Being dropped off in Charleston

[Gma&Gpa]

I have not sailed out if Charleston before.  We will be in November, and my daughter  who lives in that area will be dropping us at the Port.  Is it marked clearly  where we go for drop off? Anything special I should know for drop off and pick up?  I've sailed from quite a few ports but first time for this one. Thanks

[ninjacat123]

Check out the third page on this thread.  Bgpuppies drops off his wife at Port of Charleston.

 

[Sunandslots]

I think she may mean being dropped off as opposed to driving and parking there. I also happen to have the same question as I’m taking a cruise from Charleston for the first time.  Everything I’ve read sounds very confusing but it seems to apply to parking and then getting to the terminal.  How is it if you’re just being dropped off by a taxi or Uber?

[shof515]

This is a good question to post to the east coast departures forum

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/317-east-coast-departures/

[ninjacat123]

53 minutes ago, Sunandslots said:

I think she may mean being dropped off as opposed to driving and parking there. I also happen to have the same question as I’m taking a cruise from Charleston for the first time.  Everything I’ve read sounds very confusing but it seems to apply to parking and then getting to the terminal.  How is it if you’re just being dropped off by a taxi or Uber?

The last three posts by bguppies has pictures and details on where he dropped his wife off and pick up after the cruise.

[bguppies]

12 hours ago, Gma&Gpa said:

I have not sailed out if Charleston before.  We will be in November, and my daughter  who lives in that area will be dropping us at the Port.  Is it marked clearly  where we go for drop off? Anything special I should know for drop off and pick up?  I've sailed from quite a few ports but first time for this one. Thanks

Yeah there is a separate gate for drop offs by car/cab/bus or Uber.

The parking gate is the closest to the water.

(Furthest from East Bay St. the main road you will be taking from any interstate to get to the pier)

 

Parking gate.  (I think this is Laurens and Concord St)

 

 

The drop off gate is 1 block closer to East Bay St.

The drop off gate is barely marked at all. (I think its at Laurens and Washington St.)

 

'All the signs (The brown sign you see at the bottom in the picture will be what you see all the way to the parking lot) from East Bay St. just funnel everybody into the lot for people leaving their cars.

(first time I dropped off DW we followed the signs and I wasted like 20 minutes in line to park)

If you take East Bay St. heading to the pier and ignore the signage that steers you to the parking lot,,

Then make a left at  Calhoun St. , then immediately, take the very next right. You will see some condos under construction on your right. The drop off entrance will be just to your left.

 

Pickup is much easier.

If your ride just heads down East Bay St. a few more blocks past Calhoun St. down to Market St. and make a left. There is metered parking that runs down the entire length of the Custom House. (Huge Stone building that takes up the entire block east of Market St-bottom left of the picture)

The parking  meters don't start until 8 or 9 AM.

I  just park down at the end closest to the pier and DW just calls me when they are coming up the ramp from ship and I drive literally right across the streeet into the little cab pickup lot and load them up and we're off in a minute. Super easy.

 

 

Here is the article I found the pictures in if it helps at all.

 

https://www.cruzely.com/dropping-off-picking-up-passengers-at-the-port-of-charleston-with-pictures/

 

Here is a link to the Port Authorities PDF map to the port.

 

https://scspa.com/wp-content/uploads/directions-to-gate.pdf

 

You'll clearly see where they turn you off East Bay St. early before Calhoun St. so traffic backs up on that little back road heading into the parking lot. (you'll see what I mean how parking lot is closest gate to water)

 

Just drove down last weekend to make sure there was no condo construction blocking any gates and there was none as of last weekend. (Just some porta potties sticking out a bit, obstructing one of the two lanes heading intoi the dropoff lot.)

 

Hope this helps a bit and hopefully your dropoff doesn't waste 20-30 minutes like I did my first time down there.

Edited September 19, 2022 by bguppies

[EBFURR]

4 hours ago, bguppies said:

Yeah there is a separate gate for drop offs by car/cab/bus or Uber.

The parking gate is the closest to the water.

(Furthest from East Bay St. the main road you will be taking from any interstate to get to the pier)

 

Parking gate.  (I think this is Laurens and Concord St)

 

 

The drop off gate is 1 block closer to East Bay St.

The drop off gate is barely marked at all. (I think its at Laurens and Washington St.)

 

'All the signs (The brown sign you see at the bottom in the picture will be what you see all the way to the parking lot) from East Bay St. just funnel everybody into the lot for people leaving their cars.

(first time I dropped off DW we followed the signs and I wasted like 20 minutes in line to park)

If you take East Bay St. heading to the pier and ignore the signage that steers you to the parking lot,,

Then make a left at  Calhoun St. , then immediately, take the very next right. You will see some condos under construction on your right. The drop off entrance will be just to your left.

 

Pickup is much easier.

If your ride just heads down East Bay St. a few more blocks past Calhoun St. down to Market St. and make a left. There is metered parking that runs down the entire length of the Custom House. (Huge Stone building that takes up the entire block east of Market St-bottom left of the picture)

The parking  meters don't start until 8 or 9 AM.

