?? about Port of Charleston

[b714210]

Leaving Sat. from POC. We are having a friend drop us off, and I have a couple of questions. 1. How early could we drop just the luggage off? We are thinking of dropping our luggage, then picking up the friend to drop us off. 2. If we get dropped off, do we still take a shuttle to the ship check in? 3. Do we get dropped off right across the street from the Customs Building? Thanks in advance for the info, and other info you can provide.

[chihuaha]

Leaving Sat. from POC. We are having a friend drop us off, and I have a couple of questions. 1. How early could we drop just the luggage off? Varies from cruise to cruise but usually as soon as the porters finish handling disembarking bags, mid morning, say 10:00-ish. The vehicle gate into the Union Street pier area usually opens before that, but you may have to wait in your vehicle in the "S" line until they start accepting bags. It splits just inside the gate into separate "Parking" and "Drop-off" lnes. We are thinking of dropping our luggage, then picking up the friend to drop us off. 2. If we get dropped off, do we still take a shuttle to the ship check in? Yes, the passenger terminal is inside the working port area, so no one is allowed to walk up to the building housing the security and check-in. See below for more details. 3. Do we get dropped off right across the street from the Customs Building? Yes. If you have previously dropped off your checked bags, you can be droped off at a shuttle pickup point just outside the fence where you previously checked bags with the porters, and get on a shuttle bus to the building. It's maybe 500 yards, but you aren't allowed to walk it.Thanks in advance for the info, and other info you can provide.

 

Here are some more details I posted on this thread a while back:

 

There is an excellent description of all these issues 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.

Hope that helps. Enjoy your cruise!

 

M & J

[waterbug123]

Do we get dropped off right across the street from the Customs Building?

 

Just to clarify for anyone who else who may need this info.....

While there are customs offices at the port, the building the OP is referring to is not the same as the US Custom House on East Bay Street, adjacent to the tourist market. The US Custom House on E. Bay is a very well known landmark downtown, and is often very familiar to tourists who have spent time here; it's by an intersection in the heart of historic downtown. It is not anywhere near the port though.

 

(Just didn't want anyone familiar with it to be thinking, "oh, right, the Custom House, we saw that last time we visited Charleston, great, now we know where to go to board the ship.") :)