Port Canaveral votes to stop issuing permits to park-and-rides

I am curious to see what this means for us that are already booked in a hotel with shuttle service to the pier and parking at the hotel.....

PORT CANAVERAL — The Canaveral Port Authority board voted today to stop issuing new permits to operators of park-and-ride services to the port.

Commissioners see this as a way to help stop the erosion of port parking revenue, which is a major source of profit for Port Canaveral.

In addition, commissioners approved a new $50-per-trip fee on current providers of such park-and-ride operations, including local hotels and owners of parking lots.

The vote was 3-2, with Vice Chairman Tom Weinberg and Secretary-Treasurer Jerry Allender voting no. They felt they should have had more time to consider the options, which they first received during the meeting.

The commission stopped short of its parking consultant's recommendation to revoke all permits for current parking providers

Well that is just plain wrong, I should have a choice where I want to park my car. I understand they make money from the parking but consumers should always have a choice. I see prices going up, up and away..

Luckily I already made my reservation for September at 4.95 a night, but I am curious if it will still be honored or not. I agree we will start seeing prices increase...

Wow. What arrogance by the port authority. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me I'm wrong on this, but I can't see how. What's next, some guys from the local "organization" collecting a "donation" from all who wish to enter?

I'm surprised there is not more outrage over this on the board. I will certainly no longer seek out cruises out of Port Canaveral anymore. $17 per day is highway robbery. Charging hotels that allow you to park & stay $50 per trip is ridiculous.

I'll drive a few hours South where the itineraries are better anyway.

Well that is just plain wrong, I should have a choice where I want to park my car. I understand they make money from the parking but consumers should always have a choice. I see prices going up, up and away..

The way I read it, you still do have a choice, but they aren't issuing new permits. Of course, prices will go up with this $50 fee. Existing permits still exist...for now at least.

I'm surprised there is not more outrage over this on the board. I will certainly no longer seek out cruises out of Port Canaveral anymore. $17 per day is highway robbery. Charging hotels that allow you to park & stay $50 per trip is ridiculous.

 

I'll drive a few hours South where the itineraries are better anyway.

Agree!! In my book, this is just another reason to not cruise out of Port Canaveral...

I'm surprised there is not more outrage over this on the board. I will certainly no longer seek out cruises out of Port Canaveral anymore. $17 per day is highway robbery. Charging hotels that allow you to park & stay $50 per trip is ridiculous.

 

I'll drive a few hours South where the itineraries are better anyway.

While I don't think $17 is horrible (POM is $20, ORD is $31; $17 for economy), if they had a more reasonable rate, people wouldn't seek out other options, and there would be no need create these crazy laws/ordinances. I'm generally not a fan of reducing prices because you have to work that much harder to grow sales/profit, but in this case, the convenience factor alone would be a selling point, and you probably would get more people without trying that hard.

I'm surprised there is not more outrage over this on the board. I will certainly no longer seek out cruises out of Port Canaveral anymore. $17 per day is highway robbery. Charging hotels that allow you to park & stay $50 per trip is ridiculous.

 

I'll drive a few hours South where the itineraries are better anyway.

what would you call $35 a day which I'll be paying next month?:p

Bill

This is disgusting on Port Canaveral's part. What was the best port to sail out of is quickly becoming the worst. The worst part of their $17/day thing is that they charge you for an extra day. So for a 7 day cruise, you pay for 8 days of parking. That's completely unethical.

Are they going to charge taxis the $50 per entry too?

Who is actually affected? Is it hotels that allow parking and then take you to the port?

What about the Park n Cruise parking lots that take you to the port?

what would you call $35 a day which I'll be paying next month?:p

 

Bill

A hold up without a gun!

,

Who is actually affected? Is it hotels that allow parking and then take you to the port?

What about the Park n Cruise parking lots that take you to the port?

Yep, those too. Greedy bast...ds

I am curious to see what this means for us that are already booked in a hotel with shuttle service to the pier and parking at the hotel.....

 

PORT CANAVERAL — The Canaveral Port Authority board voted today to stop issuing new permits to operators of park-and-ride services to the port.

Commissioners see this as a way to help stop the erosion of port parking revenue, which is a major source of profit for Port Canaveral.

 

In addition, commissioners approved a new $50-per-trip fee on current providers of such park-and-ride operations, including local hotels and owners of parking lots.

 

The vote was 3-2, with Vice Chairman Tom Weinberg and Secretary-Treasurer Jerry Allender voting no. They felt they should have had more time to consider the options, which they first received during the meeting.

