Charleston SC ~ PORT ARRIVAL ~

[Chef P]

I was told it is difficult in geting to the terminal, there is lots of traffic congestion and lots of confusion... I was also told that they will not let you to drop off your car until noon,

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated...

[chihuaha]

I was told it is difficult in geting to the terminal, there is lots of traffic congestion and lots of confusion... I was also told that they will not let you to drop off your car until noon,

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated...

 

We live near Charleston and have cruised from there four times now, most recently in December 2010. Every port has different procedures and quirks, but Charleston is no worse (or better) that others we have been through, just different. There are horror stories from every cruise port, of course, but in reality those cases are rare. We think they have tinkered with the check-in and boarding process at Charleston and it works pretty smoothly these days. They do a great job working with some handicaps that other newer, larger, and dedicated passenger cruise ports don't have to deal with.

 

For example, the passenger facility is INSIDE a working cargo shipyard, so there are some particular safety and security aspects to their parking and ckeck-in process. You cannot walk around inside the fenced areas, so you will be either in your vehicle (or taxi or shuttle) until the bags are dropped and your vehicle is parked, then you will be shuttled (5 minutes) back to the check-in area.

 

Don't be put off by internet mania; just because one pax had a bad embark/disembark experience some time ago does not a bad cruise port make.

 

There is an excellent description of this on the SC Ports Authority website:

http://www.scspa.com/cruises/default.asp

 

As you come south on any of the main streets there are "sandwich" signs (and often an officer directing traffic) on embarkation days that lead you to the Union Pier entrance. They now have "stacking" room insude the gate for several hundred cars, so if you do arrive before they start processing, you will not be out in the street traffic.

 

If the ship has come in on time (often tied up by 6 AM) and disembarkation has gone smoothly, they start checking ID's and processing parking or drop-off check-ins mid morning. In our experience well before noon, any backlog from "early-bird" arrivals has usually been processed, so you are continuously moving non-stop through the gauntlet and will be at the PAX terminal for security and S&S cards in under 20 minutes from entering the gate, and onboard with your first DoD in 35-40. (Your mileage may vary!)

 

Have a great cruise!

 

-----

 

Below are excerpts from other posts we have made in this forum on the subject:

 

...We just returned from a five-night cruise from Charleston on the Glory and want to alert you to some "new" things to be aware of if using the Port's parking.

 

First, the new entrance at gate 2 from Concord Street seems to be working well. They now have lots more "stacking" room inside the gate, so there normally should be no lineup of cars outside the port on public streets. Once inside the line seemed to move smoothly and continuously up to the point where you pay for parking, where there was a short wait for us.

 

If you are parking your car with the port authority at the pier, most of your waiting will be in your vehicle. Once they start processing cars in line, you show your ID/boarding passes, drive a bit, pay your parking, drive a bit, drop off your bags with the porters, then drive about 1 block to the huge warehouse and park. From near the most recently parked cars, shuttles take you back 1 block to the terminal, and the line for security, health-form signing, and checkin is all inside. Don't forget if your car has a valid handicap tag, you can park free and get to bypass a lot of the lines.

 

...For security reasons no one is allowed to walk from either the garage area (if parking) or from the drop-off area (if arriving by cab/friend/hotel shuttle) to the passenger terminal. It's a very short distance in either case on a continuously running shuttle loop and takes maybe 5 minutes altogether. This is a requirement of the Port, not the cruise line, as you are inside a security area with commercial cargo as well as passenger operations.

[Chef P]

WOW ... Thank you !! Awesome information... I really appreciate it...

[BlueHerons]

We live near Charleston and have cruised from there four times now, most recently in December 2010. Every port has different procedures and quirks, but Charleston is no worse (or better) that others we have been through, just different. There are horror stories from every cruise port, of course, but in reality those cases are rare. We think they have tinkered with the check-in and boarding process at Charleston and it works pretty smoothly these days. They do a great job working with some handicaps that other newer, larger, and dedicated passenger cruise ports don't have to deal with.

 

For example, the passenger facility is INSIDE a working cargo shipyard, so there are some particular safety and security aspects to their parking and ckeck-in process. You cannot walk around inside the fenced areas, so you will be either in your vehicle (or taxi or shuttle) until the bags are dropped and your vehicle is parked, then you will be shuttled (5 minutes) back to the check-in area.

 

Don't be put off by internet mania; just because one pax had a bad embark/disembark experience some time ago does not a bad cruise port make.

 

There is an excellent description of this on the SC Ports Authority website:

http://www.scspa.com/cruises/default.asp

 

As you come south on any of the main streets there are "sandwich" signs (and often an officer directing traffic) on embarkation days that lead you to the Union Pier entrance. They now have "stacking" room insude the gate for several hundred cars, so if you do arrive before they start processing, you will not be out in the street traffic.

 

If the ship has come in on time (often tied up by 6 AM) and disembarkation has gone smoothly, they start checking ID's and processing parking or drop-off check-ins mid morning. In our experience well before noon, any backlog from "early-bird" arrivals has usually been processed, so you are continuously moving non-stop through the gauntlet and will be at the PAX terminal for security and S&S cards in under 20 minutes from entering the gate, and onboard with your first DoD in 35-40. (Your mileage may vary!)

 

Have a great cruise!

 

-----

 

Below are excerpts from other posts we have made in this forum on the subject:

 

...We just returned from a five-night cruise from Charleston on the Glory and want to alert you to some "new" things to be aware of if using the Port's parking.

 

First, the new entrance at gate 2 from Concord Street seems to be working well. They now have lots more "stacking" room inside the gate, so there normally should be no lineup of cars outside the port on public streets. Once inside the line seemed to move smoothly and continuously up to the point where you pay for parking, where there was a short wait for us.

 

If you are parking your car with the port authority at the pier, most of your waiting will be in your vehicle. Once they start processing cars in line, you show your ID/boarding passes, drive a bit, pay your parking, drive a bit, drop off your bags with the porters, then drive about 1 block to the huge warehouse and park. From near the most recently parked cars, shuttles take you back 1 block to the terminal, and the line for security, health-form signing, and checkin is all inside. Don't forget if your car has a valid handicap tag, you can park free and get to bypass a lot of the lines.

 

...For security reasons no one is allowed to walk from either the garage area (if parking) or from the drop-off area (if arriving by cab/friend/hotel shuttle) to the passenger terminal. It's a very short distance in either case on a continuously running shuttle loop and takes maybe 5 minutes altogether. This is a requirement of the Port, not the cruise line, as you are inside a security area with commercial cargo as well as passenger operations.

 

Excellent advice! You should copy this in a word document and use it whenever anyone asks about Charleston!

[GuitarPlayer]

Thanks for the info. Search is such a good tool here.

 

GP