcountry cuisine - Al Roker did a piece on it on his "Roker on the Road" show) then out to Magnolia sounds perfect !!

There's so many things we want to do, I feel like if I don't plan it all out we won't see half of it... they say that if you visit someplace for a weekend you'll see all of it, for a week you'll see half of it, and for a month you'll see none of it, so we're on schedule, lol:)

Thanks again for your input!

Are you Space A at the AFB? Is it tough to get quarters?

Not hard at all! I was able to make a reservation no problem and at $26 a night. The girl said they had like 80 units avail. The phone is 843-963-3806.

Copper Beaches-

I would definitely do Magnolia in the afternoon. Boone Hall probably opens about 9am or so. I dont think that Magnolia will take any more than 3 hrs, as it is not warm enough for flowers and the gardens will not be in bloom. We have what you call a little bit of a traffic problem in Charleston, especially if you are venturing out to magnolia in the afternoon (HWY 61 is bad all the time, try to leave Magnolia by about 3:00-3:30 pm...that will get you back before it gets to bad.

Depending on what weekend you are coming, will depend on the hotel rates you are getting... we have a couple of wildlife and arts festivals coming up, which will affect the hotel rates.

To get to the market from Red ROOF.... take HWY 17 south over the cooper river bridges... take the small bridge into downtown.... then take the first right (exit) East BAy st. , then take your next right, continue to light, take another right. Continue south on east bay street through four traffic lights. On your left you will see a HArris Teeter grocery store....keep going south. there will be two more lights after grocery store....att his 2nd light, that is market street. Plenty of parallel parking and meter parking around there. If that doesnt work... look for the green/red parking "P" signs that indicate a garage.

Anymore questions...would be glad to help. Sorry if those diresctions are choppy, but i tried to put them in simple terms.

Copper Beaches - Check out the Masters Inn as well (across the street from the Red Roof). We stayed there for $45 per night!

I used to stay at the Red Roof all the time but it seems as though they have raised their rates the last year or two!