I  just park down at the end closest to the pier and DW just calls me when they are coming up the ramp from ship and I drive literally right across the streeet into the little cab pickup lot and load them up and we're off in a minute. Super easy.

 

 

Here is the article I found the pictures in if it helps at all.

 

https://www.cruzely.com/dropping-off-picking-up-passengers-at-the-port-of-charleston-with-pictures/

 

Here is a link to the Port Authorities PDF map to the port.

 

https://scspa.com/wp-content/uploads/directions-to-gate.pdf

 

You'll clearly see where they turn you off East Bay St. early before Calhoun St. so traffic backs up on that little back road heading into the parking lot. (you'll see what I mean how parking lot is closest gate to water)

 

Just drove down last weekend to make sure there was no condo construction blocking any gates and there was none as of last weekend. (Just some porta potties sticking out a bit, obstructing one of the two lanes heading intoi the dropoff lot.)

 

Hope this helps a bit and hopefully your dropoff doesn't waste 20-30 minutes like I did my first time down there.

Excellent. We just did an Uber drop off a few weeks ago. Although we have been through Charleston several times it seems to change with each trip. A word or two of caution. If you go to the port authority website you see this:

Union Pier Main Gate – 32 Washington Street – is the designated entry point for guests being dropped off and NOT parking with the SCPA.  This includes family drop offs, rideshare, taxis, hotel shuttles etc.  

The confusion here is that when you put that address in Google maps it points to a location a block north and across the street from where you need to be. I have done some research and confirmed that the drop off entrance is on Washington St but is south of where Google maps takes you. 

Here is the skinny:
You can use your navigation to get on Washington St but then continue south (ship will be on your left). There will be a Harris Teeter grocery store to your right on Washington St. Immediately before you get to the store the main terminal entrance will be on the left and looks like the photo posted. 

Despite knowing all that, our Uber driver arrived at the correct gate and was refused entry. They sent him to the parking entrance where the port employees were apoplectic and demanded that he turn around and go to a point all the way around on Concord St where we were again refused entry. We asked several port employees where the drop off point was and got several different answers. None them were correct. The now irate Uber driver went back to where we started and insisted on going in. Once inside there are signs and arrows that take you to the drop off point which is about 50 steps from check in. The port employees seem poorly trained and somewhat apathetic. They are willing to tell you what you can't do but are unable to tell you what you should do. Once you run the gauntlet and get to the Carnival badge employees at check in it's smooth as silk. 

[bguppies]

13 minutes ago, EBFURR said:

Excellent. We just did an Uber drop off a few weeks ago. Although we have been through Charleston several times it seems to change with each trip.

Yeah, if I remember you used to just drop people off at the place where you still pick them up.

 

But during the shutdown, they decided to add the extra step of the check in at the building in the parking area, before shuttling people over to the terminal by the ship for final, check in.

 

I think it used to all be in the final building.

 

I get to experience the fun for the first time Thursday instead of just being the taxi driver.

[ninjacat123]

2 minutes ago, bguppies said:

Yeah, if I remember you used to just drop people off at the place where you still pick them up.

 

But during the shutdown, they decided to add the extra step of the check in at the building in the parking area, before shuttling people over to the terminal by the ship for final, check in.

 

I think it used to all be in the final building.

 

I get to experience the fun for the first time Thursday instead of just being the taxi driver.

Nice!!  Are you getting there when the parking lot opens at 10am or waiting for it to calm down around 11:30am?

[EBFURR]

36 minutes ago, bguppies said:

Yeah, if I remember you used to just drop people off at the place where you still pick them up.

 

But during the shutdown, they decided to add the extra step of the check in at the building in the parking area, before shuttling people over to the terminal by the ship for final, check in.

 

I think it used to all be in the final building.

 

I get to experience the fun for the first time Thursday instead of just being the taxi driver.

Yes, you used to go in on Concord St in front of the Customs House and there was a luggage drop there. That actually changed before the shutdown when Sunshine replaced Ecstasy. Due to the increased ship capacity they felt the need to move check in over to that warehouse building. I'm not sure that was necessary and it surely isn't more efficient but that's how it is. The actual check in is very smooth with the only bottle neck being loading those shuttles for the short ride to the main terminal. 

[bguppies]

59 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Nice!!  Are you getting there when the parking lot opens at 10am or waiting for it to calm down around 11:30am?

We are getting dropprd off.

 

They offered checkin from 9:30 on, so we took 10am to ensure any morning rush hour issues would hopefully have time to resolve. (figured they wouldn't let us on the ship until between 10-11am anyway)

[bguppies]

25 minutes ago, EBFURR said:

Yes, you used to go in on Concord St in front of the Customs House and there was a luggage drop there. That actually changed before the shutdown when Sunshine replaced Ecstasy. Due to the increased ship capacity they felt the need to move check in over to that warehouse building. I'm not sure that was necessary and it surely isn't more efficient but that's how it is. The actual check in is very smooth with the only bottle neck being loading those shuttles for the short ride to the main terminal. 

That makes sense, yeah the time i dropped off before the shutdown was for an Ecstasy cruise.

[mz-s]

The terminal building is much less crowded now that they've separated check-in and security screening in separate buildings. They've optimized the process as much as they can with the facilities they have.