Shocked by price of car parking!

My husband and I are sailing on Boudicca in August from Newcastle on a 27 night cruise and I was shocked when I found out how much car parking would cost. We have no option but to travel by car from home (near Aberdeen) since we need to carry enough luggage and my wheelchair plus some essential equipment.

Does anyone know of a cheaper alternative to the offer on the FOCL website? I'm not mean but it comes to more than £250. Thanks for any help.

What about hiring a car to go from Aberdeen rtn. Basically two one way hires no concern about parking the car.

Hi Sewso

I have read somewhere that people in Southampton rent out their driveways to people who are going on a cruise. Which I am sure will be a lot cheaper than car parking.

Maybe people do the same up north. It would be worth looking into.

If you do go that route I am almost sure that the actual cruise terminal is in North Shields (but I would check that in case I am wrong).

Susan

Thanks both, we did think about the car hire but I sometimes struggle to get into cars because of my mobility problems (I have one leg which has restricted movement) and the car we have is just the right height to use with a slide board. The "rent-a-driveway" is worth considering.

I did try looking at long term airport parking but they need a flight number.

Try this:

http://www.parkonmydrive.com/finding.php

There's a couple quite close to the port.

Most car parking is about £10 per day, so for a 27 day cruise I can understand the prices, expensive though it sounds. Watch out for the really cheap car parking as sometime your car may end up parked on the street somewhere.

Just realised that most of what I wrote was missing from my post so am trying again.

Try this:

http://www.parkonmydrive.com/finding.php

There's a couple quite close to the port.

Or this: https://www.yourparkingspace.co.uk/

Or this: https://www.justpark.com/

The other option would be to send your luggage ahead with the Baggage Handling Company then go by direct train from Aberdeen. My mum used to travel by train with a wheelchair and just booked assistance to help her at the stations. They handled and stored the wheelchair and if you need extra space 1st class can be reasonable if booked 12 weeks in advance on Virgin East Coast site. We have used the Baggage Handling Company q few times now and would recommend and you can read about them in the Extras section on the FO website

Parking at Port of Tyne is £12 a day normally. I know very expensive. You could try parking at Newcastle airport but with a taxi fare to the port, it may not be any cheaper. Our TA paid half of our car parking charge. You could try that.

Why not try searching holiday extras, BCP, (or similar), for hotels with park and stay deals, we have often found that a much cheaper option in other ports, but have no personal experience of Newcastle area for that. Those sort of deals often work out cheaper than the parking alone. They usually offer 7 and 15 night deals online though, so you may have to phone them, or perhaps phone the hotels themselves and see what they will offer.

For a cruise from Southampton that we are doing in May we have even been able to book a big chain hotel group, that we use regularly, using loyalty points and are paying the hotel a daily price for the parking. That works out cheaper than parking alone, (and that parking is also cheaper than a deal with somewhere like holiday extras or BCP). So it is worth searching the net or even phoning a few hotels that offer stay and park deals.

Do you have a good friend or family member who could drive you? They could even drive your car so you would be comfortable. You could pay them instead of paying for parking. Even if you gave them 100 pounds each way, you would still be ahead of the game.

We plan on having our son drive us to the airport for our next cruise in November - it's 22 days. We just paid $135 US to park for 11 days at Buffalo airport. We figure we will pay our son to drive us and pick us up and it will be a bit cheaper than paying to park.

We have used parkonmydrive.com quite a few times for both taking flights and cruising. Have never had a problem and it is a lot cheaper than airport/cruiseport parking.

We frequently use Holiday Extras for airport parking and they are excellent. We have also used them for parking in the port of Dover which was far cheaper than anything Fred Olsen were recommending. So, if you do a bit of research you should be able to find reasonably priced parking.

Thanks everyone. I have lots of options to explore now.

Why not try searching holiday extras, BCP, (or similar), for hotels with park and stay deals, we have often found that a much cheaper option in other ports, but have no personal experience of Newcastle area for that. Those sort of deals often work out cheaper than the parking alone. They usually offer 7 and 15 night deals online though, so you may have to phone them, or perhaps phone the hotels themselves and see what they will offer.

 

For a cruise from Southampton that we are doing in May we have even been able to book a big chain hotel group, that we use regularly, using loyalty points and are paying the hotel a daily price for the parking. That works out cheaper than parking alone, (and that parking is also cheaper than a deal with somewhere like holiday extras or BCP). So it is worth searching the net or even phoning a few hotels that offer stay and park deals.

Premier Inns often offer cheap parking deals including the one in Dover. The Newcastle Premier Inn is near the quayside so it may be worth a phone call.

Their number is 0871 527 8804 don't pay for that number, use 0191 243 7110 instead. Check it on SayNoTo0870 if you wish.

Hi. When cruising from Newcastle the ship actually leaves from the Port of Tyne which is in North Shields. If you google hotels in North Shields you may find something. There is a Premier Inn in North Shields you would probably have to ring to arrange longer parking. Hope you are successful.

Thanks again, we have stayed in a Premier Inn at Glasgow and it was very comfortable and reasonably priced so I'll have a look at that in the morning.

Thanks again, we have stayed in a Premier Inn at Glasgow and it was very comfortable and reasonably priced so I'll have a look at that in the morning.

Have a look at this:

https://www.justpark.com/uk/parking/north-shields/s/commissioners-wharf-north-shields-ne29-p52910ff4b4f1c/

We've used this firm for parking at Southampton and generally it works well:

https://www.justpark.com/

The only caveat I have is the journey from the house where you park to the port. Previously, they were a little vague on whether they would pick you up at the end of the cruise and we found they 'couldn't make it' for some vague reason. Not the end of the world, but it means you have to get a taxi from the port to the car parking place.

Now, I make certain they will take us to and from the port, albeit at a small additional charge. Otherwise the system works well and we will use them in the future.

wft