 

The commission stopped short of its parking consultant's recommendation to revoke all permits for current parking providers

This is absolute crud. We had a problem last time we cruised out of PC. We had non-sailing guests who were able to take the park and ride shuttle over from the hotel to the ship. But when they got off the ship after our reception they were told they couldn't board the shuttle back to their hotels (even though we had made reservations ahead of time) because the shuttle wasn't authorized to take them from the port to the hotel due to rules like this. The alternative- a pretty expensive taxi fare. What a bunch of horse doo doo. Makes me want to choose a different port to sail from.

This would seriously suck and make me think twice about cruising out of Pt Canaveral again.

Where did you find this information. I just reviewed the minutes from meeting and did not see any action on thisitem, only some general parking update. I didn't find it :confused:in any newspapers.

I am curious to see what this means for us that are already booked in a hotel with shuttle service to the pier and parking at the hotel.....

 

PORT CANAVERAL — The Canaveral Port Authority board voted today to stop issuing new permits to operators of park-and-ride services to the port.

Commissioners see this as a way to help stop the erosion of port parking revenue, which is a major source of profit for Port Canaveral.

 

In addition, commissioners approved a new $50-per-trip fee on current providers of such park-and-ride operations, including local hotels and owners of parking lots.

 

The vote was 3-2, with Vice Chairman Tom Weinberg and Secretary-Treasurer Jerry Allender voting no. They felt they should have had more time to consider the options, which they first received during the meeting.

 

The commission stopped short of its parking consultant's recommendation to revoke all permits for current parking providers

It does say NEW permits.

Perhaps ask this over on the Florida Departures board where the locals who post all the wonderful, useful, helpful information in the "I Work in Port Canaveral" thread can probably clear it up without having 12 pages of rampant speculation over here. After all, this would affect all cruisers, not just Carnival passengers.

You know this really stinks.........not only for those of us who choose to do the hotel/shuttle packages but,for example, the Radisson who just opened their lots up to non-hotel guest and have purchased 14 shuttle buses!!!! With that kind of investments they are going to take a huge hit!!!

I agree with another poster who stated that if they would make their parking fees more reasonable then they would have a lot of people parking there.

Just sad......

Where did you find this information. I just reviewed the minutes from meeting and did not see any action on thisitem, only some general parking update. I didn't find it :confused:in any newspapers.

It was found at www.floridatoday.com

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120620/NEWS01/120620022/Port-Canaveral-votes-stop-issuing-permits-park-rides?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CLocal%20News

How ridiculous and greedy.

I don't think they're ever going to suffer for it, some people will stop cruising out of PC, but not enough for people to notice.

YIKES... Looks like the "Hired Gun" is saying you either pay to park here or you can't cruise.... The way it was handled is going to bring on some legal wrangling from the outside parking folks for sure accord to the article...

Jeez, and I thought that our local government was the only ones that pulled sweetheart deals behind closed doors.... :eek:

I tried to email the port today, but had trouble with the security code as there was a mess of letters/numbers, but only 3 of the 4 showed up. I called the port and asked where I could send an email and was told to send it to dgreenslade@portcanaveral.com.

It is going to affect a lot of businesses when this goes into effect. Last February we were on Carnival Dream and were the first ones on the Park n Cruise shuttle. Our driver waited a few minutes and then took us to our car. If he had to pay $50 for just the two of us, the company would have lost money as we paid less than that plus tax for 7 days.

It will change how long people have to wait to go to the port, leave from the port and perhaps put the shuttle/parking services out of business. It will definitely raise the costs all around. This was definitely not thought out properly. The commissioners voting for it have tunnel vision.

Unless I misinterpereted the article, 5 (yes 5) people voted. It won by 1 (yes 1) vote. It was 3 to 2! Pretty small amount of voters, and those who voted are likely locals who don't need nor want parking as they can be dropped off by someone.

How ridiculous and greedy.

 

I don't think they're ever going to suffer for it, some people will stop cruising out of PC, but not enough for people to notice.

They might if people don't choose Port Canaveral because of this extra cost. The cruiselines will then have to lower their rates to get people to book. And don't forget what happened with Mobile. Carnival pulled out of there because it was not working for them. They sailed full but at a discounted price. They could make more money putting the ship in another port. So Mobile was left high and dry with a new terminal and no ship.

The economy in Port Canaveral has been hit hard with the ending of the Space Shuttle Program. I think they are looking for a way to make up lost money. They just might be hurting themselves instead of helping.

Sharon