Boston: Parking at Pier but flying out??

[travel dog]

Know I'm planning (worrying) ahead, but we will be flying from Boston to Europe a week before our EB Transatlantic cruise leaves England. We'll arrive back in Boston, via cruise ship, about 21 days after we fly out.

 

Would it be possible (and make sense) to park our car at the Pier even though we are not taking a cruise out at that time?

 

Any other suggestions for having a place our car to stay safely (and be accessible from the pier) for that length of time? We're hoping to come to Boston a day or so before, but it seems most park&fly hotels are for 14 days and would be difficult to get to from the pier. Alternatively, we could leave the car behind and take AmTrack into Boston, but I'm having trouble figuring out how we would get to the airport or return to the train station from the pier -- pretty loaded down with luggage.

 

Thanks for any help or suggestions! (One note - there are 3 of us, more than some of the hotels accomodate.)

[njhorseman]

Instead of parking at the pier, park at the airport (presumably Boston Logan has long term lots), then when your cruise returns, take a taxi from the pier back to the airport.

 

I believe I have also read about a water taxi service that can be taken from the pier area to the airport. (Please, someone who is more familiar with Boston transportation than I am, please confirm...or correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

If you were to take Amtrak, you could take a taxi from the railroad station to the airport, and upon your return take a taxi from the pier to the rail station.

[138east]

It really doesn't make any sense to park at the pier - even though you are arriving by ship, I don't think they will give you the "special" $16 rate for 21+ days.

 

For a park/fly Embassy Suites is usually available on www.trinityreservations.com for around $200 incl tax (good hotel price for Boston). However, there is nothing available for next September yet - I think you'll have to wait until after New Year's to book. With Embassy suites you get 14 days free parking and then $10/day thereafter. This is a great deal. Embassy Suites is almost on the airport property and is close to the Blue Line, so you would have quick access to downtown Boston. This hotel would also be a quick cab ride from the pier - probably about $25.

 

If you are interested in this, I would contact the web site to see how you arrange multiple nights (would multiple nights entitle you to more nights parking???) and to see how you can ensure a room for 3 people.

 

If you want to explore other alternatives, post back and we can check the Logan long term parking. It would always be possible for one person in your party to disembark really early to go and get the car. Logan is accessbile from the port via the Silver Line bus.

[NHtraveler603]

Actually, while there certainly many good parking options we did just what you describe for our Jewel transatlanic back to Boston last fall ('09). We parked at the pier and took the Silver Line to the airport for our BOS-LGW flight. We weren't gone 21 days, but it was over 15 days.

 

However, unless there is a ship in port when you arrive you'll likely need to swap your parking ticket to get the cruise rate, which was easy to do. After we parked, we stopped at the booth and showed the manager our RCI cruise tickets returning to Boston and explained we wanted the cruise rate. He swapped the ticket we got entering for a different colored one to receive the discounted rate without a problem.

 

It was very nice to just cross the street, get in the car and go.

 

It really doesn't make any sense to park at the pier - even though you are arriving by ship, I don't think they will give you the "special" $16 rate for 21+ days.

[138east]

That's a good trick, but the OP will be gone 21 days, which will be $336 to park plus at least one hotel night plus a cab to the airport.

 

By doing a park/fly at Embassy Suites at the airport, the OP will spend about $200 for one hotel night, $70 for the extra parking, and a cab from the pier ($25).

 

I didn't even discuss Amtrak. Basically with the Amtrak option you would take cabs to all your destinations. South Station is actually close to the airport and even closer to the port.

 

What is your exact date? I think I saw you are doing this next September, so you have to be on top of it if it is when the college students are coming back to school.

[travel dog]

Thanks, everyone, for the very good responses. Computer probs kept me offline for several days and I felt like I was stuck in the wilderness (and very impatient to know if there had been responses to my question)

 

It is next September for our cruise -- so I really am worrying ahead. But it's actually fun to worry about something so exciting as a trip to England and transatlantic cruise! As worries go, these are pretty delightful!

 

I didn't realize the Embassy Suites had a Park N Fly. In fact, when I'd looked at the web site before, the only information on parking I could find was a price for Valet Parking. I figured the hotel was at some location where there simply wasn't any free parking, even for regular guests, and checked it off the list. So thanks for giving me reason to go back.

 

They are taking reservations for next August (which is when we would be staying the night). The rate quoted ($279, $319 with tax and all) is higher than the regular price for the room ($229), but if you take the difference and consider it a parking fee, it comes out to about $4/day - so no complaints.

 

Thanks to you folks, I think I have the options lined up:

 

Park, Shuttle and Fly - $316 + hotel room

Economy Parking at Airport - $324 + hotel room

Parking at pier – $336 + hotel room

Embassy Suites – $319 + $10 x 7 extra days = $389 total

 

If we go over to Boston for a night (or two), it sure makes sense to do that, getting a nice hotel room and breakfast for $53 to $73 more than parking alone would be with any of the other options. Doubt we could get much of a room in Boston for those amounts!

 

If we didn't stay over the night before (or stayed with friends of one of my travel companions, an option now being discussed), I think I'd be very willing to pay $20 over the least expensive option at the airport and park at the pier -- and thank you cryanddavis for saying it's possible! It surprised me a bit that the cruise rate parking at the pier is so close to the long-term parking options at the airport. Although I suppose if it were a great deal more, everyone would just park at the airport.

 

Thank you very much everyone! This board is pretty amazing and people are amazingly helpful. I hope this thread winds up helping someone else in a similar situation. ---- Looks like I'm going to have to find some other part of the trip to enjoy "worring" about now.

[138east]

If you decide you want to do a park/fly, don't forget to research www.trinityreservations.com again after New Years when they will probably have rates for next August/September. This web site has had consistently less expensive room rates with parking (around $200 incl tax) than any other web site. You just have to find out from them if you can have 3 people in the room. As best I can figure out they buy hotel rooms with parking in bulk and then resell them. Once the rooms are gone for a particular date, they are gone. They also quote their prices incl tax whereas most other room quotes you will find do not include tax.

 

If you do decide to just drive, then it does make sense to park at the pier for $16/day. The port in South Boston is actually very close to the Logan terminals - perhaps even closer than some of the long term parking at Logan is to the actual terminals. A cab from South Boston to Logan should be about $25.

[Rob&Bonnie]

Thanks for sharing the weblink - I just used it to book my stay in February and it saved $40 over what I had seen previously.:D