Cruise parking v overnight stay

[L751]

Whats your opinion on parking at cruise terminal or hotel and parking. 

[batholiver]

We use a hotel for the night before but park at the terminal. There are hotel parking deals  but there's not a lot in it and a hotel car park isn't the safest place to leave a car for a couple of weeks or more. 

[lindylooellalouise]

Hi because we have a long journey from County Durham we always drive down the day before and book a hotel in Winchester  or Salisbury and enjoy seeing some local sights we then drive down in the morning to our usual park and ride if we lived nearby think we would just use the park and ride.

[wowzz]

We just book a cheap room at a Premier Inn and then park at the docks.

[smj777]

We used to stay overnight at the Holiday Inn Southampton, but after having used the bus connection, we would never do anything else. Taxi to the bus and that's it! You're on holiday.

 

[Josy1953]

We usually drive down the day before and stop overnight in Winchester, the New Forest or Southampton.  We do sometimes drive down on the day if we have something on the day before but I find it quite stressful because I worry about hitting traffic problems and being late into the docks.  We park at the docks because OH doesn't think that the hotel car parks are secure for 2 weeks parking.

[kalos]

We used to  book a room at a Premier Inn and then park over at Marchwood

Have used West Quays but prefer Winchester as there is a large Tesco nearby 

to pick up any last bits and  can refuel the car ready for our return journey .

 

[Ardennais]

We always drive down the day before and stay overnight. We always park at the docks because we sometimes do early self-disembarkation and it’s so easy to walk to the car. For longer cruises with more luggage, our cases are collected the night before. I always see queues for taxis and wouldn’t want to waste time before heading home as it’s a long journey. 

[Son of Anarchy]

We've done park & stay at the Mercure Dolphin a few times.  Always been fine.  These days though we tend to use Tesco vouchers to pay for the room at the Dolphin and use Parking4Cruises for the parking.

 

Might be reviewing which hotel we use next time, just to have a change from staying in central Southampton.

[grapau27]

9 hours ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi because we have a long journey from County Durham we always drive down the day before and book a hotel in Winchester  or Salisbury and enjoy seeing some local sights we then drive down in the morning to our usual park and ride if we lived nearby think we would just use the park and ride.

We often got the train from Durham to Southampton or flew Flybe from Newcastle and stayed in a Premier Inn at West Quay.

Last time I decided to drive down and booked a stay at Meon Valley hotel with breakfast and a taxi to the cruise terminal and a taxi return to pick up our car.

Next time I will drive down and look at a hotel in Southampton offering parking and taxi return.

Graham.

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We often got the train from Durham to Southampton or flew Flybe from Newcastle and stayed in a Premier Inn at West Quay.

Last time I decided to drive down and booked a stay at Meon Valley hotel with breakfast and a taxi to the cruise terminal and a taxi return to pick up our car.

Next time I will drive down and look at a hotel in Southampton offering parking and taxi return.

Graham.

Personally, when we get off the ship, we  just want to get straight into our car and head off, not muck about with taxis. Same with airports - we want to go straight to our car and drive home. 

[terrierjohn]

4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Personally, when we get off the ship, we  just want to get straight into our car and head off, not muck about with taxis. Same with airports - we want to go straight to our car and drive home. 

We do the same, its so easy to use either the P&P offered CPS, or the cheaper DIY parkig4cruises, both embarking and disembarking, and as wowzz says its far quicker than getting a taxi back to your hotel, and you only need to handle the luggage once. 

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

We do the same, its so easy to use either the P&P offered CPS, or the cheaper DIY parkig4cruises, both embarking and disembarking, and as wowzz says its far quicker than getting a taxi back to your hotel, and you only need to handle the luggage once. 

I've always found it strange that some people (not on here obvs) will spend thousands of pounds on a holiday, but will then try and save a few pounds by parking with some cowboy operator, or use a taxi which just adds complexity.

Each to their own, but as John has said,  off the ship,  into the car and off! 

[grapau27]

8 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We often got the train from Durham to Southampton or flew Flybe from Newcastle and stayed in a Premier Inn at West Quay.

Last time I decided to drive down and booked a stay at Meon Valley hotel with breakfast and a taxi to the cruise terminal and a taxi return to pick up our car.

Next time I will drive down and look at a hotel in Southampton offering parking and taxi return.

Graham.

In Southampton whether it is to go to the airport or last time  back to our pre-cruise stay hotel I pre-book our taxi.

We live 330 miles from Southampton so we need to travel down the day before.

We always self disembark so when we are leaving our ship cabin I let the taxi company know and the taxi is waiting for us when we come out of the terminal which saves waiting around.

The taxi driver knows Southampton roads and gets us away from the congested terminal Stress Free and back to the airport or pre-cruise hotel.

Graham.

 

[lindylooellalouise]

Hi Graham we looked at the Flybe option but not sure if they are still flying now and is the train journey non stop that would be a good option for us we feel it’s always better to go the day before as you can never tell what the traffic situation is going to be won’t be making any of those decisions till our next cruise. If it does sail June 21.

[ozzysdad]

We've always travelled down by train the day before and stayed over in the centre of Southampton, depending on the weather we will either walk down to the terminal or grab a taxi, I must say that on the half a dozen Southampton cruises we've done we have never had an issue or more than a minute or two to wait for a taxi when we have disembarked but I must add we are in no major rush to dash off once the ship hits Southampton, we book the train 12 weeks in advance (to the day) with a railcard to maximise the saving and reserve seats as the return train back to Manchester can get quite busy, it suits us as my partner doesn't travel very well in either a car or coach.

[purplesea]

We travel up from the west by train the day before to make sure we are in Southampton, trains like road traffic can get delayed!  We often stay at Central Travelodge or West Quay Premier Inn which are both near the terminal and the town centre.  We have had  no problem getting a taxis from the station to our hotel, from the hotel to the port and from the port back up to the station. We have, on occasion, booked taxis in advance.

[grapau27]

5 hours ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi Graham we looked at the Flybe option but not sure if they are still flying now and is the train journey non stop that would be a good option for us we feel it’s always better to go the day before as you can never tell what the traffic situation is going to be won’t be making any of those decisions till our next cruise. If it does sail June 21.

Flybe went bust in January but we did a chargeback and got our money back.

I believe Eastern airways are doing some flights to Southampton.

There are usually a couple of no change trains both ways which we always go for and many with several changes.

Check with the train line because prices around the 100 day mark are very competitive.

We pay £30 for a 1 year  2 together card at Durham Train Station which gives good discounts.

Edited January 4, 2021 by grapau27

[ZZRLAD]

15 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We often got the train from Durham to Southampton or flew Flybe from Newcastle and stayed in a Premier Inn at West Quay.

Last time I decided to drive down and booked a stay at Meon Valley hotel with breakfast and a taxi to the cruise terminal and a taxi return to pick up our car.

Next time I will drive down and look at a hotel in Southampton offering parking and taxi return.

Graham.

We usually drive down from just north of Newcastle (Cramlington) the day before and stay at a local Premier Inn. After a leisurely breakfast then drive to the terminal and drop off the car after the luggage. On return, it's straight to the car and on the way home. Its a long journey but this way, no stress involved. I dont mind the the driving.

[Britboys]

I always drive down the day before and stay overnight even though I could easily do the drive on the day of sailing. We started it years ago as my partner always got stressed that we might get caught in traffic. Since he died, I have continued with it as a sort of tradition. Normally I take the free CPS parking offered by P&O as that is the best deal especially if going solo.

I have used hotel parking on three occasions, at the Holiday Inn on the Waterfront and Chilworth Manor, outside of Southampton. No problems on either occasion and taxis provided by the hotel so no waiting in line outside the terminal after disembarkation.

I look on the pre-departure stay as part of the overall holiday and always enjoy a wander around Southampton in the morning with Coffee in John Lewis from where I can usually see my ship waiting for me 😊

[nicki-k]

We have also stayed at Premier Inn West Quay then used parking4cruises, we only live a couple of hours away but like to start our holiday early. You cannot beat the excitement of stepping out of the hotel and seeing the ships towering above the buildings on the morning you sail.....bliss 😃

[majortom10]

Premier Inn West Quay is very convenient but the only thing that worries me and is the main reason why I never stay there is that there is no parking you have to pay to park at the public multi storey car park and worry about security and safety of my car. We use Holiday Inn Express just off M271 and is only a short drive to the port.

[Son of Anarchy]

We've used West Quay once and nothing happened to the car.  However, we haven't used it since.  Partly for the reasons you state, but also West Quay doesn't seem to be as good value as it used to be, consequently we've found comparable deals elsewhere with at hotel parking.  Usually Mercure Dolphin, but next time we will probably looking outside Southampton just for a change.

[wowzz]

59 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Premier Inn West Quay is very convenient but the only thing that worries me and is the main reason why I never stay there is that there is no parking you have to pay to park at the public multi storey car park and worry about security and safety of my car. We use Holiday Inn Express just off M271 and is only a short drive to the port.

Which is why we use the City Centre PI. Park the car right by the hotel, so no dragging suitcases around, and a 5 minute walk to the city centre.

[Mim Lloyd]

We're on the Iona Christmas Markets cruise on Saturday 11 December. We're driving down from Liverpool the day before the cruise and staying over in Winchester before carrying on to Southampton on the morning of the cruise. Can someone advise me of the best carpark booking site for the 7 days of the cruise? We want to park securely at the docks and walk to the ship, we don't want any parking that involves leaving your keys for them to move your car as we've had a couple of bad experiences with that. I've had a quick look but I'm unsure of which option to use.